End of the World Travel

Tuesday 28 February 2017

Millenium Travel - Pt 1

Millennium Travel PT1


Ah mother this London’s a wonderful sight
But the people around here talk nothing but shite
At least when I asked, here’s what I was told
These eejits do nothing but talk through their holes
And for all that I found there, I’d much rather be
In a street in Bangkok, having cockroach for tea

Dedications

Dedicated to my cat Monkey for always looking at me in that condescending,
You could do so much more with your life if you made an effort you lazy human,” Kinda way.

Please note that the episodes in this blog referring to the Asia experience all take place at the turn of the last century,ergo, it all happened 15yrs ago. This is why there will be references to exchange rates, prices, places that may not exist today. This is due to an ever changing world and not, as you may believe, the ignorance and/or stupidity of the author…Keep it in context people.

Part 1 - Road to Bangkok (like the movie, 1952, minus Bob Hope and Bing Crosbie)

23/1/02 - Somewhere between London and Bangkok

After very cheerfully giving the finger to the big smoke as I cruised gracefully towards 35000ft, I sat back, adjusted my seat belt and thought, “Right girl, this is it, the beginning of the next phase of your life.”* Finally, after several movies that were hard to listen to because of interference from machine and human alike, the Intrepid Traveler** (that’s me) arrives in Bangkok.

*As we continue through the journey that is this part of my life, this statement will become clearer…I’ve had quite a few phases. I find it pays to have a new life phase at least every 7-9yrs.

**Intrepid Traveller (IT) is the non de plume I shall adopt for the duration of this story. Please remember it stands for Intrepid Traveller and not Information Technology, so…don’t be pretentious.

After sitting in a taxi for 2.5 hrs, touring the city on a journey which, incidentally, should have taken no more than 20-30 mins, traffic not withstanding, “Well, you know how it is at this time of night, blah blah blah.” I am beginning to believe that we, that is my travelling companion, (more about her later), and I have managed to acquire the only Bangkok taxi driver who has only ever viewed the city streets from a badly drawn map. My suspicions lead me to believe that he might in fact be an illegal cockney immigrant from London!*

*Those of you who have had similar taxi experiences in London will at this moment be recalling the pigeon English of the foreign gentleman driving the battered ford Cortina that belongs to his cousin.

So, I’m just about to say, in the politest way possible for a woman from Belfast who is really getting fromaged off, “Hey you, shift your, you have no clue where you’re going, arse off that seat and let me drive ye fecken eejit, when...we finally arrive in Sampeng. We grab the first room we find, (which is cockroach central but sure we can move tomorrow, let’s just get drunk for now), deposit our shiny new back packs and head off into the oriental Sampeng night.


Intoxicated by the sights, sounds and smells, (which, to the untrained nasal passages, are quite frankly a bit rank and, also really quite disgusting, on first sniff) we begin morphing into backpacker mode by introducing ourselves to lots of people and consuming vast quantities of the local brew (it’s called Tiger beer for a reason…it stalks you and you are blissfully unaware of the bite until you get bitten, which is usually when you stand up and try to walk!) This is going to be a great trip. 

N.B. So, how did these chain of events chance my life as I'd known it? 
The relief and pure joy I felt at leaving London behind proved to me that I was on the right path and, had been correct in following my heart and my intuition :)   

Sunday 19 February 2017

The New Millenium

Global Y2K crisis! The millenium bug! Planes falling from the sky! Computers crashing!...The end of the world as we know it!

At the ripe old age of 49 I have lived through many doomsday predictions that failed to manifest. The most publicised of these being the millennium bug scare 1999/2000 and the Mayan calendar predictions of the Apocalypse  in 2012. Hmmm, indeed and really?

In this blog I will share my thoughts and actions at the time of the Y2K new millennium freak out of 1999/2000, and share with you the journey I embarked on as a result. 


It was definitely the end of my world as I knew it!


Prologue
A brief synopsis of the chain of events which led to me completely changing my life and adopting the title of the Intrepid Traveller Extraordinaire aka …The Lesser Spotted Backpacker

1st January 2000 – Belfast N. Ireland

Thankfully, the world did not dissolve/explode/change as we know it as soon as the clock struck midnight on 31st December. I did however, take Prince's advice to party like it was 1999 and;
 a) It might be my last night as a free earth dweller 
 b) The known world might imploded in on itself 
 c) People could start falling out of the sky as aeroplane navigation and aerodynamic capabilities failed miserably.

Woke up with a hangover, followed by relief at lack of world destruction, and an incredible feeling of, “My god, I’m 32yrs old with another year of boredom stretching out before me.” What to do to address such a conundrum?

Two choices;
  1. Sell home, leave job, move to London to pursue singing/acting career.
  2. Sell home, leave job, travel the world.
Congratulations on deciding to celebrate your liberty, the lack of world destruction and enter yet another phase of your life and choosing option 1.

August 2001 - London England
33yrs of age
Overweight
Boring dead end job
Alone in London with no social life
Nil success on singing/acting career

Two Choices;
1) Change my life
2) Remain embedded in the status Quo

Congratulations you have chosen option 1 and in the words of the all immortal Status Quo*…lets go Rockin all Over the World!
This is my cue to take a year off and travel to exotic places

*70’s/80’s UK,iconic rock band (it’s amazing what you can achieve with 4 chords…just ask the Beatles).

N.B. So, how did these chain of events chance my life as I'd known it? 
I finally found the courage I'd been looking for for many years to do something I'd always wanted to do but had been to scared to initiate...TRAVEL :)