That was a couple of years ago and that's complete and utter bollux, I write this blog to give you my story the photos do not tell, the highs and the really really sad lows. Traveling isn't easy, and your never lucky, nobody is ever just really lucky, they follow their hearts desire and that in itself is what causes good things to happen, even if you do stumble along the way sometimes. So I guess I write also to Inspire others to travel.
June, 2014 - August, 2014
Budget: £4k
Flights: £1.7k
Thailand tour: £800
Thailand spends: £800
Visa: £250 (about that I can't actually remember)
My first flight was so scary but incredibly exciting and exhilarating! I was finally doing something I'd always always wanted to do, on my own, dippy, walk in to a road full of busy traffic me. I just had to focus on not doing anything completely mindless, and you know when you get chucked in at the deep end, an amazing thing happens. You swim! So there I was, looking for my terminal, my gates, eating on my own, waiting...
When my flight landed in Dubai it was tricky, I couldn't find my gate on the list and I was panicking a bit, I over heard somebody mention my gate number and immediately followed them hoping for the best and just kept asking people if I was going the right way, I don't think it was too long before my next flight to Bangkok but I made it in good time and off I was again. Easy (and that's saying something for me)
Once in Bangkok I had a flight to Ko Tao where i had to get a ferry to another island ko samui where my tour started. I was exhausted and it was late at night when I arrived so I grabbed my bag in the most bizarre airport which was basically a wooden hut.
A couple of people gave me a funny look because the bag was almost as big as I am since I'm a complete midget at 5ft and weighed 22kg (I weigh 55kg just to give you an idea), some British guys also grabbed their bags and I headed in the direction they were going, they said they hadn't booked accommodation either so we booked a taxi at reception and had a crazy half an hour trying to talk the taxi man into dropping us all off at the nicest hostel there was. I got a bit of admiration from the guys for being a solo traveler which made me feel great. talked about our plans on the trip and the full moon party which they were all attending on another island. The taxi man at this point was shouting something in Thai to us neither of us understood and we just kept repeating hostel, any hostel, in which he replied which one, and I was saying 'ANY' which he didn't understand, he needed a name. Damn language barrier. It was completely hilarious at the time and fortunately one of the guys grabbed a flyer for a hotel at the airport and gave it to the driver and we ended up staying there at something like £80 a night which was ridiculous especially for Thailand, I mean it was 4 star so it wasn't bad but I was a backpacker now. Budget time!bThe following day I enjoyed a day at the pool and explored the area, the beach was amazing, the sea was warm but the Thai guys - strange.
I asked at the hotel reception about the ferry to the island I needed to get on and booked it with the woman there, 2 hours later a shuttle bus came and I was taken to the ferry terminal, caught the correct ferry by asking everyone around me which one it was and made it to ko Samui safely where I met my tour guide. 10 days in Thailand, sorted! It was a bit unsettling diving into a crowd who already had a couple of days to acquaint themselves with one another and me, late as usual, the last one there so I had to catch up a bit. My tour was a 6 week tour but I chose to do just the first 10 days of it because I didn't have the budget or the time to do the rest (which I'm gutted about) as I had to start my job as an au pair on a certain date.
The thing about meeting a crowd of people who already know one another and hoping you fit in is,well, for me, I had these instant dreadful memory's of high school coming back. people had already developed there own clicks or had traveled as a pair so I didn't really know where to go? Where to fit in? But I also noticed the odd few who were just like me and seemed to just breeze by. I was put in a room with nicki and florentina. Nicki from Canada and florentina like, 20 mins from where I live. Mental!! Such a small small world. they were both so nice so I was relieved. In fact everybody was nice but i think I was missing out on a lot of gossip.
the tour guides always made sure I was involved and introduced me to
The crowd along with a demand of my most embarrassing sex story (should have said I was a virgin) that night we had a pub crawl and I won a dance off too so I think I did pretty well. The power of alcohol!
It was pretty incredible sharing each other's cultures and traditions, that's the best thing about meeting people from around the world. The best thing about meeting a load of new people in general is well... I'll give you an example. I was eating lunch by the beach one day and just thinking about what I was going to do next or probably worrying about something... And Naomi was just sitting on the balcony quietly, a dog was running across the beach and she was telling me how happy she was and how much she appreciates times like these and it's nice just to take it all in. I admired her so much and envied that she could just do that. Ya know we all have such busy minds and even when I was in paradise I couldn't just switch off and do that. I think Naomi taught me something, without even realizing and I think we all do that, sometimes we meet new people and they give us something, like a gift in a way and then that's it. Another girl Miranda she was just one of those who got along with anybody and everybody, she could be a tour guide if she wanted to she just had so much personality. I think everyone in the group will remember her for that and I really admired her because she had a great heart too. In high school those kinds of girls are usually the bitchy ones. When your traveling it's rare anybody's bitchy, you meet people so briefly and were all in the same situation so it's kind of a given that everybody just gets along. I admired nicki too because we had a bit of a falling out from lack of communication really and I felt bad and was a bit nervous because I didn't want it to be awkward in our room but she'd said all she needed to I guess and figured there was no need for any hard feelings and we were back to normal the next day and I loved her for that. It wasn't in-genuine either I can tell when someone's just putting on a smile and hating me, Na she was brilliant. I can't even remember if I apologized or not but either way she didn't hold a grudge and I appreciated that. She even Messaged me a bit concerned later on when I was in Australia.
Looking back now and comparing that to traveling Australia, no tour group, just flying solo. I think that when you book a tour and your going to be with the same people for a number of weeks, do consider that it IS going to get clicky, I think generally that just what happens. I don't mean to say that it gets bitchy or anything like that but you know that situation when your in the school canteen and your figuring out where to sit... Yeah well that situation happened a lot however never ever worry that someone is going to give you a dismissive look as soon as you sit next to them. I think as a traveler you might find yourself in this situation a lot anyways but just plonk yourself next to anybody and be like "hey I'm..." And that's it. Nobody thinks your weird. Your a backpacker. your kind of weird anyways, you broke free from a 9-5 job or study's or whatever to see the world and right now you share that in common with whoever you just sat next to. It is unsettling being in that situation but with practice you get over it without even realizing.
If I was to do Asia again, I would just go solo for sure. Even if the country's just hit some negative headlines, just go for it. If I managed to get 4 flights and a ferry in 48 hours I'm sure anybody on the planet can find there way to a hostel. Once your there, you meet people and your sorted. youl be told about all of these incredible things to do and see and were people have already been and it will be so easy...when your traveling, just follow the crowd, you make your own tour group, you become your own tour guide.
So from Thailand I had a flight to Singapore which was a 20 hour stopover so a hotel was needed and a number of taxis awaited outside the airport (and if they wernt I would have just asked somebody where reception was so they could call a taxi for me...)
Fortunately before I came out here I managed to get a job as an au pair (nanny) through a web sight online (you can google au pair and a bunch of sights will come up) thanks to a good family friend of mine Clare who also got a job doing the same thing, and without her I don't think I would have come to Australia at all. I just needed that security as soon as I got here and working as a nanny gave me that, as well as a chance to live with a real ozzy family which was a brilliant experience with all of it's highs but it too had it's low points.
total left to enter Australia on a working holiday visa: £200
Problem with getting into the country on that small amount even though they stipulate you have to be bringing in Atleast £2.5k into the country: None
It's actually rare they will do the whole bank statement check. So I had a credit card with a limit of £2.2k on it and my dad said he would put some cash in if he had to. So yeah I had a plan b and c!
It was a bit scary to be meeting with a stranger I had only but a Skype interview with and a couple of emails exchanged but I gave Andrea a hug when she met me at the airport (even though hugs aren't my thing) and we made our way to her home where I would be living for 6 months, she let me sleep the jet lag off and I started to learn about what nannying was going to entail. So basically for $250 a week plus food and stay (which is amazing because average is about $150) , I would get Ella ready for school, pack her lunch, make sure she had her medicine at the right Time, light cleaning and laundry for 5 days a week. I enjoyed my time with Ella she was such a lovely child , barely any difficulties at all she was generally super easy. Andrea and Geoff were great too, it was only really the loneliness that bothered me, not being around anybody my own age and people in my tour group in Thailand posting pictures up of them with tigers and elephants was just depressing... I felt like I needed to break free. Andreas house was far from a prison but socially it kind of felt like that Becuase I was also missing Craig so much and nothing I was doing was much of a distraction. I was greatful when the family decided to drive closer to Brisbane to see Andreas son. We hit some pretty incredible landscapes and views and I got chance to go to Australia zoo and feed some kangaroos which was incredible.
I started to become more and more unhappy as time was going on when we got back and I was so close to telling Andrea i wanted to leave, which I felt awful about about because she would have to go through the trouble of finding another au pair. Crazy enough Andrea lost her job just a day or 2 before I was about to spill the beans and subsequently had to let me go as she was no longer going to be able to afford me. she felt so bad she even paid for my flight to Melbourne
Budget: £4k
Flights: £1.7k
Thailand tour: £800
Thailand spends: £800
Visa: £250 (about that I can't actually remember)
My first flight was so scary but incredibly exciting and exhilarating! I was finally doing something I'd always always wanted to do, on my own, dippy, walk in to a road full of busy traffic me. I just had to focus on not doing anything completely mindless, and you know when you get chucked in at the deep end, an amazing thing happens. You swim! So there I was, looking for my terminal, my gates, eating on my own, waiting...
When my flight landed in Dubai it was tricky, I couldn't find my gate on the list and I was panicking a bit, I over heard somebody mention my gate number and immediately followed them hoping for the best and just kept asking people if I was going the right way, I don't think it was too long before my next flight to Bangkok but I made it in good time and off I was again. Easy (and that's saying something for me)
Once in Bangkok I had a flight to Ko Tao where i had to get a ferry to another island ko samui where my tour started. I was exhausted and it was late at night when I arrived so I grabbed my bag in the most bizarre airport which was basically a wooden hut.
A couple of people gave me a funny look because the bag was almost as big as I am since I'm a complete midget at 5ft and weighed 22kg (I weigh 55kg just to give you an idea), some British guys also grabbed their bags and I headed in the direction they were going, they said they hadn't booked accommodation either so we booked a taxi at reception and had a crazy half an hour trying to talk the taxi man into dropping us all off at the nicest hostel there was. I got a bit of admiration from the guys for being a solo traveler which made me feel great. talked about our plans on the trip and the full moon party which they were all attending on another island. The taxi man at this point was shouting something in Thai to us neither of us understood and we just kept repeating hostel, any hostel, in which he replied which one, and I was saying 'ANY' which he didn't understand, he needed a name. Damn language barrier. It was completely hilarious at the time and fortunately one of the guys grabbed a flyer for a hotel at the airport and gave it to the driver and we ended up staying there at something like £80 a night which was ridiculous especially for Thailand, I mean it was 4 star so it wasn't bad but I was a backpacker now. Budget time!bThe following day I enjoyed a day at the pool and explored the area, the beach was amazing, the sea was warm but the Thai guys - strange.
I asked at the hotel reception about the ferry to the island I needed to get on and booked it with the woman there, 2 hours later a shuttle bus came and I was taken to the ferry terminal, caught the correct ferry by asking everyone around me which one it was and made it to ko Samui safely where I met my tour guide. 10 days in Thailand, sorted! It was a bit unsettling diving into a crowd who already had a couple of days to acquaint themselves with one another and me, late as usual, the last one there so I had to catch up a bit. My tour was a 6 week tour but I chose to do just the first 10 days of it because I didn't have the budget or the time to do the rest (which I'm gutted about) as I had to start my job as an au pair on a certain date.
The thing about meeting a crowd of people who already know one another and hoping you fit in is,well, for me, I had these instant dreadful memory's of high school coming back. people had already developed there own clicks or had traveled as a pair so I didn't really know where to go? Where to fit in? But I also noticed the odd few who were just like me and seemed to just breeze by. I was put in a room with nicki and florentina. Nicki from Canada and florentina like, 20 mins from where I live. Mental!! Such a small small world. they were both so nice so I was relieved. In fact everybody was nice but i think I was missing out on a lot of gossip.
the tour guides always made sure I was involved and introduced me to
The crowd along with a demand of my most embarrassing sex story (should have said I was a virgin) that night we had a pub crawl and I won a dance off too so I think I did pretty well. The power of alcohol!
It was pretty incredible sharing each other's cultures and traditions, that's the best thing about meeting people from around the world. The best thing about meeting a load of new people in general is well... I'll give you an example. I was eating lunch by the beach one day and just thinking about what I was going to do next or probably worrying about something... And Naomi was just sitting on the balcony quietly, a dog was running across the beach and she was telling me how happy she was and how much she appreciates times like these and it's nice just to take it all in. I admired her so much and envied that she could just do that. Ya know we all have such busy minds and even when I was in paradise I couldn't just switch off and do that. I think Naomi taught me something, without even realizing and I think we all do that, sometimes we meet new people and they give us something, like a gift in a way and then that's it. Another girl Miranda she was just one of those who got along with anybody and everybody, she could be a tour guide if she wanted to she just had so much personality. I think everyone in the group will remember her for that and I really admired her because she had a great heart too. In high school those kinds of girls are usually the bitchy ones. When your traveling it's rare anybody's bitchy, you meet people so briefly and were all in the same situation so it's kind of a given that everybody just gets along. I admired nicki too because we had a bit of a falling out from lack of communication really and I felt bad and was a bit nervous because I didn't want it to be awkward in our room but she'd said all she needed to I guess and figured there was no need for any hard feelings and we were back to normal the next day and I loved her for that. It wasn't in-genuine either I can tell when someone's just putting on a smile and hating me, Na she was brilliant. I can't even remember if I apologized or not but either way she didn't hold a grudge and I appreciated that. She even Messaged me a bit concerned later on when I was in Australia.
Looking back now and comparing that to traveling Australia, no tour group, just flying solo. I think that when you book a tour and your going to be with the same people for a number of weeks, do consider that it IS going to get clicky, I think generally that just what happens. I don't mean to say that it gets bitchy or anything like that but you know that situation when your in the school canteen and your figuring out where to sit... Yeah well that situation happened a lot however never ever worry that someone is going to give you a dismissive look as soon as you sit next to them. I think as a traveler you might find yourself in this situation a lot anyways but just plonk yourself next to anybody and be like "hey I'm..." And that's it. Nobody thinks your weird. Your a backpacker. your kind of weird anyways, you broke free from a 9-5 job or study's or whatever to see the world and right now you share that in common with whoever you just sat next to. It is unsettling being in that situation but with practice you get over it without even realizing.
If I was to do Asia again, I would just go solo for sure. Even if the country's just hit some negative headlines, just go for it. If I managed to get 4 flights and a ferry in 48 hours I'm sure anybody on the planet can find there way to a hostel. Once your there, you meet people and your sorted. youl be told about all of these incredible things to do and see and were people have already been and it will be so easy...when your traveling, just follow the crowd, you make your own tour group, you become your own tour guide.
So from Thailand I had a flight to Singapore which was a 20 hour stopover so a hotel was needed and a number of taxis awaited outside the airport (and if they wernt I would have just asked somebody where reception was so they could call a taxi for me...)
Fortunately before I came out here I managed to get a job as an au pair (nanny) through a web sight online (you can google au pair and a bunch of sights will come up) thanks to a good family friend of mine Clare who also got a job doing the same thing, and without her I don't think I would have come to Australia at all. I just needed that security as soon as I got here and working as a nanny gave me that, as well as a chance to live with a real ozzy family which was a brilliant experience with all of it's highs but it too had it's low points.
total left to enter Australia on a working holiday visa: £200
Problem with getting into the country on that small amount even though they stipulate you have to be bringing in Atleast £2.5k into the country: None
It's actually rare they will do the whole bank statement check. So I had a credit card with a limit of £2.2k on it and my dad said he would put some cash in if he had to. So yeah I had a plan b and c!
When I arrived in Brisbane it was freezing! It was 2 or 3am and I had to wait around 4 hours for my next flight to Gladstone. I had picked up my backpack and was walking around the airport looking for somebody, anybody to point me in the right direction. I was looking for somewhere they did domestic flights but the entire airport was empty, nobody at desks, just 3 People on the sofa which slowly came Down to just me and a couple up the stairs. I remember feeling exhausted and just wanting to go home (I'm laughing at myself now) I think it was probably due to exhaustion but then "bubbly" came on the radio and I became a blubbering mess. I just broke down (I'm sure it was another symptom of exhaustion) I just missed my boyfriend at that moment so so much. i drifted in and out of sleep as it was too cold to get any decent shut eye and when I woke up at around 6am I noticed someone standing outside waiting. It was a bus stop I failed to notice. I used the only Australian note I had (a fair well present from my best friend, Lowri. She still managed to look after me on the other side of the world, damn I love that girl) to pay for the bus which would apparently take me to where I needed to get my domestic flight.
Once I arrived I checked the list of flights, mine wasn't on it. Panic. I asked and was immediately told exactly where I needed to be. Phew! And although I'm shit for taking directions I managed to find my way quite easily and sat relieved, knowing that this was my last flight for a good few months at least. Emotional break down over haha.
It was a bit scary to be meeting with a stranger I had only but a Skype interview with and a couple of emails exchanged but I gave Andrea a hug when she met me at the airport (even though hugs aren't my thing) and we made our way to her home where I would be living for 6 months, she let me sleep the jet lag off and I started to learn about what nannying was going to entail. So basically for $250 a week plus food and stay (which is amazing because average is about $150) , I would get Ella ready for school, pack her lunch, make sure she had her medicine at the right Time, light cleaning and laundry for 5 days a week. I enjoyed my time with Ella she was such a lovely child , barely any difficulties at all she was generally super easy. Andrea and Geoff were great too, it was only really the loneliness that bothered me, not being around anybody my own age and people in my tour group in Thailand posting pictures up of them with tigers and elephants was just depressing... I felt like I needed to break free. Andreas house was far from a prison but socially it kind of felt like that Becuase I was also missing Craig so much and nothing I was doing was much of a distraction. I was greatful when the family decided to drive closer to Brisbane to see Andreas son. We hit some pretty incredible landscapes and views and I got chance to go to Australia zoo and feed some kangaroos which was incredible.
I started to become more and more unhappy as time was going on when we got back and I was so close to telling Andrea i wanted to leave, which I felt awful about about because she would have to go through the trouble of finding another au pair. Crazy enough Andrea lost her job just a day or 2 before I was about to spill the beans and subsequently had to let me go as she was no longer going to be able to afford me. she felt so bad she even paid for my flight to Melbourne
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