From ladyboy to sleeper train

March 4, 2014June 19, 2016 ~ stephparrott ~ 1 Comment

Yesterday we had the once in a life time experience of seeing The Calypso Ladyboy Show, a musical slash entertainment slash comedy where the greatest lady boys of Thailand dressed up in elegant dresses (and not so elegant ones), bikinis and even very revealing diamanté pieces. There were also men in bikinis (that was quite bizarre). Unfortunately Juliet and I were extremely tired having not slept properly in the last 24 hours and so had to face the ‘my fair ladyboy’ musical while trying to keep our eyes open, but it was a great experience and even the theater was dressed up for the occasion with red velvet seats beside small tables with gold and red lamps, there was even a red carpet on entrance.

The journey home was also an experience as the taxi driver demanded 600baht even though the journey there was 200 and we literally had no choice and so after a hard (and generous on his behalf…not) barter to 500 baht we started our journey back to our hostel. On the way, a huge amount of the roads were shut off or had police or police camps blocking them, again due to the riots, and so it was quite difficult to get back, however we did eventually make it back (and our taxi driver demanded 600 booh but we were just happy to be able to finally go to bed!) It’s like stepping into a different world when arriving at Kohsan road as it is filled with families, backpackers and holiday makers, every bar was full with loud music and every market stall had customers. (It even woke us up enough to make a list of what we want to do on our travels, play cards, and enjoy our personal radio we could hear very loudly from out of our window!)

Today, having made the decision to leave Bangkok, we had a lovely lie in, got some late lunch and headed to the train station to board our sleeper train to Chiangmai. There was an eery feel to Bangkok due to the riots, I feel like it’s more in my head than actual life but I’m glad I got to experience Bangkok with my family a few years ago and happy to have spent a night on the very buzzy and completely uneery Kohsan Road.

I am now on the sleeper train, second class, top bunk, tucked up in my bed (slash mattress thing), with my bunk curtain as my door, my suitcase wired to the staircase next to me and the two train attendants right outside having a nice natter. We have spent the first part of the journey trying to talk to the two Italians opposite but when the language barrier failed us, Juliet and I watched two films, had some dinner and as it’s now 11.45 are planning on getting some sleep… How that plan will work out is yet to be found out. (Trains rock around quite a lot, I never realised!)

Very much looking forward to the next part of our journey!

Welcome to Bangkok

March 2, 2014June 19, 2016 ~ stephparrott

After what seemed to be a very quick flight from Dubai to Bangkok (as we were sleeping) we arrived in Bangkok… Finally!! We went through a very slow customs line to find our brand new backpacks on the conveyer belt, waiting to be worn. After backpacking-up (big one on the back, small on the front) we lugged ourselves and our luggage to the taxi rank.
We were definitely scammed on our first taxi ride into the city – 500thai baht and he covered the metre with a cloth, even though there were signs everywhere stating to pay via metre! Although it seemed like a lot, the journey was quite lengthy and he took us and our backpacks safely to our destination.
After walking down Koh San road, the backpacker haven of Bangkok, we found a hostel that we’d heard of and booked for two nights. After a very happy change out of our black jeans and hoodies, into shorts and tee shirts more appropriate for the 30degree heat, we headed out to explore the markets.
Quickly putting our bartering skills to good use we managed to buy some sunglasses and baggy cotton trousers at very discounted prices! (Two happy girls right here).

Then after ignoring about a dozen tuck tuck drivers shouting at us to go with them, we got drawn in by one very excitable man, promising to take us to three temples, swearing that we could only go today as tomorrow there are riots planned. Two of the three temples turned out to be blocked anyway because of the riots, so after exploring the golden mount temple, a beautiful temple on a hill surrounded by greenery and rivers, we headed to the travel agents to book the next part of our adventure.

We’ve made the decision to leave Bangkok tomorrow, even though we paid a whopping £7 for tomorrow nights room, as a lot of what we would want to do here is unavailable to us due to the riots. We heard that a lot of Thailand are heading up to ChangMai just like us, as there is a flower festival there at the moment and so going to the travel agents was a good move since we now have our trains, ferrys, hotel and jungle treck all booked.
Currently waiting in the travel agents as someone from the train station is driving here on a motorbike to bring us our tickets that we just paid for! Very bizarre!

And so it begins!

March 1, 2014June 19, 2016 ~ stephparrott

And so it begins, the 5 months of travelling we’ve all been waiting for!
The start was not so great, a 9.30am flight from gatwick means a 7.30am check in at gatwick… Which means a 5am wake up. But the morning swiftly improved with some back pack photos before checking in and heading off for a BIG last breakfast with the family. A great start to our travels and a good way to say bye to the family.

Luckily for me, I wasn’t alone in saying bye and the fact that Juliet was in the same position as me helped keep back the tears!! So with some long hugs and then a second round of swifter ones (or I definitely would have cried – holding back tears at this point) we headed off to airport security…. In the wrong direction! A quick turn around sorted that (we’ve very on the ball and ready for travelling) and finally (and thankfully) made it to the plane in one piece. (First mission accomplished!)

The mad rush

February 26, 2014June 19, 2016 ~ stephparrott

With my leaving date rapidly approaching (two days time ohmygod) there is so much to do.

Goodbyes, packing, last minute organising, film downloads, book downloads, jabs, medication to buy, toiletries to buy! My travel bank card still hasn’t arrived and the bank doesn’t yet know that i’m off. I need my iphone, a travel phone and a fake phone to give if someone tries to mug me… Then, a big wallet, a small wallet and a fake wallet for the same purpose… I need to pack clothes for 30 degree Thailand and thermals for the minus ten degree nights in Bolivia, bikinis, jumpers, towels, underwear, shorts, teeshirts, jeans, trainers, flipflops, waterproofs.

I also honestly have toiletries and medication coming out of my ears… shampoo, conditioner, the BIGGEST can of dry shampoo you’ve ever seen (can’t live without it), face wash, body wash, suncream, more suncream, face suncream, p20, p10, aftersun, travel wash, nurofen, tablets to stop you diarrheaing (I know.. So nice), tablets to rehydrate you if you get diarrhea, tablets to make you go to the loo (even nicer), antibiotics, antibiotic cream, disinfectant, MOSQUITO SPRAY TO COVER A NATION, bandages, plasters and lots more.

My 5 month backpack will also be filled with A LOT of cool gadgets that everyone should be very jealous of. I’ve got… a wind up torch, a portable washing line, a tool kit, a universal adapter, a universal plug (yes i will be able to fill up EVERY sink), a pop up mug, soap that cleans food, clothes, hair and bodies! AND even a portable mini kite. I honestly have the works, everything you can think of and more.

But am I sorted? Not even close. Now I need to fit this mumble jumble array of items into ONE sixty litre backpack AND have it weigh less than twenty kilograms.

Challenge accepted.

I will update you tomorrow on whether my plan fails massively or not.

It’s a hard life

February 19, 2014June 19, 2016 ~ stephparrott

For the last two days our luck changed around drastically, with the sun breaking through the clouds and fog, giving us two bluebird days in powder… The idillic skiing conditions!

In the quaint little ski resort of Megeve there is hardly anyone else skiing so with the arrival of the sun and half term holiday tourists we were quite surprised at the amount of people skiing! The plan: coffee break at 11.30, ski over lunch time when everyone is eating and basically have the slopes to yourself, lunch at 2pm when everyone’s finished lunch (no queues for tables hehe). This plan worked well for the last two days and we enjoyed the opportunity to tear down the unoccupied slopes. The powder was also home to much amusement, going off the piste into the deep snow and then getting stuck because of the sheer volume of snow on top of our legs!

Over the three days we skiied on three different sections of the two mountains, each providing their own unique slopes and runs. My favourite was the second, probably because it was most sunny that day which always makes skiing better – but also due to the volume of different slopes and their width, a much wider slope is a lot more fun to tear down. The second day the powder was also so much fun to ski through as it was fresh and so very soft.

On our third and last day, we skiied to the highest and furthest point on the mountain then made it our mission to ski back making sure we skiied on ever run in order to tick them off on our piste map!

After heading back to the chalet, we watched the sunset from our balcony (above picture) which turned the mountains purple! A beautiful end to a great mini break skiing.

Megeve Mayhem!

February 17, 2014June 19, 2016 ~ stephparrott

Day one in Megeve and our luck didn’t really get any better.
We aimed to get up early however our alarms didn’t go off and it ended up being 9am before we actually got out of bed.
Then on our drive down to the village to quickly rent some skis for those without them, we passed a car stuck in the snow. Like the good Samaritans we are, we got out and helped push the car up the slippery snowy road. Our quick trip turned into a long one.
THEN, on the way home from the ski store, we’re driving slowly up the windy mountain when out of no where a skiier flies into our car! Basically he lost control and flew down a don’t ski here slope and lucky for him we were driving extraordinarily slowly! However we did knock him over and all we could see from the back of the car was two skis in the air! The man was absolutely fine, got up and walked back up to the ski slope… But what a ridiculous add-on to our stint of bad luck!

We had a great day powder skiing, even though it was very hard to see anything in fog and thick snow but the powder cushioned any falls we may have had and the snow was great!

Later that day when trying to find the right ski entrance to our chalet the bad luck came back as on our first try we were too low and would have had to have hiked a long way back to the chalet! On second attempt we were fine and glided through the powder up to the door of our home.

Airport Antics!

February 15, 2014June 19, 2016 ~ stephparrott

After waking up at 4.30am in order to leave for the airport at 5am and be on a 7am flight to Megeve, France, we were told, while checking in, that our flight was delayed by three hours. Great. We might as well go home and come back, but as our luggage had gone and we were checked in, we found a spot for breakfast and waited it out.
10am, our new flight time had arrived and so we check the board to find out the gate… and it now reads estimated flight time: 10.30am. Great (again) so we sat back down at our coffee table and waited another half hour, then another, then another…
Now 12 o’clock and on our way to gate 3, pretty annoyed as 4 flights to the same destination as us had already left… why were we not on those?
On arriving at the gate, meeting a bundle of angry tired delayed others, we were told that actually they were giving our flight to the people going to Pathos and we were going to have to wait till 1 for another plane to fly in from Stansted. (A plane that currently has no crew)
All hell broke lose, people refused to move, blocking the doorway until someone explained
“why we were being lied to” and “where our flight was” they also demanded that someone from easyjet come down to the gate and explained the situation themselves. After long attempts of barricading the door and refusing to move, people gradually began to get hungry (we had been waiting 6 hours after all) and so slowly drifted off for lunch. (there were also threats of police arriving…)

2.45pm and we were finally boarding the flight, nearly 8 hours late! Apparently the pilot had had trouble landing the plane when flying in from Stansted due to weather conditions, which led us all to feel very nervous and begin doubting our pilot!

Having missed our lunch reservations in Geneva at 6pm French time, we rented a car and drove the 2 hours up the mountain, stopping on the way for a very needed and very big dinner.
11.30pm and we’re finally tucked up in our Megeve chalet… What a hectic start to our skiing minibreak! Fingers crossed we’ve used up all our bad luck for the week and these next few days go swimmingly… after all, there’s lots of fresh powder to sink our skis into tomorrow!!!

so much to do, so little time

February 11, 2014June 19, 2016 ~ stephparrott

With less than three weeks to go before my 5 months of travels begin, and a 4 day skiing holiday in the middle of that, I am slowly running out of time to prepare and get organised for the rest of my Gap Year.

Time is literally flying away and so I need to get organised with a to do list: Things to do before jetting off.

(some of the list I’ve been super organised with already, but you’ll soon see that there’s a lot more to do, than already done)

~~Plan destination 1: Thailand~~
~~Plan destination 2: Australia~~
Plan destination 3: South America (including booking a guided tour through Bolivia)
~~Get a Backpack~~ (mine is awesome, ill give you more info on that later)
Get any jabs, vaccines and injections necessary (should probably sort this one out sooner rather than later)
Stock up on contact lenses (I would actually like to see these countries that I’m visiting)
Print all necessary flight and bus tickets that have been emailed to me
Buy some nice new trainers to trek around the world in (maybe some new clothes too)
Get a world travel bank card (for best exchange rates)
Pack five months worth of stuff into one 60L backpack, then repack, then repack again…

SO EXCITED!

The end… For now

February 8, 2014June 19, 2016 ~ stephparrott ~ 1 Comment

So here I am, 6 weeks down the line doing the reverse trip down the mountain and back to Vancouver. (Cry cry)
The week skiing with my family felt as if it was only a couple of days and these last 5 weeks with AllTracks have flown by. It has honestly been one of the best experiences of my life filled with friends, food and lots and lots of skiing. The friends I’ve made here I know will be my friends for a very long time, we’ve all been here for the same reason and so obviously we have the same interests! My two blondies have made the experience even better and I know it would not have been the same had we not been living together. It’s weird to think that on that very first day when I saw them in the airport I was cautious about meeting them and now I would run up and jump on them if I happened to bump into them in an airport again.
I’ve had uncountable amazing memories here in Whistler and I know that I’m going to remember the best ones forever.

1. The powder! There was 69cm of snow over night and skiing with the girls in our ski group through waist high powder is a memory I’ll never forget. We thought we’d lost Sylvie under the snow until we saw her head poking out and so many of us got stuck gliding through the pow! There is nothing more fun than straightlining down a powder slope knowing it doesn’t matter if you fall head first into it because the powder is a big cushion waiting to catch you!

2. The three blondes. My two blonde roommates and I quickly got a reputation for always been together, since almost as soon as the course started we became such good friends. As three very blonde girls living and skiing together, it was easier for everyone to refer to us as the three blondes and it’s a nickname that stuck and spread – even so that a ski instructor approached us on the slopes to ask if we were the infamous three blondes!

3. Jersey girls! Skiing with my two blondies is always great but once we’d bought our Whistler jerseys we decided it was a must to ski in them too! Lucky for us the temperature was plus 7 degrees so jackets were not needed and our jerseys were visible to all! Being asked many times if we were part of a Whistler ski team also made the experience very good.. Especially since we replied “not skiing but we are in the Whistler curling team..”

4. Australia Day. The only way to spend a national day of Australia and one of the biggest days of the year for Aussies is… With Australians. Lucky for me, I lived with two and was friends with a lot more. Australia Day started with two Melbourne girls skiing down the mountain in bras and massive Aussie flags, followed close behind by my housemate wearing a giant “thong” (flip flop to us) on his back! Later the Australia top 100 was tuned in every bar and club throughout Whistler and a fun night ahead was inevitable.

5. Nose piercing. Although it sounds like a weird memory, getting my nose pierced was one of the funniest and strangest experiences of my life, made ten times funnier by having the girls there with me! It started off with a drive down to Squamish where the tattoo and piercing parlour was. Here I picked out the smallest clear stud and lay down on bed to get my piercing, then the strangeness began… First he told me he was going to clean my nose, fair enough, but I forgot that the nose has an inside and went into shock when a cotton bud was suddenly put up my nose and whirled around! Then another one and another and another and another! Finally when he believed my nose to be an adequate cleanliness, the piercing began… A clamp was placed up my nostril and then he told me to breath in… Then out and my nose was pierced. BUT by a massive metal hook that went all the way through my nose and out my nostril! He told the girls all laughing that now was a perfect photo opportunity so while I’m laying in the chair with a metal rod in my nose, blood coming out and a tear in my eye, my so called friends are playing paparazzi! Anyways soon after the stud was put in and my nose and nostril was returned to its former state but with a piercing.

6. Flute bowl. This is a love hate memory but one that won’t be forgotten because of it. The hike up to flute bowl was a long one to say the least, long, uphill, with winds blowing against us. We strapped our skis to our backpacks and took off our layers ready for the hike, lucky for us the sun was shining a lot and so it became quite a pleasant walk after we had got over the initial hiking shock. However the most memorable moment was arriving at the top. After a 20 minute uphill hike with skis, the end is always going to be amazing however the view looking over the mountains and valleys made it 100% worth it.

7. Whistler bungee. This was one of the most terrifying but exhilarating experiences of my life. After a short drive and a even shorter walk up to a bridge over the valley, we found the bungee team and prepared to jump… Or fall – whichever way you look at it! Caroline and I actually cried watching Sylvie take her jump and so when it became my turn I was more scared than I thought! Especially when the bungee guy told me that I should just fall backwards keeping my head back as it is the most thrilling way to jump. Basically it felt as if I was falling to my death and I screamed the whole way down but it was incredible, especially hanging over the frozen water in the valley, surrounded by snow.

8. Fresh tracks. Although waking up at 6.30am after a night out isn’t my idea of a good morning, fresh tracks allowed us to be first up the mountain, greeted by a huge buffet breakfast ad wide open slopes with no one on them. Us four girlies weren’t in the mood for hardcore shredding but mucking about on the slopes, girlie skiing and flying down empty pisted runs meant we had a fabulous morning… Made even better by the fact that Katie was wearing her giraffe onsie!

9. Ken. On the second week our instructor was Ken, one of the best skiiers I have ever met. He had been a competing mogul skiier his whole life, trained the Canadian World Cup team and then went on the train the Korean Olympic team. Skiing with him for a week was an absolute honour and he showed us and took us to slopes that we would have never found ourselves. It was an amazing skiing experience and a great week tearing up the slopes.

10. The tree well. One of the funniest moments of my life was when Anna got stuck in a tree well. Tree wells are hollow areas around trees where the snow does not reach, however the snow on the floor of tree wells is very deep. When Anna fell in, the more she tried to get herself out, the deeper she went and so Ken had to hike up to pull her out, except he fell in too! And so we all had to go up and Sylvie pulled them both out finally by her poles so that she didn’t fall in too!

11. Valhal’ skiing days. Although I do love girlie skiing with my best friends, there’s something to be said about big group skiing. The days when we headed up the mountain as “Valhalla” (our houses) meant that there were 14 of us together all with the same intention… To shred. Hiking up the glacier together and tearing down the pisted and off pisted runs; carvers, freestyle skiiers, boarders, racers, and all managing to stay together is the recipe for a very very very good day skiing (or shredding.. Ha).

12. Passing! After a months training, three days being examined, two classroom sessions and a very nerve-wracking wait, finding out I am now qualified as a ski instructor was a very happy relief to say the least and I’m so happy it was all worth it!

That concludes my Whistler adventure, I hope you’ve enjoyed experiencing it with me! It truly has been an incredible and unforgettable experience.

Fresh Tracks!

February 6, 2014June 19, 2016 ~ stephparrott

After have very little sleep we got up at 6.30am ready to get on the 7am gondola up Whistler mountain for FRESH TRACKS!

Arriving at Roundhouse lodge we were greeted with a beautiful pink sunrise and a beautiful big buffet…

So obviously a perk of being first up the mountain means we’re first on the slopes, so after a few runs on piste and in the park with no one but us skiing we’ve come in for a hot chocolate break!
What a fab morning.
(Also one of the girls is skiing in a giraffe onsie so we don’t want it to get wet or cold from the snow!)

PARROTT BRANDS

Author: stephparrott