Heading South to Phuket

People in Thailand are so friendly we have yet to encounter a rude or not smiling person! Sad to leave Bangkok but knowing we still have loads of adventures ahead of us J and I  boarded a plane to the south of Thailand.

Well if we thought Bangkok was hot it has nothing on Phuket. A wall of humidity greeted us at Phuket airport but then so did our smiling Thai transfer that was taking us to our hotel the Andaman Seaview Hotel. Where we discovered that not only did we have a room but an entire suite complete with towel bunnies and flowers on our beds. Rocking it! Big up to J  for organising this one.

Arrival sunsets seem to be our thing in Thailand as we topped off our first night in Phuket with a rainbow, sunset walk on the beach and dinner at a very fancy restaurant on the rocks by the sea. Then last but not least we treated ourselves to pedicures. This is the relaxed life.

A sleep in at our palacial accommodation was devine not to mention our breakfast where there was everything on offer from bacon, eggs, fruit, cereal, yoghurt, waffles, curries, rice and  the list goes on and on.

Plan for the day: off to Phuket town to go and check out the architecture and shopping. To get there we needed to get the equivalent of a tuk tuk down here which is like a little half loaf van like the one in the movie 'Under the Tuscan Sun' that the Polish workers pile off of. Imagine a truck but a mini me version with the seats along the side and no glass in any of the back windows so that air can flow through.

Phuket town was interesting especially as there was a Vegetarian Festival on the go so there was so many street food stalls and red lanterns hanging about. It was also so hot it felt like we were actually in huge sauna. So much sweating!

Walking around we passed by the food stalls and got some steamed dumpling type buns that had black beans and pumpkin in them. We also managed to find the old town which was great for photography but not so great for avoiding taxi drivers hoping to drive us anywhere. 'No thank you we have seen the big Buddha, yes and the monkeys and no thank you no shopping' become the words of the afternoon.

Fails of the day include us wanting to catch one of the cute red 'Honey I shrunk the truck' vans but accidently getting a normal car taxi. People really shouldn't sleep in cars that aren't theirs. Note to self ask a taxi driver which car is his first before agreeing to get in.

Wins of the day were getting a yummy meal just 10 minutes before the special finished for the day and for the win Miss J and her excellent bartering skills when buying a new handbag!

Climbing Arthur's Seat

So many moons ago when I was a young and naive traveler....hahahaha who am I kidding I would probably make some of the same travelling mistakes again and again. One such travelling mistake happened the first time I ever visited Edinburgh with my sister and friend Kristin (haha yes I am naming and shaming). Well we were visiting Edinburgh and decided we would of course climb the famous Arthur's Seat.

Now we knew you could walk to it from the city centre, we could see a mountain so we put two and two together and thought of course that we had made four. We started climbing and climbing...and after walking for quite some time we were starting to doubt ourselves so we asked a jogger when they came by if in fact we needed to carry on walking. His answer was something along the lines of: "sorry girls this is not Arthur's Seat. That is it over there" cue the pointing to the mountain next to the one we had just climbed. Oh the EPIC fail of two and two making ten. We never did get to climb Arthur's Seat on that visit as time was not on our side.

BUT years later and I finally climbed the right mountain! YES :) My fellow Scotland road tripper Katie and I decided to start our Scotland Footsteps road trip with climbing Arthur's Seat. It was also the start of our road trip shoes apt;y named CON - TIKI in the spirit of making life count, enjoy!

View from halfway up Arthur's Seat

Celebrations as we reached the top. 

I am a citizen, not of Athens...

Recently when I did a London to Athens tour with Contiki we had our final night of the tour in Athens at a hotel that had a rooftop terrace and I took these photos of the Acropolis and the surrounding area around our hotel.

Standing on the rooftop I remembered all the legends I had studied at university and the words of Socrates: 

 "I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece but of the world"

The Acropolis

Dubrovnik

Walking up the many stairs you catch your first glimpse of the walls of Dubrovnik so solid and so strong. 

Dubrovnik 

Ragusa, the age old Latin and Dalmatian name for what we now know as Dubrovnik is a gem in the Adriatic Sea. Summer or winter, good weather or bad Dubrovnik still has the power to draw people to visit it in their hundreds.

My first trip to Dubrovnik was during my Contiki training last year. Every person on my training had a moment, a day when they were ready to pack it all in and give up on training. Dubrovnik was mine. It was in this majestic city that I tiredness had reached its limits. Walking down Srd mountain with swollen ankles and a sore knee rushing to get back in time to meet up with our trainer to be quizzed on all the things we had to 'Find Out' that day it all just reached a turning point. That night I was ready to say goodbye and go back to a normal office job behind a desk.

Dubrovnik made me stop. The city was so amazing not only in it's ancient history but in it's modern history as well with the Croatian War of Independence between 1991-1995 that I was enthralled. It was travelling and exploration that got me applying to Contiki in the first place and it was through Dubrovnik that I was reminded of this on training. It kept me going all the way to the end of the 66 days. Four days after which I went out on my first tour and have not looked back.

But recently when I had some time between tours my friend and absolutely amazing fellow tour manager Meagan decided to go back to Croatia and stay in Dubrovnik for the first time since training. The city's wonder had not diminished in the slightest. If anything it seemed even more wonderful as we actually had the time to explore, wander and just soak it all in. There is a very good reason why it has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979.

George Bernard Shaw once said when he visited the city in 1929 that "If you want to see heaven on earth, come to Dubrovnik".

So here are some photos from my time in this little piece of heaven on earth and some tips for how to spend your time:

Meagan shows her balancing skills with the old town of Dubrovnik in the background. 

View from our apartment that we found on Airbnb a fantastic website for places to stay all over the world. We could not have asked for a better location. 

Walking the walls of Dubrovnik is an absolute must when visiting but I would recommend getting up early to be one of the first to walk the 2km of wall to avoid the crowds and the heat or even make sure you are one of the very last to get access before they close for ticket sales. 

Some may recognise the walls from the TV series Game of Thrones as it is where they film the Kings Landing scenes. 

The main street in Dubrovnik - there are red sign posts by each street telling you what restaurants and stores can be found done them. 

Mesmerised Meagan looks out over the old town of Dubrovnik. 

There is an engraving that can be found on the fortress Lovrijenac that encompasses the heart of Dubrovnik it is: "Non bene pro toto venditur Libertas auro" which means " Liberty can not be sold for all the gold in the world".


Some tips 

• Bar Gallerie is a small but really cool bar where you can get your cocktails served in little sand buckets.
• Revlin is a good club to go and get your dance on late into the night and early into the morning. The fire display that the barmen do is so cool. 
• Buza Bar is definitely worth a visit for a cold local beer with amazing views and photo opportunities but their prices are expensive compared to other places so I wouldn't linger too long. BUT definitely go once it is worth it. 
• Best swimming spot if you ask me is not the little beach near East West bar ( They have very nice cocktails) as this gets very crowded but head to the rocks where the locals hang out. If you go to the Old Town harbour and head to the right following the city walls you will walk all the way around the corner and find an awesome swimming spot where there are even poles to help you get in and out of the water. Way better than the crowded beach. 
• Best restaurant with a fantastic view Lady Pi-Pi. We had lunch there and it was so good!!! It is Croatian grill style food. Best to get there early as you can't reserve tables and it is very popular with those brave enough to climb the mountain of steps to get to it. 
• Day trips to Montenegro are great - Kotor and Budva are so gorgeous - photos below from en-route to Kotor and in Kotor.