Tori and Lbad travel the world #alert

Rogue Trip #ryanryan

dunkyandbambini — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 05:23:00 GMT

We just about survived the critters of Fiji to arrive in L.A. with minimal sleep but pretty good sun tans (in my case anyway..) Our first couple of days consisted of trying to fight the jet lag which, unsurprisingly, is not that easy in a dorm of 20 girls above a lively pub. Tor also had some freak of a girl shouting and banging on her bunk at 5am telling her to stop moving. In her own bunk. #freakk

We started our tour with little enthusiasm as we had just found out about the US government shut down which basically meant we couldn't go and see half the things we were meant to: gran canyon, yosemite, death valley etc.. and apparently a refund was not an option. Howeverr we had such a good time and I'm really glad we did it. We started off touring LA; pretending to be pretty woman in Rodeo Drive, spotting the stars on the walk of fame and trying to get a good view of the hollywood sign. All of the while trying to explain to dunks what all of it meant. We spent the afternoon sunning it up in San Diego before arriving at the campsite. Luckily our guiding skills came in handy and we were pros #always. Being the sophisticated ladies we are, we wacked out the voddie and started the drinking games after eating my first ever burrito (undecided about them, would still choose a fajita any day #fajitasforlife). The next day was a blur of driving and trees and desert until we arrived at our destination where we swam and rowed on the colorado river using a babe of a mans dingy (amid a MILLION flies). Spent another night drinking and teasing our guide who informed us we were "going rogue" the next day. Cue a fit of giggles about what rogueing would actually entail #lolroguelol. Though according to him it meant going slightly off route rather than going wild in vegas (definitely didn't

need any help there!).

The next day = VEGAS BABY. We stayed at the stratosphere hotel and spent the evening riding down the strip in a party limo. The rest of the night is a slight blur for me but apparently it consisted of dancing, gambling and shrimps. Im not actually sure how much of that I was involved in, you'll have to ask tor. However I do remember being woken up at half 5am to a nosebleed and tor banging around the bathroom. I'm 99% sure she came in and punched me in the face #justsaying #goodfriend. We drove about 100 hrs the next day so hungover and with two girls sleeping on me when we were informed it was snowing where we were meant to be going so we would have to stay at a hotel in lakeTahoe, SHAME. We curled up in bed with ice cream and sleepless in seattle <3tomhanks. Our last night camping consisted of campfires, smores and singing. We made up our own really good song about the trip which I feel could become the next big thing, TRUST.

Then we arrived in san fran. Not even joking, nearly wet myself when I saw the bridge. Actually love it here so have decided im never leaving okk? Ha we've been here a few days now but I'll let tor describe it to you as im as bored of writing as im sure you are of reading. Can't believe we only have 9 days left, I am excited to come home but realllllly dont want to leave :( and definitely don't want to return to real life jobs haha. Anyway san fran beckons, seeyas. Lbad x

Such a wild duck

dunkyandbambini — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 17:07:00 GMT

BULA! Greetings from Fiji! We've been in Nadi for three days after flying in from Auckland, confusing our bodies by changing climates every few weeks from snowy mountains to 85% humidity (with no aircon) and regular pondering if it's socially acceptable to stick our heads in the fridge... The rest of New Zealand was pretty epic, we spent most of our time climbing cheeky glaciers in Franz Josef, swimming in hot pools and living one long hangover in Queenstown, all in all amazing. It was both of our birthdays so suitable ice skating/vodka/ferg burger arrangements were in place and a matching hangover the morning after. On a coach. Worst journey of our lives.

Sooo Fiji is pretty casual. On our first night here we ended up sitting in a circle with a load of locals playing guitar, singing bob marley, and drinking water squeezed from plant roots that anaesthetises your tongue. Yeah. Fijians are the nicest people I've ever met in my life, literal babes with so much gentlemanly swag (lol gentlemanly swag) and you can't go anywhere without someone shouting bula (hello) at you. We're heading to the coral coast in about half an hour, ready to tackle two local buses and no knowledge of where we even are right now let alone where we're trying to get to. So wish us luck.

GPS and/or a chaperone wouldn't go a miss either. Tor x.

Update: After a rib crushingly packed local bus, and a glaring inability to blend in with the fijians being so ginger (and therefore not being spared a seat easily, resulting in an awkward sitting on lap by accident moment), we made it.To the land of scary wildlife. A lizard in my bed last night, countless mosquito bites and a LOT of frogs, but spending our days on the beach under the palm trees.. it could be worse! Anyway, back to the sunbathing. Tor x

so are we actually going to see any hobbits?

dunkyandbambini — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 06:59:00 GMT

We're a week into our new zealand tour so I thought it was time for a new post. We finished australia with a few days in byron bay which is basically a hippy town where everyone's either stoned or surfing. Didn't spot any hot surfer guys though :( #letdown. Ended up in sydney for a few days before the flight which although it was really weird being back it was nice to say goodbye.

We flew into auckland on the 14th and had a few nights with tors aunt and uncle. We were introduced to her second cousins, 3 boys under 10, who couldn't actually bring themselves to say hey as they were too busy running away screaming from the "scary ladies". Lol. Reckon its tors nose ring that did it. Got picked up by the kiwi experience bus in auckland and travelled to the first stop which was hot springs beach. This basically involved getting drunk and watching the boys digging a hole on the beach at 10pm trying to reach the hot water to make a kind of hot tub. They managed it but as it was boiling water we decided against sitting in it.. the next few days consisted of new little towns and lots of walking in the wilderness. Basically bear grylls right now. Went luging in roporua involving most of us racing down a hill in a toboggan like structure while dunks was going at her own leisurely pace at the back #granny. Spent a night in river valley which was a really cute little lodge where we had the first roast we've had in 7 months. As you can imagine it was one of the highlights of this trip! In Wellington atm, meant to get drunk last night but instead we spent the evening wandering the aisles of the nearest supermarket in absolute amazement. Not even joking it was the most ocd-organised place I've ever been in- think fruit pyramids. Also checked out a museum and the botanic gardens being the cultured gals we are. Anyway off to the south island now for glaciers and skiing. Sick. Lbad x

You're such a gas ticket

dunkyandbambini — Mon, 5 Aug 2013 13:41:00 GMT

So it's been almost four months and a whole life in Sydney since the last post, sorry guys. We're still in Australia though so it's still legit to be updating now! Sydney was fun, we both ended up being cafe slaves for a few months, mine involving working about 60 hrs a week chasing pigeons and Lbads involving sitting in a cupboard shredding chicken every day (i'm still not sure about that one but i'm just not going to ask...). Four months of goon pong wednesdays maloneys weekends and spending our time with Grant and Phil Mitchell, not much else went down. Oh except Lauren's near death experience after she got her ear pierced and ended up in hospital for a week.... ok so it wasn't near death, but she was in hospital for a week. You'll be glad to know she's all better now though after the deliveries of baguettes and macdonalds I brought being the good boyfriend I am.

So yeah, after the working life for two months we decided to fly up to the North of Oz and hit Cairns for a week or so. Back to the sunshine and lie ins! We were happy to wap the pasty legs back out and lbads tan is now doing well after four weeks on the road while I've gained a solid five freckles. Cairns was fun, involved lots of drinking, downing pints and being harassed by cowboys from the outback on a Saturday morning. Next for me was a solo trip to the rainforest with lots of crocodiles. It was fun until I realised I was i an eight bed dorm, alone, during a heavy storm, with no electricity, no signal and a peacock was blocking my doorway for a good fifteen minutes in the dark. Note to self:always bring Lbad on excursions for protection and/or peacock bait. Then it was Magnetic Island with one of the aforementioned Mitchelll brothers whilst Lauren went to Mackay with the other one. Magnetic island was amazing, had breakfast with a crocodile a lizard and held a koala which was pretty damn cute. This is turning out to be a lot longer than I expected to write so I'll keep the rest short and sweet...

We then reunited after a week to do the Whitsundays tour which was basically living on a boat for three days and sailing to a load of islands which was cool. Fraser island was next, driving 4x4s on the beach and to lakes and creeks etc to go for a cheeky afternoon swim. We camped overnight after one too many drinking games, and all ended up in the sea with our tour guide while a load of dingoes were just chilling everywhere. Last but not least is Noosa! Where we've just left. Three days in a questionable cabin tent dorm with hammock beds, canoeing the everglades. All was really fun except the first day when we got a fat kid in the back of our canoe and he didn't do any work so we lugged him around for four hours. Needless to say we've now got huge guns now #ladz. The tour guide seemed to take a bit if a shine to us so supplied us with lots of free garlic bread and bushcamp secrets...always good? Spent every night round a campfire playing ridiculous drinking games with ridiculous boys and all in all pretty fun. Anyway our next stop is Brisbane for tonight and then Byron Bay for a week before we go to New Zealand! Time is flyyying and do you know what? I can't bloody wait to go clothes shopping. Laters, Tor.

Feeling sprightly.

dunkyandbambini — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 14:20:00 GMT

Hey y'alll. Yeah it's been a while but there hasn't been that much to update! We arrived in Sydney on the 21st march and have pretty much just been chilling at this hostel trying to get jobs! Sydney is way cool, it's like living in a hot england; rather different to what we were used to in thailand though #shiny&expensive. Dunks laughed at how cringe I was when I first saw the opera house, was SUCH a tourist but couldn't help myself.. looked out for nemo but haven't spotted him yet. Being at this hostel is like being back at uni without any of the work! Ther's social stuff organised every night which is cool, although we do seem to spend most of our lives in the irish bar next door.. we have also been introduced to "goon pong" - basically beer pong but with goon (shit oz wine) instead. Needless to say we are amazing-

On our first EVER go we won in 2 shots #pros. Was so disappointed by sydney aquarium, was expecting to see thousands of giant turtles and there wasn't even one. I was close to tears not gonna lie. Tor has a job at a nightclub with some questionable boss who doesn't tell her when she's working and then invites her out on the town #whatt. I've just got a job in a cafe where I'm basically a slave, get some till work in though so can brush up on my epic checkout skillz #checkoutgirlforlife. We have also worked for accommodation, which has been fairly hilarious; making beds etcc. We'd be such good housewives. Got a jungle themed party to hit tonight so need to work on our costumes. Gonna be sick. Lbad x

You've got teeth like a tiger

dunkyandbambini — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:11:00 GMT

And so here we are; ready to embark on country number two after 6 weeks loving life in asia! We spent our last full week in Chiang Mai which is kind of like Bangkok but smaller and ever so slightly more chilled out. It began relatively mildly and it promised to be a 'detox' week but after half an hour and a beer we decided against that plan until we hit oz and are so poor we are forced into it. We went on a two day and one night trek to an elephant camp which was pretty much the highlight of Thailand so far (except our encounter with a police man breaking into 'summer holiday' by cliff richard as soon as he found out we were from England). Although similar to my expectations of what fat camp would be like, it was amazing. We walked what felt like a million hours in a million degree heat up a steep mountain, made it to the elephants and were thrown on by a crazy (very inappropriate) thai man who called himself Tom but i'm not so sure... lbad sat on the elephants neck while i sat on the seat behind which was all well and good until it decided to sprint down said steep mountain and we were literally clinging on for our lives. The elephant men enjoyed us screaming alert at them though so it's all good. We stayed the night outside in the jungle after too many drinking games and too much pumpkin and the next day hit the waterfalls and went white water rafting which was hilarious. Only mishap being i pressed the big red button which happened to deflate the boat #oopsie. And nearly kicked lauren off the elephant mid-sprint. Spent the next few nights on the bar street, we all celebrated st paddy's day at chiang mai's only irish pub and then spent the next few days being hungover... now back where we started in bangkok and hitting sydney tonight! ALERT. Tor

mummy wouldn't like that.

dunkyandbambini — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 22:57:00 GMT

I'm writing this on our final leg of a 20 hour journey back to the thailand so excuse any mistakes. I'm tired. Saying goodbye to Laos after 10 days of activities and drinking. Didn't expect it to be such a drink-fuelled part of the trip but somehow we always manage to find the magaluf in any country... We kept getting included in debates on the meaning of life and "oneness" which, although we found it ridiculous, did give me some good tattoo ideas.. The day after kayaking we went tubing, which involves floating down the Mekong river in a rubber ring, drinking, stopping at bars and generally chilling out. We also ventured to the "blue lagoon" where there was an epic cave which, after a few vodkas while still hungover, was terrifying. Cool, but terrifying. Luckily the guys helped us out otherwise I could be writing a very different post.. Dunks went home early one night (dw we were safe and with people we knew) and I spent the whole time feeling like I'd lost a limb #separationanxiety. We left for luang prubang on the rockiest coach of all time and spent our day in the sunshine at a pretty massive waterfall. Tor finally got me on a bike yesterday and, despite my rocky start after the 10 year gap in cycling, it was pretty fun. Girl got SKILLZ on a bike. However it may not have been the best idea right before having to sit down for 20hrs.. #ouch. On our way to chiang mai now for the last leg of our asia tour. Quite sad to be leaving but definitely ready for the aussies #notcheeky. Lbad x

such psychedelic vibes

dunkyandbambini — Fri, 8 Mar 2013 14:43:00 GMT

So we're currently drinking milkshakes in the sunny village of vang vieng after a long hard day of activites! We started the morning visiting caves which involved (unbeknownst to us.. and everyone.. who tried to take on this task wearing clothes and shoes) sitting in a rubber ring, grabbing a rope and floating through the caves on the river. You'll be glad to know that headtorches were provided as well, we were looking smoking. During this first activity we also clocked a guy who we have the misfortune of sharing a dorm with so it turned into a game of swim away as fast as you can in a dark cave. We had an epic lao barbeque for lunch and then hit the kayaks all afternoon, which pretty much involved me taking pictures and not telling lbad when there were giant rocks ahead so it was more like gentle white water rafting but we didn't capsize so it's all good. So yeah in case you hadn't already gathered we are in laos! It's our third (?) day here, im not going to lie im struggling to keep up with the fact that it's march let alone keep track of days. The journey here from bangkok was hilariously questionable. It was about 14 hours on a bus, from 6am onwards the thai people shouted at us every half an hour or so to get off the bus.. it turns out their passport control is us giving various men our passports in different cafes to be allowed across the border. But we made it! After lauren let me loose and i bought our tickets from a man on a street corner im impressed we got this far. Our hostel its basically in the jungle and theres's a nice obstacle course down some bamboo steps, making sure to avoid the slugs and snakes to get to an outdoor cabin.. it is so precarious. There are also cows chilling everywhere and the chickens have really long necks. Oh yeah vientiane was good, the capital of laos, which we stayed in for a couple of nights before here. Free vodka after 9pm, sorted. We all hit a local club which was hilarious and we were the tourist attraction for the night. Never been so alarmed walking into a bathroom of lao women all taking photos of me on their iphones, they're all about 4 foot and 5 stone so it was interesting being a real life giant for a night. From here we don't know what we're doing, we might go to another village in lao and then get a two day boat to the north of thailand. One month anniversary:success. Tor x

when did the sun come up?

dunkyandbambini — Fri, 1 Mar 2013 17:30:00 GMT

As dunks said before, the full moon party was pretty sick but definitely tamer than we (and our parents) expected! However waking up on the beach at half 7 after missing the sunrise, with no voice or memory and a questionable limp, was kind of hilarious. Needless to say I spent all day sleeping and then spent the evening showing off my epic pool skills. Epic meaning I got very excited when I managed to actually pot one ball... We are now back in Bangkok, in the hostel we started in, after a 12 hour journey which involved tor interrupting me every two seconds to laugh at her questionable music, one track being a remix of the animal hospital theme tune #what. We've managed to plan our Laos trip in the last hour and am definitely excited about the upcoming waterfalls, kayaking and tubing #somanyactivites. Right now we're gonna go get the next 12 hour coach which tor just booked from a man on a street corner. So unsure. Lbad x

I have never.... eaten a mouldy yoghurt

dunkyandbambini — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:29:00 GMT

Day number 4 on koh phangan and it's involved too many parties, rings of fire hangovers and not much else! So this island is pretty insane. Much bigger than the tiny tiny koh tao and about 5 times the number of tourists. There are certainly no thai men taking photos of us here like in Bangkok shocked at seeing 'farangs', the only thai people are the ones running the newsagents! So our hostel is nice, apart from the odd cockroach or 5 jumping out from behind the sink when you're washing your face.. had some pretty interesting incidents at 6am coming in from a night out and running around trying to squash them with some flipflops. Or more accurately screaming alert trying to find a way out of the bathroom avoiding said cockroaches slamming the door and getting a boy to deal with it. We're sharing with 6 boys again, all of who are absolute babes and have done a good job of looking after us on nights out. Pool party #1 was probably one of the best parties I've been to. Giving lessons on how to do handstands somersaults and backflips probably isn't standard pool party behaviour but it's clearly the best way to do it! Also got thrown in the pool in all my clothes after being there a maximum of 2 minutes just innocently trying to buy a bucket. Pool party #2 wasn't so much of a success after someone stole my bag clothes and shoes. Getting a taxi home soaking wet in a bikini, in an open air taxi barefoot wasn't much appreciated. So naturally the day after involved finding the police station, fairly ironic that the police man reporting my stolen money camera and belongings then charges me... only in Thailand! Full moon party last night was so good. We all got in at 8am this morning after staying up all night to see the sunrise and then falling asleep for the 20 minutes the sun was actually rising... amazing though. A lot more chilled than the pool parties which wasn't what we were expecting but definitely a good thing. Tomorrow involves a very long bus journey and ferry back to Bangkok where we're going back to the hostel we started at 3 weeks ago. Then hopefully getting to Laos somehow the day after but will figure that all out at the time. For now i need to go and scrub all the glow paint and sand off and go back to bed! Tor

I want a panini

dunkyandbambini — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 23:27:00 GMT

So we're officially qualified to scuba dive! Four dives in the sea and we've got our padi certificates. Just a tip: don't have a laughing fit underwater. I thought i was going to drown at the bottom of the sea bed after being asked to blow water rings and then looking at lauren's face. The instructor was concerned there was something wrong and there were inevitable underwater palavers... managed it in the end though! It was amazing and there was only one point i had to shut my eyes because there were about 15 fish swimming towards my face. Also managed to pull lbads breathing thing out mid dive, awkward. Leaving tomorrow morning for koh phangan -full moon party island- with the most sunburnt front you have EVER seen. Another tip: don't trust thai sun cream... cant bend any of my limbs.

Life is a buddy sport.

dunkyandbambini — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 01:29:00 GMT

We started our diving course today, which in one word was hilarious. We were just chilling in the pool for now, getting all the skills we need including a wide variety of hand gestures.. Obviously we made our own for 'lol' and 'alert' which will be so necessary when we hit fish territory! Dunks has a slight cold (man flu) which means some of the breathing has been a bit interesting for her. Lol. The guy put extra weights in my suit (without me even realising) because I was having SUCH issues sinking. I then got stuck in the wetsuit which was awk. Blaming tor! We're staying in a cute little cabin right on the beach which is nice after all the questionable hostels. Anyway I better get back to date night or dunks will get eggs.. Lbad x

He wasn't from holland he was from the netherlands

dunkyandbambini — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:27:00 GMT

So in case you hadn't established already, our wifi is shocking. We haven't given up on this we just keep getting logged out of the internet after about 30 seconds. A lot has happened in the past week, our last night in Bangkok was probably one of those nights that will go down in drunken history, and now we are living the dream in the sun on the island of Koh Tao. After a whole night spent on buses ferries and open boot taxis with benches you sit on (alarming) we arrived at the hostel, only to be told we weren't booked in. After checking my email and realising that I'd actually booked us in for March, I spent the night in a dorm of 8 boys (men. Scary foreign men) with an iguana on the ceiling who had a handful of small lizard friends, and a tiny fan to match the tiny bathroom, whilst lbad got the aircon room of girls. Fair is fair. Needless to say i won't be doing that again in a hurry but i survived the iguanas so it's all good. So for the past week we have been chilling sunbathing drinking and going on pub crawls, mainly in the company of a welsh/essex bromance couple who we keep bumping into, and tomorrow we start our Padi diving course down the road! Hopefully there will be no iguanas...

We are basically Tom Hanks right now.

dunkyandbambini — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 17:53:00 GMT

I'm happy to report our first attempt at using public transport here was a success!! We took the skytrain down to the pier and spent the day hopping on and off boats checking out the sites. So cultured. The hostel is pretty hilarious and we have definitely met some interesting characters, one of which is tutoring me on how to be a proper gangstaaa #thatshitcray. After buying a load of the local whiskey, we hit one of bangkok's clubs with some of the guys. Not so cultured? Dunks is feeling a bit delicate today, I think the american "pre-game" (aka pre-drinks) combined with all the whiskey was a bit much. Awkward for her. You will also be suprised to hear that the only thing I've lost so far is my room key, how good?! The photos are all gross so doubt they will be made public, soz guys. Anyway, I'm gonna nurse my hangover with some lobster flavoured crisps which I apparently bought last night. WINNING. Lbad x

P.S. Got off the train and some CASUAL man who was walking past decided to grab my chest and then run away. Alarmed doesn't even cover it. Moral of the story; keep well away from solitary thai men on the street, they might have a sudden urge to grope you.

Ping pong show?

dunkyandbambini — Sat, 9 Feb 2013 03:25:00 GMT

So we made it to our new hostel, just outside the main centre of Bangkok after the taxi driver got lost for a while; conveniently, being driven around in an airconditioned cab wasn't a problem for us! We are now in an 8 bed mixed dorm, aka the only two girls in a boys room..as you would assume the floor doesn't exist and there are coins everywhere. I don't know what it is about boys and coins but seriously put them back in your pockets. Apart from the coin issue they're all babes; we've got two australian and american/english/korean guys all in their twenties who have immediately been friend-zoned due to the fact that we are chilling makeupless in our pjs #sexy. Also found a night market this evening and I dont know if it's because we are quite obviously tourists or rather that we look like the 'type' but nonetheless we were offered countless ping pong sex shows, er no. I'm alright cheers. Lbads bartering skills have improved you'll be glad to know and she is the proud owner of some havianas! Sill haven't slept for a couple of days but not really noticing it, back on the samsong whiskey tomorrow apparently hitting somewhere called RCA with the ladz #suchladz #thailadz. Tor

"such a special day"

dunkyandbambini — Fri, 8 Feb 2013 07:00:00 GMT

So after our tuk tuk adventure we decided we needed down time. Aka three BUCKETS of whiskey. It's thai whiskey though so surely that's fine?! Dunks decided it would be a good idea to eat a whole chilli, then wondered why it was hurting her throat.. creepy weirdo. Also made some friends with a german couple, one of which ate a deep fried scorpion. What. Just had some drunk food consisting of noodles and spring rolls so I'm happy. Bring on tomorrow. Lbad x

#somanyfriends

dunkyandbambini — Thu, 7 Feb 2013 22:44:00 GMT

Spent a chilled night on khaosan road (pardy road) last night involving pad thai noodles and a spot of haggling for some crochet tops (necessary). Not to mention i had my first ever beer #lad. Today we set out with the aim to find a pier and get a boat somewhere, but we ended up getting a tuk tuk round the whole of bangkok with a babe of a driver who took us to all the main temples and attractions on the advice of another savvy thai best friend. Now before you read this and assume we were ripped off, he charged us the equivalent of 90p each for the whole day, even waited for us while we wandered about and took it upon himself to act as our photographer. Babe. For now its time for more noodles and some whiskey buckets! Tor

Mad dogs

dunkyandbambini — Wed, 6 Feb 2013 11:11:00 GMT

So contrary to most people's (and definitely our own) expectations we have actually made it to Bangkok and we are sitting in a hostel. Genuinely surprised even this was managed, but thanks to lbads savvy Thai friends and some cheeky vodka's on the plane we made it here stress free. TIME TO NAP. Or time for noodles I'm not sure where my priorities lie right now

Lol

dunkyandbambini — Sun, 3 Feb 2013 04:52:00 GMT

Lol this is a journal

Photos: alert

dunkyandbambini — Sun, 3 Feb 2013 04:45:00 GMT