#traveldiaries

Sep 29, 2011
6 min

Work, Sleep, Play

29th Sep 2011 - 15th Oct 2011 What a busy few weeks we have had, moved out the hostel and moved into lovely apartment and started work..... The eight bed dorm in a converted train facing the real railway station was fine as dorms go, the other people in room chatted to us and was fine, but we started counting down the days til we moved into our new apartment, as the communal areas were being a pain in the ass. With too many different nationalities and accents trying to out

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Sep 21, 2011
4 min

...S.Y.D.N.E.Y...

21st Sep 2011 - 28th Sep 2011 - It was so worth the 6 hour straight drive when we got our first glimpse of Sydney. We turned off the highway and were straight onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge! It was amazing and we were so excited. We drove across and parked at Circular Quay, took a walk and were amazed at how breathtaking both the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House were. We drove back across the bridge and parked in north Sydney and made sure we had views of t

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Sep 14, 2011
6 min

!! ROAD TRIP !!

14th Sep 2011 - 20th Sep 2011 So it was time to pack our bags and vacate the flat, we didn't have anywhere to go though as the place we were hoping to move into fell through, we contacted Tony, a guys house we viewed last week and said we would take it, but it was half an hour out of the city, and would make it difficult for me to get to work. Also Shannon had two interviews lined up for delivery driver and a removals company but they were both messing him about taking ages

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Aug 23, 2011
5 min

100 days of travelling

23rd Aug 2011 - 13th Sep 2011 We had read on other people's blogs it was so easy to get jobs in Brisbane. But we want to say it's not that easy! Shan had been looking for work for over 2 weeks. He had been on gumtree.com.au and seek.com.au. Shan also handed his CV into a few places to be told they dont take on people with working visas. However we asked our landlord who runs the hostel if he knew of any work- and he actually knew of some short term work. So I phoned the gu

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Aug 3, 2011
6 min

Life in Brisbane!

3rd Aug 2011 - 22nd Aug 2011 - Life in Brisbane! Ok.. I suggest making a cuppa before sitting down to read this, oh and just for me have some chocolate digestives too, I'd love one right now! Working life- My work is going fine I have to say, but I really hate waitressing, always have and always will. It's just not for me. But Gambaro's is a great establishment, the food is top notch and very expensive, it's mainly a seafood restaurant and even for someone like me who hat

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Jul 7, 2011
13 min

Cairns to Brisbane, interviews, more interviews and some jobs

7th Jul 2011 - 2nd Aug 2011 - Cairns to Brisbane Decided last night that we should leave Cairns and move on to Brisbane. The reason being we have looked in estate agents for a 3 month rental but they only do 6 months minimum and also when we signed on at the job agency they said there is little work at the moment, we were also told that the unemployment figures had just been released and Australia is 10% unemployed and Cairns is the worst area with 4.5% unemployed. So we th

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Jul 5, 2011
2 min

Australia, Australia, there's nothing quite like Austral-e-aaa!!

5th Jul 2011 - 7th Jul 2011 5th July- We are in Australia! Our flight landed about half 7 in the morning then we got to passport control and queue wasn't too bad and to our shock we only got a normal stamp in our passports no fancy visa which is a shame, then we got bags and queued to pass through customs which we had heard was very strict and we could see then opening everyone's cases, then it was our turn and as we were connecting from Brisbane to Cairns we got to walk r

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Jul 2, 2011
4 min

Two Singapore Slings please Mr Raffles......... I <3 SG.........End of our first chapter....

2nd Jul 2011 - 4th Jul 2011 - Had breakfast not as good as last hotel and then got taxi to the bus stop which happened to be outside our last hotel, we boarded another luxury coach where we got free meal and drink, the drive was only 5 hours so time flew in, we have really got used to sitting back watching DVDs and reading books. We arrived at the border where we were told absolutely no chewing gum allowed- Singapore has a very clean attitude and don't approve of chewing gum,

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Jun 29, 2011
4 min

Kuala Lumpur

29th Jun 2011 - 1st Jul 2011 - So we woke up after an uncomfortable sleep and got same taxi driver as last night to take us to the bus station, he had suggested last night we go to police station to get a reference number so we could claim insurance. So we spent 2 hours in the police station, I had to write a report and then it got processed. But we decided seen as our medical bill was only £20 thankfully, we won't bother claiming but it's still good to have report and refere

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Jun 28, 2011
2 min

A Bumpy Landing in Malaysia

28th Jun 2011 - Got picked up in a mini bus to take us to Penang. Over 9 hours and 3 mini busses later we arrived. We hadn't researched much on Penang so didn't know where the good bit was and from what was round us it looked like it needed some paint. Got a cyclo Tuk Tuk who offered us to stay at The Waldorf hotel. And that's where the comparrison ends the hotel was old and room was the most basic we have had but after a long day travelling it would do. We decided to go a wa

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Jun 27, 2011
1 min

Last Day In Thailand

27th Jun 2011 - Went on a trip to 'James Bond' Island today. We drove for an hour then got a long tail boat which took us through the magnificent rocks then we went kayaking through caves, and had to lie down as some were very close, we then arrived at James Bond island which was made famous in the film 'the man with the golden gun'. We got the obligatory photos, had a wander and then bought some bracelets each, I got an ankle bracelet with elephants and Shan got a cool man o

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Jun 24, 2011
5 min

A night on 'The Beach' - Phi Phi islands

24th Jun 2011 - 26th Jun 2011 - Today we are heading to Phi Phi Don, we took a boat which took 1 and half hours or so, and the views along the way were lovely, hundreds of islands dotted all along the horizon. On arriving we went straight to sort out tomorrow's trip to Phi Phi Ley, then we walked along the busy streets of stalls and diving places, we tried a few hotels/guest houses but they were full or stupidly expensive so found Jong's House for £14. A lot of places also wa

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Jun 19, 2011
5 min

The Islands- Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, Koh Samui

19th Jun 2011 - 22nd Jun 2011 - Snorkelling trip today around Koh Tao. Was rough sea and because of that we couldn't stop at our first spot at shark bay but we managed to see four other snorkelling spots including Mangoe Bay and the Japanese Gardens- the corals there were astounding, we went so close to the coral and there was lots to see of both coral and fish. We seen sea cucumbers, even dangerous triggerfish and other weird and wonderful ones, never saw nemo but my favouri

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Jun 17, 2011
3 min

Erawan falls and arriving in Koh Tao

17th Jun 2011 - 18th Jun 2011 - Made some re-scheduling plans to take a bus later in afternoon as there are many of them and trains less frequent and leave earlier, so we had more time to explore Erawan falls which is about 1 hours drive outside of kanchanaburi...and by drive I mean we drove- on a scooter! I was scared and unsure at first as you always hear about Thailand being bad for bikes but Shannon is experienced and I trust him to look out for me (even though I don't tr

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Jun 16, 2011
1 min

Like a Bridge over...River Kwai

16th Jun 2011 - Taxi from hotel in Bangkok to thornburi bus station, bus to Kanchanaburi, songthaew to hotel PongPhen which is on the river Kwai has a pool but we have no time to use it and is cheap at just £12. Had brunch in cafe then walked over 1 mile to reach The Bridge over the River Kwai. Went to the ww2 museum then to the bridge. Some facts if you don't know already- this is the 2nd bridge built the 1st blown up by the P.O.W who built it, then the 2nd was constructed h

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Jun 13, 2011
6 min

Tuk Tuks, Border Crossings and no Bumpy Roads

13th June- Walked across the road to the train station (very handy location is the hotel) and got tickets for the 0555 train to Aranyaprathet. This train is the only one to take if you wish to make it to the Cambodian border before it closes (it's open 8am til 6pm I think) the train was only 3rd class so we made sure we got seats. The train was very well priced at £2 one way for a 5 hour 40 minute journey. We both fell asleep for 3 hours so that passed some time then we playe

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Jun 12, 2011
2 min

Monkeys

12th Jun 2011 - 13th Jun 2011 - Busy day and extremely long! Woke up and checked out hotel, got a songthaew to the bus station in Pattaya to Bangkoks Ekamai station. Then sky train, then underground (MRT) to Hua Lumphong station we were looking for a hotel when a TAT information lady told us we had to walk 5 minutes and hotels were £40+ then we met an german guy who said he had just checked out of the same named Hua Lumphong hotel just a few hundred yard away we thanked him a

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Jun 10, 2011
3 min

Ping Pong and Ladyboys

10th Jun 2011 - 11th Jun 2011 - Train journey went very well, we both slept all night. We disembarked train and got a Tuk Tuk to Ekamai bus station in Bangkok. The driver was crazy, but they are all like that- weaving in and out of lanes, squeezing between busses hooting their horns- surprisingly not seen a crash yet. We bought our tickets which cost 260B about £12 for a two hour journey. We both slept most of the way. Got a songthaew from the bus station to south Pattaya, an

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Jun 9, 2011
3 min

Thailand | Flight Of The Gibbon

9th Jun 2011 - Today we went to the rain forest to do zip lining through the jungle canopy's. The tour is called 'the flight of the gibbon' and is voted the best tour in Thailand. We were in a group of 7 and I was only girl which made it worse as I was panicking about the heights and safety and I really could have done with some annoying scaredy girls crying to make me look better. We were put in our safety gear and led into the rain forest we done a bit of trekking through t

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Jun 8, 2011
2 min

The day we became elephant mahouts

8th Jun 2011 - Woke up early to go on our trip with elephants. We had a look through the flyers of popular elephant day trips yesterday but were recomended a trip that had orphaned elephants, the group we went with were called Baan Chang Elephant Home. As now is the start of the wet season we managed to get a discount, the day costing 3500B around £70 which is good price. We managed to get a McDonalds breakfast first and then got picked up by the owner Eddie. We drove an our

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Jun 7, 2011
2 min

Temples and Tigers in Chiang Mai

7th Jun 2011 - Had a good nights sleep actually on the train, woke up at 6.30 because we guess the train broke down, started again an hour later and we went to cafe and took photos of the gorgeous jungle landscape. We fell back asleep and woke up to pack up and leave. We arrived at 11 o'clock over hour late but was ok, the journey was fine but the conditions were a bit smelly. We had heard lots about touts who want to drive you to their families guest houses so we came out th

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Jun 5, 2011
4 min

Bangkok, Tuk Tuks and Squat Toilets

5th / 6th Jun 2011 - Landed in Bangkok about 3.30pm Thai time. Flight was 10 hours 35 minutes. I slept most of it so it felt fine. We went through immigration and got passports stamped (which I love). Got a taxi to our only pre-booked hotel 'The Royal Asia Lesuire Hotel' which is in Sukhumvit soi 8. We booked on travelrepublic.com and it cost £16 for 1 night. (all the prices I mention is for both of us). The room has great views over Bangkok's skyline, hotel is clean and a we

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Jun 3, 2011
2 min

Leaving on a jet plane don't know when we'll be back again...

3rd & 4th Jun 2011 - We are leaving today!! We got up early to finish packing and sorting out last minute things. Went to the airport with Shannon's family, and Shannon's old boss came aswell as our friends Emma and Ali. It turned into a sad farewell; we went through security then onto our last Aurigny flight at least for a while. The flight past and then we were in Gatwick. We checked into the Hilton (still using our staff rate discount). Our suitcases were overweight so I u

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Jun 1, 2011
2 min

Pre-departure and how we decided to travel

1st Jun 2011 - A little story about Shannon and me getting together and deciding to go travelling.... We were only friends at the time that Shannon first mentioned that he wanted to go travelling the following year, he also mentioned in the same conversation that he wanted a girlfriend but wouldn't be able to, if he was to go travelling. I had fancied Shannon for a while by this point, and hearing this information made me think that I could be his girlfriend and we could go t

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Vietnam

Vietnam

Scottish Filming Locations

Scottish Filming Locations

Scottish Filming Locations

Scottish Filming Locations

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