Samui... Yoga... Bliss

I am getting super excited about my trip to Koh Samui!

It's only 17 days away now, time will fly with only 7 days of work left and then a week in NZ!

I just found this amazing Yoga studio in Koh Samui, VIKASA. It looks gorgeous. An open air studio on a hill top over looking the ocean. I doubt I will ever make the 9am class (holidays are for sleeping in) but will try make the 6pm class a few times. I  might even make an effort and wake up for a 9am class. With views like that it would be worth the lack of sleep!

I also looked into going to the Samui Aquarium and Tiger Zoo but have since read some bad reviews so perhaps not. The draw of holding a baby tiger is so strong though!! I love little, cute, cuddly things!!

I want to head out to the National Parks too and go snorkelling, they will be beautiful... ahhh...

I will stop there before I mumble on about all the things I want to do and where I want to go!

Next holidays I want to do:

While I still have a few coming up there are sooo many more I want to do!

• Back to America, NY, Vegas, LA
• THIS contiki around the east coast of America – I love contiki.
• Visit my friend Sheldon and her husband in the UK (a place I don’t love but a dear friend I miss enough to travel to somewhere I dislike to be with)
• While I’m in the UK it would be rude of me not to go back to Italy. I want to travel more around the coast and especially visit Cinque Terre. Mostly I just want to eat and people watch. Just be there.
• 
• South America – Riioooooooooo!! Would love love love to check out Carnivale. Must admit I am a little hesitant due to the amount of murders during this time but would be incredible to see all that colour and music!
• Swim with whale sharks ANYWHERE – I don’t care if I have to go to Perth or Japan, these animals are so graceful and majestic I just wana be with them.
• Speaking of Japan – that place is funky as hell. I can’t wait to go back there. Back to Tokyo to visit my mate Seiji and then Kyoto to visit Toshi and then Okinawa, an island where the people live until they are really old.
  
• Singapore, good food, decent shopping cool buildings
• Dubai – this place looks cray. 
• Phillipines, some gorgeous beach where I can chill. Oh and that place you can swim in the Jelly Fish lake! Palau. 
• Bora Bora. I MUST stay in one of those over water bungalows so I can look at the fishy’s all night!!!!!! 
• Mexico – especially Belize. It just looks breath taking.
   
• Maldives. See above. Beautiful.
• South Island of NZ - Ironically I have travelled the world and yet not my own country properly.
• Anywhere my family is. Hopefully on a cruise somewhere… Bahamas again anyone? 

 Must stop writing and start working out how I can earn more money and have more time off. This sh!t is expensive!!

Holiday Planning - Oops!

Why one shouldn't leave booking until the last minute... Or perhaps why you should!

So in my last blog I was saying how I'd been lazy and hadn't booked anything for my Thailand trip. Being New Years and a very popular destination I knew I should have, yet it still didn't motivate me.

So yesterday I finally got my A into G and booked my accommodation. A nice little resort in Koh Samui, (yup I went for Koh Samui and the ferry to Koh Phagnan for the Full Moon Party) right on the beach and very central to everything. Sweet. Done. Yewwww!!

So I called Gemma and was like 'Yo Bro put some money on my account.'
While we were talking she was asking me when I was flying home, she still wasn't sure about her leave with work so her plans are up in the air. Still didn't think to check my flights.

Then my other girlfriend from work calls me, her and her travel buddy were browsing accom and wanted to know where I had booked and what my plans were. Still didn't think to check flights back.

Then my cousin called. She had decided not to join us but to head to Phuket instead as that suited her plans better. She was asking me what my plans were and where I was flying out from. She mentioned that if she came to Samui it was hard to get off the island, that there were hardly any flights left and they were all expensive. I must have had other things on my mind as I STILL didn't think to check flights!

So a few hours later I'm mucking around on my laptop.. Lalalala... And I think 'oh I know what I'll do, I'll look at flights home from Thailand.'

My first idea was to google flights 'Samui to Phuket or Bangkok' I could fly out from either an was heading towards whatever was cheaper. As I mentioned before, Google is actually my best friend.

So I find a site similar to webjet and put in my details.. All the flights are $400+ and have a stopover? They should be 1hr direct and under $100.. Then I head to trusty old Bangkok Airline, who I am flying there with. In 7 days, they have one flight. A day earlier than I had planned. Not ideal. But the only option for me to get off the island really unless I want to take a 7hour bus trip. I don't.

Called Gemma, who was asleep. Oops. Sorry bro. She didn't make much sense and couldn't understand me so gave up on trying to establish whether she wanted to jump on the flight too and told her to have a lovely sleep.

So I book the flight off the island just for me and start looking for flights home from Phuket (only flight was to there) to Brisbane. There's a few but they all have fairly decent stopovers and I'm lazy when it comes to stuff like that. Eventually though I found one leaving a few hours after I arrived, it flies to Perth first (perfect if Gem comes) with a quick stop and straight back to Bris. To be honest, I mainly took it coz it was with Virgin Australia and I wanted the air points. Plus it was a flexible flight so can change as I please. And it was cheaper than the others. Yay win-win.


Moral of the story, if you're traveling at peak times, book early. Unless you want an excuse for work to not come back on time, in which case this is perfect...

Boss 'You're back on the 5th January right?'
You 'Umm'
Boss *Severe expression directed at you*
You 'Well actually..'
Boss 'Yes..'
You 'There were no flights back on time..'
Boss 'Oh really?'
You 'Yes so unfortunately you see, I can't come back until February'
Boss 'I see..'
You 'I'm sorry, it's not my fault, I couldn't get a flight back, I really tried.'
Boss 'You're right, are you okay?'
You 'I suppose I will be' *Moahahaha sneaky smile*

Ps. Still haven't booked from the 2nd - 5th sh!t!! Haha better get on that!

Holiday Planning - Krunk for NY in the land of Thai

I love planning holidays. For me it’s part of the fun of it. Finding out where we can go, where is best to eat, stay, drink, play. Google is my best friend.

I actually haven’t booked anything this time but flights to Koh Samui on the 28^th December and well, that’s it haha. No accom, no flight home, no tours, no ferry to the full moon. Essentially I have been lazy and no one else wants to make any decisions so it has been left to me.

The reason that we decided to head to Koh Samui was so that we could go to the Full Moon party at Koh Phagnan. We decided not to stay on the island itself as they were all 5 night minimum stays and there isn’t a lot to do on the island. So we would catch a ferry over before the party and then one back in the morning, after a nice nap on the beach. However NOW, I don’t know if that was the right decision.. I’ve read a bit about the beach being really crappy and not suitable to go bare foot on let alone nap.. so being rather intoxicated, exhausted and likely in need of a bed somewhere around 5am and with ferry’s not starting until 8am… we face my dilemma. 

Do I just book accom on the island for the three nights and spend the time there and a few nights in Koh Samui? Or do we stick with the original plan and stay at Koh Samui and brave the elements to wait for the ferry? Or, do we try and book a cheap place to stay for the night on NY in Koh Phagnan, along with Koh Samui and just foot the bill so we have somewhere to stay that night? So many decisions!

I also have two girlfriends meeting us in Koh Samui and my cousin maybe meeting us in Koh Samui too. Oh and Gemma's friend maybe too. I'd love for us to all be together but trying to coordinate that many people coming and leaving at the different times can be challenging.

So the plan so far is fly to Samui from NZ, meet Gemma and stay there for 5nights. Depending if Gemma stays in Thailand past the 2^nd Jan we may head to Koh Tao. Either way I think I will head to the island of Koh Tao from the 2^nd as I have other friends that are also staying there from the 2^nd – 5^th. Perfect.

I just got so excited - I saw that you can go swimming with Whale Sharks there!!! Except I think we are there in the wrong season :( I have wanted to do that for so long. It is supposed to be a really good dive spot but due to blood pressure medication I'm not allowed to dive any more. Unfair. Hopefully the snorkelling is just as good! I will find my Nemo :)

My good friends Kim & Sonja are in Thailand at the moment, I love following their blog, they’re giving me heaps of ideas of where to go. Not to mention making me crave Pad Thai and want to wear fluoro while drinking out of buckets!

As long as I don't get sick, I will be happy. Thai belly is not my favourite. I managed to avoid it last time then got hit ten times worse when I visited Vietnam. Fingers crossed my tummy comes through strong for me again lol.

Either way, no matter what I book, watch out Thailand, we’re coming!!!