Rotten String of Luck

So I've been off the grid for over a week trying to get better and experiencing some of the worst luck I have ever had but still managing to enjoy my time on a peaceful and quite island, Koh Lanta.

It all started with a speedboat ride. I've been out on the water in boats quite a few times in my life and have never experienced sea sickness. However, this time I didn't want to take any chances and gulped down the seasickness pill the tour company offered. The day was extremely beautiful. Bright and shining sun, clear and cloudless skies and a constant ocean breeze that whipped my hair around keeping the heat of the day from bothering me. I've learned that wind isn't always such a good thing, and on this day for this particular trip, it was terrible. We had an hour and half ride to the first island, Maya Bay (the island they use in films from "The Beach"). I figured it was no big deal if we encountered some rough sea since I took the seasickness pills. I was proven how wrong that notion was within ten minutes of our journey. The waves were roiling and rolling the speedboat back and forth and up and down so hard, it was difficult to hold ourselves to our seats. The boat driving in Thailand is as wreckless and fast as they drive on the road. Our boat kept bouncing up and out of the water and us along with it with a hard slam back on the seats that jammed our jaws down together. Our tour guides seemed to be having the time of their lives, laughing and acting like young little boys when they know they're into some dangerous fun. My seasickness pill seemeed to have no effect at all and my stomach started rolling with the waves. I kept my eyes shut, mouth closed and wished over and over again nothing would come up. Our bodies took more hard hits as we bounded up out of the water and slammed back down. At last, our boat began slowing and finally stopped. I was so ready to jump up and off this boat, except when I looked up, we were still surrounded by the sea. There seemed to be a problem with the engine and it took a few minutes of tinkering to get it going again. I groaned silently and we resumed our roller coaster boat ride. Around 20 minutes later, I heard the sweetest words I'd heard that day, "Ok, errybody! We arr 2 minutes away. Dat was da worst of it. I promise. Now we go with the tide when we go and it will be easier." I uncurl my body from the tense position I had been holding and stretched out all my limbs, knowing I was going to be sore the next day. 

And sore I was. I felt like I'd been through a full body workout. At the end of the day, the beach I was on unleashed a massive thunderstorm and I decided to take advantage of the time and go for a nice aromatherapy massage. It was not as all what I was expecting. I figured it was the same as an oil massage but with scented oils. I'll never make that mistake again. The woman rubbed my muscles like she was trying to push them out of my skin and bent me in places I didn't think could bend. But at the end, I no longer felt the pain in my muscles from the previous day and that was all I cared about. 

The next morning, I couldn't even move my body. I was in agony and for the first time since I'd been in this hostel, I was cold, very cold. I covered up and went back to sleep. Hours later, I woke up still sore. Blaming the massage from the night before, I got up and tried to move around. I managed to scarf down some breakfast before crawling my way back up the stairs to my bed. Throughout the day, my notions of why I was feeling so retched became clear, I had a fever. I have no idea how bad it was but my body was still so sore I could barely move. I tried writing and my words came out looking nothing like my usual hand writing. And my body altered between blizzard settings and hell settings of temperature. Stupidly, I assumed I would get better over night and booked my ferry and hostel for the next island I wanted to go to, Koh Lanta. 

Needless to say, I wasn't feeling better. But I packed up, dragged my belongings downstairs and dazed my way through the most of the day. The gentle breeze and light rocking on the boat did little to assist in making me feel better. And much to my dread, I had to change ferries in Phi Phi and when we docked, I grabbed my things again and slowly shuffled my way off the boat. I began walking to the next ferry. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some debris in the water and looked down. Upon closer inspection, I noticed they were fish. Pretty blue and green tropical fish, just swimming all around the ...'scccciiiii, ahhh, crash and boom." Next thing I know, I'm on the ground and confused over what just happened. Obviously, I just fell. But I wouldn't figure out how as I was standing on flat ground. I looked down and over my wrist was a haphazard bleeding line, that anyone glancing without knowing the story, would believe I am self-destructive. I had managed to wrap my wrist around a sign as I fell and tore the skin to pieces. I hop up as best I can and quickly board my next ferry. A kind girl my age helped bandage me up and I tucked myself in to sleep my way to the next destination. It couldn't get any worse than this. 

I was wrong. I had three long days of fever and my hostel was stifling hot since they didn't use AC during the day. As my fever went, I developed a cough and lost my voice...for four days. I learned to just point at things I wanted when I going out to eat instead of saying them. The servers usually have difficulty understanding me when I can speak at full capacity, much less when I'm squeaking out my order. Four more days of this misery. I had tried pharmacy medicines but nothing was working. 

Two days into my cough, I began having ear aches and my hearing was faded. Fantastic! Swimmers ear! I knew how to deal with this issue. I get it all the time. Except I had been ignoring the pressure building up in that area for a few days, discounting it to whatever sickness I had going on. Nothing worked and the pain and pressure got worse in my ear.  

I decided to extend my stay in Koh Lanta. It's relaxing atmosphere would help heal me when I stopped new problems stopped arising. The next to last night I had in my hostel was a true nightmare. At least at the time it was. I had taken some sleeping pills to knock myself out but something woke me in the middle of the night. I had no idea what is was and hazily looked around with my eyes half open. I became quite alarmed when I noticed a dark solid figure sitting at the end of my bed. As I had no voice, my screams came out as quite squeaks and did nothing to alarm anyone else. I felt out with my foot and connected with a solid wall of flesh. I squeaked again and kicked for all I was worth, finally kicking the fully naked guy off my bed. He mumbled out an apology and scurried off. It was difficult to go back to sleep after that and every movement and footstep sent me into a new panic. I know I had to startle a few people, as they would near my bed, I'd slam on my light and point my selfie stick at them and back into the bed corner. I tried to relax and reassure myself nothing was going to happen in a dorm of 20 people and my selfie stick in hand. I finally fell into a restless sleep and first thing in the morning, I packed my bags and left the hostel two days and moved on to my private beach bungalow. 

I stopped being so stubborn today and went to the doctors. I've got all the medicine I need now to feel better and will be back on my feet in no time. One thing this sickness hasn't lost me are my sunsets. I've still enjoyed my time on the beach, sitting in the shade and being lulled to sleep by the quite whooshing of the waves. 

Best thing about solo travel... not having to stick to your original plans

I love Thailand so much for the simple fact that it's cheap. I have managed to keep myself on budget at around $25-$30 per day. It's funny how your perspective of everything changes once your on the road and dealing with different currencies. A friend and I made our way from Bangkok to Ayutthaya for 60 baht a person, which translates to a little over $1.50... yes, you read that correctly. We got a minibus from a city an hour or so away for less than $2! Upon arriving, the tuk tuk driver wanted to charge us 150 baht to drive 15 minutes. It was hard justifying taking that short trip for that much, but when I started thinking about it, it really isn't that much. That trip was all of $5 for the two of us.

Food is also extremely cheap here. Before I left Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai, we stumbled upon this little cafe. For 50 ($1.50 ish) baht, we each had a decent meal and a drink. The food stall across from my current hostel charges 15 baht ($.50) for a full plate of scrambled eggs and steamed rice with some mystery drink out of a container. And the food is good! It has flavor, is hot and fresh (most of the time) and it's not totally unhealthy for you either. Their sanitary standards are no where near ours back home, but that's ok. I'm still alive, I haven't gotten food poisoning.

So anyways, done with the rambling. I had this whole plan of hopping my way from one city to the next after leaving Bangkok until I made my way to Chiang Mai. The more I thought about it, the less enticing that sounded. I have never enjoyed fast travel on my own. It's draining, stressful and usually uncomfortable and expensive. I had enjoyed some small talk with one of the guys staying in my room. He happened to be from the U.S on a travel hiatus and we had swapped some stories. We got on the subject of how I was going to Ayutthaya and he'd heard good things. Previously finding out he had no plans the next few days, I invited him to come along with me. Surprisingly, he said yes and the next day we found ourselves overwhelmed by the awesomeness that was Ayutthaya. We ended missing a huge portion of the city we went by because we were so in awe over everything that was right in front of our eyes.

Ayutthaya was founded in around 1350 and became the second capital of Siam. Over the centuries, the city grew and became one of the largest cities in the world around 1700. Ayutthaya was explained as one of the finest cities of it's time but unfortunately, it all came to an end when the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya and burnt everything to the ground around the late 1760's. The only buildings to survive had been the temples and some palaces because they were built using stone.

Matt and I wandered around for hours, from temple to temple, wondering about the histories of such places and the extravagances that once were. There weren't many historical plaques explaining about the temples. Most of what I've discovered are from pamphlets and google. At the end of the day, we were both exhausted and all I could think about was how much I really wasn't ready to leave the city. I had already taken out Lopburi from my plans, which means I missed some ancient ruins over run by the infamous thief monkeys. Did I really want to miss out on another ancient city, Sukhothai? So I procrastinated throughout the morning deciding on what I wanted to do. As I was gathering my things to leave, Matt woke up and we decided to go for breakfast.

It's funny how one event can change the course of your trip. I found a pamphlet down in the lobby of the hostel and began thumbing through it. I couldn't believe how much we had missed the day prior! Matt was astounded as well and just told me I should stay. So I did. And I didn't regret my decision. We ended up spending a few hours looking for a new place to stay since our other place was sold out but once settled in to our new hostel, we hit the road once again. We had a plan and a layout of exactly what we wanted to do. Except it didn't go quite as planned. Ayutthaya is like a maze of wonder. You are lead to one impressive ruin and as you're leaving, you see another across the street and then you run into a street market with things you've never seen or tasted before. Then several hours have passed and you wonder how you got where you ended up.

We did end our day getting to see everything we had planned on seeing plus more. Ayutthaya was full of known and unknown gems and I am so happy to have been able to take the time to enjoy the ruins and making a new friend. Travel is all about the experiences you have and the people you meet. Going to Lopburi and Sukhothai would have probably been fun, but I would have been stressed the whole time about getting from point A to point B the most efficiently so I could utilize my time wisely. But instead, I took advantage of the city I was in.

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Hotlanta Fun

Jeff LOVES cities, so when choosing a city to leave from this time, Atlanta came to mind. Last time we explored New York City but I wanted something new and different for us to explore together. It was a great choice and we had a blast!

Atlanta was anything but HOT when we went and stupid me, I forgot to bring jackets. I mean, who remembers jackets when it’s been 80 degrees through Christmas and New Year’s? Our first stop on the freeze train was the famous World of Coca Cola. I can’t remember being so cold since the beginning of last year when the weather plunged down to 19 degrees outside! I am probably exaggerating but we were pretty cold. Once we got our tickets and thawed out a bit, we started enjoying our experience. The best part about when Jeff and I travel, is that we end up having the same end game and this time, all we wanted was to get to the end to taste test all the different sodas and I wanted a picture with the polar bear. It surprised me how nasty some of the sodas were. I had one that tasted exactly like mouth wash and another one that tasted like cherry cold medicine that my parents would force down my throat when I was a child. Our favorite flavors were the Bibo mango for me and the Bibo kiwi for Jeff from Africa.

That night, we ended up going to a hookah bar we passed on our way back into the city called Sivas. (Luckily we ate near a mall and got Jeff a new jacket). I’d never been to a hookah bar before, so why not? It was very interesting. We decided to put a vodka shot in the water bowl place for a different effect. The feeling was similar to being extremely tipsy but only for 10 minutes or so, which was perfect for me because I start hating the feeling of being tipsy/drunk after about 30 minutes anyways. Since it was our first time ever doing this kind of thing, our server kindly switched out our breathing tube (?) for an ice one. Now that, was a pretty awesome feeling. It’s like feeling up your lungs with a toned down icy feeling and enhanced the flavor of the tobacco. I know I sound ignorant on this subject and I am, but we had fun doing it!

The next morning, Jeff and I tried out the CNN tour and got to be news anchors for all of 4 seconds! I’m a nerd for having the news channel on and watching the weather channel, so it was cool to see the inner workings of this particular channel. I can’t help but wonder how awesome it must be to work for a company like that?

Stone mountain was up next on our list and all we had to decide is if we wanted to take the freezing and windy one-mile hike up or the nice enclosed skytram for $10 per person. After feeling how cold it was on our way to the CNN tour, we went with the skytram. As nice as the hike would have been, the tram was the way to go. As soon as we stepped out in the open area of the rock, the wind smacked us in the face. Tears started burning their way down my face involuntarily from how bad it was blowing. We snapped several pictures really quick and ran back inside. Once we were a bit warmed up, we ran back outside for a few more brief minutes to snap a couple more pictures. No longer able to handle the cold, we headed back inside and waited for the tram to take us back down the mountain.

 

Jeff and I both enjoyed Atlanta and the time we had together. 

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Top 5 Reactions for "I'm traveling alone"

It is widely unheard of for a female to travel solo, especially a younger female. I have dealt with a wide range of emotions from people from shock and disbelief to support and and encouragement. I wanted to list the top 5 reactions I have heard from people when they find out I'm traveling all alone.

1. "OMG! Are you an orphan? What parent in their right mind would let their daughter travel alone?" This reaction probably pissed me off the most and caught me way off guard. My parents are amazing and while they aren't always excited about my escapades, they support me for it because they know it's what I really want and what will make me happy. And besides, I'm more than enough adult now to make my own choices.

2. "Aren't you worried about getting kidnapped or killed?" Of course I am. However, I was more frightened of walking into and out of work most days than I ever have been while traveling. As much as anyone may assume, I'm not stupid. I use a very complicated and intuitive amount of skills called common sense when it comes to my safety. I don't travel alone at night, I research the locations I'm staying and I get advice from people I know have gone to a place prior to me. I do not have a death wish and protect myself with everything that I have. 

3. What about your boyfriend/husband/fiance? Is he going with you? What does he think about this? Won't you miss him? Some people in relationships find it absolutely impossible to be separate from one another, which has always baffled me. I don't need Jeff, I want him. I am perfectly fine and functional without him but I choose to be with him because I love and adore him. Jeff and I are still at a pivotal point in our lives where we are still growing and we have grown together for the past 2 years, even when I went away on my last trip for 4 months. I am lucky enough to have a fiance that understands there are some things I need to do on my own. We each have our passions and he supports me fully in following mine, with or without him and I with him. Of course I will miss him, but if I never allowed myself to fulfill my dreams, I would end up being very unhappy and resentful. In a little over a year, I'll be walking down the isle to marry the greatest guy I've ever had the pleasure of loving and there's nothing that will hold me back from us being happy together. 

4. Wow! I'd love to do that but I couldn't ever do what you're doing. Yes you can! It isn't hard. Well maybe a little, but when someone says this to me, I do not quite understand it. I've always been told to follow my dreams and I have. Even when my parents weren't completely thrilled about me traveling alone, they never told me I couldn't do it or wouldn't make it. It doesn't make sense to me why people are so afraid of leaving their comfort zone and trying something new? If it's something you really want, why not fight hard for it? I know when most people say that, they don't exactly have the same exact dream I do but if you can say that to me, I will tell you that you can definitely do it and whatever excuse you give me, I'll tell you a way around it. It's not that you can't do it, it's just not enough of a priority for you.

5. Must be nice to have a trust fund. This is the second most infuriating phrase I hear. I don't have a trust fund or $30,000 just randomly sitting in my bank account. My parents don't give me money, although if there's something I needed for my trip, like shoes or a new camera bag, they'd get me what I'd need as a birthday or Christmas present. I have always worked hard for what I wanted most, and since graduating high school, that has been to travel as much as I can before I decide to settle down. Then, I'll work as hard as I can to support a family and home I wish to build. People think because they could never afford to travel like I do, that I shouldn't be able to afford it either, especially since I'm a young female right out of college. I enjoy proving people wrong ;). 

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Thailand Bucket List

I created one of these for my last trip and managed to hit every item I had set for my European portion. Now, I'd like to do the same for Thailand, just in case I need any motivation.

1. Rooftop Bar in Bangkok


I don't care about the price of having a cocktail on top of one of these rooftop bars. It'll keep me from having such a panic attack about being so high up off the ground. The view will be more than worth my fear or the cost of that drink.

2.Be kind to an elephant

 

Elephants are one of my favorite animals and when I originally decided on coming to Thailand, I could think of nothing else but riding one of these magnificent creatures. But I grew up, did some research and realized how abused these animals are in order to make them tolerate a person sitting on them. After a lot of research, I found an elephant camp with thousands of outstanding reviews that focuses on rehabilitating elephants and providing a better environment for them to live in. The Elephant Nature Park allows you to spend a full day with the elephants feeding, bathing and walking them. It may not be my dreams of riding one, but I would rather take care of something I love than be apart of what's hurting and enslaving them.

3. The White Temple



The White Temple is located in Chiang Rai and ever since I first saw this picture, I have wanted to go. I don't care if I go to Chiang Rai and see nothing else. It's free to get in to and is more like a modern art piece than an actual temple.

4. Floating huts in Khao Sok National Park



This bucket list item will be a bit harder to complete. I have a strict budget for this trip and these huts most certainly blow that budget out of the water at about $60 a night without any frills. It would be worth it, I know. But my head is screaming that if I do this, I'll have to give up something else.

5. Beach Massage

Obviously!

6. Full Moon Party


Just a party with a few several thousand other people where the drink of choice is a sand bucket full of ice, vodka, redbull and coke. Maybe not my smartest choice, but when in Thailand, right?


This is just a short list of all the major items I want to accomplish. If I made a list of it all, I'd be here for hours typing away. My main goal is to just enjoy myself, meet new people and take this time to reset my brain.


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Thailand, Here We Come!

In between busy and conflicting work schedules, Brittney and I have barely been able to meet up to discuss plans. We finally were able to send in applications for our visas and get our international driver's permits.

 There really is no point to this post other than to share what we're planning on doing while there. We're starting in Bangkok, obviously. Then, we will make our way through some of the older cities and ruins to head to the northern region. Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son are some of the places we plan on riding around. The Elephant Nature Park is the one activity I am most looking forward to doing while in Chiang Mai. After getting our fill of mountains and history, we will be heading to the islands for some beach time. 

Brittney and I have done an exorbitant amount of research and talked to quite a few people who have been to Thailand. The only thing left for us to do, after receiving our visas, is to get on the plane... for 15 hours. 

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Our wish, Europe's Command

"Think about if you get stuck there. You will see Amsterdam, yes?"

I didn't possibly think we were lucky enough but I entertained the thought and excitedly turned to Bri.

"What if we do?! It would be my second chance and we could do a tour of the city, see the canals, go to a smoke shop..." I drifted off in my fantasy of what it would be like to return to a city I didn't really let myself explore the first time.

Bri wasn't on the make-believe train and didn't want to jinx anything. I was doing enough for the both of us. We chattered on about our time at Oktoberfest with one of the other girls in our tour group while Ingo chatted with our driver.

We pulled up to the airport, grabbed our bags and went on our way to pick up our tickets. There was no mention of a delay or problems with out flight and my excitement faded into sadness. Our trip was really over.

The security line was a breeze and we passed through without incident. They didn't even check our passports, which I found a little odd.

Two hours left to go. Bri grabbed a last German meal of fastfood schnitzel and potato wedges and I played on my phone near the weird hallway terminal. Some time passed by and we decided to walk down the hallway.

16:40. I did a double take at the monitor. I don't speak nor read German, but I was pretty sure the alternate time was our new flight time. We were due to leave Munich at 14:00. I approached the flight attendant and asked her if our Atlanta flight was still due to leave on time. It was. Clearly, we were not making our flight to Atlanta.

The hours ticked by and the thought of us actually getting stuck in Amsterdam hit me. What were we going to do? How would we book a flight home? Where would we stay? How would we get there? What do we tell work? They're going to kill us. In all of my years of flying and traveling, I have never missed a travel connection, and this trip, it happened twice.

Finally, it was time to board the flight. It's a short and painless flight and once we land, the attendants direct us to go to T6 in the connections hall for flight rebookings. We made the several mile hike, it seemed, across the airport.

The music you hear in horror movies began playing in my head as we approached a seemingly endless line of disgruntled people. We groaned and reluctantly began trudging our way towards the end of the makeshift line of luggage carts and caution tape.

Once we got the the end, it didn't take long for an attendant to come up to us with an offering of water.

"There are no more flights to the US today and this line closes at 11. You should go to the arrivals hall, get a hotel voucher, get some rest and call the customer service line in the morning to rebook your flight."

The couple in front of us advised against it, as the line was just as bad. But Bri and I shared a look, thanked the couple and moved on to find the line.

"Oh my god, Bri, IT'S HAPPENING!!"

The couple was right and the line was atrocious. Ingo had told us earlier to contact EF with any issues and Bri took control and called them as soon as we got in line. Everything seemed to be going right for us. Since Bri had got the travel insurance with the tour company, it would cover us booking a hotel. After 45 minutes of calls and waiting in the several hour hotel voucher line, we booked our hotel, and cautiously stepped out of our place in line, hoping we didn't just make a mistake.

As we waited for our hotel van to pick us up, Bri gave the customer service line a call to see if we could go ahead and settle up our flights. By the time we made it to the hotel, the representative finally had options for us.

"So, a night here in Amsterdam, a night in Paris and home on Wednesday? That won't work."

That did not seem appealing. My emotions were going through a whirlwind of emotions and then suddenly, everything stopped.

"Two nights in Amsterdam and fly directly into Myrtle Beach? We want that one!"

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