Catching Up and Some Background Info

Sometimes right now I'm wondering if I made my comeback to blogging a little too early because I'm always so all over the place (literally) and never have time to come up with quality posts. Then I remember how much I've miss you all and hope that you'll bear with me. I only have two more weeks of travel then I'm home.

I realize looking at comments that some people are new to reading my blog and wonder why I'm traveling and what started it all. So I decided to give a little background on that.

I've always loved to break away. I live on Vancouver Island in British Columbia Canada. I love it but sometimes it seems to confining for a twenty something. As soon as I graduated I tried living in a lot of different places. I have lived in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton (x2), Salt Spring and Penticton in a rather short period of time. Eventually I came back and settled on the Island again. Its like an addiction only islanders understand.

While I was in Penticton I picked cherries for awhile and that is where I met BF taking the summer off from University in Quebec. He returned home for his last semester and then moved to the West Coast to be with me.

We decided right away we wanted to travel together. He wanted a break after all of his schooling and I just wanted to run. I was in debt and he had to spend some time in his career before taking a leap like that. So we waited. I paid off $18,000 in debt and he built up his resume. We did this over about a 2 year time period. Then I started saving and he kept working in his field. After one year like this we were ready. We both quit our jobs, gave wild goodbye parties and kissed our moms farewell on the cheeks.

It was hard leaving but sometimes in life you have to do what is uncomfortable to experience something wonderful.

We decided to spend a year working and traveling in Australia with a 2 month trip to Thailand tagged on the end for some rest and relaxation before heading home. BF really wanted Oz and I have always wanted to go to Thailand.

Here we are 11.5 months later and have done a lot more than we thought we would. We traveled and worked in Australia for 10 months (will have many future blog posts about this), we spent two weeks on South Island New Zealand, spent one week in Hong Kong, and now we are enjoying the last leg of the trip which includes Thailand and Cambodia.

It hasn't all been fun, its also been challenging but very rewarding. Soon we'll return back to the Island to see where life will take us next. We have no place to live, no jobs, no security. Of course I am a big planner and this stuff drives me a little crazy but it is what it is. My mom has offered us to stay with her while we get on our feet. Our things are in storage and we have a PO Box for mail. We have good job references and hope to find work as quick as possible.

Its not really where I planned to be at this stage in life but I wouldn't change this last year for anything. Sometimes my PF side wants to creep up and shame me but I have to tame the beast inside and remind myself that life is not all about the size of my bank account.

So thats a brief insight into whats been happening with me. As I wrote before I plan to have many future posts describing the last year of my life with more detail and of course pictures. I hope this clears up some questions for my new readers.

MUSICAL MONDAYS job 2 do - doo doo doo

At the guesthouse I stayed at in Krabi Thailand there was a really good CD that would play from time to time in the lobby area downstairs while I was skyping with my family. I asked the owner the name of the artist to which he responded "Job 2 Do". I set out to find the CD at a store down the street. I do like this song and it is very popular but I REALLY like the song "One World" which I haven't located online yet to share but did manage to get on CD along with this song. Enjoy some Thai music!

My internet is weak so I hope I picked a good link for you. Fingers crossed!

Cambodia!

Just arrived in Cambodia for a 5 day stay. We have wifi in our room so I hope to catch up on my posts tomorrow. :)

Checking In

Hey everyone!

I have just left Phi Phi Don and have arrived safely in Phuket. Tomorrow night I fly to Bangkok where I will check into the hotel we stayed in last time which thankfully has wifi. Internet in Thailand is so sketchy. Can't wait to post more soon.

Musical Mondays 'Hearts a Mess' By Gotye

Before I stopped blogging for awhile I used to sometimes do a regular post called Musical Mondays. Its Monday in Thailand and I wanted to share this song with you. I first heard about a year ago in Batlow, Australia when I was up at the local pub watching a pool tournament after a long day of picking apples. It stuck with me from that first moment. I remembered a few lyrics - your hearts a mess - and luckily it was enough to find it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
I prefer the quality of this link but it wouldn't upload to blogger for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_CM5-gel6o

McPharmacy

So people may think this is far fetched but if you have ever worked retail pharmacy you will know that the staff goes through this several times a day. Stressful much? Tolerance and patience are two necessary qualities when working in my field. So happy to have had a year off. It will make my fake smile paste on so much easier. Dont forget to read the comments on the YouTube page.

One Goal Down, 29 To Go

Above - Our bungalow Below - Thia massage hut

So I am pleased to announce that this week I completed my first 30B430 goal. Big pat on the back to me. Well, maybe a rub.

18) Have a professional massage done

While BF was getting his PADI dive certification in Koh Tao done last week he encouraged me to get a massage or something to relax a bit. I decided that I’d rather wait for him and do a couples massage.

When we arrived in Koh Samui we were lucky to score a private bungalow right on the beach. Outside of our room was a little hut where Thai massages were being done. For two days I watched the girl give non-stop massages. As soon as she was done with one person somebody else would jump up immediately to approach her. I checked the price and it was only 150Baht which is like 5 bucks CAD. Woohoo!

The following day I noticed there were two girls doing massages so it was perfect for us to go together. The price had gone up to 200Baht which was no big deal. In the end BF tipped them generously and gave them an even 500 for the two of us.

How was it? Amazing, but painful at times. I had to give her credit though because she found my sore spots no problem without being told where they were. I had been having really bad neck pain. Like can’t move your head neck pain. She worked on that area big time.

I must be one big ball of stress because she kept telling me to relax and I did at times feel myself tensing up. I think it was all the pressure points she was hitting. I guess I didn’t know what to expect from a Thai massage. I thought it was going to be rub down heaven but not so much.

Still, it was great. I was all dreamy afterward and spent the rest of the day reading while BF slept. Later that evening we both felt like we’d had a workout session. It was a good experience overall.

I was intrigued by the way they used their whole bodies to perform the massage instead of just hands and fingers. If I ever decide to take a course in massage it will be in Thailand for sure. I wanted to do it before in Canada but was worried about Carpal Tunnel.

As for my neck pain? Gone. BF says he had been having problems with his shoulder and his girl targeted it right away and that it feels so much better. Well, I guess we’re now believers.

It makes me happy to complete at least one of my goals while still traveling!

How to get free McDonald's coupons!

How do I describe Nathaniel's blog? Maybe I could say its a whole bunch of little wonderfuls rolled up into a happy wrap. I love him with a big chunk of my heart and this video post shows why.

I hope you enjoy it as I've asked Nathaniel to do a pf related guest post for my blog in the near future. Make sure to check him out. He's linked on my sidebar!

Loving Thailand

Hey everyone~
This is the first internet access I've had in days. We are traveling all day tomorrow and hopefully soon I will have internet at my hotel. The place I've been staying the last 4 nights didnt have internet but... it was a bungalow on the beach... rough I know.
I managed a New Years post because I predated it but forgot to do a 30B430 post for the 30th. Ugh, not a great start BUT I did manage to knock at least one thing off the list. :) You'll just have to wait for my next goals post to find out what it was. Hehe

Miss you all!

Happy 2011 Blogosphere!

I just wanted to say a quick welcome to the New Year to all my gorgeous readers. Your support has always meant so much to me. This year will have a lot of challenges for me and having you there to listen to my thoughts and help me with your comments will be very important for me.



So thank you for being the best reading audience this girl could ask for. Lets see what 2011 holds for us together.



Love and admiration,



Dolly :0)