Blog | soaringthroughthesky

Nov 4, 2014
3 min

The End Of Our First Chapter. Thank You South East Asia.

So with our last few hours left before we board our flight, it is time for reflection... Two months ago today on the 4th September we left Guernsey for the start of our travels. Today we fly to New Zealand. In those two months or 8 ½ weeks or 61 days we have travelled from Guernsey, to England, Scotland, Dubai before travelling across China for 14 days- scaling The Great Wall, marvelling at the Terracotta Army, sightseeing Shanghai and Macau and observing Hong Kong from every

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Visiting Gili T and Our Final Weeks Of Backpacking

Oct 29, 2014
12 min

Visiting Gili T and Our Final Weeks Of Backpacking

29th Oct - 4th Nov 2014 Coming in to land at Bali's airport was as much fun as it looked when we watched from the beach. We came in fast and low, parallel to the sea, we were inching closer to the waves, then the end of the runway came in sight, and we were down. We had a bit of a wait for our bags which gave us time to decide our plan of action regarding a taxi. Now we have probably caught in a few taxi scams before, but poor Shaun and Jodie had been ripped off when they arr

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Dragons and Diving in Komodo

Oct 24, 2014
11 min

Dragons and Diving in Komodo

24th Oct - 28th Oct 2014 For the first time since leaving home I had a moment to truly wonder if I was missing work. I was seated on an ATR72 aircraft, (a newer version of) the same aircraft I spent most of working days aboard. I got a little giddy when I seen the cabin crew do their demo, and got annoyed when I seen passengers walking under the aircraft wing (common sense guys). But hmm I dunno if I'm missing it or not, maybe a teensy bit. Anyway once we were settled in our

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Taking It Balinese-y

Oct 15, 2014
10 min

Taking It Balinese-y

15th Oct - 23rd Oct 2014 The cold Bintang in the fridge, the hot shower to wash our way our sand ridden bodies and the cool aircon in bed was lush. After a good sleep we woke up in the hot morning sunshine to see our lovely villa with private pool. We all went down the road for breakfast, with me ordering a toastie, and receiving just that- not even a ickle bit of greenery. Then we spent the rest of the day splashing about in our pool and drinking Bintang. We were both so re

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Indonesia | The Journey To Mount Bromo

Oct 13, 2014
9 min

Indonesia | The Journey To Mount Bromo

13th-14th October 2014 0740- Taxi to airport 0840- Arrive, bags through scanner, check in, cant- go to self check in, cant- go back to check in. Have a Starbucks. 0950- Through security to departure gates 1030- Start to board flight, held on way in hot walkway. Walk to aircraft and get our seat near the back, put our bags as usual in overhead lockers and pass the 1hr 40 flight reading and looking at the views out of the window. Travelling with budget airline Air Asia so no fr

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Doing Jack all in Jakarta

Oct 10, 2014
4 min

Doing Jack all in Jakarta

10th Oct to 12th Oct 2014 While someone was asleep in departures, someone took the chance to use up all the remaining Dong but also seen more things so spent some US Dollars. 3 hours later after a decent flight on Vietnam Airlines with a good meal and beer for Shan and wine for me, we arrived in Soekarno-Hatta Jakarta Airport. It was 35 degrees and the outside of the terminal looked tropical with plants and lush lawns. We headed for our Visa on Arrival (VOA). Lonely Planet bo

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Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City

Oct 6, 2014
11 min

Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City

6th Oct to 9th Oct 2014 Hoot hoot, beep beep, honk honk, toot toot, beep, hoot, honk........ Try listening to that for 13 bloody hours. We got picked up at 0730 in a mini van. I was so not impressed I thought that this could well be our mode of transport the whole way to Ho Chi Minh City! Shan kept saying no, we'd be transferring onto the big bus, I was mad and wouldn't think straight. We did of course change onto the nice comfy reclining seats once again. We somehow both man

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Nha Trang

Oct 3, 2014
7 min

Nha Trang

3rd Oct to 5th Oct 2014 With two hours until we could check in the hotel, we took a stroll across the road and sat on the beach for a bit, deeply interested by the many little crabs scooping out sand of their hole. Then we went to a cafe next to our hotel the 'Luxury Nha Trang' and as you do, had garlic bread at 0830 for breakfast. We sat in the hotel lobby and a room was ready early for us. The hotel which cost us £59 for two nights was 3 star and looked a bit basic from out

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Hoi An Suited Us

Sep 30, 2014
8 min

Hoi An Suited Us

30th Sept to 2nd Oct 2014 'Lets book another night!' Was the first thing we said as soon as we seen our suite at the 'Hoi An Trails' hotel. We were meant to be staying in Hoi An for two nights but the hotel was amazing and we weren't in a rush. We have been lucky that most of the hotels we have stayed in have been lovely, but we had really struck gold here. Trails is a 4 star hotel, 3km out of town. It's built like a resort and our suite was a walk amongst palm trees and lake

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Hue

Sep 29, 2014
3 min

Hue

I drifted in and out of sleep most of the night, the train was a lot bumpier when you tried to sleep that it was when wake. I woke up to see the sun rising and had a few mild panics that we had missed our stop. I lay awake and finished my book, the fastest I've ever read a book, Shannon couldn't believe me when he woke a few hours later. He also commented that this train journey was the best he's experienced. Hopped off the train and found a taxi outside. We were going to dro

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Hanging Out In Hanoi & On Our Way To Hue

Sep 27, 2014
4 min

Hanging Out In Hanoi & On Our Way To Hue

27th Sept to 28th Sept 2014 Another welcome drink, another attempt for us to buy a tour/train ticket from them, another raised eyebrow exchanged between us, another hurried walk to the lift. We had been upgraded to a balcony with city view room, same view as before but we had the option of standing outside in the 32 degree heat too. Our power shower had been replaced with a spa bath which was fun. Relaxed for a while before getting ready and making more attempts to dodge the

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Halong Bay | Luxury Cruising

Sep 26, 2014
3 min

Halong Bay | Luxury Cruising

The day we were going to cruise along Halong Bay had arrived. We were awake an hour early as Shan hadn't changed his clock back an hour after China and had set the alarms. (Now we are 6 hours ahead of GMT). Good job we were up early as we hadn't packed and then couldn't find passports, we have our safe place for them but for some reason they were put in a different place, so a few minutes of panic ensued. Had breakfast and then mini bus arrived. 4 hours later arrived at Halon

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Hanoi

Sep 24, 2014
5 min

Hanoi

24th to 25th Sept 2014 Caught the free shuttle bus from the airport to the airport express station, we thought that was free too but turns out we had to pay $160, we had worked out our money before so didn't have enough, paid on card and jumped on the train. It took just 24 minutes. I'm disappointed that the old airport has gone, as I've watched clips of aircrafts landing at the old airport, the planes flew really low near the high rise buildings. Then we waited for check in

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