Tag: travel

Can you believe it?

This time last year I was on my plane setting off for Thailand.
I just had a quick squizz back at my blogs from last year..

Here’s today’s entry: (2006 style)

“The time has come – tonight ladies and gents I will be disembarking to Thailand!
I can’t wait!
Woooo..

At 21:35 this evening my flight will be departing Heathrow Airport and heading for Bangkok International!
Yay me!
I have shaved my head in preparation of my finding my inner Buddha and fingers crossed I’ll come back a changed man!

And well…
Those of you who knew me before I left for Thailand know how much this journey meant to me. You know how much good the trip did me.
You know how much has changed over the past 12mths.

It truly is astonishing.

Those of you who didn’t know me before I left for Thailand?

March 2nd 2006 –
I came home from work (at my mind-numbing and soul-destroying accounts job at the Daily Mail) to my clearly very distraught Wife….
She told me that night that we weren’t working.
That our marriage wasn’t working..
And that worst of all.. she wasn’t in love with me anymore.

It killed me…it tore me to shreds. I hit rock bottom harder than I’d ever known.
And oh my God it hurt.

But…
Looking back – it was without a doubt the best thing that ever happened to me.

Two months later I’d booked myself into a detox spa in Koh Samui, Thailand for ten days of mind, body and soul cleansing…

I’m going to spend the next ten days or so re-reading my diaries from Thailand and re-gurgitating the choice parts on here again.
So much has changed.
So much…

More soon.

PS – I know that some of you never knew about my marriage.
I never mentioned it on here.
Ever. Not even in my private diaries.
So I don’t really know why I am now..
I just feel I can.
I’ve always felt I could. But I just chose not to.

Apologies to those who I kept it from.
When I arrived in Thailand I didn’t want people to judge me. I was afraid of what people might say… I blamed myself.
“A 26yr old divorcee!” I thought.. “I don’t want them to know that.. know how I’d failed at something like that at such a young age…”

Silly huh?
Sounds silly now. But that was the place I was in when I first arrived there almost exactly a year ago now..

The good news is I’m not in that place anymore.
I haven’t been there for a very long time.

I’m gonna hit the sack now.
As I said. More to come over the next ten days or so…
I’ve missed blogging.
Haven’t had too much to write about (blatant lie) and well y’know…
I’m looking forward to re-reading my memories.

See you there.

J.

Harassed & Stressed

*Yawn*

Morning all – I am shattered.
Didn’t get much sleep last night and this morning I managed to oversleep.
Brilliant.
Then I get to the tube station only to discover that the travelcard on my Oyster has run out.
Brilliant.
Not only that but I also don’t get paid until tomorrow.
Excellent.
So I queue up to try and get it topped-up, half an hour later, my debit card fails.
Why? See previous point.
Fantastic.

What am I to do?

Well – at this point I had a good mind to turn around, go home, back to bed and sod the rest of the day off.
But no – I persevered – I managed to get through the barriers (just). Sneaky I know but I called my friend Alex to have a good moan and she insisted that I had no choice but to get myself to work (cheers Bongo, if you’re reading this).
So fifteen more mins later (when the tube finally turned up) I climb aboard a sardine tin-esque tube carriage…

..and off to work I went.

[EDIT: Just noticed the gormless looking dude over my right shoulder, on the bottom-left of the pic – brilliant – hahaha]

Note – my tube is NEVER that busy in the mornings.
What an absolute pain in the arse. GRRR!

Anywhoo – I’m at work now.
Ranting coming to an end.
Dunno what I’m gonna do about getting home yet – should be interesting.
Maybe I’ll work really late and sleep under my desk – that’s not a bad idea….

Oh – and on top of that – I’m moving house this weekend apparently.
Must start packing soon!

Koh Samui – Day 11: Hello Bangkok!

Good morning one and all… its currently 908am in sunny old Bangkok Intl. airport!

I’m en route home.. Woo. Whatley’s Odyssey is drawing to a close.

Had a wonderful night last night – managed to blag some crazy cab driver to take us to the Fisherman’s Village in Bophut (thats how you spell it – I’ve been spelling it wrong – doh) and the place was beautiful! It was like rockin up on an old wild west town with saloons and stuff.. its right on the beach too so we had wonderful views.. we ended up blowing out the Love Kitchen and we went to a place called (get this) ‘Starfish and Coffee’ instead! It was yummo.. We bumped into another bloke (Kevin) from the Spa and he ended up joining us for dinner too.. ..I had Calamaries for starters, followed by a PROPER Thai Green Chicken Curry with Rice.. Then Chocolate Mousse for dessert.. yummo. Drank a fair bit of wine and generally had lots of fun all round – telling jokes and stuff and having lots of giggles. I didnt expecty my friends to come with me to Bophut and yet I’m so glad they did. Guys, if you’re reading this – I had SUCH a wonderful last day and night in Koh Samui. You guys really pulled out the stops for me. Thanks. I’ll never forget it.

Anywhoo – before we went to dinner I had to find a place to crash for the night.. everywhere was 1500-2000bht per night (which is about 30-odd quid or so – not much I know but I had been paying 12quid per night so I wasnt gonna get stung here!) ..anyway – ended up finding this gorgeous room above this pub run by this woman from York called Elizabeth (lovely lady she is) she let me have the room for 800bht when normally she’d charge double! Bless. Her. ..and what a beautiful room it was. A great way to spend my last night in Thailand.

So yeah – got a cab this morning to KS airport and checked in and stuff and everything’s fine.. (well.. aside from saying bye about four times to my friend because first I went to the wrong terminal, then I hadnt paid my departure tax etc…DOH!) ..right up until I had to put my hand luggage through the machine.. Hmm.. People start pointing at my bag on the screen.. Umm…

“Empty your bag sir…”

(dont panic btw – thai prison cells arent equipped with internet access so I’m ok)

Turns out I’d put my Gurpa in my hand luggage instead of my rucksack.. you know.. my Gurpa? The set of pliers thingy wotsit that opens up with a corkscrew, scissors, ruler… KNIFE. Yeah.. DOH! Muppet…

Apparently I can have it back at Heathrow.. Hmm.. we’ll see if it makes it there eh? Place your bets now please!

So yeah – thats about it really.. Gotta go to the transfer desk in about 20mins and check in for my connecting flight to LHR. Then i’ll be on my way home. Flight is at 12:55pm and then I land at 1915 UK time.

If I’m not spending too much time soddin about with my KNIFE then I could be in the pub by 2100hrs! Hahahaahahah.. (on Orange Juice, honest!)

I’ve had an amazing time in Thailand folks. I’ve met some great people, (you know who you are), and experienced some amazing things, (and you know what they are too). I dont regret coming here one iota. I’ve learned so much about me. About my outlook About my direction in life.

I guess only time will tell what long term difference it’ll make.

Short term – I’m gonna have a GREAT summer rocking between London and Brighton.. catchin up with all the cool people from the Spa, (Kev – I’m all over that picnic idea pal – I’ll bring the Liver Flush!) …and dont worry girls – I’ll make my tour of the states at some point – no worries!

As a good friend of mine says: “TTFN folks”

Speak soon.

Koh Samui – Day 10 Cont…

Good afternoon everybody!

First off – the good news!

Nadia was cool about me checkin out early – in fact it wasnt a problem at all! Wooo..

So yeah – I got all checked out by 12pm.. sorted. JUST managed to fit everything into my rucksack (got this whole travelling thing nailed now I reckon – lookin a right traveller – me and Uncle Travellin Matt have got it going on!).. I had some lunch with my friends and we were gonna head up to Bohput together.. BUT. Its been SUCH a nice day! I dumped my stuff and the four of us rocked over to the swimming pool next door which is just divine. I took some pics and stuff to show ya but yeah – been there pretty much ALL day. Its been an absolutely brilliant last day in Thailand. I’m back at the spa now – just saying some goodbyes –

I’m gonna get me a bite to eat and then we’re gonna grab a suntao to Bohput..

When we get there I gotta sort me out a place to stay for the night and THEN we can rock on down to the Luuuuuuuuurve Kitchen. Its gonna be well cool. We’ve all broken our fasts now so EVERYTHING is on the menu! YAY!

Cant get too hammered (if at all – be a good boy now James) cos my flight leaves KS at 740am and I just gotta make that flight!

So yeah – had a great day chillin out with some great friends and now we’re gonna go eat at a great restaurant and hopefully have a great last night together.

I’ll probably post again when I hit Bangkok tomorrow (I’ve got 5hrs to kill between landing from KS and flying to LHR) so I guess I’ll tell you all about it then!

Keep on keepin’ on folks – Whatley is not far from home now..

Koh Samui – Day 6

Afternoon all..

Well being in pain certainly knackers you out a fair bit!

Jeez.. I am shattered today. My alarm went off at 7am for my first detox, I had it.. then went straight back to bed – I havent done that since being here.. jeez.

Shattered.. slept til 830, woke up. took my pills, slept til 10, woke up, detox drink… then decided to stroll down to the pharmacy to get some new bandages and stuff..

So yeah – been a slow morning.. My mate Kim crashed over last night – she checked out yesterday but didnt fancy going to Bohput til today so I said she room with me – which was cool.. but I had this felling what was going to happen.. and guess what?! It happened.

NO! NOT THAT! …Kim’s my mate dude – proper kindred spirit..

We haven’t stopped talking since we first had chat about our drunk stories a couple of days ago and I thought, ‘..if she crashes over, we’ll be up chattin all night..’ and sure enough.. we were. It was cool though.. everything from life experiences, to politics, to stories of stuff we’ve done.. and she’s pretty awesome.. it got to the point where we trying to find something to disagree on! It was funny..

Also, tres cool….

So yeah – she’s been a cool playmate over the past few days and she’s just chipped off. So take care Kimmy.. (hahaha) ..and safe travels. Speak soon dude!

That’s about it for me – the sun’s out and one of the dudes here wants me to talk about the accident so I gotta do that too..

Chat laters dudes.

PS – might go to the cinema tonight – should be cool.

Bangkok International

Hola People!

I’m currently at BKK Int awaiting my connecting flight to Koh Samui..

Everso excitin.. I think!

I’ll be happy once I get there..

I met this girl on the plane (Helen her name is – “Hello! If you’re reading this”) and she was cool – kept me company while I wasnt sleeping and trying not to drool on myself!

Oooer!

So yeah – in about 2hrs I’ll be at the spa in samui..

www.spasamui.com – I’m staying at the beach resort..

And my cleanse will properly begin!

Wish me luck..

Speak soon.

Thailand

The time has come – tonight ladies and gents I will be disembarking to Thailand!

I can’t wait!

Woooo..

At 21:35 this evening my flight will be departing Heathrow Airport and heading for Bangkok International!

Yay me!

I have shaved my head in preparation of my finding my inner Buddha and fingers crossed I’ll come back a changed man!

See you in two weeks I guess.