Kate Henschel

Kate in Africa

Kate Henschel

Living my life in Panama City, FL and traveling as often as I can 😊





North America » United States » Florida » Fernandina Beach January 12th 2013

One of the perks of living in Florida is that occasionally you can get really nice weather outside of tourist season. We were lucky enough to have the stars align like this last weekend when we spent a long weekend on Amelia Island. Chris had to give a briefing at the Jacksonville airport, so we turned his two hour meeting into an excuse for a weekend away. Amelia Island is about 45 minutes from downtown Jacksonville, and just below the Georgia state line. Its claim to fame is that it's the only place in the US that has been under eight different flags. We had to google the flags because we didn't recognize several, like the North American Patriots one or the Latin American Patriots' Green Cross of Florida. Well, it turns out that tourists don't ... read more
Downtown Fernandina Beach
You've got to watch out for those pirates!
Downtown Fernandina Beach

North America » United States » Florida » Mexico Beach January 1st 2013

Hello everyone! As I'm sure most of you already know, we're starting out this new year in a new location. The Air Force has up and moved us again. This is our third address together since we got married a bit over two years ago. This one, though, has a few perks that Dayton, Ohio didn't have. We'll be spending the next two years in Panama City, Florida.We're living in Mexico Beach, which a very small town on the "Forgotten Coast." We chose to live in this tiny town as opposed to in Panama City itself, and I think we made the right call. We live about a half mile from the beach in a town where you don't have to lock up your bike (I asked - they laughed at me and my silly northern ... read more
Welcome to Mexico Beach
cloudy day at the beach
our tiny post office

North America » United States » Ohio » Dayton April 26th 2012

Hello, everyone! I am so sorry I haven't been updating this blog. Since I last posted, I survived El Salvador, Belize, and a return trip to Europe to visit friends and "family." Chris returned safely from Afghanistan, and we're now all settled in to our new lives here in Dayton. I am a graduate assistant and full time student at Wright State, and Chris has a rather stressful job on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. We're trying to entertain ourselves here in Western Ohio as best as possible...perhaps we'll have some interesting adventures this summer. We did manage to find a free week and a half to go back to Europe at the end of March...and this time we had a new travel companion: my brother, Kevin! All three of us had a fantastic trip to Paris ... read more
Kevin drinking Guinness on St. Patrick's Day
Reunited with Katie and Ellie (from Douai)
Looking out over Paris from a distance


(Note: I'm sorry this blog is nearly a month overdue! I haven't had reliable internet in ages, so I was unable to update software necessary for uploading photos. I'll work on getting more blogs from my travels up soon, but since I'm so behind, they may be sort of lumped together. I do apologize! But all is well...Mom made it home safely over two weeks ago, and I'm currently in San Salvador, El Salvador and will be home in a few days!) ¡Hola, amigos! Greetings from Guatemala! We've been here for a few days now, and I already love this country. The landscape is beautiful (and reminds me a lot of Nepal), the colors are vibrant, and the people are so friendly (and willing to put up with my bad Spanish). It's currently the beginning of ... read more
around the Parque Central
Parque Central
Arco de Santa Catalina

Asia » Japan » Okinawa » Kadena December 19th 2010

Well, this is it, folks. My last day in Okinawa. Probably. That's the thing - you never know with the military. As it stands right now, Chris is off to Afghanistan in the middle of March after spending February in America for combat skills training. This means I'm checking out of Okinawa for good and will be heading back to Ohio. I think I'm going to sub, hang out, etc, and then go somewhere fun for the summer. We should still be moving to Dayton, Ohio in September sometime. But anyway, back to the fun stuff. Since we knew we were quickly running out of time to see the island, we signed up for a few activities. We went on the Battle of Okinawa tour, which took us all around the island to look at various ... read more
my birthday party at Tomato English
outside a cave where Okinawans hid during the Battle of Okinawa
me with a crazy-eyed shisa statue in Naha

Asia » Brunei » Bandar Seri Begawan November 9th 2010

The country of Brunei is a tiny little Muslim country on the island of Borneo, sandwiched between parts of Malaysia. There's really no tourist draw or anything that we even wanted to see...but the plane tickets were about $20 and the flight only 20 minutes. We figured, when were we ever going to be able to visit Brunei again? So we booked an overnight trip to Bandar Seri Begawan on our way to Kuala Lumpur. There were only about four hotels in BSB, so I randomly picked the Jubilee Hotel because they offered to pick us up from the airport. When we walked into our suite, we were transported back to 1970. It was so retro, which turned into a theme throughout our brief time in Brunei. We set out on the streets, using the two ... read more
Omar Ali Saifuddien mosque
Kampung Ayer
The Sultan - he's always watching

Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Kota Kinabalu November 7th 2010

I'll admit that before we booked the tickets to Kota Kinabalu, I really had no idea where Borneo was. I also thought that Borneo was its own country. Well...it turns out that Borneo is an island with a country and parts of two other countries. KK is the capital of Sabah, which is a semi-autonomous state of Malaysia. After pristine, modern Singapore, it was a nice change to spend a few days in gritty, relaxed Kota Kinabalu. Our first welcome to the island was the budget terminal of the KK airport. We stepped off the plane and had to walk across the tarmac for about five minutes before being herded into a building that was essentially a warehouse. We purchased a taxi voucher and got into the most ridiculous cab ever. The entire vehicle was blinged ... read more
looking sexy in neon orange
all smiles over the Kiulu River
South China Sea

Asia » Singapore » Pulau Ubin November 3rd 2010

After weeks of planning (and very little time spent packing), we headed off to Naha airport and South East Asia. One thing that really sucks about living in Okinawa is that we're basically in the middle of nowhere and there are very few international flights through our little airport. That means we had to fly 1000 miles north to Tokyo, just to turn around and fly right back down again to Singapore. We arrived at Changi airport at 6:30am after no sleep on our long overnight flight. We started our honeymoon in Singapore because the round trip tickets to get there were cheaper than anywhere else in the region. Turns out the tickets were pretty much the only thing cheap about Singapore. We wanted to check into our hotel early (since we got there just after ... read more
the quays at night
after our slide-riding adventure in Changi airport
mmm...kaya in a green waffle

Asia » Japan » Okinawa » Naha October 10th 2010

This weekend was a double holiday for us - Columbus Day (which all of the federal government, including the military, celebrates) and Sports Day (a Japanese holiday). We were looking for something to do, and the giant tug-of-war going on down in Naha seemed like the perfect thing to do. The Naha tug-of-war has been going on for the last forty years as part of the Sports Day celebrations. The tradition seems to have started in the 17th century, but it didn't make it into the Guinness Book of World Records until 1997. I doubt anyone will kick it out of the record book, either. The rope is absolutely enormous - about 90,000lbs, over 3 feet in diameter, and over 600 feet long. It takes up several blocks of highway 58 (which, rather inconveniently, is basically ... read more
parade on Kokusai Street
parade on Kokusai Street
parade on Kokusai Street

Asia » Japan » Okinawa » Kadena October 6th 2010

As I'm sure many of you know (either via Facebook or my mother), Chris and I got married. It may seem like it was too soon or rushed or what have you, but we spent a lot of time discussing it, weighing our options, etc. We were planning on getting married in the spring anyway, and when we looked at the advantages of getting married sooner, we figured the sooner the better! Neither one of us wanted a big wedding, and I hate to disappoint, but there was no romantic proposal. That's just not who we are, and we wanted to do things our way. I do have a ring - a very pretty amethyst - but that was as far as we wanted to go with wedding traditions. (Ed.: When girls say they don't want ... read more
at Chatan Town Office
Chris and me with Nakamura-san
Araha Beach




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