Day 129 – Chiang Rai to Bangkok.

One last free breakfast at the early hour of 7.30am, well early for us anyway! We got a taxi to the airport and once again the guy wanted to charge us X amount for the journey but we made him put the metre on and guess what? It was cheaper! We were flying from Chiang Rai down to Bangkok as it was cheap and only takes an hour compared to a 10 hour bus ride and we all know it would be waaaay longer than that. Our flight was with Bangkok Airways and what a fantastic airline. We checked in with no hassle and as we walked through to sit by the gate we were given complimentary drinks and snacks, I’m pretty sure we could go back more than once too! As well as this we were given a snack on our plane, it makes me laugh when they give you food for such a small journey. The time from when the seatbelt sign goes off to back on again is so short you don’t feel like you have time to do anything.

I booked us into a hotel that is a short drive from the airport to make it easier for us. I ended up booking a place with a rooftop pool and complimentary shuttle bus to the airport, great deals! We arrived and could check in straight away, which was awesome. We dumped our bags, chilled out for a little bit and then went upstairs to chill by the pool and catch some rays on Chissy’s last day. Her flight got changed a few weeks ago so she leaves tomorrow morning instead of the same day as me, which is why we are in Bangkok a day earlier, it’s worked out for the best though.

We didn’t really do much else apart from chill out at the hotel and walk down to 7eleven on the corner for some snacks.

Day 93 – Langkawi to Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi.

I woke up when Steph and Lucy were leaving to say goodbye, one of the worst things about travelling is saying farewell to people you meet! I then got up and caught a taxi just gone 9 to take me to the airport. Today was mostly spent in airports and on planes… WOO!

My flight from Langkawi was supposed to leave at 11.25am but didn’t end up leaving until just gone midday, which for once I wasn’t bothered about as my flight to Hanoi wasn’t until 7.10pm. That flight landed in LCCT so I then had to get on a shuttle bus to take me to KLIA. I arrived over there just gone half 2 so I had about an hour until check in and 4 hours until my plane. I wrote some more of this blog and updated Facebook. Once through immigration I then had to get on a train to my gate. Luckily the wifi in the airport was pretty good, giving me something to do!

I’ve become one of those people who wait to the last minute to board the plane. Well, I sit by the gate and don’t join the queue until there are only a few people in it. I don’t really see the point in queuing when I don’t put my bag in the locker and I have a seat number anyway. My flight was with Vietnam Airways and I didn’t realise until I looked yesterday that the flight included a meal! It’s only 3 hours long and cost me about £40, winner! It was some chicken and rice dish and is probably the first plane meal on this trip where I’ve eaten all of it. We had little turbulence and overall was successful journey.

My visa was really simple to do and I don’t really know why I was worried about it. As soon as I walked out there was a guy waiting for me and within 40minutes I was at my hostel. Absolutely cream crackered I went over the road for some water and then just crashed out. I’ve gained back an hour though! WOO!

Day 88 – Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi.

Check out was 12, which worked well with me as I needed to leave around then as my flight to Langkawi was at 3. I could have got a train but after walking around with my bags in Melbourne for too long I’ve decided to treat myself when it comes to airport drop offs/pick ups. Right outside my hostel was a taxi rank so I jumped in one of those which took my right there, I was going to the LCC terminal as it’s a domestic flight, I hope it’s easy to get from there to the International airport, as that’s what I’ll have to do when I get back here on Monday.

The LCC is probably the most disorganised airports I have ever been to. It was a right nightmare to navigate around and I’m glad I grabbed something to eat before going through because there is nothing by the gates. The internet was quite quick in the airport, which meant I could do some research on Vietnam and collate everything everyone else has told me about the places I’m going to.

My time in Langkawi will be spent at 3 different places to sleep. This is because I arrive a day early and leave a day later than Steph and Lucy. My first check in was at Adina Drive-In Motel. The room was massive but quite grimy. Only good thing was I got given a towel and nothing beats a fresh towel.

I arrived just gone 5 and didn’t really do a lot with my evening, I went and found some free wifi to check the plans for tomorrow, grabbed something small to eat and chilled in the room. This island is already more commercialised than I thought it was going to be as it has a mini shopping mall with a Starbucks, McDonalds and a KFC!

Day 66 – Leaving Auckland/Arriving in Sydney

My flight to Sydney wasn’t until late afternoon at 4pm, so I had the morning to organise and repack my bag, chuck things I had gained for cooking etc away as I won’t need these anymore and just chill out until my flight. Had some breakfast, watched some TV and Stuart came and picked me up about 1pm. The airport isn’t that far away and on arrival I was the only person checking in, so I did that without a fuss and was on the other side in no time. My flight took off about 5 minutes early, we landed 30minutes early because of good wind, my bag was about the 5^th one out and I walked through customs without a hitch. WHAT HAS HAPPENED?! I’m not complaining but that is far from normal, I hope this is the beginning of good luck with my flights.

I got the train from the airport straight into the city and it was only a 10minute walk to where Valerie lives. So it took just under an hour from when my flight landed to walk through the door, which was amazing!

She had netball that evening so I just chilled out, watched home and away (as you do) went to woolworths and grabbed some dinner and just caught up with her when she came home. You can see a small amount of the opera house from her balcony and you can see the coca cola sign, which is cool!

Day 65 – Officially half way through my travels!

To celebrate being half way I basically did nothing all day. I had my breakfast, read some of my book and then decided I should really get out of the house, so I decided to go for a little run/walk. I ran down Highland Avenue (where they live) then the next road, when I discovered a park, so obviously I had to go and test out the swings. It was quite hard because the seat is a bendy bit of plastic instead of the rigid seats you get in the UK so I found it quite awkward to pull on the chains to actually swing, I managed it but my 5 minutes of fun was over. I walked through some alleyways and found a shop, which you can actually see from Stuarts house and looks really far away. I decided to pop in, grab and ice cream and slowly walk back, I was probably only gone about an hour and a bit but it was long enough for me.

I also feel like I should give a round up of things/music/books etc, so here it goes! (More for my benefit than anyone else’s, feel free to ignore)

Songs that remind me of my trip so far:

Clean Bandit ft Jess Glynne – Rather Be

Magic – Rude

Pitbull ft Ke$ha – Timber

Katy Perry – Dark Horse

Aloe Blacc – The Man

Lily Allen – Hard Out Here

Eddie Rabbitt - I Love A Rainy Night

Books I’ve read:

Rainbow Rowell – Eleanor & Park

John Green – Looking for Alaska

Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games, Catching Fire & Mockingjay

Bill Bryson – The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (Currently reading)

Markus Zusak – The Book Thief (Currently reading)

Movies I’ve seen:

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Andy Murray Documentary

The Wolf of Wall Street

The Hunger Games 1&2