So our trip has finally started! I am sat writing this in a bar in Bangkok, but before I tell you how our last few days have been, let me fill you in on the last couple of weeks. We moved out of the flat and moved in with Chris’ Mum & Dad (thank you again for having us) and finished our last week at work. Thank you to all of our colleagues for our cards and gifts and farewell celebrations it really did feel real for me when I stepped out of the office on Friday and realised I now was homeless and jobless, but you have to take these risks to experience life to the full. Chris is lucky to be given 6 months leave from work so at least one of us still has employment lol! In our last week I also celebrated my 33^rd birthday (thanks again to Phil for the lovely meal). Then once the weekend came we spent this full of farewell meals and drinks with our friends and family. We did, however, take it easy on the drinks on Sunday in preparation for our flight early doors on Monday 4^th February.

Travel Day

It’s finally arrived; we got up early and Mike kindly took us to the airport. It was a cold, rainy miserable morning in Hemel, but never mind we were heading off on our 6 month adventure in the sun! We got to Heathrow in plenty of time, had brekkie and waited for our first flight to Abu Dhabi. We flew with Etihad airways and it was amazing, the aeroplane was like a hotel and even though we were in the cheap seats these were far from the likes of EasyJet! We arrived at Abu Dhabi after 6 hours 20minutes and by this time it was 8pm local time, we had a 4 hour stop over where we had booked a lounge. I was starting to feel poorly so spent most the time in the lounge with my eyes closed, but being poorly in a lounge is still better than just in the airport so well worth it. It was then time for our next flight to Bangkok so we headed to our departure gate. I was still poorly but now not able to shut my eyes and was a bit sick :(. We then got on our second flight the plane was clearly older so not as posh but the service was still as good. I drank loads of water and got some sleep and felt so much better. This was a 6 hour flight and we arrived at Bangkok at 8am local time which was 2am back in the UK. 

Arriving in Bangkok 

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We spent most of the morning wondering around and soon realised that the super helpful strangers in the street were not just making conversation and being helpful to tourist, they were trying to get you into tuk tuks and tourists attractions. After the second time we realised just to politely smile and not get into conversation and walk away. It was a bit smoggy on that first day and although it was ok to breath it did get to the back of our throats and make us cough a bit. By about 2pm we were shattered and so sweaty from the humidity and heat we went back to the room to shower and sleep.

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Day 2 in Bangkok 

So we woke up and found the breakfast bar. We now know what to expect from the free breakfast HA! It satisfied us and the butter was salted so I was happy – it’s not quite DEKRA toast but it will do and I got a lovely cup of tea! There is a cool smoothie stall just outside of our hostel and today we had a banana one – so tasty and refreshing in this heat! We took a boat and visited the temple of dawn, had some coconut water which was rank but Chris seemed to love it! We then went into the city and did the King Power SkyWalk, such a strange experience but a must if you’re ever in Bangkok. Also the term ‘exit through the gift shop’ has been taken to the extreme here, you had to exit through 4 floors of shopping centre. So we both made use of the perfume and food samples along the way #TravelHack! We then mainly spent the afternoon and well into the evening in Ram Buttri enjoying some street food (we had duck noodle soup followed by a banana and egg roti covered in condensed milk which was amazing!!!!) We also both had a 30 minute foot massage which was like £3.50 each. We didn’t get to do a floating market yet as these mainly happen over the weekend, so we will make sure when we are passing back through Bangkok it’s over a weekend. 

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Budget Update

We knew Bangkok would cost us a little bit more than our £50 a day budget but we have done well as we have spent £62 a day which is fine as I mentioned we have a £500 floating budget a month. We are using a app called TravelSpend which I am loving! We have been careful with things like choosing beer instead of cocktails but we don’t feel like we are missing out! We also have a little pot for traveling treats from gifts we got over Christmas and the leaving gifts we got so the skywalk came out of that as it was £47 for the both of us but the experience was on par with the One World Observatory and the Shard so worth the spend!

Tomorrow  (7^thFebruary 2019) we are getting the train to Ayutthaya so stay tuned to find out what 3^rdclass rail travel is like! 

We’re both posting on our Instagram stories so make sure you check that out too @crunksanddunksontour and our own pages.

Catch up soon Lisa & Chris xx