Travel Mishaps

Personally I think travelling is like the best thing ever, EVER! but it's not always sunshine, rainbows and cupcakes. It's not always pretty and comfy... Things sometimes go wrong... Very very wrong. 

Here's some of the mishaps I've encountered on my travels over the past five years... 

Goodbye baggage! 

So the third time I went out to South Africa which was back in Febuary 2012 I ended up in a spot of bother when I reached the end of the first part of the mammoth journey at Johannesberg airport. To get to mpumalanga from the UK I had to get two flights, London to Joberg, Joberg to Nelspruit. Now from what I can remember I had to collect my luggage and check it in again for the second flight which usually you don't have to do but I had to which I'm guessing was just because the second airplane to nelspruit was a very small plane that quite frankly looked a little dodge that only seated about 15/20 people. So I was there at Joberg (for anyone that's been there knows how intimidating it is, especially as a little 19 year old girl on her own) and I was waiting for my luggage to come passed on the belt so I could check it in for my little dodgey plane. I waited... And waited.. Until I was the only soul in the room. Thankfully I had a little while to wait for the next flight. So I went over to this luggage desk where an African lady was stood. I asked her if she could help me and that I think my luggage had been left in London Heathrow. For anyone that's been to South Africa you might have experienced that there's still a divide between the white people of South African and the black people of South Africa and it was as if she didn't want to help me or maybe she just didn't understand me well.  I was panicking, by this point almost in tears and decided to ring my mum. £50 phone bill later and mum tried her hardest to calm me down as for her it was the middle of the night. I glanced back at the belt and realised after taking a real good look at it that it was the exact same bag as mine except mine was a 100L and this one was a 90L. SOMEONE HAD TAKEN MY BAG! I went back to the luggage desk to say that someone must've taken my bag and I handed them the bag that was left over. I asked if they could get in touch with the person but I don't think there was a name or contact number on it. By this time I had to go get onto my next

 connecting flight. 

When I reached nelspruit I was met by my friends Ashley, Kyle and Tyron and after huge hugs I told them what had happened. Ashley said that when we get back to hers she will ring the airport and try an get some answers. In the mean time I had no clothes. Just some baggy hippie pants and a thin jumper and I wasn't going to be able to ride horses in those so we made a stop at Mr Price which is like South Africa's primark and I got myself some jeans and tee's. 

Couple days later we heard back that someone had taken my bag accidently thinking it was his and he had taken it back to Joberg. He must've had a right surprise when opening my bag to find a riding helmet and girly underwear! Someone ended up personally delivering my luggage all the way from

Joberg to Hazyview which is a good 5/6 hour drive or something ridiculous. I went a week in total without my bag, fair to say I was happy to see it again. 

What have I learnt? Put something on your bag to make it stand out. 

Camping out in JFK 

This was when I went to America in the summer of 2012 to work on a summer camp. Oh it was amazing, Long Lake Adventure Camp is incredible. After the camp, myself and the other two horse girls who became real good friends of mine decided to travel to Miami after a going to New York for a while after camp. We had a blast! Beach, nights out, hostels, party's, bagels. We ended up meeting Amy's man friend Daryl (dazzle) from camp too as he came and joined us for a few days. On one of the last days we went to the Miami Ink shop which I was totally fan girling in as I watched their  tv show all the time. I like to add that I met Chris Garver 😏 

Anyway shortly after that we were walking through the town and I realised that my purse had gone missing, I had it in the Miami ink store and then about half hour later it was gone. I was pretty sure I was pickpocketed or maybe it fell out my bag, no idea. But it had my ID, bank cards and all my money I had for the last couple of days before I flew back to England. My mum managed to transfer some money into my friends account so I could pay for a taxi to the airport and get some food. The taxi ended up being a lot more than expected and left me with about 6 bucks til I got home. I had to fly from Miami to New York JFK and then to Heathrow and I had about 30 odd hours in JFK before my flight home, I was going to check in somewhere close by before I lost all my money but I had no choice but to just camp out in the airport for 30 hours, how hard could it have been, they usually have seats you can lay on. Well not where I was! In the whole terminal there were no seats so I ended up finding a corner of an arcade and camped out there. I laid my towel down and a layer of clothes for a bed, found a plug socket and that was that. I had about 6 bucks left over to last me til I got home so I went to KFC cos I was starving and bought a coke and a mini fillet meal type thing. The cheapest meal anyway. I tried to make that last a good 8/9 hours and then got some sleep, kinda.

 I woke up to find a nice American couple that we're sat near me also in the arcade looking at photos of their honeymoon  they had just had in Ireland and they were headed back home to somewhere in America but had a stop over in JFK for a while too. We got chatting, I told them what had happened and they ended up buying me a large meal from macdonalds to keep me going. It was lovely of them and they were so nice and let me watch an episode of the office on their iPad with them, more hours passed and I fell asleep again. By the time I woke up the couple had already left to catch their early hours flight and had left me with a pile of girly magazines and a macdonalds breakfast next to me. I never managed to get their names, they were so kind. 

It's fair to say I was very happy to see my mum after that long couple of days getting home. I wish I had their names so I could thank them again for being so nice. 

Death by street food 

This one was a recent one, about 4 weeks ago in Pai. The prettiest little bohemian town hidden in the mountains in north Thailand. 

One evening me and Callum decided to get a mix of street food down the walking street instead of going to a restaurant. That way for the same price as a meal we could get a mixture of different foods. I ended up getting a spinich and cheese bread thing and a couple of chicken skewer things and Callum got a skewer and, a chicken leg and a crepe and then we both had a fruit smoothie afterwards.  Oh what a bad idea that was. 

We got back to our little cabin and we were just chilling in bed on our phone when I felt the sudden urge to be sick. I have a problemed tummy so I'm used to getting stomach aches pretty much everyday but I don't usually feel sick to the point I have to be. 

I was really quite violently sick for a couple hours before Callum started feeling unwell himself. Because I get myself in such a state if I'm sick, Callum had to be there with me to hold me up because I usually end up passing out. Callum ended up passing out for the first time that night after seeing me so sick. After that he started having an upset tummy to and eventually was sick aswell. 

I was being sick on average every 10 minutes for about 11 hours straight. Callum ended up passing out a second time where he fell on his face on the tiles of the bathroom floor and cut open his nose and bashed his head. At the point I was really worried so I ended up face timing Callum's dad because he's a nurse. He told us to get some dioralite sachets down us to replace the sugars and salts our bodies lost while we were sick and to keep drinking water although it was coming back up fasting than it was going down. We were running really low on water and we knew we had to drink so much to keep ourselves hydrated but by this time it was 2am and neither of us could hardly stand up right. We knew we had to find water somehow (as you can't drink the tap water in asia) or we were going to get in a seriously bad shape. Worse than we already were. Callum wasn't as sick as I was so he managed to walk/crawl to the resort down the road where he came across the desk but no one was there, only an American couple that after cal had explained what was happening to us they said to just take a bottle out of the fridge. Cal took some water, we had no choice but he went back the next day to explain to the person on the desk and pay them back for the water he took earlier in the morning. They ended up not charging him for the bottle he took and cal just bought another bottle off them. 

Even the owner of our hostel heard us being sick all night and came to give us some free water also. 

We were stuck in bed for 2 days after, watching the animal channels in Thai to keep our spirits up. It took 4 days to start being able to eat a meal and walk around and about 10 days for our Tummys to feel relatively normal again. 

Since then we've not touched street food or anything that might be dodgey, so far so good. 

But the word crepe makes Callum shudder.. Ha! 

If in doubt, back to Kwa! (Plus lion story)

My first ever trip to South Africa was back in 2010 when I was just 17. That was the trip that lit something in me about travelling that keeps on burning. I did a 6 week project on a beautiful game reserve called Kwa Madwala that was organised by the amazing company The Leap (check them out!) 

It was the time of my life.. But after that, the following year I went back to help a friend who once ran the horse safaris at Kwa Madwala. The second trip went great. I went back for a third time in 2012 (the baggage incident trip) which was also going well until maybe a few weeks in. My friend was in a relationship where there was so much arguing and it just wasn't a nice environment to be in, couple long stories short I decided to go my own way. I didn't really know what to do. I had a lovely group of friends in Hazyview which would spend time with me when they weren't working but I was still in South Africa for a while and I didn't want to catch an early flight home. I got back in touch through Facebook with the ranger that ran our programme at Kwa Madwala 2 years earlier and I told him my situation and asked if there was anyway I could come back to Kwa and help out and work. He got back to me and said he would ask the big boss and try and help me out as much as he could. Turned out I could come back and join onto a programme which was the same as what I did in 2010 but where people could've stayed for 10 weeks. It was towards the end of their programme and there was about 10 leapers still there. I was able to have a spare bunk in the new accomodation the leapers had and I just chipped in for food and helped out with the other volunteers and got to help on a lot of the horse safaris and other tasks like rounding up a rhino on horseback and replacing a tracking colar on one of the lions and got to help with the 2 tame elephants. It was so good to be back at Kwa, different and also a little sad at times. At the time I was in a relationship with someone I had met on my first trip in 2010, and he was back in England, so being back at Kwa with all the memories but without him and the leapers from my trip was hard at times, but I met some really nice people from the 2012 leapers. 

Kwa Madwala to me is a magical place that I'll always keep close to my heart, wonderful people and animals. It was my African dream. 

For those that haven't heard the lion story I thought id add that in this bit too as it was the same trip. 

One of the days we went out on a riverbed picnic ride in the late avo on the horses. It was great, galloping through the bush. We set up in the dried river bed and made a tempary paddock for the horses so we could let them graze without them being tied up while we hung out and had a picnic. A horse one of the guides rode (apache) was very nervous around people on foot and actually managed to break out of the make shift paddock and take himself for a little run. We saddled up and tried to find apache with Wade, his rider sat on the back of me whilst I rode my horse spirit. We decided to head back to base and hope that Apache would've found his way back alright. Now this isn't just in a big field, this was a game reserve with dangerous animals living in it. We found this out the hard way when it got to the early evening as we were riding home as a ride and 3 of the lions jumped out of nowhere at us. We walked straight into where they were. It was around the time lions became active and went out to hunt as most of the day time they're asleep. I didn't even pick up a clue from the horses that something was there in the bushes but there was.. Most of the ride managed to ride back to the river bed apart from myself with wade on the back of me with my friend Alex on her horse. 

I had it in my head that was it. I was petrified and genuinly thought this was my time to die. All sorts of things run through your head. You couldn't run away because the lions would see you as prey and go after you. So trying to keep a horse calm and still with not 1 but 2 riders on it whilst you're completely loosing your shit was hard. 

Tommy, another ranger ended up there on the scene In a vehicle and by that time I was in a state, I couldn't really control my horse because of the fear so they managed to get me on the car and wade rode my horse while we positioned ourselves between the horses and lions. It all went a little blurry from there. I was freaked. We got back to base to find apache just grazing outside the gate, not fazed atall and everyone got back safely. 

What a ride. 

The text I sent my mum afterwards was interesting as I could only afford a one page text to her.. Read something like.. 

"Hi mum. All is good, went on a ride today and ran into some lions, almost died but didn't, miss you, hope you're well. Laurie x" 

She was a little freaked out after that. Whoops! 

So there you have some memorable mishaps that I've had in my travels. Travelling isn't always smooth sailing and happy days, it leaves you with marks on your body and things missing but it sure is worth every second and it always works out somehow. 

Featherhead. 

Backpacking with IBS

The travelling lifestyle is pretty damn awesome. You see so many different things, experience different cultures, languages, religions and try out different foods.. But as awesome as it is, some minor issues can occur a fair bit. For example, running out of money, getting sick, getting something stolen, having your baggage lost at the airport. Some of those has happened to me and hopefully not again (touch wood) but this post is about something slightly different. Im going to shed a small light on a topic called IBS.

So what is IBS? Insanely beautiful specimen? Nah, irritable bowel syndrome. (Not so glamourous) 

It's a funny old thing, okay not that funny, it's actually bloody annoying and horrible but there's actually no real known cause for IBS although stress and anxiety has been proven in a lot of cases to play a big part in it. It is also apparently common in anyone who has had a trauma or highly emotional stressful blip in life to develop IBS so maybe loosing my dad plays a part in it but I'm not really sure. It's effects around 10%-15% of people, that's a fair big number, if you think about it. 

There isn't a cure nor an answer for how IBS is caused but stress definately plays a massive part in it for me. 

Ever since I was a little dink I can remember having a tummy ache and bathroom troubles. And then I finally saw a doctor about it a few years ago after a break up that ended up turning my stomache into a big evil mess and then came the possible answer of IBS. 

Thanks to my wonderful mother, I'm pretty sure I've got it from her as she too suffers big time and my symptoms are becoming worse and worse and apparently genetics and a history of IBS in the family can maximise the chances of having the condition (yay). 

Anyway, so IBS has many symptoms such as bloating, severe stomach cramps, heart burn, the runs (cos I can't spell the actual word), constipation, feeling full very quickly, feeling sick (also can't spell the proper word, I'm so special) and in worse cases back aches and headaches/migraines. It's to do mainly with the large intestines I believe that can spasm or something (I'm a little useless) and something about a connection from your brain to your gut. I'm not really a medical wizard as you can tell 😏 

Some people get these symptoms once in a blue moon, others everyone week or few days.  Me? Pretty much every time i put food in my mouth (why am I not skinny yet then). It sucks, like really sucks. I've tried everything from going vegetarian, dairy free, bread free, gluten free, red meat free, acidy foods free. And now im completely alcohol free now too. Not that I've ever really drank, it makes me serious sick, even after one and doctors have said from other medical mishaps that I have a irritable liver/kidneys so it's best just to stay off it completely. (Lucky boyfriend, I'm a cheap date, ha) 

So, travelling with IBS.. You can imagine right? Fucking awful at times. Especially having to know where the closest toilet is just incase, which if you've seen African and Asian toilets, you'll understand that it could be QUITE INTERESTING 😏

I carry around numerous amounts of different meds with me from rennie to herbal calming tablets to others I can't pronounce to save my life. 

The big factor in mine is stress, I am a stress head, it sucks and I've not quite worked out how to deal with it when it gets bad and another thing to add to it is I totally FREAK out if I get sick. I mean, I know nobody likes being unwell but I totally loose my shit (excuse the pun 😏) 

Throwing up scares the hell out of me, I have to have someone there, near enough everytime I'm proper sick I end up panicking so much I pass out. So my mum or my boyfriend have been the lucky ones to try and calm me down and be there if I have blacked out for a minute. 

This all came into play when me and Callum were seriously unwell with the common Thailand food poisoning last week in Pai (blog to come) after having some street food for dinner. You can imagine, what a mess. 

Anyway, so when I feel my symptoms coming on, I panic about it.. And then my stomache cramps more and then it gets ten times worse and it's just a vicious circle. I come across quite out spoken and confident and self assured, but the people who know me best know I'm also a little stress head and worry about absolutely everything. Soz 😏

For example today, we had an incredible day with some Asian elephants, litterally the best day EVER. But before the day had even started (the night before) I had already played the "what if my stomache sets off there, will I miss it, will there be a toilet, what will people think" blah blah blah. So since the night before, up until we met other people on the same elephant tour, my stomache had given me so much pain I couldn't walk or stand or even move. And then I panicked because the bus was coming to pick us up and it all got abit too much until there was other people and there was something to take my mind off it. 

Okay so you get my point now? Vicious circle of IBS. It's a bastard. 

Another example was when we were working on a cattle station in the outback. Every single morning I was there for about 45 minutes id be in such pain I wouldn't be able to move from my stomache upset and cramps. No idea what it was that was setting it off, I thought maybe it was eating beef because I had literally just started eating meat again after going veggie for a couple months before hand. But I reckon stress played the biggest part, because I was always worried about the fact there wasn't a toilet in the bush, just... Bush. 

Which there's another funny story (it's funny now but definately wasn't at the time) but when we were mustering all day and I was feeling so ill I was actually unwell in the bush with my horse tied up just watching me chuck my guts up along with a couple hundred cattle thinking what the hell is this two legged freak doing in my paddock. Not fun. 

Airplanes, trains, coaches.. Any form of transport with IBS acting up is hell. Nights out, meals out, sleeping over a friends house or your boyfriends place, cinema, shopping. Normal things can turn from great to rough in approximately 0.7 seconds. 

I've tried meditation, I had this app on my phone and it was all going great until the lady speaking said "now breathe into your ankles" and after that I was totally done, nope, couldn't handle it.

 I think I need to start doing yoga. 

So things that set my IBS off... 

- stress, anxiety, any type of negative emotion 

- lack of sleep 

- alcohol 

- so far pretty much ALL bloody foods! 

- being in a new place 

- travel sickness (which makes me nervous cos of the whole being sick thing which then brings on my stress to then bring on my IBS, Wooo so much fun) 

Tips for travelling if you also are a lucky devil with IBS.. 

- always carry loo roll (a lot of Asian and African toilets don't have toilet paper, sometimes not even a toilet 👍) 

- rennie, it tastes good and seems to work for even a short period of time if I start feeling a turn coming on 

- always find out where the closest toilet is 

- travel with someone, they can help by taking your mind of things when you feel yourself sliding to the gates of hell (Callum has to tell me stories to calm me down sometimes, once upon a time...) 

- eat plain foods, drink a lot of water (something I have to force down me) 

- always carry those sachets incase you get really ill and can't stop.. Y'know.. Being unwell 😏 

- when you feel it coming on, distract yourself or read about it on google, it makes me feel less alone. 

- lie down on your left hand side (apparently it can settle cramps a little) 

- try to relax, it's normal and I feel silly writing this because I'm THE WORST at staying calm, but it's a common thing and you're not alone. 

- make sure your travel insurance covers IBS 

- find a pharmacy if you get really stuck. 

- enjoy it all as much as you can, it's something you can't cure, so just try and deal with it as best as you can ☺️ 

Oh and I wrote this blog post to distract me from me having a flare up 👍

Laters. 

Touch down in Thailand. Week one.

So we have been in Thailand a week already and here's the things we've been up to.

Bangkok 

We arrived in Bangkok last Sunday after flying from Melbourne into Brunei and then into Bangkok. We arrived around 9pm into the crazy Thai airport. There was still aircon when we arrived in the airport and then we took a step outside to the taxi rank, my god it was hot. Within seconds we were sweaty and the humidity got right down your throat. 

We jumped into a taxi that took us to the hostel we were staying at, by this time for us it was around 1am Australian time so we were pretty shattered but the taxi man (as lovely as it was) insisted on knowing the ins and outs of our trip to Asia and gave us a lesson in speaking Thai. Really nice friendly guy but at this point in time the last thing I wanted to do was learn Thai as I was feeling pretty rough from the 12 odd hours we were flying. 

We got to our hostel called Born Free which was really friendly. Small but quirky. We soon dumped our bags, got into bed and died until the following morning. Due to the time difference I had woken up at around 3am and stayed awake until it was a suitable time to actually get up for the day. We went down Kho San road which is like backpacker/tourist central for Bangkok and found somewhere to grab some breakie which was a spoonful of scrambled egg and a string of bacon. We were pretty hungry not long after that for sure. We ended up walking down to the river to the reclyning Buddha temple called Wat Pho (I think, might be wrong, probably am) where there was (like the name) a bloody huge golden Buddha statue just chilling, laying on it's side surrounded by gold stuff. It was pretty impressive. We walked around the temple grounds for a bit and then ended up back at the hostel for a while to freshen up and probably have a nap (can't quite remember, a week is a long time for me) 

We met up with our friends from PGL Leanne and Jess and went for some food in a street behind Kho San road. A stray dog was right next to our table but we're 99% sure it had rabies. It was like a zombie pooch with a foamy mouth and just growling at nothing, he seemed a lite away with the fairies which was sad. 

We had a walk around kho San road afterwards to look at the market stalls and the food stands of pad Thai which sells on the streets for 30baht which is about 70p ish. Pad Thai is a noodle dish with egg and bean sprouts and chicken or shrimp. Pretty tasty stuff for 70p. 

That day my best friend Lucy had also flown into bangkok from England with a tour and I knew she was around that road somewhere so I kept my eye on anyone that had a big fridge and a bunch of European people drinking and after walking up and down the road as almost loosing hope THERE SHE WAS! I pointing and squealed and then she saw me too and we just ran to eachother and totally embraced eachother in the middle of the crazy nightlife where we had people all around us looking at us (probably the fact we were both in tears and all other eachother) probably thought we were long lost lovers. (Pretty much are) by we hadn't seen eachother in over a yet and that was only for like a day. We danced to shakira and hugged a hell of a lot and took a shit ton of selfies, I felt a little bad I kinda crashed thir tours drinks night and stole Lucy away. I was so happy. It was late and she had to go and we went back to the hostel to bed. 

The next day we met Leanne and Jess again where we went to the other side of town to a snake farm which was ran by the Thai Red Cross where they took the venom out of the snakes to make anti venom. It's was pretty interesting stuff me being a snake lover and all. They did a show where these crazy mofos were like catching king cobras and other deadly snakes with his bare hands and letting them just slithering infront of the crowed. They asked for a volunteer at the end of the show so of course I put my hand up (made sure not kids ha their hands up, I'm not that mean) but I was picked and I they ended up coming up behind me with a MASSIVE Burmese Python which was so awesome. I got to hold it and stuff infront of the crowed and then the guy asked if I liked snakes and what if I had any and it turns out we both have Western Hognoses which was cool. 

After the snake farm we went to this big park where huge monitor lizards would roam around, some eating big catfish they just dragged out of the water, another eating a turtle! It was like walking with dinosaurs, pretty scary but so cool! The next day we had a wander around again, went to some markets and got a tuktuk ride which was South fun whizzing through the city (they drive like bloody lunatics) and then went to a Mai Thai fight night which is Thai boxing. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it but it was hardcore stuff! Especially the girls round, they are terrifying. Would not like the cross their paths when they're hormonal. Grabbed another tuktuk after waiting for a bus for about an hour and then experienced a Bangkok downpour where the rain was incredibly heavy! We said goodbye to Leanne and Jess as they were leaving Asia and headed back to the hostel for our last nights stay. 

Kachanaburi 

We got a bus from Bangkok to kachanaburi which was a 2.5 hour drive north of Bangkok. We stayed at a place called Sugar Cane Guesthouse 2 which was a lovely chilled out spot on the river Kwai where we had our own little room. No aircon this time though, just a fan that only covered half the bed so we had to take turns in sleeping on the "breezy" side. The day we got there we walked around the town over the death railway bridge and had some lunch on a floating restaurant. I stupidly ordered some Chilli paste rice probably oblivious to the world CHILLI and it blew my head off to the point I had tears rolling down my face and the Thai waitresses were all laughing at me. Whoops. Swapped meals with Cal , he can handle that shit. We went to a night market where they had things from baby goats to guns for sale. Interesting to say the least but I found my dinner for 28p! 

The next day we had planned to go to Erawan waterfalls. We managed to find the bus station after a nice man offered us a lift in en empty out of service bus to the station as he saw we were a little lost and directed us to the bus that was going to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were probabably the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It was like something out of a movie. We walked all the way to the top of the 7th waterfall which was the most sweaty trek ever. I was literally dripping everywhere. We got to the top and straight away stripped off and got in the water. There were these fish that would nibble your toes which was so weird! So ticklish.. A lot of people we're squealing. We cooled off and took some selfies and started to walk back down where we stopped off in the more pretty waterfalls to take a swim in. 

We got back to town and eventually back to the guest house after yet another tuktuk to the rescue and we showered and layed under the fan for a while to cool off before having some food at the guest house. The next day we booked a bus back to Bangkok because we had a night bus going from there to Chiang Mai. We got back to Bangkok and went to Maccys to share a meal (tight budget and all) and strolled up and down Kho San to waste some time before the long bus. We ended up taking part in a free food tasting survey for some Thai students which was a little bizzare with herby chicken sauassage and stuff. We got on our night bus which had these really cool reclyning seats so you could get a proper lie down and sleep. 

Chiang Mai 

We arrived in Chiang Mai around 7am after a fairly pleasant bus journey considering it was like 11 hours long but I managed to sleep almost all the way. Unfortunately can't say the same for Callum. We got a little taxi with a couple other English girls that we're staying at our same hostel. We booked this place called The Gate Capsule Hostel where the bunk beds are huge and have this big curtain all around so you feel like you're in your own little box. We turned up and had a nap, showerd and walked around for a bit, grabbed some lunch and then came back to the hostel to research some bits for the rest of the trip. But we actually ended up napping again for a few hours. We got sorted eventually and headed out to find some food and the night markets of Chiang Mai where on the way we made friends with a stray dog that followed us. We found a cute little restaurant and had some nachos and a carbanara after having Thai food all week (apart from the cheeky Maccys). We found the Sunday street markets and wandered around until our feet could hack anymore (mainly my feet as on the first day I bought myself some Birkenstocks and they rub one foot) and came back to the hostel where I am now writing this blog. Only one day in Chiang Mai this time but tomorrow we get a bus to Pai which is think is the "Byron bay of Thailand" kinda place where we have booked our own little cabin for 5 nights. 

Loving life. 

L&C xo

17 little reminders that you're in the Aussie Outback

For the people that have me on Facebook and stuff, you'll see that me and my boyfriend Callum have recently spent a couple of months in the outback finishing off our regional work on a cattle station. And wow what an experience that was! 

Here's just a few little things I jotted down while I was out there that are PRETTY different to standard life..  

1. When you're out driving around the the stations there isn't really such thing and a normal road, seatbelts are a rare thing, indicators are hardly needed and cows are strolling everywhere. 

2. The next door neighbough is an hours drive away. Literally. 

3. You become very suspicious or excited if you see any other vehicle on the roads.

4. Goodbye phone signal. 

5. Most nights outside you don't need a torch as the sky is so clear and the moon and stars are so bright everything becomes illuminated. Star gazing is incredible up there. 

6. You end up sharing your bedroom with all sorts of little buddies like geckos, spiders and mozzies and your toilet with frogs, toads and if you're lucky like we were on our first day even a scorpion! 

7. Jeans, shirts, boots and a wide brim hat all day, everyday, every occasion. 

8. You learn new pieces of Aussie lingo each day... Like... Haroo (goodbye) tucker (food) grog (alcohol) bloke (a person, female or male) 

9. It's quite the norm for an 11 year old kid to be driving around and using rifles. How bloody cool! 

10. Books, board games and blog post writing become your evenings once all the work is done (unless like me you're zonked by 9pm and tucked up in bed) I became a whizz at monopoly. 

Jokes, I was rubbish. Callum won every game :| 

11. Drinking milk straight from the cow (as in milking and then chilling the milk in the fridge after it's been through a filter cloth, not strolling up to the cow and sucking on it's udder, thats fucked up) is so good! Shop bought milk sucks compared to the full cream fresh from the jersey cow. Cereal just isn't the same. 

12. We ate a lot of beef. The best steaks and sausages ever. Made even better as a snag Sanger (sausage Sarnie) 

13. It didn't rain hardly at all when we were there but there was an evening where it rained for all of 3 and a half minuets and the smell after it had a sprinkle of rain was awesome. Bit weird I know. 

14. The people are just so friendly. Everyone knows everyone up there and they make you really feel at home. 

15. Working in the yards after we had drafted the cattle was the loudest oh my god going noise ever. Like hundreds of little cow fog horns going off constantly. The first couple of days it was deafening but then you got used to it pretty quickly. 

16. Poddys. The poddys were definitely on of my favourite parts. A poddy is a calf that for some reason it's mother is unable or unwilling to take care of it. So they'll usually be taken in and fed twice a day with the milk we get from the milking cows. A couple were so tame you could actually ride them once they were fully grown (not that I ever did) I always found myself playing with something cute and fluffy whether it be little calfs or the working dogs when i probably should've been concentrating more on cows running in your direction with big scary horns. 

17. The awesome mustering horses and dogs. The horses live in the bush so they're hardy as fuck. They go through and over anything (usually forgetting that you're on top of them and you get taken out by low branches) but they're such hard working horses. Much better than you're standard riding school ponies. And the dogs are awesome when they work (awesome all the time because I'm a sucker for anything cute and fluffy) and seeing them work around the cattle just gives me a lot of respect for how clever animals really are. 

Our time on Bellfield was an experience we'll never forget with the lovely people and lovely place. 

My Veggie Conundrum

As some people out there may or may not know, for the past 5 weeks I've been eating a vegetarian diet. Completely meat free. 

Since then I've had a lot of people wondering why the sudden change, mostly just interested in my reasons, others taking the piss.

The reason why I decided to try and go veggie was a number of things. Yes alot of it was about the morals side and me not liking the way animals are treated in abattoirs, watching behind the scenes footage in abattoirs, the whole killing animals for human consumption and the thought of eating dead bodies and flesh just made me feel a little odd and it had done for a long time now. The other main reason was because I suffer with IBS pretty bad where certain foods make me quite unwell and a lot of meat (red meat) was one of them. I wanted to feel fresh and clean and healthier and initially it was an experiment to see if this would be a permanent change. 

It was pretty easy going veggie. I like a lot of vegetables anyway although I'm not really a salad type person. But I do also like the taste of meat of this is without thinking too much about it. I've always grown up eating meat and I know my dad would be cursing up there if he knew that I've experimented with the veggie way and I've made different dishes and found some new things I like and don't like. 

Although it's been enjoyable I've noticed that my body isn't feeling so great. Yes my IBS has been tamer, but my energy levels have dropped a lot, my skin has got really bad and I've started getting ill. These may be coincidence but I know I haven't been eating much of a balanced diet as out here in Australia there aren't as many different types of vegetarian foods you can buy in the local supermarket than back home in the UK. For example I can't find quorn anywhere out here. Being a backpacker vegetarian is hard also. You eat whatever is available and cheap and you need a high protein diet especially working on an activity centre and soon to be on a farm again. Plus with every second meal being a bloody BBQ in Australia most of the time when the sun is out, veggie burgers aren't that great. Maybe I'll live off corn forever!

I've also wanted to eat to help loose weight as well as working out and I've been stopping and starting for a while now but with my recent veggie diet I've noticed I've been eating more carbs to replace meat and I've also been eating more dairy. Carbs are definitely not a slimming choice and dairy also sets my IBS off (definitely have a bi-polar stomache) 

So over the last few days I've been toying with the idea of going back to eating meat and when I say meat I'll be mainly choosing veggie as much as I can and eating chicken to help with the lack of protein. It's difficult because it's something that's become quite important to me and I am proud to not eat meat but my body is struggling. 

So I'm in abit of a pickle.. I don't know what to do and so far I've gone with the advise my mum gave me a long time ago that if you don't know, then don't do anything. And I've definitely gone with that quote throughout little things and it's usually come out okay. 

It's difficult because in very stubborn especially when it's something I have views on. But we will also soon most likely be working somewhere where our food an accomodation is included so I might not have a choice of what to eat and also a chance of working on an animal farm which is the before stage farms of the farming for food industry. 

I also enjoy food a lot, especially Asian type foods. I forgot to mention that I don't eat fish or sea food, never have liked it. I think it's from my auntie having a fish shop at my dads family boatyard and the smell just put me off for life, fish fingers even freak me out a little. Ahhhhhh I'm torn! 

I don't really know why I've decided to make a post about this but I guess it's a main reason why people blog and that is to just chat about things going on in your life and head. 

So if anyone actually takes any interest and bothers to read this one (although it's not that interesting) and has any idea what I should do then please feel free to comment, even if it's on the link I send on my Facebook. 

I guess it's good that this is really the only main stress in my life at the moment, aside from having to leave where we are in a few days with nowhere to go but meh, this is Australia the country for wingin' it. 

Peace and love and all that jazz.. 

10 little reminders that you're almost a grown up

Okay. So I guess technically I am a grown up but for as long as I can I will pretend that I am still a spring chicken. 

So here's ten little reminders that remind me that I am growing up... 

1) When you're feeling crappy, either a bad monthly spell or just unwell...you have to make you're own dippy eggs and soldiers. (Never as good as mums) 

2) You have to actually watch what you eat. As in, sitting infront of netflix for days on end eating your body weight in Pringles is not going to make you look like Beyoncé. And you have to move, you're ass. Or you just become one BIG ass. I'm slowly working on it... 

3) I used to never sleep in passed 8am on days off. That was my ultimate lay in. I used to get too bored and wake up itching to do something with my day. 

But now I'm dead to the world and can't wait to jump in my little comfy pit and sleep as long as I can. Even on working days im snoozing the alarm until the time I have to get ready for work endangers me of looking like a road for the rest of the day. 

4) Despite how much I hate this one it is true. But wearing PJs or onesies out in public is a no go from about the age of 15. Unless you're lucky enough to be from my home town and then it's just the norm. Or Liverpool.... 

5) Whether you were old school enough to play it on the PC (like me) or you had it on a game console, CROC was the best game ever back in the day but no kids have a clue what it is. KAPOW! KASPLAT! 

6) I never belivied family members when they would tell me that I'd end up being friends with my sister when we grew up and tell eachother things. Me and my sister have 4 years between us and growing up we used to fight like mad. The full on cat fight, hair pulling and biting (still got the war scars) but now we are real close (as close as you can be when I'm the otherside of the world) although we're still like chalk and cheese!

7) Actually worrying about where to live and what to eat and just normal things that we totally take for granted as a kid. 

8) You never leave the doctors or dentist with a sticker for being a good girl anymore. 

9) You get these phones calls and emails about important shit that you have no clue what the hell they're about but you have to deal with it without palming the phone off to your mum. 

10) Your boobs finally have a growth spurt since you were 12, yippppeeee. 

Hostel life

After travelling on and off over the past few years I've come across a fair few hostels, especially now as I'm writing this on the last day of a double road trip through Tasmania and the Great Ocean Road and it's fair to say I have definitely come across some interesting and wacky typical stereotype travellers along the way. 

This post is me trying to name and explain (or atleast try to) some of the individuals you usually come across and I'm sure will be able to relate with if you too have experienced hostel life. 

This is me being totally stereotypical so please don't get offended :) 

Not every traveller with a suitcase is a wanker it's just what I call them for jokes. 

The Brand Spanking New Traveller 

So these guys are fresh travellers usually freaking out at the whole shared mixed sex dorm situation and how to get dressed without people people thinking you're easy (the dorm perves) They're usually a suitcase wanker aswell, but sometimes not. If they're on their own they are usually really quiet or totally in your face asking questions about EVERYTHING. Usually nice peeps. 

The Forever Traveller 

These people are pretty hardcore. The people I've met that have been on the road for a very long time, usually forming some sort of natural dread in their hair with numerous friendship bracelets and a cracking tan. Great story tellers and not a lot phases them. 

The Big Drinker Party Animal 

(With no noise concern after everyone's asleep) 

Oh my favourite. Not. I like my sleep and for those that know me I don't really drink  so I'm not a huge fan of drunk people alone, especially when they come in at silly o'clock and bang and crash and talk REALLY loud and then drunk snore the rest of the night so no one else can sleep. Once they're asleep it's not so bad it's when they bring a friend back or a "night friend" and attempt to get it on quietly so no one else can hear, but we ALL can. I like to get ready early and put all the lights on the next morning just to welcome them to the hangover Ha! 

The Flashpackers 

For those who don't know what a flash packer is.. It's a backpacker/traveller that packs everything and usually dolls up and pays extra so they don't have to hate any facilities with other people.. Again usually a suitcase wanker. Like the type of people that go camping and bring a blow up mattress and a toilet, and a shower and champagne.... And probably a spray tan machine and tent. Ok too far. 

The Stoner 

Travellers that live off beans and super noodles as they spend all their so far life savings on pills or weed and not experiences (each to their own) 

The ones I've across are either off their fave on some weird pills or something or completely mellowed the f*€k out on a lot of pot and talking about evolution and dinosaurs and if crabs drink beer do they walk forwards and stuff (totally sounds like a conversation I'd have) usually amusing to listen to if you have a lot of spare time. 

The Creepy One 

You're sharing a room with a bunch I strangers from all over the world that some have been travelling years... You're bound to come across some weirdos but these are something else. I'm talking about the ones that you see staring right at you while you sleep or awkwardly touch you when they walk passed. NOT COOL. 

Forever Sleepers

I've noticed a lot of the Europeans sleep a hell of a lot. I mean if you're trying to see things and make each day worth it you're usually out the room by around 9/10am but these guys are still in bed asleep at like 5pm! I mean unless you work and just living at the hostel and it's a day off then fair enough but if you're travelling you'd think you'd make the most of your time outside rather than cooped up in a bunk bed. 

The OVERLY Friendly Lone Traveller 

These guys are either hilarious or just fucking annoying. I mean, I have to give it to them for doing it alone, it must be hard and you kinda have to be a little extra friendly to make friends alone, especially when a lot of people travel in couples or groups. But there's a limit. And self inviting themselves out with you everywhere you go is a little OTT. Especially if you're a travelling couple. Have yet to experience this one yes but I've defo seen it. 

The Awkward Older Traveller/Families 

In a hostel you usually expect the clientele to be youngish travellers either alone or in a couple or group. But occasionally you get the odd 50+ year old (usually alone) or even better, a whole family. It doesn't sound too bad but when you're in a hostel and if it's quite a lively one its a little awkward. It hasn't happened to me but a friend of mine staying in the same hostel as us in Sydney was in a 6 dorm room and the other 5 beds were taken up by a family! How awkward! 

And last but not least... (There were more that I wrote down to talk about but my thumbs ache) 

The Suitcase Wanker 

Ok not EVERYONE travelling with a suitcase is a wanker.. I just like calling them it especially if they're moving around a lot through busy cities and on and off trams and buses and trains and they're lugging a massive suitcase with them. Fair enough if you're staying in one place for a while and then moving on but when you're just spending a week or so somewhere and then moving on it's ten times easier just to sling your life on your back and take out pedestrians with your swinging walking boots or sleeping bag (or in my case a koala teddy named kelvin) It is added entertainment though seeing suitcases tip over and get in the way and take out people and wheels off on their own back down the hill, so cheers :) 

But I love hostel life and the weird and wonderful individuals you come across in them just makes it all more of a memorable experience :) 

10 random little facts about me that you may or may not know

When I was 16/17 year old i was playing football on a bouncy castle in an outdoor ed lesson and I ended up kicked someone's foot instead of the ball and ended up breaking my big toe. I strapped it to the toe next to it and in doing so I have now have a slightly deformed bent big toe with arthritis starting and I will probably have to have it re-broken and but back in place at some point. Sexy eh? 

I have a huge fear of the dark ever since I was a kid. Going to the toilet at night is still scary even though the bathroom is in my room. Walking anywhere that is dark on my own looks like a scene from a horror movie where the girl is running away from a baddy and just flailing about like a tit. Thank god for the torch on my phone. I end up telling my brain that there are people following me or something in the bushes and it's a total mind over matter thing. At night I have to sleep on the side of the bed that is furthest away from the door and if I ever had to sleep without my boyfriend I end up having a little night light on. Pathetic I know. 

I was born with an eye problem which has left me now with less than 10% vision in my right eye and next to no depth perception. As I kid I had to have really horrific looking glasses, some strong ass eye drops and my very cool eye patch with dinosaur stickers to jazz it up which totally made me the most popular kid in school and obviously never got bullied for it. Naaat! 

It hasn't really stopped me doing anything apart from working for the police or some high up job (but let's face it this is me we are talking about) I can't really play sport with ball very well anymore with the whole depth perception thing. I used to play basketball but now it's just painful when you get a ball to the face every 3 minutes. Hopefully it won't effect driving in the future,I haven't learnt completely yet as I don't need to drive now while I'm travelling and I didn't want to spend loads of money on learning and then to find I can't drive in years to come but hopefully it won't effect it. I wear glasses now and then when I'm static or watching tv or reading something but having them on 24/7 I end up bumping into things are they are so magnified it's like looking through a goldfish bowl.

I'm really bad in crowds, I have to cling onto my boyfriend because I just end up walking into people not being able to see how far something or someone is in front of me. I probably just look drunk all the time but nope, it's just me and my wonky eye :) there's no cure really for my little funky eye, I can't have laser surgery in it as it's a brain connection that is where the problem/weekness is but I can't have it in my left eye. So we will see! Until then I'll just be bumping into things and people. And NEVER throw me a phone or camera or something breakable to catch, I won't. 

Everyone has weird little things that make them shudder. Some people can't stand the sound of nails on a chalk board or the screech of cutlery on plates. For me, I ABSOLUTELY HATE people chewing their toothbrush. It litterly makes me feel sick and all funny. That sound of the brushes on their teeth as they crunch down on it. I'm feeling all shaking just typing about it. My boyfriend loves to wind me up with it most days. Don't do it, I will punch you. 

Another thing I'm afraid of is people touching my belly button. I'm sure there's some long word for it but I can't think for the life of me what it is. I don't know if it's because I have an inny belly button or the fact I've had an operation where I have key hole surgery almost through my belly button but I literally hate it. Again, the boyfriend likes to really wind me up with it. The outcome wasn't pretty. 

FISH. I can't stand the smell of fish, I can't stand eating fish I just can't do it. Not even a fish finger. Ok I've had fish fingers before and they're bareable doused in ketchup but I just don't think that is it fish and it's not too bad but out of choice I won't eat fish. I don't think if it's because my aunt used to own the fish shop at my dad's boatyard and as a kid I'd always be in there and watching them gut fish and the smell of it just haunted me. Prawns scare me, eating the whole thing like the whole body and then sucking it's brains and blah blah. I mean ew. We had them on the table for Christmas dinner last year at the farm as everyone has king prawns over in Australia for Christmas and it was horrendous. They just look at you with their big black bobbly eyes as you tuck in. Not a fan. 

For those that know me well know that I am quite a... What's the word... Outspoken? But basically I'm not very good at taming the filter between my brain and mouth. I think I get that from my mum, we're quite a loud, say what you think family. And it can be a good thing, or it can be an awkward thing and I'm often thinking to myself "maybe I should've kept that in" or something. People say to me that im entitled to my opinion and I am quite opinionated aswell as wearing my heart of my sleeve. I'm not good at filtering my brain to my mouth. Apologies. 

People get a little surprised if they find out that I'm actually really self coincious and unconfident. I know I'm not a quiet person and I'm always ranting on about being yourself and travel and blah blah blah and it's all true but underneath I am very uneasy with mainly my body. Which does affect different ways I feel good and rubbish. I've never been skinny I've always had junk in my trunk and I'm starting a routine that hopefully my future self will thank me for. 

The reason my blog name is featherheadthoughts is because I have feathers in my hair (for those who really don't know me all that well) 

And last but not least... My really shit party trick. I can do all sorts of armpit farts with my hand. Like you used to do as a kid or mainly what all the boys used to do in primary school if kiss chase didn't end up impressing the girls. It's not ladylike and it's not very cool but if im drunk (rare for me I know) and around new people, don't be shocked if I pull out my armpit farting skills. If you're still my friend afterwards then you're a Keeper! 

Ciao. Featherhead

Raw Travel Moments

I've been wanting to write this type of post for a long time about some of the "raw moments" you experience when travelling. I've been so lucky to have seen and experienced what I have at the young age of 22 and like now after being in Australia for nearly 3 months already most days now are kinda like the norm, though i still get those little moments that give me a rush and complete sense of freedom and content-ness (if that's even a word) 

Early travel moments 

I was a lucky kid with travel. Me and my dad would always be abroad either on skiing holidays in the mountains or at my grandparents house in Spain. I'm pretty sure I got on m first ever plane at 3 months old and I think I've counted 29 times I've been to Spain and the last time was when I was like 15, that's quite a lot in 15 years. My dad's side I the family had money so I was lucky to get to go on holidays and see things.

I started to get these moments that have stuck with me all my life, like little snapshots of things I've seen. Like a time I was sat on a ski lift and looking down in the perfectly untouched snow glistening in the sunlight. My dad was the person who introduced me to travel so young through holidays together and I'm forever thankful and I will always live my travels through his spirit, hence the snowflake in the middle of my dream catcher tattoo that is in memory of him. 

The first time I visited a place with such a strong culture shock was morocco. Dad took me there when I was 12 or 13 for a day trip as it was only a short trip on a ferry from the south of Spain. I was in total shock and amazement of everything around me. The people, smells, poverty, sounds. Camels in the streets and people trying to sell you everything and anything. I remember him holding my hand tightly through the busy little streets and I was just amazed and totally hooked on wanting to know more. How could somewhere so close to a place I know be so different. 

That was the first moment in my life I remember thinking "I want to see the world". 

South Africa's raw moments 

Those that know me well know that I a little (lot) obsessed with Africa. Since my first trip in 2010 when I was just 17 I have always held the place close to my heart. It was my first travel experience alone, although I went out with a team of other volunteers of friends and people that had a big impact on my life. The whole trip was just a whirl wind of freedom, love and curiosity. I was in my element and I have never felt as at home as I did out there since leaving. 

I was surrounded by the most incredible wildlife, waking up to hippos wallowing in the dam and the distant groan of lions walking near by. The red dirt and orange skies. My home at heart. 

There were so many raw moments on that trip, from sleeping in the Kruger national park surrounded by nearby hyenas, watching the sun rise over the beach in tofo, Mozambique. The first time riding an elephant, feeding a load of orphans and seeing their beaming faces. Just thinking about it all give me goosebumps and makes my eyes sting and my throat block. 

I've been out there twice since but those times I was on my own doing what I love which is horse riding in the bush and doing trails. I met so many awesome friends out there. What a place.

Here's some photos from all 3 of my South African trips... 

My Summer In America 

In 2012 I ended up getting a job in upper state NY working in an adventure camp through camp leaders. I met some AMAZING beautiful people that I cherish to this day. I saw some beautiful waterfalls, camped out under the stars, drank too much at the magical place alle the cellar spent days off usually hungover at beautiful lakes. 

Part of my job was to teach basic horse riding to the campers and when we didn't have kids riding me and the other two horse girls would take the horses swimming in the lake. The raw moments at camp I remember on duty at night laying on the benches around a big open fire, star gazing and listening to the crackle of the fire, talking about where we would end up in life and how amazing the place was. Another moment was climbing a mountain and sleeping over night in the woods and waking up to the smell of a stale fire and the fresh morning damn smell. The last night of the final session where we lit a huge fire with the kids and let little Candles off the lake shore. If only I could turn back time and relive it all. 

After camp me a load of people went to NYC and rented an apartment for a week. But the journey from camp to NYC was a drive I would never forget. In our bosses BMW convertible, me and Tyler singing our hearts out to Good Charlotte and Bowling For Soup and all sorts. Great little road trip! 

We did the usual city site seeing and partying and just spending all the money we earnt at camp on having a good time. We had a rooftop apparement and spent most nights out over looking the sites of Harlem with the city sky line in view. Magical place. 

After a week me, Katie and Amy (the other horse girls) and then Darryl and went to sunny Miami for a beach and party holiday before returning home. We relaxed on the beach, drank and danced the nights away. From strip clubs to big celeb hotels to skinny dipping to Miami ink. It was for sure a holiday to remember. 

A few Americans snaps... 

The Land Down Under.. So far. 

I have been in Australia almost 3 months now and although it seems a fair amount of time I know that the best of times are yet to come. As you will know if you know me I'm out here with my boyfriend Callum and currently working for pgl put here as activity instructors and group leaders. We have seen some beautiful things like the darling harbour fire works in Sydney, the waves crashing in on the beach in surfers paradise, the kangaroos hopping through the tall grass in the sunset, buskers in the streets of Melbourne at night and the sun lighting up the skies in bright pink over the lake the other evening after a BBQ. I am very much gettin used to the chilled Ozzy way of life. 

I love those raw moments you get from travelling. Where you take it all in with all the senses and just fill up with complete content-ness (there's that made up word again) 

Life isn't meant to be lived in one place. 

Complete and utter wanderlust 🌏✌️