Bangkok Bound

10 more sleeps left till I trade my city for another for one week.

Thinking about it, I realized that it's been 10 years since I last boarded a plane. My last plane ride was to Japan, 10 years ago, also for one week. It's a weird feeling. Truth be told I never imagined myself buying my own plane ticket, booking my own hostel, settling all this on my own. But this surreal feeling began the moment I renewed my passport for the first time after a long time.

Honestly, I have no idea what to do in Bangkok. Some say shop, some say explore. I have a week. I'll do touristy things and at the same time, get in touch with the locals. I should seek out the local CouchSurfing community over there.

So many feelings going through me right now. I'm nervous as hell and scared but at the same time excited. Maybe a little too excited since I went out to get stuff that I think I need. Haha. Packing my first 36L backpack as well as bringing a daypack. 

I guess once the travel bug bites, it infects you with an incurable disease called wanderlust.

Departures

I spent my weekend catching up with Departures on Nat Geo Adventure. Departures is basically about a bunch of Canadian boys who decided to leave the normal and the regular and set out on an adventure around the world. And most of the time, it is off the beaten path. 

I've seen episodes where they visited North Korea, Siberia, Mt Bromo, Chernobyl and many others and they were somehow able to just blend into the culture and get on well with the people. 

I am hoping that my future adventures to even be a fraction of what these boys have experienced. 

I've never really travelled. I guess I've never got the opportunity to. Time constraints, responsibilities, money issues were all contributing factors. When I renewed my passport for the first time in over 8 years, I was probably more excited than most people would be. 

For the longest time after I left MMU, I was actually blacklisted by PTPTN (local organization that gives out student loans) and was not allowed to leave the country. It was partially my fault, partially theirs. But last year I finally got that sorted - broke, but sorted - and now I can finally leave the country to travel or work.

And my first stop will be Bangkok, Thailand on January 30th. I bought the ticket completely on a whim. And what had started out to be a 4 day trip turned into a week long one because I wanted to take advantage of the cheap ticket deals on Air Asia. 

So now I'm basically heading to Bangkok in two weeks without having any idea what to do. I'll be meeting a few people, but other than that I have no idea what to do. Of course, the touristy bit is a given, but I want to experience something not in the guidebooks as well. 

At this moment, I'm also planning a couple more trips for the year - mainly to Bali in June for my first surf training and hopefully it will lead to more surf training in August. 

Need to get the hang of planning for flights and trips in preparation for our RTW trip. 

Hitting the surf

I don't know whether it was the excessive Bondi Rescue marathon session or it's just something I really wanted to do for a long time but I've been bitten by the surf bug, on top of the travel bug. A lot of people would choose to go for scuba diving lessons and get their licenses but I really want to learn and get really good at surfing the waves. 

I saw the price for a surf school in Kuta, Bali and it was RM290 for 3 days of lessons, 2 1/2 hours per day. Inclusive of equipment. It's looking pretty tempting at this moment. I am looking into going to Bali in June.

A lot of factors are beginning to solidify my urge to go on my round-the-world (RTW) adventure. I can't wait till the time is right and I have money in my pocket.