LIVE-2-LOVE LIFE!

San Francisco- the last destination (for now)

2011-05-22T20:13:00.001+01:00

After a week partying in Vegas we were all looking forward to the sightseeing days that we were sure to find in San Francisco. And I must say I don’t think any of us were quite prepared on what we found in this city. Yes the harbour is lovely, and the views and experience of riding one of the many open air trams in this hill ridden city is a must. But none of us realised how neglected and poverty stricken many of the outskirt city areas were. The amount of homeless people was astonishing in such a western country, and many of them seemed to be mentally unwell, which was quite scary.

As you can imagine being 4 girls and all, none of us felt that safe, especially at night so we made sure we were in our hotels by about 9pm. Growing up in London we are used to seeing homeless people, and are aware that poverty like this still effects major western cities, however the untold amount of homeless people in San Fran is more than you can imagine, and very sad indeed.

However, putting this unfortunate aspect of San Fran aside, we did have a good time Union square is a central place. As we were there in December the huge Christmas tree and ice skating ring set up in the square was lovely, we of course had a few laps of the ice rink which was fun.

Macey’s is also in Union square, and the cheesecake factory is on the top floor which we of course dined in, the food was delicious and the slices of cheesecake are huge. There are also many more shops around this area and you can also catch one of the many sightseeing double decker busses from here.

On one of our 4 days we also had a day out on Alcatraz Island and visited Alcatraz prison, such an insightful and great trip, I think I might have enjoyed it bit more than some of the girls but I do love learning about history- bit of a geek at times. Seriously though, this trip made our visit to San Fran worth it.

To be honest now that I have visited Alcatraz prison I doubt I will ever go back to this part of America again. Toni and I actually left San Francisco a day early and flew straight back home to England, we were at a point where we had hardly any money left and after a year we were so homesick and couldn’t wait to get home. Renu and Nat understood and after we left they had 1 more day in San Francisco then flew back to LA for 3 days before jetting home where we see them at our welcome home party.

VEGAS Baby!!!

2011-05-22T19:34:00.000+01:00

Our journey from LA to Vegas was rather quick and as our flight was in the evening, it was also a very spectacular flight with amazing views of the Vegas lights. Honestly it is so astounding that I was in complete awe- to such an extent that I recommend making sure your fight into Vegas is in the evening.

Once we landed all of us were so excited that we even opted for our airport transport to be a limousine- well we were in Vegas after all, it only cost us around £15 each, so we hadn’t gone completely mad.

Our hotels were literally right next to each other, a mere 5 minute walk; Toni and I of course stayed in the cheaper of the two, being poor globe trotters and all, whereas the girls were on their holidays so were in a much more extravagant abode. Our hotel, The Imperial Palace, was not to bad to be fair, it was a tad dated as it is one of the original hotels on the strip but at a mere £9 each a night it was a bargain and was on the same scale as a 3* hotel in the UK. And being bang in the middle of the strip it was ideal, so not bad at all if I do say so myself. I would certainly stay here again- come on we are talking Vegas- you hardly see your hotel room, and you can use all the facilities at the more expensive hotels anyway. The Venecian is where Renu and Nat stayed which was amazing and there room was gorgeous; they probably spent way more than what we did but as I said they were on their holiday’s so could afford to splash out, still Toni and I were rather envious, in a good way, but like I said we spent hardly any time in our rooms.

We arrived in Vegas on a Thursday night which we soon found out was ladies night, this consisted of free drink promotions for the ladies before midnight, which we of course took great advantage of. We were in Vegas for 6 nights in which we partied every night; honestly being a girl in Vegas is undoubtedly an advantage. Nearly every night we were approached by promoters for the night clubs in which they would give is free entry (just for being female) and we were also shown to VIP areas with free flowing drinks all night... we felt famous!!!.... There was also a few times when we were all dolled up at the start of the night, walking through the casino when we were approached by tourists who wanted to take photos with us!!! So unreal- WE LOVED VEGAS!!!

As we only had 6 days here and were also on our last leg of our amazing globetrotting year, we unfortunately did not have time nor could we afford to do the Grand Canyon tour. So instead to have a bit of day time fun Toni and I ventured a bit away from the strip and paid a visit to the Stratosphere hotel. This hotel is the tallest hotels in Vegas and it is famous for the rides that it has on its roof- a must do, even though they are as scary as hell and Toni and I nearly pooped our pants and actually chickened out of going on one of the rides. But a visit to this hotel is highly recommended even if going on rides is not for you the views of the Vegas strip from the viewing floor are amazing. We also went to te MGM Grand one even and watched their Cirque de Soleil show, it was really really good. Their are several of these shows in different hotels on the strip so you do have a pick, we basically went for this one as we booked it last minute and it was the only one that we could get affordable tickets for, still they were $85 each put worth every penny, or cent rather.

Also if you love to Shop you must visit the outlet retail park on the outskirts of town, there are so many bargains to be had, Toni and I were gutted that we didn’t have any more money but still we managed to buy a few treats of course. From partying, to sightseeing, to shopping, to watching your choice of shows, to getting an adrenaline rush from the Stratosphere rides and having a flutter in the many casinos. Its true what they say, Vegas is indeed an adults playground and I will most definitely go back one day.

LA (USA)

2011-02-17T12:52:00.001+00:00

We arrived in America very tired following 2 flights totalling 15 hours, our taxi took us straight to our hostel on Melrose Avenue, called Orbit. This hostel is very basic, however reasonably priced. For an all girls 4 bed en suite dorm we paid $43 dollars each for 2 nights- bargain. Due to our lack of sleep and thus grumpy nature, we caught a few Z's before we called the girls and met up with them. So a few hours later, and slightly more refreshed and awake we set off in search for the girls hotel- which according to Google map was only a 20-30min walk...

However an hour later we were lost, unfortunately Toni and I then discovered that we had completely walked in the wrong direction when we came out of our hostel- well seriously who knows which way north, south, east and west is on a map? A simple left or right would have been easier?! Anyways, where was I? oh yeah 'Lost in LA'.... So we ended up getting a taxi and arriving to the girls much later than planned, but they were not ready anyhow, so it was no big drama. It was so good to see them, I hadn't seen Renu since our leaving party last December and I hadn't seen Natalie since March when she came to Vietnam.

Eventually we all found a lovely little restaurant, had a lovely meal, a few drinks and a big catch up then headed to a bar.

We found a bar near the girls hotel in west Hollywood that had an 'all you can drink' offer for just $25, as you can imagine we stayed in this bar all night... The next day the girls came and met us at our hostel (they also got lost so were a few hours late)...

We spent all of this day walking the streets of LA, and doing what girls do best- SHOP, stopping twice of course for lunch and dinner- well shopping can be exhausting. Top Tip the portion size of meals in America are huge, so one meal can in fact feed 2 people... we all noticed that finishing the food on our plate was an impossible task.. So if your not a big eater or are on a budget get 1 meal between 2.

The following day we checked out but put our bags in the storage room as our flight to Vegas was not till late afternoon... Therefore we spent the day on the famous star studied Hollywood 'Walk Of Fame'. All 4 of us got a 10min taxi ride to this part of town which was about $20 between us, however you can get a bus from Mel rose Avenue which is only $1.50 and it only takes about 15mins.

We only had about 2 hours on the 'Walk Of Fame' but it was enough to walk the length of the street, take pictures and fit in lunch at The Hard Rock Cafe (again portion sizes are huge!) Once our time was up, we all went back to collect our luggage and then headed to the airport. We all got an airport shuttle which was about $15 each, this works out much cheaper than a taxi.

Main Tips for Australia

2011-01-05T21:19:00.003+00:00

1- If you are planning on working in Oz do the following A.S.A.P

Apply for your working holiday Visa before you enter Australia http://www.immi.gov.au/

Apply for your Tax File number ASAP as can take up to 3 weeks to be issued http://www.immi.gov.au/
As soon as you arrive buy an Australian mobile Sim card- Telstra/ Optus are the main ones so have the best reception in all areas.
Update your CV ASAP. Don't forget your new Australian mobile number. Apply to as many online recruitment agencies as possible. TAW is a good agency that will find you jobs off the coast and also jobs that will work toward your second year Visa. http://www.taw.com.au/. They charge you a fee but guarantee to find you work.
Apply for an Australian bank account. Many to choose from., ANZ, St George, Commonwealth, and Westpac being the main ones.
If you intend to work in hospitality i.e bar tender, hotels, restaurants then you need to gain an RSA certificate, you can apply online or enrol in a day course. This will cost you, price varies depending on what state and how many states you wish to be certified in. http://www.qhint.com/

2- Book hostels on a weekly basis if you are staying in one place for a week or more. Paying the weekly rate works out cheaper, and will ensure that you stay put in the one room.

3- When staying in cities for longer than a week, buy weekly travel cards saves you quite a bit.

4- Book trips and greyhound coaches through Peter pans travel shop. You will get loads of discounts on bars/restaurants/hostels throughout Australia. You will also get a Peter pans card which entitles you to have free Internet access in all Peter pan shops throughout Australia. (Please note, this travel shop is mainly on the East coast)

5- Don't stay in a party hostel if you don't want to party every night. The tame hostels are often the YHA ones (apart from the one in Darwin)

6- Try and see as much as possible, such a big country so much to see and do.

Farewell Australia 30th Nov 2010

2010-12-28T17:15:00.002+00:00

Toni and I are sitting in Auckland airport at the moment, waiting for our flight to LA following our 3 hour flight from Sydney. If you can recall in our original travel route we had planned to spend a month in New Zealand then go to the Cook islands for a few weeks before heading to the States. However as we loved Oz so much we decided to skip New Zealand, which meant we could go to Bali and spend more time in Australia. In turn this also made us decide to skip the Cook Islands too... hopefully one day in the future we will get to Visit both countries.

Anyway, where was I? Or yeah- reminiscing. It is mad to think this time last year we hadn't even begun our year long adventure. On one hand it feels as though time has gone so fast, but yet we have visited so many countries, seen so much beauty and experienced so many different cultures and way of life. This trip has made us grow in more ways than we could imagine. Yes we still look the same (granted a few pounds heavier and a few shades darker) but we have changed within, whether it be our future goals and ambitions or the fact that we see our lives from different angels.

I also think that Toni and I know one another better than we did when we started our adventure, which was unexpected considering we had known each other for 15 years when we started globetrotting. But nearly a year on, living with each other 24/7 has made us literally morph into the same person- in the sense that we finish each others sentences and can read each others minds most of the time... I would say rather comically, that we are like a old married couple....

It hasn't been all plain sailing though, I've had my moments and Toni hers, which is only natural, but at the end of the day we overcome our issues more or less right away which is what counts and is probably the main reason we had been friends for so long before this journey even began.

Toni and I are proud of ourselves that we have made it this far as we have had bouts of homesickness and money worries throughout. But we pulled through together and I cant speak for Toni but I couldn't have done it without her and I am so glad she is my best friend and I was able to share this amazing journey with her.

Now we are both looking forward to the last leg of our adventure, 17 fun days in America with 2 of our friends from back home- Natalie and Renu, where we will all visit LA, Vegas and San Fransisco. Even though we are really excited for this next leg and end of our year adventure, I am sad that mine and Toni's journey, as just the 2 of us, has come to an end. But to look on the bright side at least we will be in each others lives for many years to come where I'm sure when we are old and grey, we will sit there with our knitting needles and reminisce on this amazing globe trotting year!!!

Sydney... Take 2

2010-12-28T16:03:00.000+00:00

Back in Sydney after Melbourne seemed like going home, afterall it is where our Australian adventure began.. As we lived here for 2 months back then we were very familiar with our surroundings and getting about this huge city. In addition we had made many friends the first time we were here that were still living and working in Sydney.

One of which, Michael (who also came to the Melbourne cup with us), offered us a place to stay for the remaining 3 weeks of our Oz adventure. This was very kind of him and we had also become tired of hostels so was glad to have our own space. Staying in Michaels spare room meant that we could unpack and save money, the lata being the most important as we had completly spent all of the money we earned in whilst in Brisbane, Byron Bay and Melbourne.

To add to our saving fund we also contacted the promotional agency that we joined when we were first in Sydney. Luckily for us our agent managed to book us in for 5 promotional jobs within our 3 weeks in Sydney. Michael was also kind enough to let us work at his company for a week doing customer service calls, which really helped us out alot. So our last 3 weeks in Sydney, consisted of us working, catching up with our friends, sunbathing and building up our spending money for the up and coming America leg of our round the world adventure.

Melbourne

2010-12-28T15:50:00.000+00:00

After our time in Byron Bay we got on a 13 hour Greyhound ride back to Sydney, where we met our friend Michael. Two days later all 3 of us flew to Melbourne. Melbourne was not in our original plan, but we had heard many great reviews on this city, plus my 27th birthday was coming up and I really wanted to go to the Melbourne cup to celebrate. Toni and I have never been to the races before, so just mearly going was an experience, but to go to the Melbourne Cup- one of the biggest yearly horse race events in the world, was very exciting for us. Even the whole process of getting our outfits and putting them together was exciting.

We had a really good time, and the weather held out for most of the day, there was a bit of rain but by that time we had drunk so much Champagne that it didn't bother us; Toni even won a little money on one race which was lucky. The atmosphere was amazing there were so many people, it was buzzing. We loved it so much that we are definitely going to go to Ascot next summer back in England, and maybe one day even go to the Melbourne cup again.

Toni and I used to be avid Neighbours fans when we were younger and would always watch this soap opera when we would get home from school. So when we discovered we were going to Melbourne where it is filmed we knew we had to go on the Neighbours tour which cost around 70 bucks each.

Three words for you- DON'T DO IT!!! Unless you are a mad fan and watch the programme religiously and I mean all the time. It was the most dull, boring tour Toni and I have ever been on, save your money. If you choose not to listen to me, don't say I didn't warn you.

Melbourne is such a beautiful city, its not as modern as Sydney or Brisbane, it has more of a historical look and feel to it. However, in complete contrast to what I just said, Melbourne does have the biggest Casino in Australia. There is also a beautiful Botanical gardens and river, and in addition like many cities there are also many museums, bars, and restaurants. We were only in Melbourne for 5 days, 1 of which we spent at the Melbourne Cup and one of which we spent on a Neighbours tour. We also drove a few hours outside of the city and visited the coast where we stayed the night at a mates beach house. But what we did see of Melbourne we liked, and would certainly go back.

Brisbane and Byron Bay

2010-12-10T04:43:00.001+00:00

Toni and I only stayed in Brisbane for the weekend after leaving Roma. We satyed with our friend Brandon who we met in Roma the first time we were there. It was nice of him to put us up and show us about. Brisbane is a nice city, it seemed smaller than Sydney but as we were only there for the weekend we didnt really get to see much of its hard to judge. This weekend Toni and I catched up with Brandon and done a bit of shopping. So our time here was short and sweet but glad we got to visit this city.

Byron Bay

After our short Brisbane visit we got the Greyhound bus to Byron Bay. We stayed in the YHA hostel there which was in a great spot, located a 5 minute walk from the beach and 2 minute walk from the street and supermarket. This hostel was very clean and spacious too, with a huge well equiped kitchen, I would reccommend staying here. Byron Bay is a very chilled and relaxed small town, the beautiful beach is huge and everyone in Byron Bay seems very relaxed.

The nightlife is also thriving, with a mixture of cheesy places like Cheeky Monkeys where you can play drinking games and dance on tables, to average pubs and bars. Byron Bay is filled with many travellers a majority of whom are musically talented, therefore many bars host open mic nights. We went to one in a bar in the Arts Factory -Budda Bar. We were asked to go there by our irish friend, who we originally met in Sydney but now lives and works in Byron Bay.

His name is Ciaran Sweeney and has such a pure talent of singing, playing the guitar and writing songs. I predict that Ciaran will go far, so make a note of his name people!! So along with listening to Ciaran at this open mic night, there were also so many other talented people from all over the world... Going to a open mic night in Byron Bay is a must and certainly a highlight for us. Our 5 days spent in beautiful Byron Bay were very chilled and it was our pleasure to view and listen to such amazing raw talent of all the people at the open mic night and also on the beach. If you recall Toni was also given money for her birthday by all of our friends at home, with this money she done a skydive over Byron Bay which she loved.

We would deffiently love to go back to Byron Bay and is infact one of our favorite spots in Australia, we were actually sad that we couldnt spend more time there.

Darwin and Bali

2010-11-26T12:22:00.003+00:00

Darwin

Our time in Darwin was short and sweet as we were only there for 4 days before we flew to Bali. These 4 days were mainly spent relaxing, either by the pool or at the lagoon and wave pool. It was nice to be able to just relax and sunbath after working for the past 2 months in Roma. We didn't really go out at night much in Darwin, but on our 2nd night we did and managed to tag along with a bucks party (or 'stag do' as us English folk call them). This was a fun night and also a double celebration as it was Toni's 26th birthday the next day. In Darwin there is a main road with all of the bars/restaurants on its called Mitchell St and is the place to be for a night out.

Bali
Toni and I decided to go to Bali as a spare of the moment thing, we had already booked our flights to Darwin and Bali is only a 2 and a half hour flight away so we thought why not? We had been working hard for the past 2 months in Roma and we had heard great reviews about this small Indonesian island. so we decided to take 1 months holiday away from Oz and spend a whole month in Bali. We found flights via the Internet on the Webjet website (http://www.webjet.com.au/) which is one of the best websites in Oz for cheap flights. We found return flights to Bali for $400 each that's around £210- BARGAIN!!!.

The day we flew to Bali was Toni's birthday so that morning I surprised Toni with birthday cards that I had arranged with our friends and her family from back home to send over to Oz. They had been sending them to Roma for the past month and I was collecting them and hiding them from Toni. So on her actual birthday when I gave these cards to her she was really surprised and stunned and she shed many happy tears. Also to top it off many of our close friends also each sent some money to go towards a skydive which Toni wanted to do, success of part one of the birthday surprise.

Part 2 of Toni's birthday surprise was from me, which was 5 days in a 5star luxury spa resort which I had booked us in to kick start our month in Bali. The Rama Beach Villa and Spa resort was perfectly beautiful and Toni loved it. This resort was in North Kuta, a 20min drive from Bali airport and a mere 15 minute walk from Kuta Square and the Kuta strip which is where the main shops and nightlife are based. We were also right by the beach. Following our 5 days of luxury we moved to a 3 star hotel which was more central and was close to Kuta square. This hotel is not really worth mentioning as it was pretty basic, we stayed here for 6 days and then moved on. Our next hotel was called the Best Western, this hotel was very modern, clean, really well priced and our beds were so comfortable (a trait you pick up whilst travelling- noticing the comfort of each bed you sleep in). I would recommend a short stay in this hotel either when arriving or leaving Bali as it is near the airport.

The reason we moved to a hotel near the airport was because we were waiting for our 'friend' to arrive from England to join us for a 2 week holiday. Or so Toni was lead to believe; Part 3 of Toni's birthday surprise was that her mum was coming out to Bali to meet her. Toni and her mum are really close, and at this point they had not seen each other in nearly 9 months.. So you can imagine the look on Toni's face when her mum walked through the arrival gates at the airport where we were standing and waiting for our 'friend'... To sum it up, there were many tears, laughter, shaking and cuddles- bless... I must say i am very proud of myself for keeping all 3 surprises well and truly hidden and not letting the 'cat out of the bag', normally I am really bad at surprises...

Angie spent 2 fun filled weeks with us in Bali, in which we done and see so much including feeding monkeys, white water rafting, holding baby orangutans and white baby tigers, sunbathing, drinking and eating in many nice restaurants. In our first week of Angie's holiday we stayed a few days in a place called Sanur, which is about 40minute drive from Kuta. This area is more quiet then Kuta which we thought was needed so Angie could recover from Jet lag.

After these few days in Sanur we travelled to the Gili islands which are a few hours from Bali just off of the Indonesian island of Lombok. These islands are so beautiful and chilled out with white sand surrounded by turquoise blue water. The Gili's are an ideal place to go if you want to relax and escape the average tourist holiday; on this paradise islands there are no cars, no motorbikes and no worries. There are 3 Gili islands in total, Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air. There are several ways to travel to these islands from Bali, flying is the quickest but as we are backpackers we choose to take the cheapest which consisted of the slow boat to Lombok, minibus, then another boat to Gili Trawangan which is the largest of the 3 islands. This cheapest transport option took us about 8 hours altogether and cost about £15 each, as opposed to the quickest flying mode which takes approx 40 minutes but costs around £80 each. We was abit concerned in asking Angie to take the cheapest option, but she took it in her stride and said it was good to experience the 'travelling' side of what Toni and I had been through in Asia for the first 3 months of our trip.

When we got back to Bali after 4 relaxing, chilled days on the Gili Islands, we went back to stay in Kuta where we met up with a family friend of Angie and Toni, Geoff. He had came out to Bali for a 2 week holiday, it was good to see Geoff and the 4 of us had many nights out, mainly in the Reggae bar on the strip, where we strutted our dance moves. The day we before we left Bali Angie flew home, it was sad saying goodbye but we will be seeing her in 3 months, so not that long. We are so glad Angie and Geoff came out, it made our Bali holiday even better. The day Toni and I were leaving Bali we went Dolphin swimming in the morning, it was such an amazing unforgettable experience. There were 8 dolphins in total and they had all been rescued from fisherman's nets all over Indonesia, and to top it off these dolphins were in a pen in the sea in which they was let out of everyday to swim in the sea and come and go as they pleased. So it was not a cruel atmosphere at all. They are so beautiful, gentle, friendly and smart, to come so close to them was definitely a highlight of our Bali experience.

Living and Working in the ‘real’ Australia

2010-09-03T06:57:00.001+01:00

I haven’t written a blog in a while, well nearly 3 months to be exact... For the first 2 months Toni and I worked and lived in a pub in a mining/ gasworks town, following which we flew to Darwin for 4 days and now we are in Bali for 1 month.... A lot to take in??? Yeah tell me about it! To make it easier to follow, I’ll start from the beginning....
After we said our goodbyes to our Fraiser Island ‘gang’ and boarded our greyhound coach we headed straight for Brisbane. We decided to skip the rest of the Sunshine Coast as we were running out of money and would soon be back on our credit cards, so we knew that we needed to find jobs fast or otherwise we would be back in England before we knew it. We had heard about an employment agency from 2 of the girls in our Fraiser island group. It was called ‘Travellers at Work’. This agency guaranteed to find you work in the outback for a small administration fee, about $70. The girls themselves had found work through this agency so we knew it was a sure thing. Plus we knew that if we wanted to save then we needed to get off of the coast and head inland, as the coast was so expensive. In addition we were looking forward to meeting a different crowd, don’t get me wrong we love being travellers and meeting travellers alike from different countries and cultures; but we had been in Australia for 3 months at this stage and had only actually met a handful of Australians in amongst all of the amazing French, German, Iranian, Irish, Scottish and English people ...

So therefore a day after arriving to Brisbane we found our closest TAW agency, and 20 minutes later had bagged jobs working together in a hotel/pub as barmaids, in a small town 6 hours drive inland from Brisbane (or Brizzy as the Ozzi’s call it)...

Before I continue, I just want to say a brief bit about Australia Zoo or ‘Steve Irwin’s Zoo’ as it is also known. A day before we packed our bags and travelled to the outback Toni and I decided to visit this Zoo as we had heard great reviews about it and also out of respect for the greatly respected ‘crocodile hunter’ Steve Irwin who tragically died a few years back. The day trip to this Zoo was a really good day out, I highly recommend a visit, we were in high spirits all day and Toni even got a bit closer to conquering her fears about snakes as we held a 20ft long Python... It cost us around $70 each which included transport and entry.

Our Outback Adventure

So back to Roma... When we arrived in this town it was bigger than expected; Roma has 2 supermarkets, 1 cinema, 1 McDonalds, 1 KFC, 5 pubs in total and a motel. There are also a few clothes shops, and a few other shops like florist, DIY, electrical, Jewellers etc... oh and a video shop, all the essentials I guess. On our first walk around the town (which took no longer than 15mins) Toni and I had noticed that none of the clothes shops were open, and considering it was only 2pm on a Saturday afternoon we deemed this as very odd- being City girls and all that. Following this insight we started to doubt our detour in our travel plans. However we decided to stick it out as we had came to Roma to save money and we knew that considering there was not much to spend our money on, then saving money should be an easy goal, even if we did pull our hair out with boredom in the meantime.

The hotel/pub we were assigned to live and work in for the next 2 months was called The Royal Hotel and it was as grand as the name suggests (well on a small ‘Town like scale’); it is in the middle of town on its own corner. It is a huge pub compared to the dinky dark musky ones in England. The pub itself has a long rounded bar, 2 pool tables and a separate seating area that also turns into a dance floor on Thursday nights when the tables and chairs are removed and the DJ arrives. The Royal also has a separate ‘bistro’ (or restaurant as us less fancy people call them) and a huge function room at the back. Upstairs has many rooms that are rented out on a daily or weekly basis. There are 2 huge balconies on either side of the pub, one of which was constantly sunny so was the perfect area to do a bit of sunbathing on many of the nice days we spent in Roma. There is also a common area with tea / coffee, microwave, Fridge and a TV/DVD player, where us girls spent many a tired night or hangover afternoon watching DVD’s that we rented from the Video store down the road... Okay I know I went on a bit of rant there and sounded like a bit of an estate agent trying to promote The Royal Hotel, but I just want all you lot reading this to get a feel of where Toni and I lived and worked, and had so many good times for 2 months of our travels... In which case I need to describe the main people that made our experience so special...

Our Roma Family and live-in Friends

The owners of the pub had a separate section upstairs that was there living quarters and there granddaughter also resided here; the granddaughter being like our little sister (even at 17 years old), .... These 3 amazing people became our Australian family and we grew very fond and attached to them. They were not only our employer’s and our Australian family but were also our friends and we will always keep in touch and never forget them... In addition to these amazing people, was also our amazing crazy Irish ‘sister’, she was already a part of our adopted family when we arrived as she had been living and working in the Royal for over 7 months and will stay there as long as possible. Many drunken nights did we have with this crazy, fun, Irish lass, and through her we also met a bunch of fun, wonderful friends, that we too spent many a drunken, fun nights with. In addition to this permanent Roma bunch was the 2 other backpackers that arrived at The Royal 2 weeks after us. They were 2 German girls whom are lovely and also settled into the Roma life as we did. Toni and I also became good friends with a few of the long term residents at the Royal who were really kind to us and gave us some extra work cleaning or painting on the houses they were working on which gave Toni and I some extra cash. I have not mentioned any names when describing all these people as I’m not sure if they would want to be blogged about, but they know who they are.... Toni and I worked a minimum of 30 hour weeks and Sunday’s were our day off on which we tended to do something whether it be go to the cinema, have BBQ’s with our friends or go on day trips. One Sunday we went to a national park with some of our friends, it is called Carnarvon Gorge and was beautiful. This was a really good day out; we got to see wild Kangaroo’s, aboriginal art, caves, waterfalls and a whole lot of natural beauty.

As you can tell by my endearing and enthusiastic descriptions of the above people and the mention of ‘drunken’ nights more than once, it is clear to see that our first impression of Roma soon changed and we soon settled into our life in this small town... And 8 weeks later when it was time to leave we were very sad to say our goodbyes to this town and all the brilliant people we had met, and whom we will never forget... And to top it off we saved double the amount we had expected to. Our detour into the ‘Outback’ which was not on our original itinerary was defiantly a much needed and welcomed change in our plans. We got to meet some wonderful people and are privileged to have lived and worked in a small ‘ozzy’ town, and thus Roma and all the people will never be forgotten...

Following our departure, one of our friends drove us to Brisbane to catch our flight to Darwin. And on the way we did a quick day tour of the Sunshine Coast which was nice as we had to skip it previously. The Sunshine Coast has several beautiful beaches with lovely little seaside towns and luckily for us the weather was beautiful.....

Rainbow Beach & Frasier Island....

2010-07-16T02:26:00.001+01:00

When our Greyhound coach stopped in rainbow beach, Toni and I were relieved to find that our hostel was only across the road opposite the bus stop stand... Travelling around for 6 months with a heavy backpack tends to get rather annoying especially when you have to travel far to your hostel once you have got off your coach/boat/plane...

Anyways where was I?.... So we were staying in a hostel called Dingoes which is a joint tour and hostel operation. Checking in was relatively smooth considering about 30 people got off the same coach. Our room was very clean and modern and our beds were comfortable, but to be honest we were so happy to be out of Bundaberg that anywhere would have suited us.

That afternoon we had our tour briefing and were also put into our groups. There were 62 of us altogether and we were all divided into groups of 8 for each jeep. Toni and I were in a group that consisted of 4 Israeli guys and 2 English girls from Somerset. Being in this group was ideal as everyone was really nice, the 4 guys could all drive and cook and the girls were lovely, we all got along really well. I even got to learn some Hebrew from the guys as well as some cooking tips and some Israeli dishes.

When we arrived on Frasier Island, I was firstly amazed at how beautiful, big and deserted the beaches were. Second thing I noticed was the dingoes that freely roamed the Island; Thirdly was all the other jeeps from other tours that occasionally drove past us.

We spent 2 nights and 3 days on Frasier island... The mornings were early and cold which were not helped by the hangovers endured by the previous nights alcohol in fuelled socialising... In addition the fine sand of the island got everywhere and all our meals and drinks had an extra crunch to them... But in all we had a terrific few days. Lake McKenzie on the Island is beautiful and the Views from Indian head are amazing and to top it off Toni and I met some great people and we all had a great laugh.

I would highly recommend going on this tour of Frasier Island if you don’t mind roughing it a bit and you enjoy nature- by this I mean No showers and No toilets.....

Bundaberg.. Fruitpicking....

2010-07-16T02:11:00.002+01:00

When we arrived in this town, we didn’t expect it to be as built up as it was. Toni and I stopped off here originally to do some fruit picking as we had heard that even though it was hard work it was relatively easy money... We found a hostel opposite the coach station called Bundaberg Backpackers... After checking it out and chatting to a few people that were staying there, we decided to check in for a week which is the hostels minimum length of stay. We were told that we wouldn’t have to wait more then 3 days before being placed on a farm and receiving work, however before we received work we could choose to get up in the early hours and go on standby- which meant that if someone didn’t turn up for their job then it automatically be given to the person on standby. (Toni and i opted out of this option, as we love our sleep too much)...

As promised, 3 days in- we got our first job; Our first day on the job, involved waking up at a very dark and cold 4am followed by a bumpy 30minute 4x4 journey to the farm. We were out on a contract job, which meant we got paid per bucket filled. We were picking Zucchinis or Courgettes as us Europeans call them. We were told we would receive $2.50 for each bucket we filled, that about £1.50. The buckets were about 60cm in height and 30cm wide. Picking the Zucchinis involved bending down to ground level in order to cut the vegetable from the plant. After 4 hours of this repetitive, back breaking work I had filled 5 buckets.. Toni and I were hot, tired, sweating, and aching and we had only made $13.50 in 4 hours!!! That’s £7.50!!! To sum it up, unless you are very fast and enjoy back breaking work or are a robot... Then fruit picking by the bucket is MODERN DAY SLAVE LABOUR!!!!! So my advice to you is DO NOT DO IT!!!! As you can imagine, our first day of fruit picking was also our last... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

However, from hearing other travellers experiences, it sounds as though the jobs that pay by the hour are more worthwhile and rewarding... it is still hard, backbreaking work but at least you are getting paid more and earning a decent wage, between $17-$20 per hour... So if you have to do fruit picking to earn some money or gain your 2nd year visa then go with the per hour jobs NOT the per bucket jobs...Unless of course you want to be a slave and don’t mind back breaking work....

In all, our week in Bundaberg was not a complete waste, we not only got to experience the ‘joys’ of fruit picking, but we also got to catch up on our sleep and detox, neither of us touching a drop of alcohol in 7 days... and after drinking daily for nearly 6 months this detox was much needed... As you can imagine though, after a week of detoxing we was gagging for a glass of wine... Next stop Fraiser Island...

Airlie Beach / Whitsundays....

2010-07-16T02:07:00.001+01:00

After Cairns, Airlie beach was a welcomed change; it was very much similar to Cairns just on a smaller more chilled out scale as it was not as young and booze infuelled. Our first night here was spent in a hostel called Magnums, these cabin style dorms were ok, however 1 night was enough for us bug hating females...

Our 2nd day consisted of checking out and putting our luggage into storage at Peterpans (another perk when booking your trips through them)... After our luggage was safe and secure we decided to sunbath for a few hours around the lagoon whilst we waited for our boat which was due to leave at 2:30pm in the afternoon for our 2 day tour of the Whitsunday Islands....

Whitsunadys...

Our boat was called the Atlantic Clipper, it is known as a party boat and can hold about 50 people; and I must say we had a very fun 2 day/2night trip with all of the young (mainly irish) party people on our boat.... The Whitsundays are amazing, in particular Whithaven beach, it was like paradise which was untouched, with the whitest sand and crystal blue sea.... AMAZING!!!

We met some great people on this trip and played many drunken card games in the evening, and done laods of swimming, snorkling and scubba diving during the day. If you are under 35, like to have a laugh whilst sightseeing then I recommend this boat... TOP TIP- If you book directly through the Atlantic Clipper, then you receive a free scubba dive...

Airlie Beach, after party...

The day we returned to shore was the day toni and I originally planned to leave for our next destination on a night coach; however as we had met so many great people, we decided to extend our stay for 1 more night so we could go to our boats after party... We were glad we did as we had a very fun night with all our fellow passengers and crew form the Atlantic Clipper...

The next evening, we said our goodbye’s and hopped on a night coach further down serve to Bunderberg, where we hoped to do some fruit picking....

Cairns- Northern Australia (Eastcoast)

2010-07-16T01:47:00.001+01:00

We arrived in Cairns very tired and very hangover due to our send off the night before; However we were still very excited as we stepped out of the plane in to warm sunny weather, which was a welcomed change to the cold, wet weather we had just left behind in Sydney.

Whilst in Sydney we booked a week accommodation on the internet for a hostel in Cairns called Gilligan’s as we had heard great reviews about it from fellow travelers. Our advance booking also included an airport pickup which saved us about $20.

Gilligan’s is the biggest hostel in Cairns, with its own nightclub, bar and swimming pool. It is a very clean and modern hostel with large spacious kitchens on each of the 4 floors it has, and it is not overly expensive to stay there. So in saying all the above, I do agree that Gilligan’s lives up to all of the reviews we heard from other travelers whilst in Sydney.

However it is very LOUD!!! Which is all good and well if you don’t need or want much sleep or you can sleep through noise, but if like me you cannot stay up for more than 2 nights in a row and you like to get at least 4/5 hours sleep a night in order to function the next day… well then you are warned, you will not get any sleep whilst staying at this hostel… Therefore after a week of no sleep I was ready to move on…. At the age of 26, Toni and I did start to feel a tad too old for this hostel as the average age of the people that stayed was between 18-23. If I was in this age bracket then I may have enjoyed my stay here a bit more…. That said, and after sounding like an old party pooper… I must say we did have a few good drunken nights and meet some great people whilst we were here….

At first Toni and I decided to stay in Cairns but just change accommodation and find jobs; we found a room above a big pub that was only $100 each a week… However at the end of our initial week in Cairns we were ready to move on… And in all honesty, if you have not got the funds to eat in all the lovely little restaurants, or shop in the shops, or go on all the trips of the rain forest and great barrier reef and you don’t enjoy or can handle getting drunk every night, then there is not a great deal to do in Cairns….

We had heard about a backpacker travel agency called Peterpan’s, so we decided to check it out… We was happy with the prices so we decided to book our Whitsunday and Frasier island trips, as well as our Greyhound coach that would ensure we had travel back to Sydney, this coach ticket meant we had 6 months to get back to Sydney and we could stop off on the coast as many times along the way… For all 3 of these we paid $900 which is 500 pounds, which was really good. Also booking through Peterpan’s gave us additional discount vouchers and free and cheap internet at all their stores over Australia- Bonus….

AUSTRALIA- SYDNEY

2010-06-11T08:17:00.006+01:00

Toni and I lived in Sydney for 2 months, of which 7 weeks we had various jobs; so as you can imagine I have got quite a bit to fill you in on...

When we first arrived in Sydney on the 28 of March, we were amazed at how much Sydney was like London, and to be honest it was a welcomed surprise after spending the previous 3 months in very foreign and unfamiliar countries; with all of the language barriers, hustle, bustle, overcrowded conditions and poverty...

The weather in Sydney was very warm, which surprised us as it was meant to be the start of the winter in Southern Australia; luckily for us they were having an 'Indian' summer.
When we arrived here we were fortunate to meet up with a friend from back home, Stephen, who was also travelling and he had been in Australia for a few months. Stephen booked us into our first nights accommodation in the YHA hostel on George street in Sydney's CBD (City Business District). YHA is the more expensive chain of hostels all over Australia as we were soon to discover. But to be honest the hostels in Oz do range from between $20-$35 per night each for a 6/8 bed dorm; and due to the recession and bad exchange rate this is about 14-25 pounds per night... Which as you can imagine was a complete shock compared to the prices in Asia and this was also a complete strain on our all ready low budget....

After our first night in Sydney, Stephan thought it might be best if we moved to Bondi beach for a week as the weather was nice and it was not as overwhelming as the big city so Bondi would be better for us whilst we were settling into Australian life.

Bondi Beach

This famous beach is about a 20 minute drive from the CBD or about a 40min bus and train journey.. We ended up spending a whole week on Bondi Beach and stayed in a hostel called Noah's which was $27 per night for a 4 bed dorm. Noah's was very clean, modern and comfortable.. It had its own bar attached that had happy hour and done $6 meals every evening... Our week in Bondi consisted of Sunbathing during the day, and drinking lots of 'GOON' (very cheap boxed wine) whilst having evening sing-a-longs on the beach with the many Irish, German and Dutch people we had met at our hostel... However toward the end of our week we realised it would be best to move more toward the city in order to find jobs which we desperately needed to do if we wanted to stay in Australia... So once we updated our CV's, opened our Australian bank (www.ANZ.com.au) and applied for our tax file number (www.immi.gov.au) we packed our rucksacks and headed back toward the city.

Kings Cross

As the name suggests, King Cross is very much like the Kings Cross we have in London; very busy with bars, restaurants and shops, in addition to strip joints and drunk people everywhere. So why did we decide to stay in this area? I hear you wonder.... Well firstly we happened to hear about a good, cheap hostel that was only $22 per night, which included free breakfast, dinner and Internet- so obviously this drew us in as our funds were low, so this place seemed ideal- even though it was called the ASYLUM!!!

Secondly, in all honesty, Kings Cross is not that bad at all. It is very central, relatively safe and everything is in walking distance. We could walk to the famous Botanical gardens, Sydney Harbour bridge, China town, George Street, Oxford street and Darling harbour. We were also only a 2 minute walk from the tube, so could reach anywhere in Sydney in under an hour.

We lived in the Asylum for 7 weeks in total, it is a relatively small hostel, with the maximum capacity being about 70 people; it is also not the cleanest or most modern hostel we could have stayed in but it was cheap and cheerful and we liked it... Our weekly rate was also cheaper at just $125 each and as mentioned we got free breakfast, dinner and Internet... As we lived here for quite a while we treated it like a home and felt really comfortable here which was also due to the other long term tennants here that we grew to know and become friends with.... Every Monday at the Asylum there was a pub crawl called 'Mad Mondays' which was not only fun and cheap but it was also like a bonding session for all that stayed at the Asylum so it was a very friendly place.... It was sad saying by to everyone but they gave us a very good send off.... If you are staying in Sydney for a long time I highly recommend this hostel....

JOBS

Between us, Toni and I had many different jobs in Sydney.... Firstly we joined a Promotional agency in our first week (www.staffing.com.au). Through this agency we both received several jobs which paid a minimum of $20 per hour (12 pound). Our first promo job was for 9 days at a Caravan and Camping Exhibition show promoting a government based website... At this job we met 2 south African sisters- Sarah & Jacqui who are lovely and became firm friends, they have moved to Perth now but we still stay in touch with them. Toni also got another job handing out flyer's which also paid $20 per hour, she also gained a Call centre job through the agencies admin department, this was in the evenings and paid very well at $21 per hour... One weekend we also got another job selling Rugby League magazines at a televised Rugby match, this was our best paid job- receiving $140 each for 2 hours work. On top of all this promo work I also had a full time office job for a communication contractor as an appointment setter- this again paid well at $20 per hour.... So as you can tell we both worked very hard for these 7 weeks in Sydney in order to get back on track with our finances, there was a point were I worked 17 days straight without a day off. But in all honesty working so hard was worth it as we met some great people who we will stay in touch with... However don't be fooled, even though we worked a lot and earned a fair bit,it is so expensive in Sydney that we didn't have much left to save and take with us on the rest of our travels...

Toward the end of our stay in Sydney, the winter weather had kicked in and it was very cold and wet most days. So as you can imagine Toni and I were ready to move on to warmer weather. We had always planned to do the east coast of Australia so we decided to fly north to Cairns and then work our way down back toward Sydney where we fly out of to New Zealand in October...

TOP TEN TIPS FOR ASIA

2010-05-20T03:45:00.004+01:00

1. Citronella Oil.
Citronella oil is a renowned plant-based insect repellent with a non-toxic mode of action. This oil was like my 'fairy dust' at keeping all the ants and bugs away, especially mosquitoes; put a few drops near the door and windows of your hostel room. Theres also no need to spend alot of money on mosquito spray, just add a few drops of citronella oil to your body lotion/body wash and you will be left alone by all the blood sucking bugs....

2. Skin so Soft Avon products
These products contain citronella oil, so they are the already made version of what ive stated above.

3. Sarongs
These are a great must have travelling accessory, they are light, you can wear them, they dry quick and they replace a heavy beach towl by doing exactly the same job, and take up less room in your already packed out ruck sack.

4. VISAS
Apply for your visa's before you arrive at the border crossings, it works out cheaper, and also ensures that you can cross the border faster.

5. BARTER
Remember to barter everywhere, doing this will ensure you cut the cost of the item you want by atleast a third maybe even half.

6. RIP OFF FORTUNE TELLERS
Beware of the Indian turbin wearing "fortune Tellers". They are scam artists, do not go with them.... We came across them in Bangkok, but they are everywhere.

7. TUK TUK DRIVERS
Be firm with Tuk Tuk drivers, especially in Cambodia. Make sure they take you to your destination first before you pay them. And never say 'maybe' or 'talk tomorrow' about trips as they take that to mean 'yes'.

8. CURRENCY
In Cambodia and Vietnam, you can use American dollars, however it works out cheaper to change to the local currency.

9. MALARIA TABLETS
If you are going to Thailand before Cambodia, then no need to buy these tablets from the UK as they work out really expensive. You can buy them in Thailand in any chemist. It works out at about 5 pound for a 2 month course.

10. SMILE
A smile goes a long way, especially if you can not speak the language.

Vietnam

2010-04-29T04:07:00.004+01:00

Firstly I'll start by explaining our journey from Laos to Vietnam, as it is quite important.....
Before we got to Loas, we had already decided that we were going to get a coach from Vientianne to the north of Vietnam, where we planned to meet two of our friends from back home, (Carly and Natalie) that were coming out on a 2 week holiday....

But after speaking to many travelers in Laos we learned that this particular coach journey, was not only 30 hours long but it was also deemed the 'Death Bus'!!! Obviously after hearing this we were not to sure about using this method of transport... However after hearing many stories, I do not believe the deemed name of the 'death bus' derives from anyone actually dying on this journey- it is actually the coaches their selves that 'die' as they break down all the time; which only adds to the already very long journey time. In addition we heard how the seats were really uncomfortable and didn't even recline, and sometimes the buses are so packed that many people had to do with the aisle floor; which was sometimes occupied by live cargo- like chickens!!! Therefore as you can imagine after hearing many of these stories we decided to fly to Hanoi instead....
However after looking into the cost of this flight we decided that it was too expensive for us money conscious travelers- the flight was about 100 pounds as opposed to the coach ticket of 25 pounds.... Therefore we decided to take a chance with the 'Death Bus'.....

Obviously I am writing this blog, so we survived this 'treacherous' journey.... And in all honesty it was not that bad at all, we each got 2 seats to ourselves so could spread out as the bus was not full. The seats did recline and were quite comfortable and thankfully there was no live cargo on board and more importantly our bus did not brake down once.... However I do think it was just a case of pure luck for us, after hearing all the traveller stories, plus we did see many other broken down coaches on our way.... The only bad point I would say was the Vietnam border crossing which took ages; but then in our experience all the border crossings in Asia tend to be a tad too long...

Hanoi

Once in Vietnam we headed straight to Hanoi; as soon as we arrived in this city we were overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of it; cars, motorbikes and people everywhere. This was such a contrast to the small simple town of Vang Veng where we had just spent an amazing 2 weeks.

We stayed in Hanoi for 6 days before our friends arrived; we didn't really do much in these 6 days, mainly down to the fact that we were recovering from all the alcohol we drunk whilst at tubing in Laos. Also the temperature in Hanoi was much colder then we had been used to for the past 2 and a half months, this change in climate took us a few days to get used to- so as you can imagine we were kind of miserable and had a touch of the 'holiday blues' or in our case 'tubing blues'.......

When we got to Hanoi, we made our way to the Hanoi backpackers hostel, as we heard some great reviews about it from fellow travellers; However as we had not booked beforehand, when we got there it was full... This kind of done us a favor though as Hanoi backpackers is quite costly- about $7 per person per night to share a 6 bed dorm. We soon found a hotel around the corner- Hanoi Civility. This cost us $5 a night each for a room, with bathroom, fridge, air con and TV- Bargin!!!

During these 6 days we decided that when the girls arrived we would make our way down south the following day... Originally we were planning to visit Halong Bay which is near Hanoi and is meant to be a great trip, but due to the time of year and cold weather, we opted to go south straight away where the weather was warmer as we didnt think the girls would appreciate the cold weather after leaving a cold wet miserable England....

When the girls arrived it was so good to see them, we chatted until the early hours, they- filled us in on the news from back home, and Bobbie, Toni and I filled them in on all our travelling adventures... The girls agreed with our decision to move south as they didn't want to spend there any of their 2 week holiday in the cold. The following evening we got a sleeper bus ticket which would take us from the north of Vietnam to the south, with a few stops along the way- all for $40 dollars each- I do love my Bargins....

Hoi Ann

We arrived in Hoi Ann after a very bumpy coach ride, it actually felt like we were on a roll-a-coaster at times... As soon as we got off of the coach (after 13 hours), we were very pleased to notice that the temperature was much warmer- the holiday blues were banished!!!

Hoi Ann is a quaint town, a total contrast to the manic and busy city of Hanoi. We stayed in Hoi Ann for four days in total, two would have been enough, but we all had clothes made so we had to wait around for those... You can get just about anything made in Hoi Ann, and it is so cheap! And you know how much I love my bargins, especially when it comes down to clothes and shoes... Between the 5 of us we had several dresses, shorts, and shoes made...
The night life here is not vast and the bars are quite spread out; there's a bar called 'Why Not' which is ok for a drink and some pool. But I recommend 'Before and Now' which is busy and full of backpackers and does good food. There is also a free mini bus service that takes you from this bar to a beach bar/club which goes on till the early hours.. as you can imagine we had a few drunken nights here- well Carly and Nats were on their holiday, we had to show them a good time......

Nha Trang

Our second stop was this tourist haven, and I can see why many people like to holiday here; not only has Nha trang got a long beautiful sandy beach, but the nightlife is buzzing, with plenty of restaurants, bars and clubs. We wre in Nha Trang for 3 days and whilst we were here we went to the Sailing club bar and another 'Why Not' bar. It was Carly's 21st Birthday on our second day in Nha Trang; during the day we all went to a health Spa in the mountains where we had a mud bath and soaked in a mineral pool. It was a beautiful place and I highly recommend a visit to this spa. Not only will you leave with baby soft skin and silky soft hair but you will also feel very relaxed, and to top it off the whole day only costs around 10pounds each and that's including transport- BARGIN!

To Continue Carly's birthday celebrations we all got dressed up and went for a nice meal; now I don't normally plug restaurants in my blog, but I am now going to make an exception. The restaurant we ate in was next to the 'Why Not' bar and was called Lemon Grass' or something along those lines. The food was not only delish , but the staff were lovely and the ambiance and decor was beautiful yet simple and relaxed. The floor manager was also a lovely women who kept singing and talking to us to learn her English, and she gave us several free cocktails. Toni had asked the manager for a surprise birthday cake for Carly, and in the short time allowed they produced a gorgeous, delicious cake that was way beyond our expectations. The whole bill only came to 10pounds each... this is why I recommend this restaurant, and if you fancy being treated like a star, then say its your birthday.......

Whilst in Nha Trang we also went on a boat trip and had a very funny day.. The crew were hilarious and very entertaining. On this trip we visited several different islands and also an aquarium, and on one of the islands we all done paragliding which was an extreme high that we thoroughly enjoyed.

When you are on the beach in Nha Trang you can see in the distance another island which has a sign in its mountains 'VINEPEARL'- very much the same as the famous Hollywood sign in L.A. At first we thought this island was private; but later we found out that you could visit the island via the massive cable car that connects Nha Trang to Vinepearl over the sea- one of tallest cable car in the world as a matter of fact... The cable car in itself was a unique experience, but when we actually stepped foot on Vinepearl we were amazed... This Island consists of an amusement park, indoor arcade centre, 4D cinema, waterpark, private beach, aquarium, shops and restaurants.... and to top it off there were hardly any people on the island when we visited so there were no ques for anything.... we were like big kids all day.... and the best thing about this whole experience was that the day only cost us around 10 pound each, that was including the cable car ride to and from the island; everything on the island was completely free even the arcade games we were in kiddie heaven... If you are young at heart and don't visit Vinepearl whilst in Nha Trang- you are completely MAD!

Ho Chi Minn

To sum it up, huge, busy, manic, overcrowded bustling city. This is the capital of Vietnam and is so much bigger than the former capital Hanoi where we started our Vietnam journey 2 weeks ago. We were only in Ho Chi Minn for 3 days before we had to all fly out and go our separate ways, with Toni and I flying to Australia and the other 3 girls flying home to England. Whilst in Ho Chi Minn we visited the Vietnam War Museum, it was sad but very educational... We also visited a few other places on a city trip that we signed up to, it was only 5pound each for the whole day, but to be honest we actually cut the trip short and left the group as we were so bored... I recommend a visit to the Vietnam war museum as a must though....

It was so sad saying bye to the girls when they left the night before them, it was nice seeing them and spending the last 2 weeks with them. It was also especially sad saying bye to Bobbie the next day at the airport when she had to board her plane to England. Toni and I had spent the last 3 months with this amazing, fun, young hearted yet mature beautiful girls and we were sad to be seeing her go.... We had all become like the 3 amigo's and we could not have asked for a better partner in crime... I know we will have regular contact with her though, you never know she may just turn up in Australia in a few months.... Australia here we come.....

Laos (Tubing)

2010-03-25T12:19:00.140+00:00

Before I begin my 2 week blog about Laos, I will tell you how our ordeal ended in Cambodia.... Well following our several hour wait after our cow killing accident, we arrived in a town called Stung Treng around 6pm- The Laos border closes at 4pm!!! So we were therefore stuck in Cambodia for yet another night... This was not welcomed news to any of us, apart from the fact that we couldn't wait to leave this cow killing country; we were in a ghost town of a place, there was not even an ATM that worked!! Plus we had to stay in a hostel that was filthy dirty and looked like something out of a 1950's horror movie!!!... So after a restless night, we finally got our 20 minute minibus ride to the Laos border. We got our Visa on arrival which was about 40 dollars, but I recommend that you get it beforehand as it is cheaper.... Let me just say this, even though our experience of Cambodia was not that great, we have met many a traveler who loved it, so I guess our Cambodia experience was just a case of bad luck...

LAOS

From the border we got a minibus to a town called Paxai, we arrived early afternoon and as there did not seem to be much there we booked a sleeper bus for that evening to the capital of Laos- Vientianne. The sleeper bus was quite comfortable but was extremely cold as the air con was on full blast; our journey was 13 hours and we arrived in Vientianne around 7am. We eventually found an affordable hostel where we stayed for 2 nights. Vientianne is a nice city, plenty of restaurants, shops and bars there is also a small market along the river at night..
Following our 2 day stop over, we got a 4 hour coach ride to Vang Veng- which was our main reason for coming to Laos.

VANG VENG

To sum it up, lively, young, fun, friendly, alcohol fueled party place; This was one of our ultimate destinations as so many people had told us about Vang Veng and the famous activity of 'Tubing'... Firstly I'll start by explaining what 'Tubing' is as many of my friends often ask. Well, if you imagine a freshwater river that has quite a strong current, along a stretch of this river (about a mile) there are several bars on both sides. Each bar has its own music, which is pumping, and full of people- many of whom are intoxicated and having fun. At all of the bars there is some kind of 'ride' - a swing, a Zip line, a jumping platform or a slide, all of which entail the person who participates to end up in the river. The term tubing arises from the fact that you can rent a rubber tube- big round rubber ring, from the town and then use this tube to float down the river from bar to bar. When you are floating near a bar you are thrown a rope and pulled in and are given a free drink; on top of the unlimited amount of free shots that anyone can receive at each bar. So now you should kind of get the picture on what 'Tubing' is.....

We were in Vang Veng for 14 days, 10 of which we spent down at the river bars; however we never did rent a tube. To be honest you don't really need one, firstly they are quite expensive, and secondly you have to put a deposit down; if you don't take your tube back to the shop by 6pm then you loose your money. And lets be logical on this one, many 'tubers' did loose there deposit, after all a majority of them are so intoxicated due to the free alcohol practically poured down their throat that they are bound to miss the 6pm deadline. Without a tube you can either swim from bar to bar or merely walk... so we choose this option as we knew we would more than likely never meet the deadline...

Okay, so think I've summed up and given an accurate picture of the daily riverside experience of tubing- now for the nightlife...

The town of Vang Veng is where all the hostels, restaurants and bars are, it is about a 10minute tuk tuk ride from the river. So after tubing everyone goes back to the town, where many drunken souls would eat in one of the many restaurants or from one of the many baguette stalls... The baguette stalls there selves are a sight- of an evening they appear everywhere and are scattered along the streets; and at 1000kip each (about 1 pound) with any filling of your choice, they are extremely cheap and hence sell really well. However after 2 weeks of consuming untold amount of baguettes, I was overindulged on them...

There are many bars in the town of Vang Veng that go on till the early hours, so I will tell you about the main 3 we frequented... To start the night off we would go to Q bar, where upon entry you were often made to do a shot... and if you arrived between 9.30 and 10pm you would receive a free bucket... by 'bucket' I actually mean a bucket; Think seaside sand buckets from your childhood memories, but instead of sand these 'buckets' were filled with tiger whiskey and your choice of mixer. Tiger Whiskey is the local Laos alcohol and is extremely cheap. Hence every free shot or bucket you received would be this local whiskey. To be fair I'm not normally a whiskey drinker, but tiger Whiskey isn't that bad, but after 2 weeks of consuming it, we were sick of it.... So after our free shot and bucket at Q bar, we would soon move on to Bucket Bar, where they too would give out free buckets between 10-10:30pm... So if you were quick you could gain 2 free buckets in the space of an hour. Bucket bar is one of the biggest and busiest bars, it has good music, good vibes and a large dance floor. There were a few small bars next door to Bucket bar, but these were often empty until Bucket bar closed around 2am. Sunset Bar is down the road and a little distance from the rest of the bars, but if you like to dabble in 'other' substances then this is the bar to go to... Of course we never went there....

We thouroughly enjoyed our time in Vang Veng and I highly recommend it if you love to party and have a good time. However I feel 2 weeks may have been a few days too many and I think that 10 days would have been plenty. Also health and safety is practically non existent at the river bars, so it is a must that you are careful especially if you have a go on one of the many 'rides', we see many injuries whilst we were there.... Also on our last day Bobbie jumped in the river and received an inch deep cut o n her leg that required 4 stitches.... She recovered well, but does now have a scar for life... you have been warned....

Cambodia

2010-02-25T10:05:00.002+00:00

Okay, so at the moment we are sitting on a coach that is stationary due to the driver running over 2 cows and breaking the front of the coach... We had already been on the coach for seven hours before this accident occurred.... We are heading toward Stung Treng- this is where the Laos border is, which we need to cross... So whilst I am sitting here, bored out of my mind, thought I might as well write about our past 5 days in Cambodia.

When we got to this country our first stop was Siem Reap, where we visited the Ankor Wat Temples and our second stop was Phonm Penn where we visited the Killing Fields and S:21 prison. Before we visited Cambodia, our knowledge on the genocide that occurred in this country from 1975-1979 was very little and more or less non existent; So these 5 days have been very educational to say the least and extremely sad. We are all amazed that we were not taught about the genocide in school considering it only happened a mere 35 years ago! These last days have been very insightful and have made us extremely grateful for the lives we have....

THE ANKOR WAT TEMPLES- SIEM REAP

These consist of several different sites over a vast area, we chose to see most of the temples in 1 day due to our short time in Cambodia. But you can see them over several days with a week pass. Our 1 day pass was 20 dollars each and our tuk tuk driver was 12 dollars for the day. He took us to each temple, waited for us, then took us onto the next; and as we are not history buffs or photographers, we thought 1 day was plenty. However we can see why some choose to spend several days exploring these magnificent ruins.

THE KILLING FIELDS AND S:21 PRISON- PHONM PENN

We paid a tuk tuk driver 10 dollars between us to take us to both sites, then at each place it was 2 dollars each for entry. First we visited the killing fields, this was one place where the Khumar Rouge took innocent Cambodians- men, women, children and babies and murdered them in cold blood and threw them in mass graves during this horrific ruling from 1975-1979. This site has been excavated and the bones of these victims have been stored in a purpose built glass shrine, in order for people to pay respect.

Next we visited the S:21 prison, where the Khumar Rouge, would imprison the victims, torture and kill them... Out of the thousands of people who were detained here during these 4 years- only a handful survived. These cells were very disturbing to put it in words, I just hope the poor tortured souls are now resting in peace...

Our time in Cambodia was very short, but in a way we were glad as we didn't really take to the place, and as 3 girls we didn't feel as safe as we did in Thailand. But everyone has different experiences, and I met a few travelers that loved Cambodia.... We just had the bad luck I guess... I mean I'm sure not all the coaches run over cows.... Well that's about it, still sitting here waiting for our coach to get fixed- no doubt be here a good few more hours... the joys of traveling....

Chaing Mai- 7 weeks in...

2010-02-20T14:00:00.001+00:00

These weeks have literally flown by, but at the same time thinking back to December when we arrived in Koh Samui it seems an age away...
That's the main aspect we notice whilst traveling, you have no concept of time. Some days we wake up and have to think about what day it is- even if we haven't had a drink the night before... Its probably because you don't really have a set routine, no 9-5 job as such, and no counting down the days till the weekend.... not that I'm complaining, as each day to us is like the weekend.... I was just merely pointing out that not knowing what day it is can be a pain sometimes......

Anyways we have just arrived in Cambodia following a 23 hour coach ride from Chaing Mai in northern Thailand via Bangkok- one of the few downsides of traveling are the long journeys... but we take the rough with the smooth, and we have had many smooth experiences to out- weigh the rough- mind you at the moment I am very hot and sweaty and uncomfortable, so the rough is not that pleasant...

CHAING MAI

We stayed in Chaing Mai for 8 days in total. We arrived here after a 13 hour train journey as mentioned in my last blog entry. We stayed one night in Chaing Mai city then we got a 4 hour minibus ride up to a mountain village called Pai.
Pai- I recommend a visit to this village, as it is very relaxed and chilled and the scenery is beautiful. The journey up the mountain however is on a very bendy road, so I advise you to take motion sickness tablets, unfortunately Toni and I didn't so we were both sick on this journey.

Pai is rather cold at night compared to the rest of Thailand which at times can be 30 degrees at night, but in Pai we had to wear long bottoms, cardigans and scarfs in order to keep warm. However a visit to the hot springs soon warmed us up and made up for the drop in temperature.. Aswell as the hot springs I also recommend a visit to one of the many hill-top tribes and also the grand canyon. If you choose you can rent a motorbike for as little as 100 baht a day (2 pounds), and then you can visit many places yourself....

After 3 nights in Pai (which was plenty), we made our way back down to Chaing Mai city (we took motion sickness tablets this time)....

As we were losing our tans due to not being able to sunbath in Bangkok, we were determined to find a pool to relax and chill at for a few days... However on our budget and being in a city this was a tall order... But luckily we met a tuk tuk driver- Pete, who took us to a lovely swimming pool in a park which was only 50baht each to get in (1 pound) it was called Chaing Mai Land Village. If you go here though make sure you take a tuk tuk drivers phone number, Pete became our personal driver which was handy... and for 60 baht between us each way (1 pound 20) it was a bargain....

We also went out a few nights in Chaing Mai, I suggest the Reggae bar and the Rock bar which are opposite each other and both play live music and offer good vibes....

Bobbie also went Zorbbing during our stay here (think being in a big giant ball and being rolled down a hill)... She had wanted to do this for a while, but in England it is quite expensive. But in Thailand this extreme sport was only 500baht (10 pound) a third of the price then at home, and Bobbie loved it...

On our last day in Chaing Mai we visited Tiger Temple- an amazing experience, we actually got to go insde the tigers enclosures where they were free to roam with no chains in sight; many of you may think we are insane but we were assured that these animals were hand reared from cubs and were quite tame- however 'IF' we were unfortunate to be attacked then we would receive 8 million baht (4 million pounds), and seeing as we are travelers we thought we could use that money- ha ha. Luckily none of us were attacked!
Seriously though this was such an amazing experience and I highly recommend it. Prices vary depending on the size and how many of the tigers or Lions you would like to interact with.... I actually laid down besides a fully grown tiger and cuddled her!!! Insane I know... We paid around 15 pound each for this amazing experience..... Big tip- watch their tales, I got whacked in the eye by the tigers tale which really hurt, Im sure she didn't do it on purpose though....

We spent our last day in Thailand in Chaing Mai which was sad after spending 7 weeks across this amazing country and surrounding islands... We now look forward to the experiences from the rest of our journey.....

Bangkok

2010-02-11T10:18:00.001+00:00

Okay, so I re-read my last entry and I guess I kind of sound like a travel agent... Its because we done so much in those 2 weeks that I was trying to cram everything in, but I do admit it was kind of a bore to read- so I do apologize...

So at the moment it is about 1am, we are on a 14 hour train journey to a place called Chaing Mai in northern Thailand. Our train departed at 10pm and so far the battery on my I pod has died, Ive read too much of my book that I've got a headache, I am starving and try as I might, I cant sleep.... So it is going to be a long night ...

Other than my above moaning and feeling sorry for myself, the train is OK. We have each got our own bed with a curtain for privacy and we all have a top bunk which is near to the fan which helps as it is a tad stuffy. When we first got on the train it was extremely hot and we wished we had paid the extra and opted for the air con cabin, however that option was 200 baht more expensive and in this country that is 1 nights accommodation.... but in truth our 3rd class cabin for 680 baht (13 pound each) is pretty decent, and since the train started moving it is much cooler on here.

Anyway where was I... BANGKOK..... yes, it is a dirty, overpopulated, polluted city- but we loved it. As I mentioned at the end of my last blog entry, we had heard mixed reviews about this city, but honestly it wasn't as bad as I imagined...

We stayed in Koh San road, which is known as a backpackers haven- hostels/hotels and B&B's everywhere. During the day there is a lot of bustling and bartering going on as there is an immense amount of stalls and shops selling everything and anything. Of a night this road transforms, yes the stalls and shops are still present and even more stalls appear, so you can shop to the early hours if you so wish; But on top of this pastime, the nightlife is buzzing. Make shift bars appear on any vacant bit of pavement between the shops and restaurants, food stalls appear everywhere along this road selling a mixture of fruit, kebabs, noodles, rice, chicken, bugs- you name it they probably sell it. There are also a variety of weird looking characters walking up and down the road trying to sell whatever it is they are carrying. There's different music coming at you from every angle- Like I said buzzing....

And this is just 1 road, Koh San Road. We stayed on this road and paid 580baht (11 pound) between us, pretty basic, cold shower and only a fan but it was ok. If you stay on this road don't expect to have an early night in though as the music is pretty loud, however it does go off at 2am when the bars close. There are roads opposite and around Koh San Road that may suit older people or couples more as they are a bit more relaxed and quiet.
Okay, so that's Koh San road where we spent most of our evenings...

Next Tuk tuks- these are everywhere (remember to barter). When you first get to Bangkok, they offer you between 1 hour/ 2 hour trips around the city seeing several sights for as little as 5 baht each, that's 10pence. We were amazed at the price, but as the saying goes 'to good to be true'- yes exactly. Okay, so they do live up to their word, it really is that cheap and they do take you sightseeing around the city for up to 2 hours, "so wheres the catch?" I hear you ask.

Well during this tour the Tuk Tuk may stop at several shops, mainly travel agents and tailored suit shops. If you look around the shop for 5 minutes then the tuk tuk driver receives a petrol token, which is obviously worth the 2 hours of their time for the pennies that we pay for the trip. WE done this city tour and had free tuk tuk rides to places via this 'tuk tuk stop off arrangement' which suited us as we are travelers with time to kill and a budget; however, beware the staff in the suit shops can be extremely pushy and slightly intimidating- so be firm with them. As we are females though the staff (mainly men) were more interested in marrying us rather then sell us a suit.... We obviously declined their proposals..........

Also, Big tip- don't book any trips, Visa's or travel arrangements through T.A.T travel, complete rip off prices. You will find your hostels travel counter much cheaper.

MBK

If you love to shop, then a visit to MBK shopping center is a must, it is huge complete with 7 floors of interesting, useful and of course worthless goods. You can honestly spend a whole day there (even more if your a shop-o-holic). We spent more or less 2 days there, window shopping of course- we are travelers after all, but even if we didn't have a budget to stick to we have no room in our rucksacks in any case. There are also your regular entertainment places here, cinema, bowling, arcades etc... In addition there are several smaller shopping centers in the area surrounding MBK..... Sorry sound like a travel agent again don't I? oops...

We spent 6 days in Bangkok, which we feel was plenty, I think 4-5 would have been enough though. f you are a shop-o-holic, I recommend Bangkok as a last stop before you fly home so you can take loads of goodies home.......

One Month in....

2010-01-28T07:32:00.003+00:00

One month into our adventure and im finally getting used to all this traveling lark and living out of a rucksack. My last blog was 2 weeks ago when we were on a boat to Phi Phi so I'll start off from there...

Phi Phi
What can I say? Well to sum it up, a small island with lots to offer, there are no Cars so people commute by either bicycle or foot.. As this island is quite compact there are restaurants, bars and shops everywhere you turn; so as you can imagine it is a tourist trap and I must say one of my favorite islands so far. Unfortunately though, because of its appeal it is the most expensive island in Thailand we have been to so far.
Our room was 1800 baht a night (28 pounds) so more or less 10 pound a night each, which is a huge jump from our 2 pound a night each bungalow we had in Koh Samui that we had a few weeks back. However the extra cost in Phi Phi did mean that we had air con, a fridge, hot water and a TV and DVD player.... so this to us was more like a holiday for the 6 days we stayed here.

The main beach in Phi Phi is a big cove, the tide goes out mid afternoon which can be a pain especially when it is scorching and all you wanna do is jump in the water and not have to walk 10 minutes out in order to do so... However there are many small islands around Phi Phi with beautiful beaches, so I do recommend that you jump in a long tail boat for about 100 baht (2 pound) each and go to Bamboo island or Long beach- AMAZING.....

Also you must do a day trip on a long tail boat, this trip entails going to many of these different islands, which include Maya Bay- this is where the famous film 'The Beach' was filmed. You are also taken to Monkey Island- which lives up to its name as the monkeys come out to the people on the beach searching for food- amazing experience... You also have a chance to snorkel several times during the day with equipment provided, also lunch and dinner are included. The cost of this trip is around 650 baht each (13 pound).

The nightlife in Phi Phi is booming with loads of bars and beach bars which all have a good vibe, this island used to party into the early hours however due to an incident on Christmas eve the music went off at 1am whilst we were there. However Im sure this curfew will pass eventually.....

Koh Lanta

After our 6 day 'holiday' in Phi Phi we got a big boat to an island called Koh Lanta, approximately an hour away. This Island is a complete contrast to Phi Phi, it is much bigger and relaxed. There are not many bars/clubs and the nightlife and entertainment tends to exist around the hotels and their beach bars which are pretty chilled.... We had a good 4 days on this island, not only did we find cheap accommodation in a bungalow which was right on the beach and had a pool, 5 pound a night to be exact with hot shower- bonus. But this island was quite cheap and our complex had a good beach bar that played good music... 4 days of chilling and sunbathing was just what we needed after the 6 days of partying in Phi Phi.

Phuket

We are now in Phuket, where I am writing this blog from. We have been here for 5 days, we got a 4 hour boat straight from Koh Lanta. We are staying with a friend that I have known since I was 8 years old. I haven't seen her in a few years so it was really nice of her to let us crash at hers. She has lived in Thailand for 7 months now as she trains Muay Thai, therefore she lives in a part of Phuket that is mainly where the Muay Thai boxers train- Chalong. As this area is mainly where people come to train it is really in the middle of no where and not really an area where the avid holiday maker would venture. However you can get taxi's anywhere that are quite cheap, and it helped that we had 'inside knowledge' from my friend to take us to where we wanted to go. We have been to a beach a few times- Niharn Beach, it is really beautiful so a visit there is a must. We also ventured into Patong for a night out... before I continue I just wanna say that I have heard mixed reviews about Patong so I was intrigued to see for myself what it was like....

Patong- Well to sum it up- Very busy, very loud and very tourist equipt. So if you love to eat, shop, drink and dance then it is a must go place to experience... I'll let you make up your own mind though...

We went to a night market the other night, it was massive... I highly recommend that you go to a night market at least once whilst you are in Thailand... There is anything and everything you could possibly want for extremely cheap prices and you can still barter to make them even cheaper!! So, 'Cheap Chaep' as the Thai's would say....

We are going to Bangkok tomorrow, can't wait, but again I have heard mixed reviews about this city from other travelers..... Watch this space...

Two Weeks into our Big Adventure......

2010-01-14T08:02:00.006+00:00

Its Monday the 11th of Jan, and I am writing this blog whilst on a boat to Phi Phi. We have been in Thailand for 14 days but we have done and seen so much that it feels longer... These 2 weeks have consisted of 7 different homes, 4 different islands, elephant riding, swimming in a waterfall, being blessed by a monk, holding a baby tiger and snake; going to the Full moon and half moon parties and meeting amazing people. All of that on top of the daily activities of sunbathing, partying and traveling from island to island. So as you can imagine, we have been non stop, and up until a few days ago it was constant partying as a group of our friends from back home were over on holiday....

Thailand is a big and beautiful place with so much to see and do, the people are lovely and friendly so as long as you smile learn to say hello (Sa Wat Dee Ka) and thank you (Korp- Kun- ka) then you will be fine. Also don't be afraid to barter, you will most certainly cut the price of the item you want by half. So far in Thailand we haven't found it that cheap, but we hear the rest of Asia is much cheaper. However Thailand is much less expensive than back home on everything apart from alcohol really; we have had some great deals on accommodation. As there are 3 of us and we split the cost it works out good too, one of our abodes in Koh Samui was just 2 pound a night each, mind you it didn't have air con or hot water and there was a family of ants living with us- but that's all part of the experience....

Below I have listed the places we have been so far with some tips...

KOH SAMUI
Thai Boxing- Great Experience, quite expensive to get in around 800-1000 baht (15-20 pound). However you do get to see around 7 fights so it is a night out.

Ark Bar- Best beach bar and beach party. Drinks are quite expensive though, so buy a bucket on the strip and walk it down to the ark bar.

The strip- Consists of many bars and clubs. Hush bar, cheap buckets. Mint bar, Mango and Sound club great venues if you love to drink and dance. All bars/clubs are free to get in.

Funny day Safari experience- This is a day trip where you get to do and see a lot, such as elephant riding, animal shows, swimming in a waterfall, being blessed by a monk and much more. Food is also provided, expect to pay around 1000- 1500 baht each for one of these trips (20-30 pound). Remember to barter.

KOH PANANG

Full moon party- This is on the beach in Haad Rin. Its 100 baht to get in (2 pound). Its a mad/crazy night and everyone is in a good mood. The buckets of alcohol are cheap, and there are different genres of music from one end of the beach to the other. At one end of the beach you will also find the famous Mushroom Mountain, if you are tempted to try one of the mushroom shakes, try to go before the Full Moon party as on the actual day the mountain gets really busy and to be frank quite dangerous.

Half Moon Party- This is in Ban Tai, its 500 baht to get in (10 pounds) so quite expensive. Drink before you go as the drinks at this party are also quite expensive too. However this party is smaller and quite compact, it is in the middle of the jungle which heightens the experience so it is a good night. There is only one area of music though.

KRABI

We literally just passed through Krabi on our way to Phi Phi, but if you go here get a long tail boat from the beach to Railey island. This beach is beautiful and there are many wild monkeys on this island too which you will hopefully see.

Just around the corner.....

2009-12-24T13:51:00.005+00:00

It’s my last day at work today, sad but welcomed..... Only have 3 days left in the country and am trying to cram in as much time with my friends and family as possible.....

These last few months have been full of ups and downs for me, I’ve been so occupied with organising everything, from Visa's to finances in addition to doing way too much overtime at work, that I guess our departure date has unexpectedly crept up on me and more or less slapped me in the face.... I can’t believe we go in 3 days....

My advice to you, if you ever book a round the world ticket, regardless of how much in advance you book the ticket, time just fly's bye... so spend as much time as possible with your family and friends...
My next blog will now be in the New Year, where I’m sure I’ll have a few tales to tell :-)
So in the meantime, have a great Christmas and a fun filled New Year!! xxx

Less then 1 month to go....

2009-11-30T22:32:00.003+00:00

Well 27 days to be exact, and only 19 of those are working days, not that I’m counting of course...... I can’t believe how fast it has come around.... I havent wrote a blog for a while as Ive been really busy working and organising last minute bits...... So I thought on this blog I’m going to list all of the latest plans we have made to aid our trip, and make us more organised, or at least that’s what we seem to think... But deep down we are very nervous....

Travel Insurence

I searched many different insurance companies and policies on the net, and the best deal I found was with insure and go insurance. It worked out at about £204 each for the whole year, which includes, baggage, cancellation, medical and certain extreme sports. www.insureandgo.co.uk

Visa’s

Firstly we sent off our passports to the Thai embassy to gain a 60 day tourist Visa, it worked out at about £18 each. This Visa enables us to stay in Thailand for longer than 30 days, which we thought was wise especially if we are having a really good time we don’t want to have to cut our time in Thailand short, so £18 was nothing if it meant we could have that option. For details on gaining this extended visa go to www.thaiconsul-uk.com

Also, as we plan to work in Australia we applied for an Australian working tourist Visa; this visa allows us to stay in Australia for 12 months and we can work whilst travelling, providing we do not stay with one employer for more than 6 months. This visa cost $230 Australian dollars which is about £130, there are many companies on the web that say they will apply for this visa for you, but it works out at about £280, so it’s not worth it. Honestly completing the forms yourself is pretty easy and straight forward, and it can be done via email. There is also no need to send your passport away, as you are given your Visa at the airport when you arrive in Australia. For more information go to www.immi.gov.au.

RSA- Certificate

As we are going to be working in Australia and both of us have bar experience and enjoy working in bars, we would prefer this sort of work whilst in Australia; after all we have both been working in offices for the past 3 years, so we want to escape the mundane routine of an office.

We heard that you need to have a RSA certificate in order to work in Australia in any establishment that sells alcohol, whether it is a restaurant, hotel, bar, nightclub etc...

You used to only be able to achieve this certificate whilst in Australia by doing a 6 hour day course, but now you can do it online. It works out at about £60 and you can do the course in your own time which is handy. It is set out in 8 parts, each section starts by showing you information relevant to that topic, then at the end of each section you are given an assessment with about 8 questions with multiple answers; each section and assessment takes between 30-45mins.
For more information or to do the course go to www.qhint.com

Lastly money....

Well we was a bit torn with how we were going to take our savings with us, after all it’s not like we can carry that amount of cash on us. When we are in Australia we will need an Australian bank account in order to get paid from our part time jobs; However after looking into this it is slightly complicated to open an Australian bank account whilst not living in Australia, however when you are in Australia it is pretty simple, you literally just walk into the bank with your ID. But we have still got 3 months of travelling before we even reach Australia...

...So then we thought about just keeping our spending money in our UK bank accounts and using ATM machines to withdraw our money whilst we are abroad, but bank charges can be quite costly when doing this.

Then we thought about travellers cheques, but again the charges on changing these up can be pretty expensive, and it’s also a hassle to have to carry them around with your passport, as well as being a bit risky.

Just as I had given up, Bobbie discovered this top up cash MasterCard. It is basically a debit card that can be used worldwide. You have a pin number and can withdraw money from an ATM machine anywhere in the world, without being charged. And the exchange rate is set at the best exchange rate on the day you withdraw your money. Also you can use the card in shops, restaurants, anywhere with the MasterCard sign; just like a debit card/credit card. The only difference you top your money onto the card rather then get a bill at the end of the month like a credit card. Also if you lose your card it only costs £5 for a replacement which will be delivered to you anywhere in the world. For more information go to http://www.caxtonfxcard.com/
I think that is about all the information on the boring but useful know how section, and I hope this information does come in andy for those who wish to travel one day, believe me I wish I had all this information given to me when I started out... it would of saved me a lot of time....