Michelle increases her round the world airmiles again!
In and around Romford, United Kingdom
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Not round the whole world, just SE Asia, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand (and NO BBC film crew this time!)
OK, so picture this scene...
Summer 2006 - Me sitting at home in Romford planning my next round the world trip with a view to emigrating to New Zealand at the end of it. Easy eh? Sell the house and jet off in January 2007. No worries - family fully supportive and I have no other ties. Take a TEFL (teaching English) course and start planning to teach my way round the world. Work contract due to finish in April 07 so plenty of time to get things organised OR NOT!!
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Job came to abrupt end so new contract for work sought (started in October). Met Tom. Problems selling the house. Hospital admission slowed me down for a week. Jo sells her soul to the Queen's theatre. Ah, complications with these plans starting to creep in...
It's now June 07 -
Tom and I are very much in love and planning our future together. I have eventually sold the house and about to move into a rented flat with Tal on 6th July. Will finish work on 13th July. Trip now booked to commence July 19th and end in November to be back for Tal's 18th birthday then back to my new life in NZ in Jan 08 with Tom (hopefully). Busy few weeks ahead of us!!!
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This blog will take you with me on my journey through Asia and Australasia. 3 trips booked with Intrepid (http://www.intrepidtravel.com) then off to Oz and NZ.
Plan is as follows:
19 July- 20 August - Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia for 29 days ('The Great Indochina Loop')
20 August - 24 August - Back to Bangkok for 5 days with Tom
24 August - 9 Sept - Japan with Tal for 14 days ('Land of the Rising Sun')
9 Sept to 23 Sept - China for 14 days ('Best of China')
Australia:
24 Sept - 29 Sept - Perth - 5 days
29 Sept - 8 Oct - Melbourne to Brisbane - 9 days with Tom
New Zealand:
8 Oct - 27 Oct - North Island for 2 weeks with Tom
27 Oct - 20 Nov - Wellington for 4 weeks job hunting
UK
21 November arrive back in UK
NZ
January '08 - back to NZ for good!!
PLEASE NOTE THAT ON THE ENTRIES, NOT ALL PHOTOS ARE VISIBLE ON PAGE OR IN CORRECT ORDER SO YOU HAVE TO CLICK ON VIEW MORE PHOTOS
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Mad Essex Woman
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1
Alone in Bangkok
Thursday/Friday
After a long flight via Hong Kong, where both flights were delayed and pretty bad (no entertainment on first flight - but at... Continue reading »
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2
Intrepid part 1 - Indochina Loop - Thailand
Monday
Met my 10 new travelling companions for next 29 days - all quite nice and mostly young, recent uni graduates. Guess I am old eno... Continue reading »
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3
Indochina loop continued - Laos
LAOS VOCABULARY:
BEER LAO (local brew)
SABADEE (hello)
KOP CHAI LAI LAI (thank you very much)
Friday
Left... Continue reading »
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4
Indochina loop continued - Vietnam
Vietnamese Vocabulary:
ba ba ba (local beer 3 3 3 - but if said in the wrong tone, comes out as '3 old ladies')
Sim Chow - hello
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5
Indochina loop continued - Cambodia
Cambodian Vocabulary:
Angkor beer (local brew)
On goon (thank you)
Tuesday - Phnom Penh
Our hotel was good but I was... Continue reading »
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6
Lovers in Bangkok
Sunday
After leaving Cambodia on the 'dancing road' (so named because of the millions of pot holes and dirt track that leaves any vehicle and... Continue reading »
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7
Intrepid part 2 - Japan with Tal
Friday - Tokyo
Tal arrived first at Tokyo airport and was quite relieved when I arrived 2 hours later. We kept pinching ourselves... Continue reading »
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8
Intrepid part 3 - China
Sunday - Shanghai
After a short 3 hour flight from Tokyo, I arrived in Shanghai. Took a taxi from the airport to my hotel but he got lo... Continue reading »
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9
A day of credit card bashing in Hong Kong
Sunday - Hong Kong
Arrived in HK to rain! Still hot and humid though and I had planned my 12 hour stopover with great detail.
Took exp... Continue reading »
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10
Life in Oz
Monday - Perth
Arrived early in the morning after a good flight where I had nobody next to me so I was able to grab about 4 hours sleep. ... Continue reading »
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11
The Land of the Long White Cloud
Monday - Auckland
At last..... we finally arrived in New Zealand. Final destination on my travels but the most important of all. ... Continue reading »
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