Welcome to week eighteen of the backpacking diaries. Where I’ll be updating you weekly on where I’ve been, what I’ve been getting up to, and most importantly, how I’m really feeling about this insane decision I’ve made.
As you probably know, I’m currently backpacking through Asia after quitting my job and leaving London for good.
I want to remember every moment of this experience, and document as much of it as I can, just like I’ve documented everything else in my life post-18 on this website.
You can keep up to date with my travels on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube but for now, enjoy week eighteen of the travel diaries!
If you missed the first seventeen weeks of backpacking diaries, you can catch up here.
Top tip: for mobile data around Asia, we used the Airalo eSim which was super handy and easily installed onto our phones as soon as we arrived in Bangkok!
Day 120: Monday 15th July 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
Today was a quiet day. We spent it at the apartment working from the co-working space, grabbing a 7-Eleven coffee and ticking things off our to-do list.
It’s weird to not be at home considering what’s happening there and my family all being together. I feel quite lost about what to do, how to go about as normal without feeling guilty.
Nothing much to report other than working on content and ordering food to the flat.
Day 121: Tuesday 16th July 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
We headed out into the city today which was a welcome distraction. To change things up a little, we headed to our usual coffee spot in Central Embassy to get some work done.
Plus, when we take a break around lunch time we often go for a walk around the six floors of the mall to get some steps in and chat through what we’ve been up to and still need to get done.
The Embassy is definitely my favourite place to work in the city, but I also haven’t actually tried to work from anywhere else in the city so is that a fair statement to make?
It’s on the top floor of a shopping mall that’s very quiet compared to Westfield in London, which is always so welcome and the most pleasant experience.
On the top floor is a huge open bookshop mixed with restaurants and coffee shops, but very open plan with balconies wrapping around the building offering incredible views of the skyscrapers around.
Each coffee shop has plug sockets too meaning we can work here for hours. And with a lot of good food options, we have yet to go hungry!
Day 122: Wednesday 17th July 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
Today was my aunt’s funeral, so we stayed around the flat for the day until the evening when it would be early afternoon back in Ireland and I could watch the livestream on my laptop.
This isn’t the first time I’ve watched a funeral virtually as I wasn’t able to get home for my granny’s funeral last year and had to watch it online. It’s the weirdest thing in the world to see your family there on the screen and not also be there with them.
It’s like being a fly on the wall. Or even an outsider from your own family. It’s strange.
Steff had arranged to meet a friend from the Mountbatten Program in New York who was visiting Bangkok for a short time, so I was glad to be on my own to watch the funeral.
I definitely want to write a blog post about experiencing grief far away from home. Maybe I’ll record a podcast on it, I’m not sure. I just know that it’s something I definitely want to talk about as I’ve lost three family members this year alone, all whilst being away.
So that was Wednesday.
Day 123: Thursday 18th July 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
I guess things kind of hit me today. We were staying around the flat to work, and headed down to the co-working space in the morning.
By lunch, I wasn’t feeling myself and was quite down. My head wasn’t in the right space to work on content or do much of anything, so I spent the afternoon watching YouTube vlogs in bed instead, and was probably the best thing to do.
I think I needed time to switch off and process a little. Himself took me out for dinner to get out of bed for a few hours which was welcome and we headed to a dumpling spot around the corner from our apartment.
Tomorrow will be better.
Day 124: Friday 19th July 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
I eased myself back into work today, spending the morning in the co-working spot before getting ready and heading into the city.
We went shopping for some new trainers for himself and headed to an Irish bar to watch Wales in the rugby in the afternoon.
However, today there was a huge worldwide computer bug that caused flights to be cancelled, card machines not to work and outages everywhere. Sky weren’t able to broadcast anything live so we weren’t actually able to watch the rugby on the TV.
A failed attempt of having a drink in the city. But it was nice to see some Irish memorabilia in the pub. Even though I was the only Irish person in there.
We headed for dinner at Terminal 21 instead and had a cheap, tasty meal for a Friday night.
Day 125: Saturday 20th July 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
Today was another day spent around the apartment catching up on work and editing YouTube videos.
We’re spending the weekends around the apartment as that’s when the city will be busiest. And then using a couple of the weekdays to explore, when we hope it will be quieter.
So nothing overly exciting to report today. We did venture out for dinner to a Japanese restaurant ten minutes away from the apartment. Which had incredible gyozas and sushi.
Again, it definitely wasn’t a cheap meal. But it’s made us very excited to be in Japan eating sushi and gyozas in actual Japan (!!) in a few weeks’ time!!
Day 126: Sunday 21st July 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
We hadn’t planned on going into the city today. But we were very behind on laundry. And the only place we could find that actually offered a laundry service was near Central Embassy.
So, in we headed on the Sky Train with our dirty drawers and clothes. Dropping off our bags of laundry before heading to Central Embassy. And spendt the day working from the coffee shops.
I set another YouTube video live, my second Sri Lanka vlog which I’ll insert below. And finally got our first set of travel guides live!
You can find our travel guides for Bucharest, Dubai, Sri Lanka and Kuala Lumpur here!
A very productive day to end the rollercoaster of a week.
Hopefully next week I can start to get into a routine here in Bangkok. And tick off the things that I’d hoped to get through while being here.
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