Well, what to say?! Since the last blog Jade and I did three nights worth of overnight travel from Laos on buses, trains and boats to get to Koh Tao island in Thailand where we spent a glorious few days sunning ourselves on the beach, going snorkelling in the gorgeous blue waters, doing yoga, eating great food and watching a drag act among other things!!!After a few days hitting the shops and markets (unfortunately for my credit card, quite hard!) in Bangkok, around about this time last week (well, 8.30am on asian time) on the 10th August, we said a very surreal goodbye to Thailand and boarded our first plane of the day on the way back to the UK...

Two more planes, quite a few tears (of happiness for the most part when I saw my lovely mum and dad), and a week later, and I'm sitting on my mum's super slow computer at my parent's house waiting for my nail polish to dry and about to pop in a lovely warm power shower- normal day-to-day life has crept up on me very quickly apparently!!But seriously, although being home is very odd in certain ways, and I can't say that I don't miss the glamour (squat toilets anyone?!) of travelling life, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world right now, as home is definitely where my heart is. Although the future is a bit uncertain for me right now, what with no job and not too much in the way of career prospects, I'm so grateful to be able to spend time with my friends and family. I must say though, I definitely do miss waking up with Jade beside me/in the same bed as me every morning, and having our adventures together every day

Despite the fact that it's extremely trite and cliched of me to say, I do think travelling has changed me- I've learnt a great deal about the nature of time (especially how to waste 8 hours in a train station in India!), as well as more appreciation for the important things in life, as well as the silly, frivolous things that make life a bit more fun but I haven't had for quite a while. For example, It's strange and a bit wonderful to come home to a room bursting full of clothes I don't remember buying, but after five months of wearing essentially the same outfit every single day and having the main decisive factor for what to wear day to day as what t-shirt smelled the least sweaty I still haven't got used to it!! Last weekend the weather was really gorgeous here too, which obviously meant that I was still wearing a cardigan for most of it, but I did get to take a walk down by the sea (Northern Ireland apparently has quite blue sea too dontcha know!) and have a bbq with Gary, simple but lovely things that I realise I really missed whilst off adventuring.

People keep asking me what my favourite place was out of all the brilliant ones that I've been to, but I haven't been able to give a proper answer as there were so many wonderful sights and unforgettable times that it's hard to put into words, or pick just one. However, I think the important thing is that Jade and I both have those memories now, those special places that we've seen and will (hopefully) remember for the rest of our lives, and we can think of them when times are a bit tough, or it's a cloudy Monday morning and we're hiding under the duvet thinking of pulling a sickie from work! I think another one of those cliched things is actually true, about it not being so important where you go as the journey itself, and I know that after over five months of travelling on that journey I think I've come out the other side a happier and more aware person, and really, I'm most looking forward to the next adventure now- being home!!

There's not too much left to say I don't think, and I'm still in a little bit of a daze trying to process the last week or so, but I do just quickly want to say a final big thank-you to everyone who took the time to have a read of these blogs whilst I've been away, it's meant so much to me to hear positive feedbac, and it really made me feel not so far away from the people I care about to be able to share all of my adventures with you online. I'm thinking of starting another blog when I figure out something interesting to write about, so watch this space (or rather my facebook page) if I decide to do that...

lots of love from (actually quite sunny for a change!) Northern Ireland xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx