That time I went to...Nashville, Tennessee

Greetings fellow travellers and readers! I can’t remember if I mentioned recently that on one of my long slips in Dallas in February I made a little trip to Music City USA, aka Nashville, Tennessee! Being a recent convert to country music, I was quite excited to explore Nashville and see all that it had to offer.

The week that I arrived in Dallas they were experiencing an unusually cold burst of weather, and the roads were absolutely ridiculous – covered with ice and almost impossible to drive on let alone walk on! Dallas had totally shut down. Nobody was out on the streets, the shopping mall across the road from our crew hotel was empty, and the drive from the airport to the hotel was eerily quiet. I was a bit worried about getting to the airport the next morning to go to Nashville – even Uber had hiked up its prices due to the treacherous weather and the still high demand for Uber cars.

But despite all that – I made it to the airport and hopped on my Southwest plane to Nashville. Travel tip #272: if you book early enough you can get mega cheap fares on Southwest! It’s fantastic. I got to Nashville much more cheaply than I expected to pay. AND they don’t charge you to check in luggage! Win win!

Just over three hours later (as my flight included a short stopover in New Orleans as part of the cheap price) I landed into Music City, and as soon as I stepped into the airport terminal I knew I was in country music territory. There were references everywhere – from the names of the restaurants and bars in the terminal to the sprinkle of treble clefs and musical notes stuck on the side of the shuttle bus that I took to my hostel. I quickly got the feeling that Nashville lived and breathed country music. And I was right. In Nashville country music seems to be the local religion.

 

I chose to stay at the Nashville Downtown Hostel ( www.nashvilledowntownhostel.com ), located in the heart of downtown Nashville. This hostel only opened in 2012 so feels new enough that you’re excited to use and take advantage of all its fresh and new facilities, but it is also still partly under construction. It is set over several floors and the ground floor holds a huge open plan area that combines everything from reception to a kitchen to couches, tables, chairs, foosball tables, even a small corner stage just begging for an unknown crooner with their treasured guitar to sit up there on a stool and sing their soul out. This floor seems to be the only one that is truly complete – the others are only partially done, but they are by no means unliveable. The worst is the floor that holds the free lockers (bring your own lock) – you must pick over and walk past a lot of construction junk and old furniture to get to the lockers. The floor above this houses the dorms, and this floor is spotless. Each dorm is labelled with the name of a famous band or singer – I stayed in the Rolling Stones dorm and was impressed that this four bed space actually featured those not often seen bunk beds that are a double bed on the bottom and a single bed on the top. Because it was clearly not a busy time for tourists in Nashville in late February, there was only one other person already staying in the dorm, so I got to snag myself the other double bed bottom bunk, which I was happy about. The room did not have much else besides the beds – for example no lockers for your luggage and not much in the way of hooks to hang your towel and clothes, but I made do. For US$32 per night I thought it was worth it, especially with a great swipe card system in place to get throughout the hostel and keep everything safe.

The best thing about this hostel however was definitely its location. As soon as I had dumped my stuff in one of the lockers on the second floor I layered up with my scarf and gloves and trench coat and hit the pavement. Like Dallas there was ice just everywhere and it made for some treacherous walking sometimes. I was suddenly very scared of slipping on some ice and breaking my arm and being all alone in a new city away from any of my crew back in Dallas! That would not have been an ideal situation!

 

Look at all that ice!

 

Anyway, within just five minutes of walking down nearby Second Avenue and past all its honky tonks and family restaurants I was in the epicentre of Nashville: Broadway. My friendly shuttle bus driver had pointed it out to me as we had driven to the hostel earlier in the day and insisted I pay it a visit during my stay, so I made Broadway my first point of call.

Broadway is just brimming with more honky tonks (Urban Dictionary defines a honky tonk as “A loud, rowdy bar that plays 'honky tonk' country music. Typically full of drunken hillbillies having a good ole' time” sounds like fun to me!) and plenty of souvenir shops selling typical Nashville fare – cowboy boots and hats, checked shirts, huge blinged out belt buckles, whips, saddles and everything cowboy and country you could imagine!

I wondered along happily, soaking it all in and poking my head into more than a few of the bars and shops as I walked past. But as I walked I noticed something I’ve never seen in any other city I’ve ever visited: in Nashville, at many sets of traffic lights, there is a chest high box (which I at first mistook for a fuse box or some kind of maintenance…electricity…telephone cable type box thingy you typically see on a footpath in a city, or even on suburban streets) painted in street art that has a small speaker or two inside it that belts out country songs day and night. Not too loudly, just nice background noise, creating a bit of atmosphere, as if constantly wanting to gently remind you that friend - you are in Music City now. It was such a cute touch!

I continued all the way up Broadway for several blocks, taking it all in before rounding a few corners and walking towards the Country Music Hall of Fame, one of Nashville’s most famous landmarks. On the way I passed gigantic Bridgestone Arena, home to the ice hockey team the Nashville Predators, if you’re into NHL (can’t say I am!). As I climbed the steps up to the entrance of the Country Music Hall of Fame I wondered if I should go inside, or keep walking around and exploring a bit more. I whipped out my phone and checked the temperature right then in Nashville to help me make my decision. Minus six degrees celsius. Yep, I was going inside.

By that time it was lunchtime, and I decided to get something to eat before I delved into the museum. Luckily there was a cute little café right in the foyer of the CMHOF and I enjoyed the perfect winter’s day lunch there – tomato soup served with a toasted cheese sandwich. Mmmm just what the doctor ordered!

 

 

Entry into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (its proper name) is US$24.95 for adults and US$22.50 for seniors and students. If you are a member of AAA, you can also get in for the seniors and students price. I wasn’t aware, but when I went to buy my ticket, the kind gentleman behind the counter asked me where I was from, and when I said Australia he asked if I belonged to a roadside assistance or automobile club back at home. When I said I did, he asked to see my membership card and after a quick scan of it he turned it over and pointed out to me the tiny little AAA symbol that was in the corner of my NRMA membership card and told me that I too was entitled to a discount because AAA (the American Automobile Association) has Australian equivalents, and NRMA (for those of you who live in New South Wales in Australia) was one of them. I have since found out my NRMA membership (or perhaps you have RACV, RACQ or RAC Western Australia) entitles me to many discounts in the United States – the one of which I’ll use most being Amtrak (we all know how much I love Amtrak!) – due to NRMA’s affiliation with AAA. Pro travel tip #273!

While I was at the CMHOF there was a Kenny Rogers exhibit featuring, and I made that my first stop upon entering this huge museum. There was plenty to see, in the Kenny Rogers exhibit and elsewhere, with walls upon walls of golden records, displays dedicated to the history of country music, its biggest stars, its costumes, famous concerts, biggest impacts, country music in pop culture, its most popular bands and husband and wife teams. And it wasn’t all ‘yesteryear’ country music – there was plenty of time and space dedicated to Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood (my personal fave!), Florida Georgia Line, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. I spent a good few hours wondering around and soaking it all in, humming my favourite tunes as I went.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I lurve this picture of Tim McGraw and
Faith Hill *swoon*

 

The following day I decided to continue the country music theme of my trip (was there really any other theme? Nashville is all about the country music. Like, SOAKED in it. No objections here!) and head out to The Grand Ole Opry.

The Grand Ole Opry is ‘the show that made country music famous’ – a large venue that to this day still hosts a country music radio show where a live audience can be a part of the broadcast. Today for a country music artist to be invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry is without a doubt the highest honour that could be bestowed upon them – perhaps even greater than a Grammy. To be a member means the artist performs several shows a year, but this, according to my tour guide who took me on the backstage tour of the impressive venue ($22 adults/$17 children) is more a privilege for the artists than a chore or obligation. The Opry is the holy grail of a country music artist’s career.

For the day time backstage tour I bought a ticket at the box office when I arrived – though the Opry recommends you book in advance online or by phone, but there sure weren’t many people out and about in Nashville in February when it was so cold outside!

The tour begins with a video presentation by Blake Shelton – a hugely popular singer in the US in case you didn’t know – and you are then taken through all of the backstage areas, dressing rooms, artists entrances, side stage, the auditorium seating area and finally onto the stage itself where you can pretend you are the star entertaining the crowd of screaming fans and have your photo taken with the famous mic used by country music royalty.

 

 

Also, if you are a fan of the drama series Nashville, several scenes are filmed at the Opry, and you can see some sets and areas used on the show as well as costumes and scripts in an informative exhibit hardcore fans will love.

Performances are held at the Opry several nights every week, as well as several nights every week at the Ryman Auditorium downtown, a sister venue equally as famous. Many artists appear during one show, so book in advance as this place is pretty popular. Check out www.opry.com for details.

 

 

After my day at the Opry and the nearby Opry Mills Mall, it was sadly time to head back to Dallas. I didn’t want to leave! Nashville isn’t big and brash – just small, honest, humble and sweet…a bit like country music itself. I thoroughly enjoyed myself there and would love to go back and catch one of my favourite artists performing at the Grand Ole Opry one day.

I have big plans to explore as much of the south of the United States as I can over the next few years, and after conquering Georgia, and now the heart of Tennessee, I am keen to get onto the other southern states after Nashville proved so delightful.

If you’re a country music fan, or even if you’re not, Nashville is a surprisingly pleasant city to visit. It’s calm and has character, and like everywhere in the south, the people are so friendly, which always endears me to a place, and leaves good memories.

Until the next adventure,

Jorgs

Life changing (and not so life changing) decisions

Do you ever wonder what would happen if you’d made one tiny decision differently? I am always wondering about this – yeah I’m a pretty indecisive and occasionally paranoid person -  and this week I’ve thought about it A LOT.

Why you ask? Because the past ten days have been a doozy for me. It all started when I swapped onto a Dallas trip, because as always, I wanted to swap off the Dubai trip that was rostered for me. Now, you’d think after almost two years of swapping trips and something crazy always happening on the trip I swap onto (delays, diversions, passenger medical emergencies, crazy weather) I would know not to swap anymore, but alas I still do it as my life as a commuter depends on being able to swap trips and manipulate my roster to work as best as it can for my work/life balance.

So anyways, I swapped onto this Dallas and on the way up to Dallas from Sydney I was helping a mother of twin babies out by cuddling one twin while she settled the other one down to sleep. It was the middle of the night and she was travelling with her elderly father, her twins and her four year old and that’s it. All the crew felt for her – it was a very long trip to be doing with her little precious cargo, but her babies had been quite good, and I was impressed with how they had behaved. So when she asked me to hold one of the twins I was only too happy to. After all, I love babies!

But then he threw up on me. That’s right. I finally popped my having a passenger throw up on me cherry. It only took five years of flying for it to finally happen. I guess I should be grateful that it was only baby spew and not adult spew. But he had just eaten sweet potato AND he was sick with a cold.

Gross.

Anyway, a few days later we attempted to leave Dallas bound for Sydney again in the midst of wild thunderstorms in Dallas. The shocking lightening and pounding rain meant we left Dallas several hours late, and by the time we got to Sydney all us crew were almost out of hours to legally work. Safe to say I was pretty beat. But I wearily hopped on my plane bound for Perth a few hours later and got settled in my seat, only to have the aircraft turn back to the gate twice for engineering issues. In the end I finally crawled into my own bed at 5pm, rather than the 11am I’d originally planned.

I slept for foreverrrrrrrrrrrr and woke up at 12:30am, just as my Mum was about to head to bed. Before she did though she kindly reheated me some of the chicken and broccoli bake she’d made her and my dad for dinner. It was delicious.

But the next morning I woke up vomiting my heart out. And spent the entire day with my head over the toilet continuing to vomit my heart out. Food poisoning is so rad y’all.

I was finally starting to feel normal again yesterday when I started getting sniffly. Today I have felt shocking yet again, slugged with a full blown cold. What a week!

My point is, would all this have happened if I’d made one tiny decision differently? If I hadn’t swapped onto the Dallas trip I wouldn’t have gotten spewed on. And because that baby was sick with a cold I wonder if the cold I have now is from him? (I also wonder if I vomited all day Tuesday because of him, but actually I think it was the dodgy chicken really that did it to me. If it was the baby it was a pretty delayed reaction for me) If I had done the Dubai instead of the Dallas I would’ve been able to get on a different flight home and gotten home into my bed earlier, therefore perhaps being better for my health and well being that week as I wouldn’t have been so exhausted and run down?

If I hadn’t gone to Dallas and I hadn’t gotten sick when I got home from it I wouldn’t even be writing this blog entry right now, because I’d already be back at work doing an LA trip.

It’s funny isn’t it? Asking what if? I know they say that every different decision you make leads you down the path you were truly meant to go down, but I still get so curious. A few months before I got my first flying job I was offered a place at a summer camp for girl guides in rural Louisiana in the US. I was all set to go – had even been given a camp nickname by the director that the kids would call me – and then I was offered my first job as a flight attendant and I decided to take it, thinking that it might be the only chance I would ever have to get my foot in the aviation door. But I often think back and wonder what it would’ve been like to go to Louisiana, who I would’ve met there, the experiences I would’ve had, if maybe I would’ve just been able to break into flying when I got back from camp. They’re things I will always wonder about.

Of course sometimes these decisions turn out to be life changing, which I find fascinating. I recently read an article about a man who decided to personally take his child to school instead of letting them take the bus on the morning of September 11, 2001. Because of that he wasn’t in his office in World Trade Centre 1 when the planes struck. Was that not the best decision of his life or what?! One I am sure he has survivor’s guilt about, but still, great decision, because it meant he got to live.

My life changed when I decided to do my first Contiki tour on a certain date in April over another certain date in April of 2009 and because I picked that tour on that date, I met one of my best friends, and two weeks ago I was there to watch her get married and make a speech at her ceremony. Great decision about dates and destinations there huh? One decision I am very grateful I made.

Have you ever made a life changing decision – or even a tiny every day one – that has shaped your life in a massive way as a result? I’d love to hear of your experiences, so leave me a comment and tell me all about it!

Jorgs

 

Top right is us SO YOUNG in Europe!

 

Which Bunk? Railway Square YHA, Sydney, Australia

Hello again travellers! I am back with my second hostel review! Don’t worry, they won’t all be on Sydney hostels – but this one is too unique to not review, so another Sydney hostel it is!

Since I stay in Sydney a lot, I often look online for different hostels to try when I am booking my accommodation. I have always glanced over at Railway Square and what it offers, and thought it looked cool but never really felt enthused enough to deter from my usual well tested haunts of the Sydney Harbour YHA (see my last Which Bunk? review) or Sydney Central YHA (review of this one coming soon!). However, in February I decided to not only give Railway Square YHA a shot, but also to go the whole hog and book a bed in one of its special ‘railway carriage dorms’.

That’s right. A bed in a converted old train carriage. You don’t see that every day!

 

 

So there I was, having booked my bed in a four bed carriage dorm, and really looking forward to something different. When I landed in Sydney from Perth I hopped on the train and went straight to Central Station, where I had been assured from YHA’s website that there would be plenty of signs to easily direct me to the hostel, which was within walking distance of the station.

But it wasn’t that easy. Central Station in Sydney is a confusing enough station on any day of the week because of its ginormous size and absolutely bonkers busy atmosphere all the time, and even when I lived in Sydney and went through there regularly I still got lost. This day was no exception. I saw just one sign on some random wall by a lift that said ‘Railway Square YHA’ on it, and only saw it after I’d pulled my heavy luggage around for 15 minutes trying to find the right exit of the station for the hostel and had asked two separate CityRail employees for help.

Eventually I made it to the right level of the station and exited, only to be confronted with a weary backpacker’s worst nightmare. Yep, you guessed it. Stairs. Three whole flights. I sighed. I looked left and right, hoping for an alternative (aka easier) route. But there appeared to be none. So I hauled my bags onto my shoulders and gripped my suitcase tightly and trudged up the stairs, hoping this place was worth it (sorry but I just really hate stairs. I am scarred for life from hauling my 7 weeks full of stuff suitcase up and down literally hundreds of Paris metro station stairs in 2012. Ever since then I have hated them).

Luckily, it was. One small set of stairs before the entrance and a kind young bloke offered to help me lift my suitcase up this final hurdle. Sometimes, the kindness of strangers can turn your day around, no matter how small their act of kindness is. I smiled and thanked him and we hauled my suitcase up together.

Railway Square YHA’s lobby is an impressive expanse of space that immediately makes you glad you’ve picked this hostel. It’s a feast for the senses – something new to see with every degree you turn your head. A hostel is doing it right if in the lobby there is everything you could need for your adventure, from a dining room that sells cereal and two minute noodles in the corner, to a wall full of pamphlets just waiting to be grabbed and devoured by an eager traveller keen for ideas on what to do in this city, to the wifi password helpfully written on a little blackboard and hanging on the wall by the kitchen, to the obligatory notice board with job and used car ads on it, to a foosball table, to a public telephone and a water fountain. Suddenly I had forgotten about all those stairs.

 

Best wifi password ever!

 

Railway Square offers of course regular dorms, just like at every other hostel, and private and family rooms, but like I said, I was keen to try something different, so I got my key card for a train carriage room and after a quick and easy check in process headed out of the lobby and onto which I’m pretty sure had once been a train platform itself and towards my carriage where I would spend the night.

This carriage had two bunk beds – so four beds all together – and it was tight, but not uncomfortably so. There were still four lockers, plenty of power points, three windows and a chair or two. It was just cosy.

 

 

 

 

Once I had settled myself and gratefully taken my bags off my shoulders, I went exploring, eager to see what was in and around the hostel, and keen to take the pictures you see in this entry.

I was kind of shocked – even though I shouldn’t have been considering the location and the name – that my carriage was within spitting distance of a working platform of Central Station itself. Which meant that sleeping in my carriage wasn’t the quietest experience ever. However, again, just like with the size of the carriage, it wasn’t a deal breaker. I think the platform that was so close to my bed was actually a platform used for interstate trains, which don’t go very often, so there wasn’t that much noise coming from it, and I survived the night.

The bathrooms were nearby to the carriage, meaning even in the dead of winter a midnight sprint to the loo wouldn’t be too cold that you wouldn’t want to do it, and you would never get wet thanks to plenty of cover overhead. The bathrooms were clean and the stalls inside plentiful, which as a backpacker I love to see. Nothing worse than a shower ‘block’ that only has two showers!

 

 

 

 

 

Just a few metres away I discovered a little alcove hidden under the stairs leading up to the dorms that displayed one of many brilliant ideas hostels around the world have dreamt up and developed that make hostels such friendly and awesome places, and that are sorely missing from some sterile hotels. It was a ‘give and take’ shelf. Not heard of a give and take shelf before? It’s exactly what it sounds like – somewhere travellers can leave unwanted stuff for other travellers to take. It’s the perfect place to offload that novel you finished reading on the plane and you want to get rid of so as to free up some room in your bulging backpack. Maybe you bought a better rain jacket whilst you were travelling and no longer need the one you bought from home? This is where you leave it. Bought a huge bottle of shampoo while you were here, used only half of it and don’t want to lug it back to your home country or throw it out? Put it on the give and take shelf. It’s truly the greatest backpacker invention since lockers with power points inside them! Railway Square YHA’s give and take shelf was overflowing with pre loved stuff, just waiting for the next traveller to make the most of the contents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My last point of exploring was the kitchen and dining areas, as it was time for dinner. I was pleased to find a large dining room with plenty of tables and chairs, plus couches, and if I remember correctly even a TV in the corner. In the back left hand corner were vending machines and the entrance to the kitchen – a huge area with an abundance of microwaves, fridges, sinks, stove tops and ovens, plus enough crockery and cutlery for hundreds of hungry backpackers. It had it all, which made me smile, because when I stay in hotels I often frown as some of them, whilst five star with comfy beds and your own ensuite, often don’t even have a kettle for me to make a cup-a-soup! One of the greatest things about hostels, I think, is that they have kitchens, and more often than not are stocked with everything you need – so much so if you really wanted to you could probably whip up a roast in there! You’d probably have to fight off a lot of starving backpackers who’ve smelt the roast lamb cooking, but you could do it!

 

I’d bought a simple to assemble dinner with me from home so after exploring the kitchen I sat myself back down in the dining room to eat. As I ate I read the nearby blackboards hanging from the walls, each displaying what was on offer in the dining room for each day of the week. Another brilliant thing about hostels is how much they offer for free, or at a very cheap price, for guests. The fact that these things are free is so great, but they also have an added bonus of bringing backpackers together and encouraging solo travellers to talk to other solo travellers, make friends and swap travel stories and tips. I have had many interesting conversations and gotten many fabulous tour and attraction recommendations over bowls of pasta at free pasta night Tuesdays. You sure don’t get that level of friendly in a hotel. Railway Square did its bit by offering free pancakes as well as discounted BBQs and Mexican fare. What better way to meet new people and save a few dollars?

Because I was just at this hostel for one night before a work trip I didn’t get to take full advantage of some of its other offerings, nor even explore every floor of the huge building the hostel calls home, but the website informs travellers that there is also a pool and a spa for guests to enjoy. Ideal for when it’s just too hot to bear the thought of getting on the train and the bus and getting all the way down to Bondi. You want a swim right this second? No worries, just head to the rooftop. Well done Railway Square, well done.

Location wise Railway Square ticks all the boxes too – a hop, skip and a jump from Central Station (and you can tackle those stairs, I know you can!), a pleasant 30 minute walk to the glistening water of Circular Quay (or you can take the train there and get there in no time, as it is only a handful of stops away!) or Darling Harbour, 10 minutes walk to Chinatown and so ridiculously close to an array of pubs, cafes, take way joints and restaurants that you can smell the parmi’s cooking from your bunk. What more could you ask for?

Jorgs rates Railway Square YHA 4.5 stars out of 5!

Check out their website at http://www.yha.com.au/Hostels/NSW/Sydney-Surrounds/Railway-Square/#

Until next time, happy hostelling!

Jorgs

That time I went to... Phuket, Thailand

Well hello readers! I am back from my South East Asian hiatus, and back to report on the excellent time I had! I feel like I haven’t blogged in ages (true) but it felt like my holiday went so fast at the same time (also true, but really, it was almost a month long…that’s a pretty decent holiday)!

So first cab off the rank is Phuket, Thailand! This was my first stop on my holiday, and boy was I ready for it. As I wrote in other posts, I was grumpy and stressed and more than ready for a holiday by the time March 9^th rolled around, so Phuket was the perfect tonic for this. I am so glad I organised to start my trip in this beautiful beach side paradise.

For those who’ve never been to Phuket before, but have been to Surfers Paradise in Queensland, Australia, well, they’re kind of similar in my opinion. And equally awesome. Phuket is just a bit smellier and dirtier and a bit more eye opening than Surfers. But those things aren’t deal breakers – I’d go back to Phuket just as quickly as I’d go back to Surfers Paradise.

My first day in Phuket I took it slow (as one should do on holidays) and had a sleep in and took a leisurely pace to start my day. I wondered down from my hotel, which was two blocks away from the beach, and down onto the main drag of Patong, taking in all the wonderful sights and sounds. The streets of Patong are a bit of a blur of stalls selling genuine fakes (seriously, I saw a sign proclaiming this at one of the stalls!) plus places to get a foot massage or your nails done, restaurants, cafes and PLENTY of bars targeted towards tourists (especially us Aussies!). It’s quite a feast for the senses!

I spent most of the morning and afternoon after that down on the actual beach, where I relaxed under an umbrella (necessary – the sun was scorching) and swam in the bath like ocean. It was just beyond!

 

I was quite new to the whole bargaining thing I knew you had to employ in countries like Thailand, and despite a few goes at the ladies Market in Hong Kong, I was pretty inexperienced at it. So it was a bit embarrassing when at the beach I tried to bargain down the price of my beach umbrella – assuming everything could be bargained down – only to discover some things just aren’t up for discussion. Oh well, lesson learnt!

My afternoon was then spent back at the hotel by the pool, a passionfruit mojito in hand and my trashy novel in the other! Ahhh bliss.  It’s so nice to sometimes just stay at a nice resort type place, which DOES have a pool bar, room service and air conditioning. Most of the time I travel on a budget, staying at backpackers or cheap minimum everything hotels, so to start my holiday in a beautiful resort such as the Grand Mercure was a true treat for me! I found a great deal on Expedia where I got my beautiful room for just $105 a night, so it was luxury, but still at a price that didn’t break my bank (which always leaves the budget traveller in me happy!). Check it out at www.grandmercurephuketpatong.com

 

The next day I had myself booked in for an all day tour to Phi Phi Island with a company called Andaman Leisure Tours. This tour was not cheap (a tidy 3300 baht), but let me tell you, it was worth every penny. It was the tour that my hotel recommended, and they booked me in to it, so I was just like ‘sure, sign me up! Here’s my credit card’, but later that day I was glad to overhear some other people on the tour say that they had extensively researched tours on tripadvisor and such and the Andaman Tours tour was apparently the best, so I really lucked out!

A minivan picked me up bright and early at 7:45am and a drive and a motorboat ride later we were near the Phi Phi Islands. I had no idea they were actually a series of islands rather than just one, but hey, holidays are for learning new things as well as relaxing! We spent the day snorkelling around the islands, jumping off the boat, eating, drinking, tramping through the jungle and looking out off lookouts. And of course sun tanning! I like to think I got a bit brown that day!

 

 

The waters in Thailand are just beyond stunning – so clear and so pristine! I could not get over it! It made the snorkelling so great. I was so surrounded by fish that I was actually touching some of them! It was amazing! You can totally understand why they filmed The Beach here – sadly I did not run into Leonardo DiCaprio though *sad face*

Seriously, that water!

  

It was a fantastic day all up – like I said, worth every penny. The guide was so friendly and such a wealth of information and was so great at working out the times we spent at each island or each snorkelling spot to maximise our experiences there and not miss out on any valuable time at any other awesome next stop. I can’t recommend them highly enough! Have a look at the tour I did by clicking here www.andamanleisurephuket.com/maya.php

 

So excited to be at 'The Beach'!

Whilst in Phuket I also made a visit to Tiger Kingdom – something I’m sure most people do when in Phuket, as it is the typical touristy experience, but hey, I like the typical touristy experiences! Take me to the tackiest, most common, most lame-o spots and I lap it all up gladly! Yep I’m one of those people. And I’ll buy the souvenir photo and the t-shirt too!

One of my friends had recommended Tiger Kingdom to me, and when I had a free afternoon I thought why not? I risked my life with a crazy speed demon tuk tuk driver to get there, but once I was there it was fab! I decided to go and see the baby tigers, since I’m a sucker for cuteness (not that big tigers aren’t cute too!) and I paid for a professional photographer to accompany me, as I couldn’t exactly wrangle a camera and a tiger at the same time! This option is great for solo visitors such as myself.

 

 

Tiger Kingdom proudly proclaims that their tigers are not drugged or chained up, which is great to see. The baby tigers were ridiculously cute, and sleeping the entire time I was there – as the pictures show! – so I felt pretty safe being close to them, even though initially I had been a bit nervous!

To round out a terrific time in Phuket I also visited the Siam Safari Elephant Park, another place recommended to me (for reals – if someone personally recommends you a place to visit on holidays they’re usually recommending you a gem. Take their recommendation and trust their word. These recommendations have led me to some amazing places over the course of all my travels!). Siam Safari is one of the best and most humane elephant facilities in Phuket, and I took part in a 45 minute trek a top a teenage elephant through a hilly region near the park. It was quite the bumpy ride, but so enjoyable. I’ve never done anything like that, so it was so cool to experience. Plus the scenery we bumped our way through was gorgeous, and the views over the nearby water amazing!

 

 

 

Soon after that my time in Phuket was over. It was an amazing four days – and there really wasn’t much I disliked about Thailand so far (well, except for all the places that still allowed smoking. I am so spoilt in Australia where they have banned smoking in restaurants, bars, beaches, outdoor areas, pretty much everywhere now. Sadly this is not the case in Thailand, and probably will never be).

 

 

If you’re looking for a nice, easy getaway to a place not too far out of your comfort zone, Phuket is the place. The beaches and islands will take your breath away, the Thai people are so friendly (even if they don’t always know where they’re going when you hop into a taxi!) and the food and atmosphere is top notch. It’s also not too expensive if you’re on a budget.

It’d be pretty hard to have a crap time in Phuket. It’s too much like paradise. And you can’t have a bad time in paradise!

Next stop…Vietnam!

Until next time, happy travels…

Jorgs