Excitable

This is going to be a tough post, because I don't think I can put down how excited I am into words.


So yesterday I gave myself square eyes and a numb bum by being sat on the laptop all day, researching places to stay, how to get there, what there is to do once we arrive etc. And that's just for Thailand - we've not even started our Australian and European plans yet.

We booked our flights out of Thailand on Monday, to leave on the 11th May and arrive in Sydney on the 12th May, giving us a total of 8 days in Thailand; I really wish we'd done more now. There's so much to do over there!

Our destination is a little island, about 10 hours away from Bangkok, called Koh Phayam. For a sense of perspective, and so you know what the actual fuck I'm talking about:

So Ranong is the town highlighted in red, and Koh Phayam is the tiny little square bit to the left of it - Bangkok is right at the top. It's an 8/9 hour night bus from Bangkok's Southern Terminal Bus Station (it sounds like I know what I'm talking about, but I really don't), arriving in Ranong about 6am, when nothing's open. So we have 3 hours to wander around, find the pier, sit on the beach, and watch the sun come up - it's lucky May is the hottest month (highs of 32C and lows of 25C) or I would not be impressed. At 9am, you catch a slow boat - 2 hours - that takes you direct to the island. For God's sake do not miss that boat! After that one, you've got one at 2pm and that's your lot. Once you're on the island, there's no actual roads to speak of, only ones that are suitable for motorbikes. You can either hire one, or get a taxi bike, but with our humongous backpacks, there is absolutely no way we'd both fit on one bike. I think our best bet is if Nick hires one and I get a taxi (oh, help!), OR, I'm just gonna have to walk. I'd be a wobbly mess on a push bike with that thing on my back. Sounds like a lot of effort, doesn't it? It's worth it though:

We're getting these little beach bungalows with no hot water, electricity for all of 3 hours a night, and no air con - I seriously can't wait! The resort has all these boogie boards and snorkelling equipment to use, and just look at that water! I'll be getting in there with my little blue swim shoes on!! What? I'm not letting any crab, fish or jellyfish touch my tootsies!

Because there's so much to do on the mainland, we'll probably only stay here for a few days, although we're not sure of the order yet; whether we'll go there first, or stay in Ranong first, do all the bits we want to and then relax on the island before we head back up to Bangkok. There's about 5 different waterfalls in Ranong alone, and I'm not sure how many national parks there are because they've all mushed in my mind, but I think there's about three. They've got hot springs and spas near a place called Raksawarin Arboretum that are supposed to be absolutely beautiful; it'll definitely be a big difference from the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa in Iceland - it won't be snowing whilst we're in the water. Oh, and it's all free! Thailand is ridiculously cheap. Also not far from this Arboretum is the thing I'm most excited about - elephant rides!!! How incredible will that be? I'll be sat on an elephant. A freaking elephant!! With a trunk and big ears and everything! I'm a little dubious about these though, as they don't seem to be very heavily advertised and I can't find any blogs or reviews or anything from someone who's actually done it. I'll be quite upset if there's no Nellyphants!

The day before we fly out, we'll be working our way back up to Bangkok, so we're not miles away from the airport, otherwise I'll be hyperventilating about missing our flight. We said that because we would've spent a lot of time in cities around Europe, that we didn't want a long stay in a Thai city, so we'll literally spend just the one night. I've spotted a hotel only about an hour away from the airport called the Sky Hotel (I think), where the rooms are a ridiculous amount of stories up, and you can see the whole of Bangkok - and they're only £60 a room! That's like normal Premier Inn prices over here! It'll be nice to have fresh towels and air con after slumming it, and before we get on our 12 hour flight. 

I realised yesterday that the start of our trip is only 9 months away - do you know how scary that is? It's not even double digits any more. I have absolutely no idea what I'll be doing this time next year - will I have a job? Will we still be moving around in a little van through Australia? Will we be living somewhere? Not the foggiest! Fingers crossed.

Travelling Wish List

The past few days I have quite literally made myself go all cross eyed, searching the web for some quirky gadgets and essentials for our trip. Below is a list (that I'm certain will keep growing - so keep checking back!) of want/need items.

Scrubba - Portable Washing Machine

This cool little dude is the reason I started this list. I saw it on Firebox.com - if you've never been there, check it out. It's like a site for people with too much money and a sense of humour, but every now and then there's a product of genuine good use. Basically, this is like a washboard in a bag and folds up super tiny after use. Chuck some water in there (and preferably some sort of cleaning agent) and you won't have to turn your pants inside out! 

Desirable accessories:

Soap Leaves - exactly what it says on it's very small tin, and won't leak into your luggage.

Travel clothes line - comes with little pegs so you don't have to tie it/hold it for hours.

LifeStraw Go/Water To Go

Is this water sanitary? It looks questionable to me! So you may have seen the original LifeStraw? It makes Bear Grylls look a little bit silly; stick it in an algae and bug infested pond, lake, puddle or just dodgy restaurant tap water and voilà! It's like Brita filtered water without the waiting. Although this won the Saatchi and Saatchi award in 2008 for 'World Changing Idea' it needs to be used then and there at the water source - not always convenient. Then came the LifeStraw Go and every other filtering water bottle on the market, i.e. the Water To Go. 

So what's the difference between the two? Price, essentially. LifeStraw comes in around £40 per bottle, WTG at around £25. They both claim to have patented filtering technology, so I can only assume they have different ways of getting rid of bugs - on one hand LifeStraw was first, on the other, WTG claims it came from technology used by NASA. Have you heard the story about NASA investing millions creating a pen that can be used in ANY environment, including zero gravity? The Russians used a pencil. Just because it's NASA doesn't mean it's the best. As you can probably tell, I'm steering my preference toward the LifeStraw, and the deciding factor was this: WTG cleans 200 litres per filter - additional filters can be bought of course. LifeStraw can filter 1000 litres before it gives in. By the time you factor in this cost, are you really saving money? And what about when WTG reaches the end of it's 200 litres? Am I going to start getting little bits come through? What if I don't change the filter properly? But most importantly - I have to carry extra filters. We don't have that kind of space. Also, the LifeStraw is more aesthetically pleasing, and that's more important to me than I'd like to admit! Which is also a problem that continues to the next product...

Timberlands - Classic Yellow Boots

I wanted something that come up a little bit higher than your average walking boot, and this is what popped up. We're going to be on trains and walking around city centres so as far as I was concerned, these would be perfect; sturdy, well made, normal looking (goes with jeans!), comfortable, waterproof, and, oh yeah, normal looking! So I don't look like a really old tourist who favours comfort above all else! But they'd still get the job done perfectly fine, right? Right? Apparently wrong! Nick summed them up as chavvy builder footwear and I'd look like a bloke. I asked a close friend who does plenty of hiking and walking thinking she might say 'Well they're not the best, but they'll do the job.' - she didn't even entertain the idea. Put blankly, don't be stupid, get a decent pair or you'll sorely regret it. So, here's my sensible choice....

Hi-Gear Snowdon Women's Walking Boots.

They're built for walking, waterproof, and they don't look that bad. I'm going to try them on today probably so I'll let you know the outcome - they're also a quarter of the price of Timberlands, which means I could get these, two LifeStraw Go's and a Scrubba for the same price! Maybe I'll just have to get over looks, at least until we've dropped our bags off at camp and I get to wear these babies...

TOMS

I've never worn a pair of these before, I probably wouldn't usually wear them because it's not a ballerina pump, but different countries call for different measures! A lot of people rave about how comfortable these are, and they can pack down nice and flat into my rucksack; they're light and they won't make my feet horribly hot. They'll be a welcome change from the boots, that's for sure. I'm going to ask the girls on one of our other concessions if they get many back as faulty to see if they'll last. It doesn't have to be this design either, they do some lovely lace ones, but I am partial to a little travel design - it's appropriate! And they'll go with anything. Total justification.

Biolite - Portable Stove

At no point on our travels will this be of any use to us. Probably. But it's so cool! Again, another item found on Firebox (the site for people with too much money). You fill the little thing up with twigs and off it goes! It'll even use the energy to charge devices through a USB port. The downside? You can hardly fit pots and pans on there, even if you wanted to carry all that around. It's probably just big enough to heat cans, like a hipster tramp, which will keep Nick happy as he can just eat beans forever. Not really essential around Europe, but maybe good for the outback. Maybe worth the £150 investment, I've not decided yet.

Wait a minute, just realised, we can filter some water using our LifeStraw and heat up Pot Noodles on this thing. Hmm....

GoPro

Pretty sure these little things are the smallest, most rugged, waterproof, high definition cameras in the world. Used by professionals for high resolution, fast paced sports footage, whether that be scuba diving, snowboarding, or motorcycle racing, and also by the average person to create pretty cool time lapse videos and fish-eye stills. You want a picture of you at the Grand Canyon, but want the whole Grand Canyon in it? This'll do it. Again, not an essential (Nick has one, and I own about five cameras) but Nick gets really protective of his one, and he likes to delete practically everything, so it would be nice, I guess.

Travel Towel

I had no idea these things existed! If I did, I probably would have bought one a long time ago; they come in any size, ranging from face towel to bath towel and fold up really, really, tiny! They'll feel funny at first, as they're microfibre, but we'll get over it. Really cheap too - you can get most for under £10, and they come with some sort of coating to stop it getting mildewy and mouldy, and a bag so your stuff doesn't get wet. Genius.

She-Wee

Because I think they're so weird! But in all seriousness though - what if we're trekking through somewhere in Oz? I do't want to have to be squatting in some dense bush of some sort and have venomous bugs crawling on my bum. This way, I can pee like a man and keep an eye out for anything trying to eat me. Cue Argus Filch and his creepy 'Got to 'ave ya wits about ya!'

Some Essentials:

-Waterless Wash Kit - for those days when you can't get to a shower.

- First Aid Kit - because we're bound to get a few bumps and scrapes, and I'm first aid trained, don't you know!

-Mosquito Repellant - because the little fuckers love me!

- Compact Sleeping Bag - for hostel nights, where you don't have a clue what's manifesting in that bed sheet! But definitely not one of those ridiculous sleeping-suit things that make you look like the marshmallow man. I'd just roll away in that, and I can't imagine getting comfortable without some knowledge of sleeping space. Or one of those sleeping bags that come with a silly tent for your head. Why?

This time next year, I'll be able to give you the low-down on how well it all worked for us, and how much I wish we'd bought a BioLite and Pot Noodles.