Bhutan has been at the top of my travel list forever. It took a while to make it here, but as they say, everything happens in its own time. (Is this already the Bhutan calm speaking?)

At first, I wanted to challenge myself with the Trans Bhutan Trail, but it required too many days off work. Then my mom mentioned she had been dreaming of visiting Bhutan, and I thought, why not take her along and make it a shorter, more manageable trip? It would be two birds with one stone: (1) I would fulfil my filial duties and (2) get a stamp to a new country.

As soon as I landed in Bhutan, my guide, Pema, hit me with a question: “What do you think of when you think of Bhutan?” Great question and I figured it’d be fun to set a “before” and “after” for all my trips. I started with the first thing that popped into my head, that Bhutan was known to be one of the “World’s Happiest Nations,” standing out because it measured Gross National Happiness instead of Gross Domestic Product. I’d just come from Finland, also ranked among the happiest nations..Read More….