Disclaimer - in the past 40 hours due to transit I have slept a grand total of 5 hours and 3 of those were a nap this morning. This blog will be honest but most likely gibberish :)
We have arrived in the land of teenage parenthood - England! It have been quite the 5 or so weeks so far and while being about 25 degrees colder than our bodies have become accustomed too we couldn't be happier / tireder.
Since I last wrote, we made the decision to spend an extra 8 nights in Phi Phi to just relax, enjoy the sun, work on the tan and rest up for what promises to be a very exciting and different Christmas period. And that is exactly what we did!!! We spent our days relaxing by the pool, napping, taking long walks to beaches and napping, relaxing...it really was a quiet period for us. There was a bit of tourism chucked in with a trip to the view point and a taxi boat ride, but fairly uneventful. As lovely as this sounds it's not overly exciting, and we spent a fair bit of time discussing what we had done wrong, what we have done right and what we want to do differently. We discussed a lot about freedom and more of what we want to see from this trip. The more we talked the more and more we are leaning towards hiring a car to get across the UK in January as a test run for hiring one for 3-4 months in Europe next summer. While we are happy to use the local knowledge in Africa and South America, I am reminded of the fun I've had in the UK, in Croatia, America and more recently in this trip in Penang where a vehicle can take you where you want, when you want. I also remember that the most fun I've had on trips is going to the places that no one else has been, that no one expects you to come. These memories last forever.
For those that haven't seen I have made myself another 20% tougher, making me in total 80% tough, with a new addition to my left arm. I said to myself I wanted to try a bamboo tattoo. After talking to the only tattoo parlour that had a dog (the other 70 had cats) and deciding to get something small to test it out, I ended up getting my whole upper arm tattooed in a marathon 9 hour session over two sittings. At first honestly it hurt a lot less than a normal tattoo, however as the artist chipped and chipped away my pain threshold became thinner and thinner. Five hours the first night was ok...but the four hours the next night was agony. Kate was an absolute angel, bringing me snacks, Coke, waters, beers - whatever I needed to get me through! Foot rubs and leg rubs were also a welcome distraction. I actually couldn't have got through it with out her so I must say thank you. When all was said and done though I had the desired results - the wife thinks it's hot, I think it's cool and the in-laws think it's shocking, what more could you ask for?
I was invited to my first wine night with the girls. Kate and her friends catch up once a week for a booze-filled-men-hating night but as I stole the 3rd member of the self proclaimed "wolf-pack" away it was organised to be done via Skype. We went to the local "Irish" bar - which was about as actually Irish as JB - and got ourselves nice and day drunk. One of those day drunk days that when you remember the next morning you went to be before dark it must have been good.
Had a nice Thai massage on our last day with Kate - no not one of 'those' Thai massages but there were a few moments where either I was being a bit prudish, or my body artist just didn't care and got right in there. A well spent $12 regardless and as always an interesting memory.
As I've said throughout the blogs,it's not that South East Asia wasn't fun or didn't have enjoyable moments, it didn't have those life changing memories we are looking for as a part of this trip. I know you can't have one of those every day, but I am just not a massive fan. It has its beauty and I'd never discourage anyone from going, I just know Kate and I want to see different things. Spirits were high and never dampened - while tested - as we took a 2 hour ferry, 14 hours in flights, 11 hours in waiting rooms and the always fun experience of UK customs got us to London! Unfortunately as part of the flight change we didn't realise that we actually got into London a day early! So a hotel tonight down in Hounslow which is actually quite a nice area (or maybe just seems nice cause I am so happy to be here) before heading up to Shepherds Bush and our Airbnb for a week. Christmas is coming and tomorrow we catch up with Jack - watch this space for a few surprises :) As for tonight, well it's 4.15pm and the sun has completely set and it is pitch black outside. We are both completely stuffed but a pint and a feed and early night will have us ready to go for tomorrow. And not before we both had lunch at our happy places - McDonalds and Greggs...ill let you guess which place was for who :)
Hopefully post a blog Christmas Eve, wishing everyone back home a merry Christmas when they wake up.
Until next time, Mighty Out
