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Five flavours: Day 1 Perth – Hue
Soundtrack: VietJet boarding music Frequent readers (all 3 of you) can skip this paragraph. It was the same old story, even though I was packed and ready, and it was a mid-morning flight that didn’t need a 3am alarm, I still slept badly and woke up far too early. I’m beginning to think that even if I booked an afternoon or evening departure my body alarm would still kick me up hours before my phone has the chance to say, “Smile! You’re travelling!” We’re flying VietJet this time, even though I basically swore never to fly with them again after the last time (https://www.slowlyandloudly.com/2024/01/08/viet-nam-the-fourth-day-12-hoi-an-transit/) the fare price we got was…
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Iberian Spring: Day 17 Singapore Home
Soundtrack: “My Island Home”, Warumpi Band Another holiday comes to an end. In one of the many bookshops in Spain I flicked through a Spanish edition of Sylvia Plath’s Selected Poems, and flicked to my favourite, “Dos amantes y un buscador de conchas junto al Mar Real” so it seems appropriate to finish with the opening in Spanish, “FrÃa y definitiva, la imaginación Cierra su famosa/legendaria casa de verano; Las vistas azules están cerradas; nuestras dulces vacaciones Se desvanecen en el reloj de arena.” (I’m relying on the internet giving me a good translation here.) In spite of yesterday’s walking, eating, and drinking, I found myself fairly well awake before…
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Iberian Spring: Day 14 Barcelona Paris Helsinki
Soundtrack: every song about spending time in airports, but especially “Departure”, R.E.M. So begins the next adventure: getting home. Right now, L and I should have been sitting in Qatar business class, somewhere over the Mediterranean, perusing the champagne and whisky menus, before lying back in our seats and having a nap 36,000 feet up in the air. Maybe I’d be blogging to you over the complimentary wi-fi, maybe I’d be thinking about blogging to you but I’ll have another drink and some canapes first. What fun to pander what might have been. Right now, L has just left Milan on her way to Singapore, after a brief tarmac stop.…
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Iberian Spring: Day 0-1; Perth, Kuala Lumpur, Karaburun
Soundtrack: every song by every band about spending time in airports and travelling (on repeat) So it begins again. Having spent 4 months back in the real world of day jobs, traffic, kicking against the pricks and generally just doing what has to be done these days, it’s time to dust off the passport. It’s been a long few months, so this break is very welcome. It’s a crazy old world out there. Flight tracking maps have a couple of vey obvious gaps, and we’re heading right through those to the other side. We’ve had to do some last minute flight changes to keep out of the way, including changing…
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7NNT25 Day 16: Chiang Mai > Bangkok > Ho Chi Minh City
Soundtrack: “Khe Sanh”, Cold Chisel Having left day 15 on a cliff hanger, I can reveal that I was able to get up in time to head out and get my laundry just after 9am, so I won’t have to buy any new clothes anytime soon. While I’m travelling with a few treasured items, my green The Clouds t-shirt that I got at a gig the night before I last came to Thailand, which has travelled a bunch since, was recognised by a friend of the band in Fort William, and was also photographed in the main court of the Rijksmuseum (two of us have now done this, so it’s…
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7NNT25: Day 12 – Chiang Mai
Soundtrack: “Nikita”, Elton John I’ll probably keep throwing occasional remembrances from Uzbekistan into these entries as they pop up in my thoughts and as I start to process the similarities and differences to other places. One that I completely missed mentioning is that Elton John’s “Nikita” possibly plays constantly on a loop in the background of Uzbekistan Airways flights. I first heard it when we boarded the flight from Urgench, and thought it neat: the story of someone going through a soviet checkpoint and deciding they love the guard (pretty sure Nikita is generally a male name, but the film clip had a female playing the part, as Sir Elton…
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7NNT25: Day 1 – A whole lotta transit
Soundtrack: “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” Bon Jovi We queued, we waited, we napped, we queued, we flew, we got there in the end. Due to reasons too boring to detail, our chosen airline to take us into Uzbekistan was Batik, a budget airline that doesn’t have a universal reputation for punctuality. When it’s on time it’s on time, but when it’s late, well, our 4 hour delay out of Perth at least wasn’t the 9 hour delay another of their flights was experiencing. I don’t know what went wrong but their schedule ran to the toilet faster than someone after a bowl of improperly stored rice. There are 4…
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SG24 – Day 0 Transit
July to September is the worst. Southern hemisphere winter, the cold, wet, dark, and no public holidays as far as the eye can see. Get up in darkness, go to work, go home and by the time the dog is walked it’s dark again. Five hours away sits Singapore, that Disneyland with the death penalty, lit up brighter than every xmas tree, where there’s almost always 12 hours of daylight, and while it might be wet, at least it’s warm. It’s a land where some happiness is guaranteed: just join any queue for food that has 10 locals; or take in an evening dram or three at the Auld Alliance…
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Baltics24: Day 0: Perth – Transit
And we’re back, like we’ve never been away. Or never been home. Or home for quite a long time working up an appetite and budget for the next jaunt. Does any of that actually make sense? I don’t know, it’s already been a long day and it’s only getting longer. This time around the focus is the Baltic Sea and surrounds: Stockholm, Helsinki, Talinn, Riga, and Vilnius, with a stop at the end in Istanbul (not Constantinople) (and I can’t promise that’s the last time I say that). L has already had a week over that way, and we’ll meek up in Stockholm. L has done some of her booking…
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Viet Nam the fourth: Day 12 Hoi An – transit
A fairly quiet day really, as the plan was that I’d get picked up around 4pm at the hotel for my flight to HCMC then home. I’m writing this at Da Nang airport, after my flight was due to depart, as VietJet have been sending me updates all day telling me my flight is delayed. In theory I’ve got about an hour until I board, in practice who knows. It turn out that while VietJet are cheap, they aren’t actually that good. Despite booking a two stop ticket, I’ve been told that they can’t check my bag through to destination, so at HCMC I get to pick up my case,…
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Viet Nam the fourth: Day 1 – HCMC
And we’re back to South Seas Asia, Viet Nam again. A quick 12 day jaunt for me (L has a few extra days at the end as she doesn’t need to go straight back to work) for food, shopping, and generally soaking in the VN vibe. The day started, as these trips generally do, with the damn early Singapore Airlines flight out of Perth. Our various alarms were squawking at 3.30am, mine being the traditional friendly posh English voice quoting Henry Rollins, “Smile, you’re travelling”. Sadly works every time. Fortunately the packing was done, as a trip like this can be done fairly lightly (enough linen shirts and underwear for…
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Day 1: Transit – Singapore – Frankfurt
There’s a line by Mick Thomas in a Weddings Parties Anything song that goes, “There’s no point writing postcards on your bad days” and I quote it a bit. I’m gonna tweak it a little today, and turn it into: there’s no point writing long postcards on you long days; and with today being a long long long day, I’ll try to keep it short. Wasn’t the bet flight into Singapore, there were several small people around where I was sitting, and they haven’t yet got to the point of enjoying flying. One poor cherub must have screamed for 90 minutes straight, I didn’t ee what their parent’s were doing…
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Day 0: Hello transit my old friend…
So it begins, another trip, another opportunity to see the wonders of the world. This one may well end with a blown out liver or blown out ears, we shall see. Welcome again to the world’s least read travel blog, the random ramblings of a semi-entitled white guy who should know better than try to make sense of anything, let alone anything different or cultural. But that’s where we’re at. It’s looking to be a very “white” trip this time, taking in a little of Germany, a chunk of Scotland, and a swerve through the Netherlands. First world problems all the way. Expected highlights of this trip are expected to…
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Thailand Day 1: Departure
SMILE, YOU’RE TRAVELLING! goes the Henry Rollins quote/frequent catchphrase. Usually said ironically. It’s that time again, the eve of a much deserved and needed relaxation break across Thailand, starting with one night in Bangkok before Chiang Mai and Phuket. The single step on this journey is a sleepy one, as Clouds played the Rosemount Hotel last night, not ideal for a 6.40am flight but some things need to be done, so while last night was celebrating the 30th anniversary of the sublime Penny Century, today I’m feeling 30 years older after briefly turning back the clock. That’s 60 years and 2 hours sleep for those playing at home. But am…
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Vietnam the third: day 16, Hoi An – Singapore
Was a little sad to say goodbye to Vietnam: for all the heat, chaos, hawking, and haggling, it’s now elevated to a home away from home, a place where there is much good food, friendly people, and a general good time to be had. It’s also proof that a country can bounce back from being screwed over by the US and make something for itself (now if only the US could do the same). The Vietnamese seem to generally be a proud people, who can both hold onto traditions and also adapt with the times — many of the businesses we shopped at also have strong online presences, and will…
