1. The Adventure Begins! (Getting to Bangkok)

Helllllooo from Bangkok!!

We can't believe we're here, after years of planning, months of excitement, weeks of preparation...it has begun!

We started the trip in our house stressing over what to take, how to pack it and whether it needed to go into hand luggage or checked in baggage! We said our goodbye-for-now's to our family and friends and set off on our journey. Which NEARLY didn't go as planned due to a bus fire that literally just happened as we got to about 2 miles of it, resulting in long queues, motorway lanes to be closed and for our stress to rise...not too much...kind of!

After overcoming our motorway drama, we arrived at the airport only for me to find (after thinking I'd left it at home) a lovely extremely melted creme egg in my jacket pocket and due to me taking this jacket I had to wash it as obviously would be not allowed (not that a jacket is needed at this part of the trip!!!! its sooooo humid!!!). So this was quickly washed off and resolved!

Our flight left at 20.10 so we had plenty of time to relax and figure out where we had to go, after checking in, we went through security and got to the gate. We had a bit of chill time to eat some lemon drizzle cake (one for grandma!!)!

 

We then boarded our flight but before we could Puggles wanted a selfie with the aeroplanes in the background, what's he like!

 

 

For those wondering who Puggles is, it's a replacement of Nat's boyfriend which has his aftershave on, how romantic hehe!

 

So, the flight was with Emirates (economy of course $$$) but the standard that economy is at, makes you feel like you're in first class!! Pillow, headphones, machine in front of you to choose from hundreds of movies, songs and games too! The woman in front really did like that Inflight trivia game! Also comfy seats, sooo much legroom (very handy when got crazy long legs...), blanket and PROPER KNIFES AND FORKS...basically we love Emirates. We set off about 30 mins late but was all fine, then 7 hours later arrived at Dubai. Midway through however, we saw that outside the window we could see the turning of night into day and captured it :)

 

 

Upon arrival in Dubai, in the distance we saw the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, even when it was miles and miles and miles and miles away, it still looked magnificient!

 

The Dubai airport is crazily big, and ultra shiny with branded goods everywhere, shops with extremely expensive products in...we really could tell we were in Dubai!

 

We made it to boarding but when we got through we got a MASSIVE surprise. We had been upgraded to BUSINESS CLASS!!!! Here's the proof!

 

 

 

So this came with some amazing advantages; soft blanket, amazing eye mask, FULLY reclinable chairs, noise cancelling headphones, water and ridiculously nice food! I unfortunately felt really rough about the first flight so annoyingly had to decline the food and settle for iced water (in a proper glass!).

 

So we then arrived at Bangkok airport where we had a much shorter wait! Taking full advantage of our business class opportunity because it might not happen again (happy for it too thought!).

 

 

So after getting our visas stamped, we went to collect our baggage.........

 

However, after what seemed like forever, we saw a lot of people from our flight gathering at the lost or damages desk...made us scared. In a nutshell, even though we set off an hour late from Dubai due to a ''baggage handling problems'', none of the luggage had been put on the plane!! The image below is after the queuing up because it was so busy and tight around the desk.

 

 

So currently we are waiting to be reunited with our bags which have all our clothes in!! So safe to say, in this weather, we need more clothes!!

 

We then got the metro which have these AMAZING tokens instead of paper which fascinated us for a while...easily entertained. Made us think it was for a funfair ride...

 

 

After a little bit of wandering we finally found the hostel which is really nice and comfy! In a really central area (train station, shops, metro) however the downfall to that is traffic...it is completely mental but you avoid crossing roads (full of tuk tuks and mopeds) by using the metro entrances and exits. At each entrance there is a security sensor and guard, it's brilliant safety wise however is a pain because we have to open our bags every time (however today the lady let us through due to seeing us TOO many times).

 

So, hope you enjoyed our first post of our arrival to Bangkok, it's weird being 7 hours ahead of England however we have managed to get in the time zone surprisingly fast!

Feel free to comment below :)

 

See you on the next post!!

 

Rach x

 

 

 

THE PLAN

Hellooooo...


At the start of the planning process we had extremely optimistic plans!

We were planning on including countries for the slightest reason. For example, Switzerland was chosen due to them 'having nice chocolate', so this really wasn't a legitimate enough reason to pay for another flight, more hostels, more transportation costs just for the 'really nice chocolate'. Even though it was VERY tempting!!

Amongst the large range of countries, cultures and continents we are going to, one more was originally included and this was South America. The most attractive was Rio of course. Of which seeing Christ the Redeemer in the flesh was a huge reason for visiting. But due to mainly the logistics of flights (round the world tickets only allowing you to travel in one direction) this wasn't possible. However hopefully in the future this can become a hotspot to visit.

There was also Angel Falls in Venezuela however the many connecting flights necessary, the 4 hour upstream boat trip and the 90 minute hike made us wonder whether we were that interested given the journey of getting there!! But you never know in the future!

So after intensive planning here is a clear plan of where we will be going;

Asia...

Image 1 - First half of Asia

Image 2 - Second half of Asia

• Manchester - Dubai (flight)
• Dubai - Bangkok (flight)
• Train to Chumphon where we will catch a ferry over to the first Thai island of Koh Tao
• Ferry from Koh Tao to Koh Samui
• Koh Samui - Krabi (flight)
• Ferry to Koh Phi Phi
• Ferry back to Krabi
• Krabi - Kuala Lumpur (flight)
• Train from Kuala Lumpur down to Singapore.

Australia...

Image 3 - First part of Australia

Image 4 - Second part of Australia

 

Image 5 - Third part of Australia

• Singapore - Brisbane (flight)
• Using the Greyhound Australia bus to travel to Surfers Paradise/Gold Coast
• Then to Byron Bay
• Then back to Brisbane
• At this point we will use our Brisbane - Cairns passes stopping off at:
• Sunshine Coast
• Hervey Bay - 3 day tour of Fraser Island
• Airlie Beach - 2 day tour of the Whitsundays
• Townsville - Tour to Magnetic Island
• then finally to Cairns - 1 day tour of Great Barrier Reef, 1 day tour to Atherton Tablelands
• Cairns - Ayers Rock (Uluru) (flight)
• Ayers Rock - Sydney (flight)

New Zealand...

Image 6 - New Zealand

• Sydney - Auckland (flight)
• We will then spend a month adventuring around the North and South Islands going from the very top (Cape Reinga) down to the very bottom (Bluff).

Fiji...

Image 7 - Fiji Tour Details

• Auckland - Nadi (flight)
• Then its a 8-day tour around the island including 3 days at Mantaray Island (See image for tour details)
• We then have a few days to ourselves to work very hard lying on the beach haha.

North America...


Image 8 - First Part of USA



Image 9 - Second Part of USA

 

 

Image 10 - Third Part of USA



Image 11 - Fourth Part of USA

• Nadi - Los Angeles (flight)
• Using the greyhound bus head from LA to:
• San Francisco
• Las Vegas - head to Hoover Dam, Kingman (Route 66), Grand Canyon, Monument Valley on one hell of a roadtrip (explained in previous post)
• St George
• Denver
• St Louis
• Chicago
• Buffalo (Niagara Falls)
• New York
• and finally Washington.

From Washington we will fly back home to Manchester for a well earned cup of tea and a lifetime full of memories!!




So it's time to pack...ten days to go...will see you then! :)

Rach x

Three weeks to go..... (updates/roadtrip adventures!)

Helllloooo,

As of Wednesday, it will be only three weeks until it all starts!! Now that we are under a month away, planning has increasing picked up pace...

This week has been eventful, we have booked ALL of our accommodation for the Asia portion of the trip (Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore) making us feel so much more relaxed knowing we actually have somewhere to stay. We've balanced price, with safety, location, and room occupancy (dorms). It's nice because we don't have to worry about having to sleep on the beach however it takes away a degree of flexibility but after all the planning we know to a point that 'this period of time will be perfect for this place' and to be honest it'll be one less worry of making sure we use the time we have to the full potential.

  

We also have sorted our accommodation for Bright Angel Lodge which is a stones throw from the Grand Canyon. This is part of a crazy roadtrip we have planned for ourselves which consists of driving from Las Vegas, going to Hoover Dam, on the way to Kingman to drive on Route 66 and visit the Route 66 Museum. From there we are driving east to the Grand Canyon which is where we will be staying for the night, getting some night shots of sunset and sunrise from a couple of the amazing viewpoints. After sunrise we will be heading (a lot of miles =a lot of fun!! :) ) east right over to Monument Valley to have a picnic next to the most calm, panoramic and beautiful scenery there. After this, we will head east up to St George which is where we will be for a few days visiting Zion National Park. (SIDE NOTE: I've got goosebumps, it doesn't seem real!!!!!).



Las Vegas (A), to Hoover Dam (B), staying at Grand Canyon (C), to Monument Valley (D) then St George (E)

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE.   

 

You might be thinking ''oh my, aren't they practising driving on the WRONG side of the road'' ...well we are driving to Area 51, visiting A 'le Inn in Rachel which is near Las Vegas. One reason is because it's near Area 51 and a tiny proportion is because it's my name (spelt wrong of course!). So this will be a big chance for us to practice our USA driving!

So as the countdown approaches days rather than weeks, the excitement is rising, the nervousness (good nerves) are increasing and the stress of packing is starting to arrive!

But we can't wait and updates will be on here whenever you fancy taking a look :)

Thanks,

Rachael :D