The Traveling Ratcliff Photo Circus Around The World!

5 countries in 30 days! Thailand, India, Oman, Qatar, and Italy!

Hey! Guess what? I’m taking my whole family of 5 on a harrowing 30-day trip around the world, visiting 5 different countries. We’re hitting Thailand, India, Oman, Qatar, and Italy! I’m really excited. We started out for New Year's at Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Thailand and have now moved on to Bangalore, India to embark on an incredible eight-day train tour on The Golden Chariot!

Oman, Qatar, and Italy are coming up next... to see videos from behind-the-scenes and stuff, be sure to watch the blog at Stuck In Customs where we will post them fresh! :) You can also follow the whole clan on Instagram @Tina.Ratcliff, @isabellaRatcliff, @scarlettRatcliff, @TheEthanRatcliff, and @treyratcliff to keep up with the action!

I’ll make a bunch of these little videos along the way if that’s okay… Here are the first three!

Day 1 was a combination of 4 flights, 5 airports, and 3 tired children!

It was great after we finally arrived at our destination near Krabi, Thailand at Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. Everyone was pretty much out of it by the time we took the 12-hour flight from Auckland to Hong Kong. I’m not even sure how we found our plane… I was sort of in zombie-international-airport mode and we finally found our way. Anyway, after we finally got to Krabi, we had a nice drive to the hotel. We 20% unpacked then headed to the bar by the beach for sunset cocktails and photos. And then we had one of the most amazing dinners of our lives: a private BBQ buffet on the beach. We even got Ethan back there to cook a little bit with the chefs… so much fun!

Day 2 we did some amazing things that were worth capturing.

It started out with all of us in a party van with a mirrored ceiling for a short ride to get on a boat. We took the boat for about an hour to visit four small islands around Phi Phi. They were amazing and we had a great time snorkeling and swimming. Where are they exactly? See this Google Map. We ended with a lunch on Bamboo Island before coming back... and pretty much after we got back, it was time to visit CoCo the baby elephant on the beach! CoCo is 3 years old and it was on the way to being a circus elephant, but the group here rescued him and now he does nothing but rest and relax and eat! Sounds nice... they say that chain is on him when in public because sometimes boats scare him and he runs wild!

Day 5 was another incredible day in Thailand!

There is so much to see and do here. I got started with a meditation before going into a Thai Boxing class with the family. It got a bit violent sometimes ha! Then we had some good pool time and other relaxing things happening before being treated to an amazing sunset and a fun quad flight!

Lightroom Presets - Complete 2015 Bundle!

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I've taken all of the best from my very own collection of over 1000+ presets and re-worked them to look even more AWESOME for Lightroom versions 4 and above!

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Head over to the store and check it out!

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Aurora HDR Pro FREE Trial!

Try out the best HDR Software for Macs!

A new year, a new photo editing software...I'm sure that's how it goes right?

Well, now your new year can start off just like that! Go and get your Free Trial version of Aurora HDR Pro now! The trial version lets you dive into most of the features of the software!

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Note to Windows Users! Sorry, I know... Aurora HDR Pro currently only works on Macs so this offer isn't any help to you! So just for you guys, I've also marked down my most popular HDR Tutorial which demonstrates how to use Photomatix Pro.

A Wine Day In New Zealand!

A DJI day out... involving two wineries and a bar!

I have a cool new gadget called an Osmo! This device is made by DJI, which is the same company that makes the Phantom and Inspire quadcopters. I've been using it to record a few of my days here and there. It's actually what I've been filming my family trip around the world vlog on! It's supa handy and fun to use.

Anyway, here is a day that our team spent jumping around wineries and flying the quad… we left Queenstown in the morning and didn’t get home till late! :)

Note that I have since fixed many of the sound problems by using an external mike on the Osmo :)