our gap year

Ko Phangan and Chiang Mai

2007-05-17T02:18:00.002-07:00

Ok so Ko Phangan was me, Lau and Danny. We travelled for 10 hours or something silly like that to get there and had to go on a bus and a ferry overnight. The Island was really pretty and we were staying at a nice hotel about 5minutes walk from the shops. Well, once we complained and changed rooms it was really pretty anyway. The first one had a 'beautiful view' of a building site, a 3 inch gap under the door and we were sharing it with a rather large family of ants! Once we moved we had a king sized bed and a view of the ocean and mountains, a big improvement.
We had initially decided to go there for the full moon party on the beach but on the night it was pissing down with rain so Lau and Danny didnt want to go and i had a migraine, just out luck!
We had alot of fun shopping whilst we were there though (Danny and i bought about 20 cds and dvds) and spend quite alot of time playing pool. Dannys man pride was severely dented in the process.

We went back to bankok to meet Emily on the 4th and the twin towers hotel tried to charge us 4000 baht per room per night. we were having non of it and eventually got it for 2000 baht. This was one of many arguments that we ended up having with the reception staff. They later tried to tell us that we couldnt book extend our stay as Laura (who had gone home by this point) had booked an executive suite. an hour later, we discovered that actually a Mr Peter Humphreys had booked it and not Laura despite the fact that we had written down her name for them. grrr

Emily, Danny and i went up to Chiang Mai after Laura left. We rented a car for the day and Danny and i drove us up to a temple on the top of the hill. Em and i bought some huge fans up there for 80 baht each. they have been a pain in the ass to carry around
The next day, we began our 3day treck through the jungle. It started well, we saw an old temple, a huge waterfall (which Danny went swimming in) and did a short treck to a local village where we stayed the night. all the little kids kept coming up to us and asking us to buy necklaces and bracelets and i wanted to get all of them. only bought 3 throughout the trip though.
The second day was torrential rain. we tried to sit it out but it went on too long so we ended up wading knee deep in water through rice fields and again, Danny fell over! The stepping stones at the river had been washed away so the guide found us a very skinny stick to walk along over the gushing river which was very scary!
On the last day we went bamboo rafting which was fun but not very nice to have to sit down on since the water was brown and we later saw something that looked very like a sewage pipe joining it. our raft also got stuck on the reeds so we had to get out and push! we then went on an elephant ride which was amazing to begin with but not so pleasant when they misbehaved and got hit in the head with metal sticks which made them bleed. just wanted to get off after that!

Em and i are in Kanchanabury now and its ridiculously hot. Missing Danny and Lau loads and cant wait to get home and see everyone.

love emma x x x

Bangkok, Thailand

2007-05-03T00:43:00.000-07:00

Laura, Danny and i have been in Thailand nearly a week and a half now and all its done is rained!

The first 4days were spent in Bangkok where i refused to email anyone or write my blog since the internet cost a ridiculous 8 pounds an hour! The pollution there is terrible and the tuk tuk drivers are a pain in the ass. They get commission for taking you to expensive shops so it takes ages to get where you want to go to and Danny ended up buying 6shirts. He got a couple of thousand baht off though and looks very smart in them so it wasnt so bad in the end.

The Grand Palace was beautiful but the temperature was 39 degrees so it was difficult to appreciate it properly. Plus my flip flop broke and my foot was burning all the way round, despite the protection given by Danny's sock so we left fairly quickly after that.

The night market was dirt cheap and lotsa fun for the first hour. Laura and i went for a massage because of the air conditioning after that and when we came out, Danny was nowhere to be found. After searching for an hour we went back to the twin towers hotel where we were staying and found him in the lobby. It turned out that he fell on his ass in the torrential rain looking for us after getting lost and was not in the mood for shopping after that so went back to get changed.

Singapore Airport

2007-04-24T16:46:00.002-07:00

Im in Singapore Airport at the moment waiting to fly out to Thailand where im meeting Danny - yay!

The east coast of Aus has been amazing. Laura and I went out on the Kiana from Airlie Beach for 3days to sail around the whitsunday islands. It was great to be back together again and it took us ages to catch up on all the goss! It was a really nice boat with just 14people as opposed to the 40 that can be squashed onto some of the party boats. The only problem we had was that our bed happened to be in the living room which wasnt great for Laura who had a cold and wanted to stay in bed!

We went to whitehaven beach on the first day which was gorgeous. the sand is made of silica and is fine enough to clean jewellery with so Grandma Mary's ring is nice and shiny now. Unfortunatly we couldnt go swimming as its jelly fish season but it was lovely lying on the beach all the same and Laura even met her dive buddy there - a big suprise since there were only about 40 people on the island!
On the second day i went diving on the outer reef. we swam through little caves with turqouise light streaming through the holes in the rock and saw turtles, sharks and really colourful coral. Definitely the best place i have been diving so far!
On the third day, the sails went up to speed up the journey back to Airlie beach. The boat was at a 45degree angle making it a bit uncomfy but it felt great with the wind rushing through out hair and the sun shining down on us - a great opertunity to top up the tan!

Next was Fraser Island - easily the most beautiful place i have ever been too. Laura didnt come as she wasnt feeling well and didnt fancy camping so booked herself into a hotel to recover with a tv and air conditioning!
We stayed in tents for the 2nights and drove in our 4wd to all the suggested sites during the day. There were champagne pools which are small pools of warm sea water in the rocks, piles of colourful sand, and fabulous fresh water lakes. Lake MCKenzie on the last day was the most enjoyable part of a fantastic trip. There were no fish or plants in the water, it was fresh and clear. We made human pyramids in the water and playes Frisby on the beach. I could spend 2weeks there no problem!

Yesterday, we went to Steve Erwins zoo. it was really sad reading all the messages on his tribute but great to see how much his beliefs about conservation are spread through the zoo. the croc feeding was kinda scary but we were safely behind bars and we all got to hold a koala - so cute!

got to board my flight now so have to go

love you all
Emma x x x x

Cairns

2007-04-14T00:33:00.000-07:00

The trip out to the outback was fab! Im sure iv written about this already but i guess i must have just sent alot of emails about it. Uluru (Ayers Rock) was really pretty at sunset and looked amazing from a distance but once we had walked around about a quarter of it we realised it was gona look the same for the next hour! Kings Canyon and the Olgas were gorgeous from every angle. they were the same red colour as Uluru but were surrounded by green trees and we could see for miles.

Im in Cairns now and met up with Laura H and Michelle for a day which was wicked. we had alot of catching up to do. Michelle also invited us to her wedding (shes promised to Murph but isnt actually engaged) so were going to Canada in a couple of years anyway. yay!

Went to Cape Tribulation monday to wednesday which is a rainforest / national park. It certainly lived up to its name and pissed down the entire time i was there! saw lots of lovely huge spiders too :s

Diving on the great barrier reef has outdone everything so far, other than maybe the skydive in Taupo. I did 5 dives over 2days and stayed over night on the boat. Saw a starfish on the nightdive and a sting ray, reef shark, giant clam and turtle on the day dives aswell as hundreds of colourful fish (including Nemo!) and coral.

Been doing pretty much nothing today other than spending money :s my bikini broke though so i needed another one. Met up with Rachel from Cape Trib in the afternoon and we tried to get our hair cut but left it too late and the shops were shutting. Waiting for Laura to get back from the rainforest now and then were getting massages in the night market before our bus to Airlie beach picks us up at midnight.

Missing you all loads!

Love Em x x x

Melbourne

2007-04-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

Heya!
I flew into Alice Springs today and its soooo hot! my hostel has a swimming pool to cool off in so its not too bad at the moment but im going on a 3day tour out to Ayers Rock tomorrow so could do with it cooling down a bit.

Sydney was great. I met up with Laura Dye who i made friends with in New Zealand and we went to Bondi beach (the waves there are HUGE) and the Syndey Opera House together to see a Czeck Opera which was kinda based on the little mermaid. It was really good but i think i prefer musicals.
I also went on a day trip on my own to the blue mountains which were stunning. Everyone on the tour was really friendly though and we all chatted to each other on the walk. I even got asked out by a swedish guy but said no obviously.
The walk across the harbour bridge was nice and the view from the skytower was fairly good but it was better in Auckland i think although i am slightly biased by the fact that i jumped off of that one!

Melbourne was beautiful and i stayed with Alison and Tony who are lovely. Alison took me to pengiun Island on the saturday where we sat on the sand and watched them waddle up the beach to their nests. They were so cute!
On the sunday, the three of us went to a beach on the peninsular. We drove up to the top of the hill before settling on the sand and the view from up there was gorgeous.
I have also discovered that i like Thai as long as its no too hot, Squid and prawns.
It was great to get a double bed and a room to myself and they even gave me a dressing gown and slippers - luxury!

Spoken to both Laura and Emily on the phone and they sound like they are having a great time. Emily is in Byron Bay and Laura is going to Neighbours night tonight.

Lots of Love
Emma x x x x

PS Happy Birthday again Danny x

Off to Aus!

2007-03-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

Its my last day in New Zealand today :-( We've been in christchurch for a week now though so theres not much left to do here.
The dolphin swimming in Kaikoura was amazing. There were literally hundreds of wild dusky dolphins swimming round us. We had to make stupid noises and sing songs at them through our snorkells to keep them entertained and in return they made us look even more stupid by swimming round us in circles which of course meant that we had to spin round, following them.
Emily decided she wanted to fly into Melbourne which meant that she could go at stupid oclock this morning or at a normal time on tuesday. understandably she chose tuesday so her and Laura are going to Akaroa to stay in her dad / aunts house. Laura has been there twice now (once with Laura D at the beginning of the week, then for a couple of days with Tom and she's driving back to watch the rugby today before taking Emily up there)
Laura D and I are planning to go to the Sydney Opera House together in the next couple of days as she arrived in Aus on thursday.
Emily and i are both shocked at the lack of money in our accounts but figured that whilst Australia is generally more expensive, there aren't so many adventure activities to do there. After that, Thailand is cheap as chips!
Emma x x x

Half way through!

2007-03-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

In Christchurch now which is our last stop in New Zealand. Going out to Kaikoura to swim with dolphins and to Akaroa were Laura's house is but then coming back into Christchurch again.
Emily and i went white water rafting a couple of days ago which was wicked! we went through grade 1 - 5 rapids and managed not to fall out. i also discovered that jumping off a rock to go swimming in a river which is glacier fed is not the best of ideas - it was absolutely freezing!
Laura stayed with Karlijn, Laura and Emma who we met on the Kiwi bus and came to christchurch early to see family before we arrived. Yes the 2 Emma's and Laura's are confusing us too.
A group of us tried to go out clubbing yesterday - not unusual on a friday night. everywhere was empty! we had to resort to singing karaoke to amuse ourselves. we were terrible but managed to get a random guy onstage dancing. not sure how difficult that is though since the majority of the girls in the club were onstage (us 6!)
Were staying at a hostel called Cokers atm which is supposedly haunted oooooo. We all got an hour of free internet time as were on the kiwi bus which is good. Its lovely and sunny outside today though so im off to top up my tan...hows the rain? :D it did actually snow here the other day though - New Zealand is really affected by global warming.

My birthday (02-03-07)

2007-03-02T06:59:00.000-08:00

we had a jam packed day today!
As soon as we woke up which was about 11 we went down the road to get banana pancakes with maple syrup for breakkie before heading off to Wellington's famous museum. Em paid to see the egyptian mummy section and Lau and I just did all the free stuff which, since you could spend ALL day there, was plenty!
we then had pancaked AGAIN for lunch as we found somewhere which did lemon and sugar ones. technically they were crepes the second time so we figured it was ok.
After lunch we went shopping. for the first couple of hours all Em and Lau did was spend spend spend and i could find nothing to buy! at the last minute though i found a beautiful although slightly chavy bag which i can take out in the evenings and squash into my rucksack whilst were travelling around the country.
We then ran to the cinema to catch the 3.30 showing of 'Blood Diamond' only to find it was actually a 3.10 showing. As Lau has seen it before we decided to watch it anyway and she explained what we had missed. it was a wkd film and i'd recommend going to see it!
In the evening we went for dinner in Óne red dog' which does pizza and pasta (my favourite dinner!) we were kinda stuffed but had to have chocolate fondue afterwards to finish off before we went clubbing. We met up with three guys who are on the bus with us tomorrow and they warded off all the drunk sweaty 30 year olds which was good!
Its 4am now as we got in at 3 and decided to answer our emails. I sensibly only got half an hour but had to extend it due to the 20 or so emails iv recieved since yesterday. it was lovely to hear from everyone though and definitely worth the extra 2 dollars (about 60p) I found myself with 20 mins to spare so decided to use it up writing this as were going to Nelson in the south island at 7.15 am tomorrow so the internet time will be no good after today.
Anyway, better get some sleep!
Love you all
Emma x x x x

Emily, Laura, John and Julianne - Kapiti Island, NZ

2007-02-27T02:45:00.000-08:00

Laura horse riding - River Valley, NZ

2007-02-27T02:44:00.000-08:00

Emma on Morden - Taupo, NZ

2007-02-27T02:43:00.000-08:00

Laura D, Emily and Emma doing the Tongariro Crossing - Taupo, NZ

2007-02-27T02:42:00.000-08:00

Laura and Emily before their Zorb - Rotorua, New Zealand

2007-02-27T02:39:00.000-08:00

Emily at Maori night - Bay of Islands, NZ

2007-02-27T02:37:00.000-08:00

The sky tower which Emma jumped off - Auckland, NZ

2007-02-27T02:36:00.000-08:00

Laura - Rarotonga, Cook Islands

2007-02-27T02:35:00.000-08:00

Island Crossing - Rarotonga, Cook Islands

2007-02-27T02:34:00.000-08:00

Venice Beach, LA

2007-02-27T02:10:00.000-08:00

lots of news

2007-02-24T00:50:00.000-08:00

We are now in Palmerston North which is very near the bottom of the north island. We are staying with Laura's family, Julianne and John who are lovely and have made us feel right at home.
Since Auckland we have done loads!
In whitianga we went to hot water beach for the day. when you dig a hole in the sand the water is hot enough to burn your feet. needless to say we didnt stay in the water for long. i also went boogey boarding with the youth hostel owner. the waves were huge and i was in the sea for ages!
In waitomo we went blackwater rafting through glow worm caves which was a freezing cold but incredibly beautiful. We started by abseling down a tiny whole, then went on a zip wire before jumping into the water and floating in the dark on rubber rings looking up at the glow worms. 3hours later we began the climb back towards the sunlight up a waterfall! we slept well that night!
Taupo was all go. we did a sky dive!!!! it was amazing and once you were off the plane it wasnt scary at all. we each had our own camera man who filmed us on the way down so we have a dvd to show everyone when we get back! not the best pictures though as the wind flattened our faces :S
Emily and i also did another walk up morden from lord of the rings. we stood at the base of mount doom but decided not to add 2hrs to a 6hr walk! i have decided that 4 hours should be my max!
In River Valley we went horse riding which was fun to begin with but did not end well. Emily fell off her horse when he tried to jump a dich and another horse fell into a marsh!

Love Emma x x x x x

Sky tower

2007-02-18T00:14:00.000-08:00

i jumped off the sky tower in auckland! its the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere.
i only really did it because im too chicken to do a bunji jump but infact it is further to fall.
it was really scary letting go as you have to hang off the edge and can see how far away from the ground you are but after about 2 seconds they stop you to take a picture. at this point you are dangling in front of the restaurant to everyone is staring at you through the glass. not so good if you are desperately waving your arms from side to side trying to spin roung so that the photo can be taken. gives everyone else a good laugh i suppose!
you then have to speed up from 0 to 90 mph in a few seconds which was terrifying but after that its like flying and the views were absolutely amazing.
also found a discount voucher so i got free photos - proof that i actually did it!
emma x x x x

Bay of Islands, NZ

2007-02-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

Days before Emily and i got to the Bay of Islands, there was torrential rain which washed away one of the major bridges! Luckily it settled down by the time we arrived. its raining now though on our last day!
we went kiaking a couple of days ago. normally the dolphins will come and swim alongside you put because of all the rain, the water is too muddy for them at the moment :( we still had a wicked time though (and got absolutely soaking wet!)
we went for another walk yesterday and sent about 20 minutes looking at an eel! we wanted it to come to the surface so we could take a picture! the waterfall at the end was huge but kinda yellow :s
we're going back to Auckland today to meet up with laura. the doc said shes much better but cant put anything on her shoulders for 3 weeks - guess we are carrying her bag!!!!
Love Emma x x x

Laura's gone to New Zealand!

2007-01-30T15:11:00.000-08:00

Early this morning (2am to be exact!) Laura left our lovely little Island to go to New Zealand. Her burns are really bad and she cant put anything on them or go out in the sun so decided it wasnt really worth staying.
Emily and I have stayed so that we can finish our scuba course etc and we are all going to meet up in Auckland on our original arrival date which is next monday. Hopefully then Laura will have recovered and we can continue our trip as planned.
Em and Em x

M 'n' M's day of adventure...whilst Laura did nothing!

2007-01-26T20:05:00.000-08:00

Hey from all 3 of us for once!
Thanks for all the comments and well done for working out how to use blog.
Today, Emily and I went hiking right over the island (which is a BIG mountain!!!!) we thought it would be a leisurely 4 hour walk but found ourselves scrambling up rock faces, crawling under fallen down trees and climbing up roots. NOT FUN!!
It was absolutely beautiful when we got to the "needle" at the top but not sure it was worth all the effort. We were looking forward to the waterful at the end since the beginning of our treck but when we FINALLY got there, it was too cold to go in. Before the 15 minute walk to the bus stop we decided that an ice cream was definitely in order. luckily, we found the only shop on the island that sells them wooo.
Meanwhile, Laura sat on her ass waiting at the cafe 30 seconds away from the hostel drinking a cold coca cola and munching on a chocolate brownie wondering when we were going to return. When we didnt arrive on the 2nd bus (bearing in mind there is only 1 an hour) she went to...sit on her ass again...and read her book.
Love Emma, Laura and Emily x x x

Rarotonga

2007-01-24T19:48:00.000-08:00

We're in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands now. Its perfect with white sandy beaches and turquise water. Its also really hot though and we're all slightly frazzled. P20 is amazing if you manage to get it everywhere. if not you get incredibly patchy skin. my stomach could be a pirate map!
We havn't really done anything yet since we arrived 3 days ago except for lie around in the sun but we have lots of plans for the next 2 weeks.
theres a market on saturday, church on sunday which is said to have an amazing choir and we are doing a paddy dive course mon - thurs which means we have a certificate to scuba dive on our own anywhere in the world.
We also plan to treck across the island over the mountain in the middle which apparently takes 4 hours. Mind you, this time scale was given to us by our 2 room mates who got incredibly lost!
We found a random computer that doesnt charge for some reason so all this is free at the moment yay!

Emma x x x

Rarotonga is Super Cool!

Emily x x x

LA

2007-01-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

we're in LA atm staying in a road off of hollywood blvd. tuesday we went to look at all the stars (found marilyn monroe and johnny depp amongst others)
wednesday was spent at universal studios. it was raining so there were no queues! we were however accused of bringing the weather with us. You lot go it back half way throught the day though - have fun with that :p The tour of the studios was definitely the best bit. we drove through the road where desperate housewives is filmed (and took some photos for Ruth and Jo)
The rides were great too but were kinda short so we were glad we didnt queue for them
Yesterday we went to venice beach and spent the day walking along the sand - first bit of exercise since we left. It was sooo much cleaner than english beaches but Lisa (our room mate) said it was really dirty compared to the ones in australia - it can only get better! I was ill last night but fine this morning so were off on a tour to rodeo drive etc shortly and then window shopping on third street promenade.

Anyway, gota go as i only have a couple of mins left!

Emma x x x

1 day

2007-01-14T04:59:00.000-08:00

leaving tomorrow woo

We'll be in LA in 2 weeks!

2007-01-02T11:18:00.000-08:00

We're leaving 2 weeks yesterday - scary stuff. Laura and Emily have finished work already and i finish at NPM this friday. Also got a christmas temp job at superdrug in Croydon which either finished yesterday or will this sunday (not too sure but find out tomorrow.)
Then we have a week of last minute preparation and theres lots to do. However, arranging leaving parties seems to be the highest priority. Not doing too badly though - sorting bank accounts out tomorrow morning, have a prescription for antibiotics (thanks mum) just in case we get any deadly diseases and going shopping on sat with Eve for trousers and primark tops :D

Really excited but gona miss everyone loads so make sure you all leave stuff for us to read!

Emma x

Its been ages!

2006-10-21T04:57:00.000-07:00

Its been ages since any of us have written anything so although i dont have much to say i thought id ramble on for a couple of mins about something or other.
Laura has changed our flights so that we can go to Singapore. We are now spending a week in LA, 2 weeks in Rarotonga (Cook Islands), 7 weeks in New Zealand, a month in Australia, a week in Singapore and a month in Thailand. Ok well its something like that but that doesnt quite add up to 6months so i'll have to check with Laura.
She worked 8days in a row last week and did £80 worth of babysitting! Emily is still working 6 days a week but has 2weeks of paid holiday to take before christmas. Im still working at Nicks but looking for an evening / weekend job aswell as i have no money to spare and i gota buy xmas prezzies soon :S
I was offered one of the main parts in the panto at beckenham but as rehearsals are monday, wednesday, friday, sunday i had to say no in the hopes that i would soon be working some of those evenings (no such luck yet!)

Despite the fact that half of my mates have abandoned us to go to uni or abroad (mentioning no names; ruth, jo D, Rai Rai, Soph, Liz, Steve, Lyndsey etc - ok so i lied, but feel proud, you got mentioned!) I seem to be busy every day. Sam and Ant came round on wednesday to watch alias, which is the best TV Show ever btw! Thurs I was at the sheep as usual and on Friday we went to the Ship of Fools and found James, who left fairly early, Kat and Emma Thurlow there. And now its saturday and i cant remember further back than wednesday. You are probably really bored by now anyway so i guess its a good thing - i did warn you that there wasnt anything much to say of real interest.)

My cousin Tom and his mate are coming down next friday to go chav clubbing with me. If anyone wants to join the list of Sam, Ant, Eve, Rach, Dan, Courtney, Jo S and Emily (who now it is down on paper HAVE to come!) then we are meeting in the Goose at 8.

Ok, got a singing lesson in 15 mins so gota go
Em x x x

PIRATES!

2006-09-23T06:49:00.001-07:00

I so nearly posted this with just the title. Dont press enter unless your mouse is in the box!
We went out to the Ship of Fools last night for a perfectly normal evening in the pub. Oh .... and we were all dressed like pirates! Well we tried to - everyone said i looked more like a gypsy though :( There was also a fairy pirate and a viking. Tradition apparently.
By we i mean Me, Rach, Sam, Rai, Jo D, Evee, Steve, Courtney, James, Little Emma, Ant, Simon and some other people that Steve and Courtney knew.(Im really sorry if i forgot anyone) Some random guy bought Emma and her friend 2 bottles of wine because their clothing amused him so its worth dressing up stupidly if you have no money and want drinks!
Courtney looked like Jack Sparrow hehe.

I know this isnt strictly gap year stuff but i am on my gap year, just not travelling so i figured it was ok.

Its Emma if you cant figure it out x x x

Need more money!

2006-09-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

I have discovered that living on NOTHING is absolutely impossible which means that i need another job if i wana go anywhere other than work and home in the next four months. Ahh 4 months!
So Sam and i went job hunting together....and did a little shopping whilst we were at it! I only bought stuff for my travels though - it was very tempting to buy yet another corset since it was only £8 and in a new and exciting colour (bright blue) but i was good! *halo appears*
We gave in CVs at primark (Clare works there so shes putting in a good word) and numerous bars which should be fun. Vue said that they had some vacancies coming up but that we had have to apply online - they obviously havnt updated the website recently though as its telling us that they have no jobs going atm which means we need to check it everyday :S. If anyone wants to know whats on at the cinema im sure i will be able to run of a list of all the films from memory by the end of the week. Blockbusters also said we had to apply online but their form isn't opening. Handing out CV's the good old way seems to be far better than using modern technology!

On a completely different note, Laura, Emily and i decided to have a weekly meeting to do gap year stuff. A great plan but difficult to put into practice since i have singing on wednesdays and its Lauras ONLY free night. A seven day week is clearly not long enough.

Lotsa love
Em x x x

Laura and Emily's day of fun!

2006-09-11T06:47:00.000-07:00

Today we are planning all of the many many things we need to do! Emma bless her little cotton socks is at work and were dossing about whilst house sitting for one of Laura's babysitting families! he he he! weve decided we need to: book our hollywood city tour (interested? see vip backpackers), book rarotonga youth hostel, email Laura's cousin who may be coming to Rarotonga with us, get dates of flights, get dates of Kiwi tour, look into Singapore as everyone keeps telling us its amazing and were going there anyway so may as well stay! hooray! so weve got alot to do and better get cracking!

Work

2006-09-09T05:27:00.000-07:00

Ruth's showing us up with her gap year blogspot ( http://littlesailorruth.blogspot.com/ ) and Rach keeps complaining that we never post anything so i thought id find something to write about. To be fair though, whilst Ruth is apparently running around blindfolded in Holland and now Thailand, the three of us are stuck working so that we can eat between January and August.
Ok so Emily. She is spending more time in superdrug than she is at home! She FINALLY got a pay rise though of £1 an hour - Go Em!
Laura and I are working for Nick in his finance office in Hayes. Caroline just booked our work Christmas meal thing which she said can double up as our leaving do. Its called a night at the oscars and its a black tie event so i think a shopping trip to Gucci is coming up. Ok so its far more likely to be TK Macks but we'll be getting dressed up all the same.

Quick Question though - does anyone know how to make a link section on this thing?

Anyway, gotta love ya and leave ya coz im off to Kirsty's and then Jo Durstens SECOND 19th Birthday Party. Emma x

leavers ball

2006-06-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

Nic, Liz, Nick, Laura and Emma at the Langley leavers ball 2006

Meal

2006-05-22T06:41:00.000-07:00

Our plans were doomed from the start. Having a BBQ in England, whos stupid idea was that?! It rained of course so Dad and i cooked everything indoors (set the fire alarm off a number of times) and we all ate inside.
Mum decided to quiz us all on where we were going and i think got quite suprised when we knew the answers - although how she would have checked they were right is anyones guess.

Everyone seemed to get on and all the parents are going to spend some time working out how to use modern technology together (the computer...what an invention!) so all is well!

Emma (the last one was me aswell, forgot to add that!)

We finally bought out tickets!

2006-05-22T06:23:00.000-07:00

We finally got round to buying our tickets. We couldnt pay for them on the day that we originally told the travelagent we would come in and we nearly lost our booking but after being sweetalked by Laura, he recalled it.
We went straight in and sat down on the floor having learnt from last time and despite some strange looks from other customers, everyone eventually followed suit.
Mine had to be the card that didnt work! So after being told they were accepted, i wrote a check. Following that they realised that checks couldn't be taken so i wrote one for Jane (Emilys mum) and she paid for mine on her credit card. We were then informed that they had accidently given us last years prices and that we needed to pay another 40 quid on top of what we had just payed.
Three checks and many sighs later, our flights were sorted.

We had to go shopping after that to reward ourselves for agreeing to part with our money. Laura bought trousers and a top and i bought some shorts - all essential for our travels of course! Emily showed us up by getting nothing.

tickets

2006-04-25T02:36:00.000-07:00

we booked our tickets on saturday and are going to pay for them next week. including the bog standard ticket, add-ons, the tour in australia and service charge its over 2 grand each! ahh

Nikki

2006-04-21T04:18:00.000-07:00

Nikki might be coming with us woop woop.
Rachel would like to add that she likes cheese so note to self, that can be her prezzie from our travels.
Should be going to travelbag tomorrow to find out about ticket prices etc but what with Lauras busy social life we don't know if it will happen yet

Making our gap year website

2006-03-27T05:57:00.000-08:00

lotsa arguments over the background, fantastic start! but we're still talking to each other. We set this up so that we can tell you about our fantastic travels as you sit at home in rainy ol' england! hehehe.
Anyways, first short blog done. See ya later
love em n em