As readers of my previous blog on the MDS race might remember, one of my favourite quotes is one by Nelson Mandella who famously said that, "every journey of a thousand miles always begins with a single step". I very much had this in mind when we left Wales late morning on Monday 29th September to head to Heathrow.
Despite both my wife and I living reasonable full lives till now, and been living abroad for the last two years, we definitely still had the nagging feelings of self doubt and nervousness that precedes any life changing experience. It was also strange that after spending only the last week back in the UK with both families and friends, it really hit us both hard that we were leaving them again so soon.
Still, the next six months should be magic and a once in a lifetime experience so, after lunch with an old friend and returning our hire car, we finally checked in for the flight around 5 pm. It is funny that after much debates and rows whilst preparing for the trip, the massive massive relief to finally be checked in meant that we both apologised for being dicks over the last few weeks. We both did still have that natural fear as to whether we were going to be reunited with our bags in Bangkok but I am sure that paranoia will be with us for the next six months; along with me becoming 'Passport Nazi' who keeps asking Becs where her papers are...
So with our 'phoney war' over we headed to the lounge to start our trip in style. A good tip for travellers and holiday makers is that you can get a ticket to the SkyWorld Lounge for £30 per person, regardless of your airline and class of plane ticket. If you buy through one of the online payment websites, like Quidco etc., you actually get some money back. Besides I reckon most people spend near to £30 in an airport anyway, and it means you get unlimited food and drinks as well as being able sit in comfort, so it is reasonably cash neutral with loads of benefits.
Being in the lounge meant that we were able to indulge in one last bit of luxury, despite the waiter chucking my first glass of Champagne over me and my new love: my brand spanking new iPad. All was forgotten when Becs selflessly managed to tip hers over herself whilst laughing at me being drenched; after I first checked that my baby (the iPad) still worked.
I include our proposed travel itinerary for reference and to provide some context for future blogs:
Flight Heathrow to Bangkok and then stay for one night before flying onto Hanoi. We then work our way down Vietnam, up through Cambodia and Laos, before heading over the border into northern Thailand. We then travel back down Thailand taking in Bangkok properly and some of the islands, before spending some time in Malaysia and then arriving in Kuala Lumpur.
From KL we fly to Tokyo and spend three days there before flying onto Sydney. After 5 days in Syndey staying with friends, we head over to Christchurch and spend six weeks traveling round NZ by Campervan. Our last stop in NZ is Aukland and fly out on 24th December, landing in Rio also on the 24th. We then spend 3 months traveling around South America before flying to USA in beginning of April.
Finally we land in San Fransisco and then do road trip via San Diego, Napa Valley and LA before flying back to the UK on 10th April, so we can be at my, elderly, sister's 40th birthday party on the 11th; that is if her care home allow her out that night... ;-)
Apologies if the itinerary makes people jealous, but hopefully others will be inspired by this blog to pull the handbrake on the rate-race treadmill and do a similar trip.
Back to the present, or the past... After being spoilt over last few years flying with Virgin and Emirates, especially as we have been either using air miles or treating ourselves to upgrades it was a bit of a shock to the system to fly Air India from London to Bangkok (via a stop in Dehli) and then Air Asia from Bangkok to Hanoi, but I bet now that if asked in six months time I would maybe rank these near the top of the airline list, as we have a few suspect airlines coming up...
I have to give Becs all the credit at this point as she has been the one doing all the planning and preparation for the trip and I only have had to chip in when we have had to make any joint decisions on timings and routes. We managed to save quite a bit of money splitting the flight into three flights and using lower grade airlines.
Still, they were a tad painful flights as my screen for the entertainment system was not working on the first flight, there was only Punjab music and Bollywood films on the second and nothing on the third. Luckily, I could still find some choice music albums on the first and played on my iPad on the second and third.
As we landed in Bangkok at one international airport and flew out of the other, we got a taster of Bangkok life so I am already looking forward to go back there in a few weeks. We even got to meet our first ladyboy; I just didn't expect them to work as a cashier at the local convince store. We stayed at the Thanapa Apartments, which was functional and clean if a little basic but perfect for us as just needed a few hours kip in-between flights.
The next blog will cover 1st - 3rd October: Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. As we will be into our travels properly then it should be less drier than the first substantive post of this blog.
Also currently the lag between the actual event and posting the blog is about five days at the moment. Now that we have completed Halong Bay and are back in Wi-Zones I hope to be able to complete the next two on our next train ride so I can then write and post a few paragraphs each evening before hitting the hay.
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