Two awesome people for an awesome trip

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I was nearing the end of my masters in engineering when I decided I din't want to start working straight away. This meant taking a gap year. But what would I do during all this time off? My cousin Eric had by then already worked as a ski and snowboard instructor for three winters. The choice was easy. I would become ski instructor for the winter. This would allow me to make some money while truly enjoying myself. Long story short, we spent the winter working and shredding the mountains in Leysin, Switzerland. It was AWESOME!

After the winter season we wanted to go travelling for a while. Where would we go? As a lot of our friends had already visited Thailand and South East Asia, it seamed like a good destination (as we both don't really like hot weather nor insects, maybe this wasn't the best idea:-) ). The next evening we booked our return flight to Bangkok.

We didn't really think about the trip until the end of the season came along. Suddenly it seemed really close. What did we have to do before leaving??? Visas, Vaccines, etc.. What diseases do they have in those countries? Rabies, Malaria, hep A, hep B, and many other scary things haha.

So we looked up essential information (and realized you need start taking some vaccines weeks in advance), and got some shots.

By then we really needed a holliday. Luckily my parents had planned a two-week trip to Guadeloupe (a french island in the Carribeans). Nice hiking on the local (active) vulcano, hiking on paths... well through rivers (it can rain a lot over there). We also both passed our level 1 scubadiving. Multicolored fish, turtoises, amazing corals.. Not a bad spot! This could also come in handy in Thailand!

Back at home we really started to think about our trip. We still had lots of time... NOT! In a bit more than a week we had to pack everything and buy some stuff (a backpack for instance!). I also looked through a guide of Thailand (Lonely Planet - Tahnks Bart and Dave) and booked a hotel in Bangkok. The Rambuttri Hotel Plaza, near Khaosan Road which is supposidly the backpacker-area of Bangkok. By the way, the name BangCock really is silly isn't it? Anyway, the first 3 nights were planned. As I write this, I just finished packing my stuff and Eric is in the train from Amsterdam to Paris. We're leaving tomorrow morning (train at 7 am OUCH!).

I don't know if I'll have internet/time/energy to continue this blog, so just wait and see!

That's all folks!

Sam

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