About Phuket

So my first destination of my travels is Phuket Island, Thailand. Now many of you would have seen the beautiful pictures posted over facebook of Phuket's shoreline, or seen in movies such as James Bond. Wherever you are in the world you've probably glimpsed a shot of Phuket. But what about Phuket makes it so special or what is the history behind this Thai Island. I thought to save you hours of scrolling through the internet and pointless skim reading I'd lay out a few facts about Phuket:

• Phuket is both an island and a province of Thailand.
• The majority of people who live there are Buddist.
• Phuket is pronounced Pooket and not "...." and it used to be called Jungceylon.
• Tourism is Phuket main income, other than there tin industry which grew big in the 16th century.
• Phuket has 36 different beaches.
• They're a country that have Go Go bars! Love these!
• In April they hold the worlds biggest and longest all day water fight.
• 1st to the 9th October they hold a vegetarian festival - this does sound like my true favourite place to go.
• They hold Thailand Gay Pride here every April 24th-28th.
• On the full moon in December they release thousands of Chinese lanterns in the air, being the 3rd biggest in this Chinese event.

Other than my experience in Cape Town, South Africa this is be the only other opportunity where I experience the backpacker life of living in and out of different hostels. Yes i'll be with my friend but it'll be my first time on my own journey.

That's why this travel is so different from any other excursion I've ever been on, because it's purely my own. The destiny of this trip is whatever I make from it and it's my first chance in life to properly do what I want, in the manor I want. (Not saying my friend Dan has no say hahha)

That's the difference about creating your own journey rather than joining out with a friend who is already travelling. What I love so much is this is our journey (me and Dan's) so we both get to plan all the little intricate details ourselves, something I haven't had much of a chance too in my life.  Most things were planned for me, and my input was rather inadequate. So however silly its really important to me that this adventure is joint planned and we can both have the excitement in finding the intricate details we both look for in certain places.

Where Am I Staying?

I'm excited for the places that i'll be staying at, hoping that trip advisor serves me well and that  I wont be eaten alive by rats. My first stop is booked, and its called Patong Backpacker! I'm staying at a fairly cheap place to start off with because I want to get the feel for the area before I find where I really want to stay for my time in Phuket. I would like to find a place with good staff and good atmosphere. I find its 2  of the most important things other than necessary good facilities, hopefully it's not too much of an ask.  Above is the road where my hostel is situated, Thawewong Road.



I will be staying at Patong Backpacker. What made me laugh about this hostel when I first saw it, was how near a Hospital I was - that comforted me haha knowing how disastrous I am. It's a few minutes walk from the beach and has good access to the town centre, wifi, a pay phone, aircon. What more does a person need?


I guess I'll find out when I arrive in 20 days time! I'll be posting my review of Patong Backpacker and a guide of Patong shortly after my arrival to help any other backpackers on their journeys.

Saying Goodbye And Hello To New Beginnings...

Saying Goodbye can be deemed as the hardest thing to do on this Earth, especially if you felt time was snatched away too soon, and you didn't have time to prepare. But when you truly love someone or something it isn't about holding onto them its about letting go of them. Having children is the best example of this. This life you've created is so precious to you you love them so much but you have to learn that letting go is the only way for them to grow into who they need to be. This Valentines day I reflected on who was in my life id lost and who in my life I had gained. And whether they still play an active part in my life or not, I am Thankful for them. Because without being moulded in someway or another by colliding with that person, it built me into the person i am today. So therefore I cant be anything but grateful because its made me progress, it didn't make me fall back further.

I believe Jesus can heal anything and anyone as long as they have a mustard seed of faith that he can. Past relationships can have deep affects on people, but don't think you're alone. So many men and women are affected by a multitude of different problems that someone else has caused onto their lives. Does this mean we turn bitter towards the human race and give up hope? I did. I didn't trust anyone, only myself. I drummed it into me that everyone was out to hurt me and no one would actually ever want to show affection to me, because it'd be a ploy to hurt me further down the line. I then had to drum these lies out of me through the cross and drill truths into me instead. Jesus can heal sometimes its just up to us to pray for strength through it. As humans we make mistakes, we fall, we stumble, we are not perfect. But its how we fix those mistakes, its how we turn them from mistakes to the most flourishing life lesson. I'd rather go through a trauma and be made a much better fruitful person from learning from the past, than to go through them never learn and growing into more of a monster than before. 

This sounds so much easier to do on paper than it is in real life, because learning from mistakes can mean accepting forgiveness, changing bad habits, changing thought processes in your mind. All of these things are not easy work, but it's ten times more worthwhile and getting over these things in order to mature further. If you hold onto bitterness, unforgiveness, and feel hard done by from a certain someone and want to hold a wrath of anger against them. Who's it going to affect more, you, not the person who hurt you. Staying angry doesn't fix anything it progressively makes things worst. So open up your wings in trust for Jesus and know that he wants to fly not fall. 

My conclusion yes saying Goodbye is hard and hurtful, but its necessary. In order to grow you must say goodbye to your old self so you can welcome the new you.

• Make sure you've had all the jabs your'll need for the requirement of whatever your destination is.
• Make sure you've visited your GP/doctor so they know you're in a fit state to travel.
• Visit your bank and make sure they know what countries you're going too so you're card isn't cancelled abroad. TIP: If you're with HSBC or with a bank that has voice recognition as a password, it also entitles you to unlocking your card yourself by having this voice recognition, this can be handy for any travellers.
• Book your flights, and your first hostel on your arrival. 
• Have a good phone that have the countries emergency services saved on it.
• Research into what the dos and donts are of where your visiting and that includes if you need visas, some countries only have limited amount of days you can visit them for. For example, vietnam is 15 days tourist visa for free, up too £60 for 30 days.

Below is my half done personal list, which might include some extras will some people may need. For any glasses wearers I highly suggest you wear contacts and have 2 pairs of glasses with you. Contacts in my opinion are better because you can go swimming and still sea! I'm blind in the sea and find i cant surf as well. Also disposable ones aren't that expensive but stock up enough to last you the trip. 

I've also mentioned in my list below is an AA card. This is a special travel card where you get variable exchange rates when you use the card in whatever country you are in. It also means people can pay money onto your card really easily online on the phone etc. I have done research and to  save you the time its suppose to be the best traveller card, I've also known people to use them so i didn't hesitate. They cost £9.95 and it takes 2 seconds to fill out the which you can click to apply for here.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS....

Gosh 2017 is well on its way and I've finally made it what seems an abominable amount of time to get too! I will be using this blog to tell you all the ins and outs of my journey, what I've struggled with, what I've had to do research on, what was i praying on the lead up to my travels, honestly i'll be discussing all sorts. Hopefully it'll cover just about all you'll need to plan a journey of your own. Now whether your Christian or not this blog will still relate to you as i'll still be posting all the tips and tricks any traveller needs to know.

About Me

I thought I'd start this blog with saying a little bit about who I am as a person and how I came to pursue my dream to travel. My name is Niamh and I live in a small seaside town in the UK called Worthing. I'm currently 19 but on my travels I would have leaped out of my teens and turned 20. I am a bubbly person who loves to smile and chat, but I'm also someone who likes to dig deep and try and discover the impossible.

My greatest journey in life so far has been finding God, because not only was it a journey I started the moment I met Christ it was a journey much before that; much before even my time and my parents time on this earth. The planning of my life was before any of you could begin to dig deep into thought and imagine about and its the same for everyone, each life was carefully planned. Fortunately, we don't need to ponder on those big thoughts though as we have Jesus to give all our worry to! (thats when i picture loud HALLELUJAH music to be played). I discovered God and my Christian faith when I was 18 and got baptised July last year when I was 19.

I will indulge in spreading my testimony to the world because like every testimony I've ever heard and yet to hear, is an incredible one that always gives me shivers. But I will post that at a later date, and link it in here.

My Dream to Travel must of began when I was really young and became a Hannah Montana Fan (my guilty pleasure) and I really wanted to travel the US and do a road trip of a life time, in a cool car of course. Not only was it my small maybe slightly big Hannah Montana obsession it was also that my dad was Canadian, so that made me dream about tasting the fresh air of Canada by soaring through one of their many great lakes on a boat. 

Then it my trip to Cuba when I was about 11 or 12, cant quite remember. We went out and visited all the local villages by horse and cart. It was my first true experience of seeing another culture and how others actually live. I saw great poverty but what came with that was amazing happiness and thankfulness. These people didn't like the circumstances they were in but they found joy and made the most of it. All these things collectively gave me this drive in life to see beyond than just my doorstep, too see more than just beyond Brighton and Worthing. 

Where Do You Begin?

Where do you begin thats a good question haha. Now fortunately, the year before my travel I had seen my boyfriend set off to travel the world so watching him through that gave me a good idea of what I needed to prepare for my own journey.

You obviously start which finding what part of the world you want to do go: Asia, South America, Australia etc; from there its pretty straight forward. Then maybe finding someone to go with, if you're happy with going by yourself then that's even easier. However, I think it's always nicer to experience these amazing trips with a friend. I'll be going with my friend Dan, I met him quite unusually but really awesomely!

 I find if you wanna spice up your experience a bit more find someone in your friendship group or someone you didn't speak too hugely at college but have them on Facebook (make sure there not a total weirdo, a friend of a friend), and go with them. Because if you were too go with a good friend then like you know each other inside out. Rather than if you go with someone you dont fully know then you have more to talk about on long hikes and also its more of like a a butterfly moment journey, as its further putting yourself in that unknown leap of faith position. Also the trip means your'll probably have an amazing new friend for life.