I wanted to share our adventures in Sri Lanka because when I was planning our trip I looked at so many blogs trying to get a sense of what to do and where to go.

We arrived in Sri Lanka late on January 17th, and had booked a hotel in Colombo for the night. After a few hours of sleep we all rallied and ate some breakfast near our hotel. I started off strong with a fruit plate.

We were traveling with friends from Bristol, England and their bags hadn’t made the connecting flight in Amsterdam so we had a little shopping to do courtesy of KLM.

But before we went over to the shopping center we went in search of Colombo Fort, the train station to see if we could get some seats on the train down to Matara. No such luck, but we talked to a taxi driver outside who agreed to drive us down there. Quite a bit more spendy when compared to the train ticket, which was just over $1, but it wasn’t too bad split between the four of us.

Colombo wasn’t our jam, and we were happy to leave.

Our driver’s van was older, and not very fast, but we made our way down the coast. We thought we had booked a place in Tangalle beach, but it ended up being right next door at Talalla beach, which ended up being the best mistake.

We basically had the beach to ourselves. It was magical. Just a few restaurants to choose from along the beach.

We spent five nights there at a place called Handun Villas, which I can’t recommend enough. Talalla is a great home base between Mirissa and Tangalle. And it’s a great place to rest and recharge after all that travel.

We spent the entire day of the 19th on Talalla beach and in the ocean. It was pure bliss. The boys geeked out, ordering pina coladas, and pina coladas in coconuts. We even split two orders of veg curry on our beach chairs at Sun Bay.

The following day we made the trek over to Tangalle. We set up shop in some hammocks on the beach after eating lunch...on the beach again of course. Michael found a boogie board and we spent far too long crashing around in the waves. If I had to choose one of my favorite things about this trip it would be frolicking in the waves. Seriously, I felt like a kid again most days.

On the 20th we decided to head over to Mirissa beach, which was probably our favorite beach between there and Tangalle. There were restaurants all down the beach, a spot to surf and the water was perfect for that good ol’ playing in the waves we all loved so much.

One thing I decided I wanted to do while we were in Sri Lanka was surf, and after looking into it I decided to do a surf lesson. I’ve been surfing a handful of times, but I’m a definite beginner with almost zero confidence. We met a guy at Tangalle beach who had started his surf school not that long ago. His reviews were good and I thought, what the heck, I want to support the new guy. Tangalle Surf School

And it was awesome! We went to a quiet little place near Tangalle called Blue Beach that had some baby waves, perfect for beginners. It was great to practice my form popping up on my board and to gain that much needed confidence I was in search of.

And on top of all of that, it was just so much fun. I love surfing, I’m just not that good at it.

That pretty much sums up the excitement of our first week in Sri Lanka. Two weeks to go!