Barefoot and Breezy

Neither of us had any clue what to expect when we rocked up at Montrisuksa School on the 7th January ready for our first day as TEFL teachers. After waking up to the unnatural sound of an alarm (what even is that?!) and knee length skirts in check, we embarked upon the short walk through the village to the school we would be spending the next 9 weeks at. Lots of people have been asking us how we managed to get such a short term teaching contract which so conveniently fits into our travel plans - just enough time to fund the next part of our trip and gain a decent amount of experience within a new culture. We actually got really lucky as two teachers left the school on short notice with only a couple of months to the end of the semester, which meant we could swoop in and complete their contracts. The job has turned out to be far from what we were expecting. The company we are working through initially explained that they operate in very remote areas of Thailand, giving the children

Arriving in Thailand wasn't exactly stress-free. It all started on our final day in Malaysia where we had exactly NO plans, except chilling on the rooftop of our apartment and catching our flight to Bangkok. We succeeded in 50% of those plans. Our flight was scheduled to leave Kuala Lumpur at 22:20, so we figured we could probably leave around 6/7(pm)ish to get to the airport.... (yes, in hindsight, this was never enough time to catch our flight). Let's just says, a lot of things went wrong. Firstly, we attempted to buy our metro tickets for the first leg of the journey, but the machine wouldn't accept our notes so we had to join the painfully long and slow-moving queue to the customer service desk. Half an hour or so later and we were back on track in getting to the airport. That was, until we realised we were on the wrong train and had to a little circle back to the beginning. From there we had to catch a bus from the metro to the airport (which he had TOTALLY fo

I have no idea where the desire to write this came from. I am not sure if I feel I owe people an explanation of the person I am, or whether it is simply the old 'you never really understand something unless you can articulate it to someone else'. Probably a bit of both. Anyway, for the first time in a long while, I think recently I have successfully gained some insight into my state of mind and understanding of certain behaviours of recent times.  When I was growing up, and throughout my teens, I was very much a happy go lucky sorta person. I didn’t really overthink things, I was content in my own company, and I guess just a bit of a wonderer. It’s only now I recognise how lucky I was growing up in such a calm state of mind that didn’t know how certain anxieties could manifest themselves into my everyday. There was a time where I barely recognised that person.  From about the age of 19/20, a series of events begun to unfold that would eventually leave me feeling qui

After 3 months of travelling around India and Sri Lanka, we decided to take a break from travelling and treat ourselves to a much needed holiday..... (aren't we lucky!). Thanks to the lovely Wessex Wyverns (the team Butty coaches in the UK), we spent our Christmas and New Years in a much more luxurious fashion than we have grown accustomed to recently. They paid for us to stay in an absolutely beautiful apartment in the city of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, which came fully equipped with everything we have been missing. That list includes a fridge, a sofa, a TV, actual real pillows, a gym, swimming pool and most importantly........ A WASHING MACHINE AND TUMBLE DRYER!!!  Having arrived quite late on Christmas eve, we wasted no time emptying out our dusty, dirty, ant-filled rucksacks and pouring literally everything we owned into the wash. It was the perfect Christmas gift :) We then took a walk down to one of the MANY shopping malls in the city, and within minutes felt our Christm

Since arriving in Sri Lanka, we had both been desperate to see turtles. It seemed every beach we rocked up at, locals would quickly inform us "no turtles here" so we continued hopping along the south coast. That was, until we arrived in Hikkaduwa where, finally, we got up and personal with the beautiful, majestic creatures of the ocean. As soon as we arrived in the relatively quiet seaside resort of Hikkaduwa, we headed straight to the stretch of beach where a family of turtles apparently lived. On arrival we didn't have to look too far to spot three huge turtles being fed handfuls of seaweed by tourists. As a lot of the coral is dead around this stretch of beach, the turtles have smartly figured out that by befriending the visitors, they can have constantly full bellies! We had so much fun swimming around with these guys, and were able to get so close to them underwater. We returned back to this spot a few times throughout our time in Hikkaduwa, making the most of get

It’s not really the worst dilemma you could ever find yourself in - residing in a small town on the south coast of Sri Lanka, temperatures exceeding 30 degrees, trying to plan a route that allows you to see as much as possible over the coming two weeks, whilst also giving yourself time to integrate into a community for long enough that you get a decent understanding of the place. Impossible! But here we are, giving it a good go… Our first stop was Mirissa - the beach and town that everyone raves on about! The main beach itself didn’t disappoint, with its crystal clear water and soft, white sand - it became clear why this is such a popular destination for a holiday. In fact, we quickly realised we were pretty much surrounded by people on their honeymoons, so we felt very lucky to just be ‘passing through’! At night, the beach bars are transformed into rows of beautifully lit restaurants, that look picture perfect with their twinkly, white fairy lights. It was definitely on

Before we even went travelling, as soon as we mentioned we were going to Sri Lanka, people would straight away tell us we have to take the train from Kandy to Ella. It is notorious for being one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world and it didn’t disappoint. We spent the majority of the trip either gawping out of the window or hanging our heads out from the doorway, looking out   onto incredible landscapes painted from a palette of the most vivid shades of green.   We had heard mixed things about Ella itself, with some travellers claiming it to be a highlight of Sri Lanka whilst others warned us about the tacky tourist feel it has come to occupy. Either way, it quickly became clear to us that ‘Ella’ is a fitting name for a such a pretty little place. We have found we enjoy visiting a mixture of places, including some that are heavily occupied by foreigners and some places that are more remote and off the beaten track. Sometimes it is quite refreshing to be a