LETS TRAVEL!

 

I really love travelling and exploring new countries! I think it's because my Aunt always told me about her adventures abroad when I was younger. By now she was in every continent and I would say in nearly every country in the world! That's my aim too!! :)
The travel bug first caught me when I had to do a practical training for school. It was in 2010 and I decided to spend 3 months in Lanzarote, Spain. Lanzarote is one of the Canary Islands. After the 3 months I couldn't wait to go abroad again. And I did. And I am not talking about a holiday abroad. I am talking about months abroad. You are not able to get to know a country by spending 2 weeks in an all-inclusive hotel. You need to visit different cities and meet local people.

One of the most impressive travel adventures I had was in Thailand. It is just so different to Europe and also to Australia! I went there in March 2013 after I had spent 6 months in Australia. A friend of mine who has been in Australia as well for more than 6 months travelled with me to Thailand. It actually was a very spontaneous decision. When we were in Cairns we went into a travel agency to get some information about Thailand. As soon as we left the agency our flight was booked. Two weeks later we found ourselves sitting in a plane from Brisbane to Bangkok. We haven’t really planned anything before we arrived in Bangkok so we just took the first cab and went to the most famous road in Bangkok, Khao San Road. There we went from hostel to hostel to find the cheapest one (because after 6 months in Australia we were kind of broke). On our first day in Thailand we rambled through Khao San Road and ate some of the famous Thai food which is very cheap if you buy it directly on the street! So the first important thing we learned was, that you don’t need to spend a lot more than 1€ to get a good meal! :D Our plan for the next 4 weeks was to spend as little money as possible but to see and experience as much incredible places and things as possible! According to our new plan we found ourselves in some kind of travel agency in Bangkok where we booked our next trips. As we found out later that was probably not the best decision, but we wanted to make the most out of our 4 weeks in Thailand. So after 2 days in Bangkok we have planned our next few weeks. Our first stop was to the north of Thailand, Chiang Mai. We had about 5 days there and went on a trekking tour. We spent 3 days in the “woods” of Thailand, sleeping in Thai villages and hiking..hiking..hiking. It was not really what we had expected but we had a lot of fun with our group. We were a really multicultural group with people from Sweden, England, Germany and Austria.
But the best thing on our whole Thailand trip was the day in the “elephant school” in Chiang Mai. We were allowed to ride elephants and learned some commands to lead them. In the end we took a bath with them in the river and showered them :D Unforgettable moments!
After Chiang Mai we went to Ayutthaya by night bus. What we learned about this night in the bus was that we definitely will put on warmer clothes the next time! It was freezing cold! When we arrived at 6 in the morning we were nearly dying! We spent about 2 days in Ayutthaya just to visit the famous ruins and temples. We hired a bike and rode from temple to temple with a temperature of about 45degrees!!! After a while I felt really sick because of the heat and so we had to stop.
We were really looking forward to our time on the beaches of Thailand :))
We visited Krabi, Kho Phi Phi (where Leonardo Di Caprio has shooted his film “The Beach”), Kho Samui, Kho Lanta and Kho Phangan.
We did a snorkeling/diving trip on Kho Lanta where I finally was able to get to see a turtle :)) (I went diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and couldn’t see one :( ).
On Kho Phangan we went to the famous Full Moon Party. There we put day-glo color all over our body. It was a really good night!

Those 4 weeks in Thailand were really amazing and Thailand is definitely one of the places to see before you die!
My next trip was just 5 months later :) I went to Italy, with the same friend, who has become my travelbuddy since we have been to Lanzarote together.
More to my Italy-trip in the next post..

Kho Phi Phi