Personally, I’ve been using Kayak to search for tickets as they have some very handy features that make repeated searching easy, and in the search results offer a chart of pricing history which you can use to help pin point when the cheapest times to travel are.

The two most important things to keep in mind when looking for cheap flights are simply be flexible about when you travel, and when you see a cheap flight, book it right away as it won’t stick around for long.

Even using Kayak’s email alert system to get emails about cheap flights I find a lot of the tickets I get told about have raised to a higher price by the time I get to them, so if you are planning on traveling, just looking for tickets isn’t enough, you need to be ready to grab the bargain when you find it.

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While I’m still waiting for my festival season, I have booked my ticket to Thailand in December and will be leaving one way on November the 30th with Qatar Airways, to arrive in Bangkok on the 1st of December, so if anyone is in that neck of the woods and fancies a Singha on Khaosan Road let me know. It’s a day earlier then I planned, but means I don’t have a 8 hour stop over in Doha, so worth it.

Further to my travel plans I have decided to sell my Canon DSLR, since I’m focusing on writing a lot more these days, I figure the £400 or so I can get for the camera are much more useful then the camera would be. It’s a shame, but when I got the DSLR the plan was to learn to drive, and travel around locally to take shots, maybe getting a bicycle as well, but that’s all out the window now and I could last a month on that money.

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I can’t recommend reading Brave New Traveler enough, while many of the blogs I have in my reader I just read the articles as they come, I will specifically look for new items from here daily.

Sample Article: Travel Is About Who You Meet, Not Where You Go

BackPackers.com

I haven’t been reading BackPackers.com for that long but came across it following a recommendation on Ask Meta Filter, there are some interesting articles from time to time, and if you’re interested in festivals around the globe they do mention a healthy number of them.

Sample Article: Doer, Watcher, or Wanderer: What’s You Backpacking Style

Vagabondish

One of the first travel blogs I started to read at the same time as Brave New Traveler, regular postings and some really good information keep me coming back time and again to read the articles in this blog.

Sample Article: A Practical Guide to Vagabonding and Long Term Travel (Part 1)

The Travelers Notebook

There is more of a commercial slant to some of this blogs posts, dealing with aspects of photography, bloging, podcasting and such, but that doesn’t mean it’s not got some interesting and useful entries for anyone interested in travelling.

Sample Article: Five Rules for Recognizing and Avoiding Travel Scams

Other Blogs

Gridskipper: The Worldwide Travel Blog

I actually came across this one while sorting out the links for this post, but it looks interesting so I’ll be following it from now on.

The Life Less Traveled

While not just travel related, this new blog focuses on people doing extraordinary things, and shows a lot of promise which I am following with interest.

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To look at it from the outside Warrington’s LA Bowl isn’t overly impressive, in fact it looks like a unit on an industrial estate. This is perhaps due to the fact it is a unit on an industrial estate. Once you walk in the rather unassuming doors to main foyer it looks pretty much as it always has for as long as I can remember, a little run down, a bit cheap and tacky, but not enough to be off putting, adding character to the place.

Personally, I like LA Bowl more then the more up market bowling places
- It’s an excuse to let your hair down and have some real fun, everyone there was buzzing and it was really busy. We even bumped into a couple of friends out on a works night out, so clearly it’s the place to be this week. Adding to the atmosphere is the DJ who while totally unable to mix tracks was entertaining from a cheese point of view and played all the classic school disco type tracks.

By the time we got to our second game or there abouts it all gets even more exciting when with a countdown from the DJ signaling it’s time for Star Light Bowling! Okay, they just turn some lights off and add some UV lights, but it just adds to the craziness so when you’re there, it’s Ace.

Three games of bowling down - Of which I came second to last in each I think (I did get a couple of strikes towards the end, but each time only managed to hit one pin in the following throw) - we moved out to take full advantage of the other attractions on offer - Arcade games and dodgems! Shooting things on Time Crisis (I think) was fun, but the dodgems was perhaps the highlight of the night there was only four of us buzzing around so you got some real movement going on and could get some quality crashes happening.

Over all, for the start of a night out it was great fun, only cost £10 for three games, drinks were fairly reasonably priced though not anything to get excited about there and the dodgems was the best £2 I’ve spent this month.

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With that out of the way, my travel plans for Summer and beyond are starting to really take form now as tickets are now purchased, as part of updating the blog I updated the count down to my new planed exit date of the 1st of December, to find that leaves me exactly 200 days before I fly off to Thailand and start on my adventure around South East Asia.

Travel Diary To Date:

July: Latitude Festival in Suffolk, England - Tickets Purchased.

August: Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden - Tickets Purchased - With a side trip to Stockholm to catch up with a friend, including a trip to Garlic and Shots which I am promised is amazing.

August: Amsterdam - For a friends Stag Do, flights now booked.

December: Thailand! Starting in Bangkok on the 1st and working though the country to arrive at Lonely Beach on Koh Chang in time to spend Christmas there. While it’s a bit early to make detailed plans, I wouldn’t be surprised if Treehouse is where I end up having Christmas dinner.

Since there are people flying out to Thailand specifically to spend a couple of weeks over Christmas then it puts been on Koh Chang firmly on the schedule so we can all meet up, but beyond that everything is going to be pretty much on a whim. Though I am researching what festivals and events are happening around South East Asia for the whole period of time I am out there and will aim to make it to as many unique events as possible.

Filling The Gaps:

June is looking pretty empty currently, as is September so I’m searching for something to fill them up with and will hopefully get some time at a friends caravan, which will be a great way to chill out as a group of friends. October is going to be a local affair with my Birthday, my friend’s Wedding, and Warrington’s version of Oktoberfest which is an annual event everyone who’s anyone goes to in these parts. November is up in the air, depending on when my Sister is studying abroad in Finland, if she’s there I’ll be visiting, if she is going early 2009 I’ll catch her just after getting home from Thailand.

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Or so I thought.

As it turns out, on Sunday we spent all evening drinking in one the of the countries most unique venues, The Philharmonic Dining Rooms on Hope Street: Home to the UK’s only Grade Two Listed Gent’s Toilets (Apparently)

The BBC have even gone to the effort of putting together a panoramic view of the famous loos! Women are permitted to visit the gents as part of organized tours too, so clearly people are going out of their way to visit this place, and we just happened to end up there.

It’s not often you can pass off an evening of banter in the pub with friends as a cultural experience. It was also a really comfortable place to chill out, with a nice selection of Ales, didn’t seem overly pricey, and the sample of food (Potato Wedges with bacon and Cheese, and some onion rings) we had to peck at was tasty.

So all in all, well worth a visit if you happen to be in the area.

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23rd March - Easter Sunday

Rather then partying on Lonely Beach as a group we’d been invited over to join some of our Thai friends at their bar to have a BBQ and watch the Liverpool vs Manchester Utd football match. Now to be fair, this isn’t my normal kind of night out, but I was no less keen to go see what the craic was, as much as I don’t watch football I can drink beer and eat BBQ happily!

The BBQ was a sort of hybrid between a traditional BBQ with hot coals in a iron bowl with a fondue like top with oil/stock around the rim and a raised center where the meat was placed to cook and we had a whole selection of sea food, meats and vegetables to cook on it. Defiantly the most random meal we had for the whole holiday, and also the most fun. In all honesty I probably wouldn’t have chosen to eat like this normally, but I’m so glad it was all prepared for us and we got a chance to experience some real Thai food away from the restaurants and cafes we’d been pretty much living in.

We rounded of the evening with a drink in Treehouse and then another in Ting Tong bumping into a few of our friends from around and about in passing, but not really staying out nearly as long as I would have liked to as we had a big day trip out set for early the next morning.

24th March - The Boat Trip

The everything provided boat trip was an epic 24 hours, meeting at Coconut a little bar just opposite Ting Tong the boat trip was mostly just our group and a couple of friends who we got to know pretty well in our last couple of days, and turned out to know friends I’d already met - it’s a pretty small world out in Koh Chang I guess!

The boat trip took us out from Bang Bao to spend the day out at sea visiting a couple of different sports snorkeling, and a short stop over at a beach before heading over to the tiny little uninhabited island where we would be spending the night, all the while being fed and kept with beer in hand.

From a personal point of view this was the only time I actually went swimming as well, which for me was a huge achievement since I don’t swim at all. - I know how to swim, I just haven’t since I was probably about 12 - so when we had to get from the boat, to the island we were staying at, I figured if it was the perfect time to just jump in and give it ago. Getting to that point took some encouragement from my friends, but they were a great help to me once I was in the water, and with them to hand and the fact the water was warm and calm, and didn’t do badly at all, and we I managed to do a bit of swimming, a tiny bit of snorkeling and got to the shore without any major issues, though I did struggle at one or two points my friends were on hand to straighten me out. Which I will be eternally thankful for.

Our time on the island was very chilled, just sun bathing, chilling in hammocks, playing travel guess who, spinning poi and so on, and we finally settled down fairly late in the night to sleep on the beach, after enjoying a spot of hermit crab racing by the fire side.

We were woken up fairly early in the morning just before dawn as we got caught by an incoming burst of rain fall - leading to everyone leaping up and scrambling into the tents to avoid getting soaked through - not the best way to be woken up, particularly as the tents didn’t have the rain hats on so they leaked, so there was a degree of faffing about but we survived.

Swimming back to the boat was not nearly as fun as getting to the island, the water was a lot more choppy and not as warm, combined with a rocky area where I tried to cross just didn’t work out as well. But if anything it made me more determined to learn how to swim properly when I’m out in Thailand for a good amount of time.

25th March - Last Night On Koh Chang

Once we’d all made it back from our over night boat trip we did the usual round of napping and food, before late in the afternoon heading out to Coconut to start the night off by getting Tattoos and a beer.

I’d been eyeing up my particular tattoo for much of the holiday, and the last day on the island it came to a now or never choice, and I really wanted it doing, so went of to get it done ahead of the girls who between three of them had all chosen to get the same Thai word (For Paradise) in various locations but I wanted to get in first so mind was out the way, in short I got it done, and while it wasn’t that uncomfortable, I did quickly down two beers after it was done. I’ll write a bit more about my tattoo in another post though.

We went on to have some food, and start the night early bumping into most of the people we’d got to know on the island over the last couple of weeks on the way, and so a very busy, hectic and drunken night. By the time I got back to my hut and said my final good byes to new friends it was well past dawn, and I was well set to abandon going home and just stay on the island for a few more weeks - However, since my bank account was already empty that wasn’t really an option - so I went to catch a couple of hours sleep before we needed to get up for the bus to Bangkok.

26th March - The Journey To Bangkok

Wednesday morning is a blur to be honest, the short version is the trio of girls I was traveling to Bangkok with were still in Ting Tong drinking at 9am when we had planned to get the bus. I wasn’t to worried by this, there were other buses, in fact really I think I was more thinking to my self I should have stayed up myself, if I’d know the girls were up at that time still I would have joined them much earlier. Some few drinks later, and maybe some food we ended up on a Taxi and getting the ferry to the mainland, nicely timed to get the 4pm bus to Bangkok, which we all slept though and crawled of blurry eyed and not really fully awake at about 10pm in Bangkok East Bus Station.

To find the police standing next to our bags wanting to inspect them, I’d been told by a number of people that this happens fairly frequently so I wasn’t particularly worried, I don’t smoke anything for the most part so nothing to worried about in my bag, and every one else I thought knew not to carry stuff on them for this very reason.

Turns out, that not everyone in our traveling group did know that, and got caught with a very small amount of green in their bag. At which point, things get interesting to say the least.

We were led over to a set of benches in the center of the bus station forecourt, and sat down with our bags while the various police officers talked among themselves, and would tell us (Or more specifically the girl who had the weed) that we would have to go to the police station and a few other comments along the lines of “Your in deep shit now” however, they then mentioned we could just pay a fine of 40,000 Baht (About £500) to which we said we’d love to, but simply didn’t have that kind of money as we were at the end of our holiday on the way to the airport - which of course, was all true. This went on for a little while, and we essentially haggled with them for a little while, the girls were getting particularly scared and I think it showed, as when I made an offer of 5,000 Baht (About £85) they accepted, gave us a folded bit of newspaper to put the cash into, which we placed to one side on the bench, got our passports back, grabbed our bags and jumped into the first taxi we came across to head to Khaosan road.

The plan was do go shopping for gifts in the few hours we had before heading to the airport, but the girls didn’t feel to well after the trauma of nearly getting arrested, and all my spending money had gone on bribes so we caught a couple of hours sleep at My House in the room Tansy had taken for her self since she was staying over night to catch a later flight, and we headed off to the air port about 3am, to make our final journey back.

27th March - Going Home

The flight back went pretty smoothly, a few minor delays and some niggles with annoying kids on the second flight, but all in all it went as well as could be expected, the food was okay, we all managed to get some sleep for parts of the journey, and while the first flight was the most basic we had of the four flights for the whole amount of travel we did, we also got the most sleep on that one, so it worked out in our favor.

And that’s pretty much it for my very badly written holiday overview - I’ll put together some better posts on specific events and places over time, the overviews are mostly to keep in my head what happened when while it’s still fairly close. There are a number of things missing that don’t need to be placed in context, or don’t need to be shared on a public forum, but for now this little set gives a good idea of how things went down in Thailand for an epic two weeks around Easter in 2008.

I’ll certainly be visiting Koh Chang when I head back out on travels of my own (I considering holidaying, and traveling to be two very different things) and who knows, maybe I’ll bump into some of the people I meet this time around when I’m globe trotting around.

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Of course, there are some things I’ll never forget, and around them I’ve pieced together the party nights like this:

18th March

I ached all day, but couldn’t place my finger on why, and just put it down to sleeping funny until suddenly much later in the day it dawned on me that the day before we’d done the Tree Top Adventure, it turns out working your body out really hard is a good way to wake up the next day feeling like you’ve worked your body out really hard.

There was a plan to go to some reggae and ska party but it turned out to be on another beach and a bit of a trek, so we stayed local instead. But I’m not completely sure where we ended up.

19th March

Another night I don’t really remember much about, pretty sure that this was a night of BBQ and dancing at Treehouse, with a funky acoustic set from the same guys we’d seen previously at Ting Tong providing the early music.

20th March

“Lemon bar grand opening with 20 bangkok show girls!” Or so the posters said, which was a little confusing given that we were at the end of the season and we’d already been to Lemon Bar earlier in the week. Still, seemed worth checking out from a “Tick off another box” point of view, so starting at Treehouse for some food and a few warm up drinks we spent so long chilling out, and bantering with people we’d meet previously that we pretty much missed the show, litterally arriving for the very last moments, but we still headed in and had a dance. The whole experience was pretty seedy though, I have no hang ups about dancing with ladyboys, but there was clearly more then dancing going on in another part of the bar, which I stayed well clear of.

The dance floor did have lasers coming out from the DJ booth though which was cool, and I danced like crazy while there, by the time we arrived we’d had a lot of vodka red bull, but I don’t think I got any more drinks while there as Lemon Bar is one of the more expensive places on Lonely Beach.

I headed back to the huts at a fairly early (For us) time, but left my bag in Lemon bar and had to go back and get it, and while heading back down the hill from Oasis I discovered I’d lost my wallet, so after picking up my bag (Which was still with our friends who were still raving on) I headed over to Treehouse to see if anyone found it there, which they hadn’t, so a bit stressed I headed back to the huts, and promptly found my wallet just outside the door of the hut we were hanging out in. But such is life.

21st March - Full Moon

The big parties of the night were dotted along the beach, and for some reason Siam Hut’s appeared to have toned down their set up from the previous weeks Half Moon party, but we were all much more settled into the party lifestyle this time so were as at the Half Moon we all seemed to stick together, we all spread out and mingled a lot more this time, watching the fire shows, dancing in the sea, rolling around in the sand after consuming mushroom shakes and so on, but my big memory of this night was doing a lot of poi, and talking to quiet a number of people about poi as well.

22nd March - Dancing In The Rain

We didn’t really have much of a plan on this night, we just started out at Treehouse fairly early with the usual plan of eating, drinking and partying into the night. As it happens though, this was the most memorable night out.

Not long after we’d all settled for some food and the drinks started flowing the first few drops of rain were felt falling and the wind was noticeably picking up, bringing the waves rising up below Treehouse’s sea front edge, and people quickly hurried to clear the cushions and chairs under the covered areas leaving a lot more open space then normal.

Most of the other rain fall we’d had came in sudden bursts, and left as suddenly as it arrived, but this night there was a real sense of the storm approaching, out across the darkened sea you could clearly see bolts of lightening illuminating the sky and people (Including myself) were hanging of the railings to gaze out at the sea and feel the growing wind lift of the waves that continued to crash below, everyone was getting a little crazy and wild with the anticipation of the storm hitting.

As it happens, caught up in the mood of the night I danced away to the music that fitted perfectly with the way everyone was feeling, and when the rain hit jumping off the dance floor and on to the open decks was the natural thing to do, and I can honestly say I’ve never been happier to dance in the rain.

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Edit: Embedding isn’t working, so here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_92PcQhzic

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I have looked at flock in the past, but it was very early versions and while I liked the idea, it just didn’t deliver anywhere near what I was hoping for. But from the moment I’ve installed the latest version (Flock 1.1) it instantly impressed me how it now comes across as a rich and professional piece of software.

For me, one of the main attractions is the ability to write blog posts off line; Something which will make life much simpler and cheaper when I travel around South East Asia from the end of the year, I’m still researching getting a connection via mobile, and the news the Thailand is rolling out HSDPA makes me feel warm and fuzzy, but that’s all extra expense that I don’t really need. (But I would like it all the same)

The various social networking feeds look like they could be very useful when on the road as I start to cull my list of blogs and try to streamline the way I look at online information. As much as when I travel I will keep connected, I still want to ensure I’m not wasting time poking around sites to find information, and Flock looks like it could be a very useful tool for bringing that information to me.

Since this is the first time I’ve posted with Flock, this post might come out a little funky.

Tags: Blog, Software, Technology, Travel, Flock

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