Argos experience

Anyone who has lived in the UK or is familiar with moving to a new country will know that once you arrive somewhere new there is a never ending list of things you need to do, arrange and buy. One of the most obvious initially is your lack of homewares. Sheets, towels and all the basics of life.

We had all sorts of suggestions as to where to head to full our needs. From the supermarket to various outlet and department stores. The most interesting worth a note is Argos. Argos is a store you walk into and first think “there is nothing in here” but low and behold in reality there is more than your can imagine. Step one, head to a catalogue and leaf through pages and pages of homewares etc. Step two, locate your desired products, grab a pencil and sheet and write down the catalogue number or numbers. Step three, had to a cashier or pay station and pay. Step four, wait for your number to be called and collect from the assigned counter. It’s pretty cool really. There just get it from the warehouse right there. Generally cheap and crappy stuff, but it does the job J

It‘s kind of like university again, but there is no friends and family to get free house stuff from. Doh. We are back in a flat, sharing bills, bathrooms and kitchens. If I am being honest that is a pretty depressing part of this whole experience. Space sharing again. Along with the general lack of funds and no current income. And that fact we have to find a flat again in three weeks (we were lucky enough to score somewhere while a friends flatmate is away travelling with a couple of cool chicks).

I job hunt here involves finding a few agencies to get out there and find you interviews. To date I have three agencies on board and fingers crossed for some interviews soon. Recruiters are generally really nice and so far they seem to be putting a lot of jobs in front of me and being generally helpful with CV advice etc. No complaints there. It seems to be quite a good system.

Other than that I am truly enjoying the generally cheap food, hating the expensive transport (but loving how easy it is), liking the ‘summer’ (better than the weather was when we left NZ) and can’t wait to have an income again.

I'm leaving, on a jet plane.

So I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again...

Well that is only partly true. We might not get jobs and could be back in no time at all and Spikes brother is getting married in March which defiantly warrants being in New Zealand. So who really knows. But one thing we are pretty sure of this time is that it is farewell to Aotearoa as our home for a significant length of time. If not London then Sydney, or who knows where. But it is time to get our lives restarted again. The essence of the journey has changed significantly now.

Stop one is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A short time to gather our thoughts, eat some good food and possibly a spot of shopping in preparation for the full on job hunt once we hit London.

Oh how I love you Dhal and roti

KL is a fantastic city. It is a strong mix of modernism and traditional culture. Everyone speaks English, which obviously is always a big up for making life that bit easier. There is a large proportion of Muslims, which means beautiful outfits and rich culture. And the food. There is no end to the food in Malaysia. The Indian influence runs strong here and we enjoyed a $1 breakfast of “Australian Dhal” as they called it (a more watery, easier to make Dhal) and rotis. Awesome, awesome, awesome. It is a lot cleaner than other places is South East Asia we have visited and when caught fresh the food is nothing short of the best.

The shopping is also fantastic. You are never more than a short monorail, walk or train ride away from one of Malaysia’s huge shopping malls. Sogo, the biggest department store in Malaysia has outfitted us with some treads required for the job hunt we are about to head into full steam. Great quality, great prices and helpful staff.

Sogo department store sale floor

Dragon at the tower

The only real sight seeing we did while in KL was a trip up the KL tower. It is 5 metres taller than the sky tower. We got a pretty cool view of the city and got a free “F1 simulator”, which turned out to see some crappy computer game which looked like something from the early 90’s. The tower, as a lot of KL is surrounded by rainforest. It is quite a pretty city.

The taxi driver who took us to the airport reflected our general experience of the Malay people, chatty, kind and open. He told us all sorts of stories about his travels, driving and even political views. I think my general knowledge on Malaysia increased 50% at least during that 45 minute journey.

As we prepare to land in Stanstead the flight attendants were instructed and consequently sprayed the plane with something in aerosol cans as required by UK health regulations... I don’t remember this experience last time I arrived here? Maybe those who flight Air Asia are high risk entrants?

We headed into our accommodation for the night, a housewarming/birthday party. It was a long time without decent sleep and a pretty intense couple of days. But we had finally arrived at what we now call home.

The journey between backpacking and 'real life'

Since we made the decision to go to London there have been a lot more decisions to be made, a lot more things have happened and there have even been a doubt or two.

So lets start at the beginning. Step one was the flights, which were all done while we were still in Asia. It worked out cheapest to take two seperate one way flights, Auckland to Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Lumpur to Standstead. No frills, no food, nothing fights.

Step two was attaining Visas for the UK. This process turned out much easier than anticipated. We did the whole process ourselves (to save money) and had our passports back in hands within 10 working days.

Spike and I with Manly in the backgound

Next we headed to Sydney for 6 days to catch up with Spike middle brother Greg and his girlfriend. we ended up being stranded by the ash cloud and almost two weeks later we made it back to NZ just in time for me to make it to a 21st on less than four hours sleep. We learnt on this trip that we have one trip only insurance. So basically I paid for a whole year, but as soon as I hit NZ shores it became invalid. What a nightmare. And f course, Jetstar didn't give a toss that our Sunday evening flight couldn't be rebooked until the following Friday (how two days of not flighing equals 5 days of delay I will never understand).

Keg & Spike looking at the lack of surf at Curl Curl

Syndey brought back to live the orginal plan to move there rather than London. The money, the weather and the lifestyle. Needless to say it is still sitting in our minds as a possible next step. Have to get a head somehow.

JetStar is really out to get me. Happens that we had the first leg of the trip to London also booked on this challenging airline. When I finally managed to get hold a person to upgrade my already purchased luggage 5 more kgs I was informed I couldn't do that. Although I could when I first booked, and I can at the airport. I could go on for quite a while with all the details, but you get the basic idea that they are retarded. I plan on doing my very best to aviod them in the furture.

Upon returning to NZ we had less than three weeks before take off. Rearranging and repacking of things, a weekend out a Bland bay catching up with friends and now I am back packing my bag again. I have no idea what to take with me this time round, it feels a lot harder than packing for backpacking. Not totally sure why.

We have somewhere to live for a month, which is nice and in a matter of a week the job and flat hunts will fully be underway when we settle into the next step. Living in London.

A small reflection

Over the last few months of my time away I put together a list of interesting things (highlights and lowlights from the trip)...

At the airport

• Hottest location - Bagan, Myanmar 45+ degrees
• Most stylish people - young Vietnamese women
• Most overweight locals - Bolivia
• Coldest location - London
• Most humans on a moto - 6
• Best tour guide - Maxi, horse riding in Cordoba, Argentina
• Worst toliet - on the bus from Nazca to Cusco
• Highest location - 4400 at the top of the death road in Bolivia
• Friendliest people - Koh Throng Islanf, Cambodia
• Cutest children - Cambodia
• Most useful gadget - sea sickness bands
• Heaviest package home - 12.4kgs, suits from Vietnam
• Single most expensive activity - Paragliding, Cordoba, Argentina
• Best 'freebie' on a tour - holding a snake in Vietnam
• Scariest activity - Teaching in Cambodia
• Best new drink - Iced green tea with honey and lemon
• Best new food - Indian - Masala bread
• Worst Accident - Tom crashing off this moto into a ditch in rural Laos and knocking himself out food and propper
• Best Mountain - Machu Pichu
• Worst tour guide - Mario on the salt lakes in Bolivia. We were promised an english speaking guide and he didn't speak a word.
• Dirtiest place -Santa Cruz, Bolivia
• Biggest mear - Not getting our Visa's pre arranged for Vietnam and paying a fortune at the airport.
• Worst place - Tie between Puno (Peru) and Santa Cruz (Bolivia).
• Itichest bites - Ant bites all up the back of my legs in Samipata, Bolivia
• Biggest rip off - Hoi An cooking class, we made basic food and the dude skipped two things we were meant to see
• Most expensive contry - Brazil (by a long shot)
• Cheapest place - Bolivia?
• Best beer - Beer Lao!
• Food I missed the most - Good dairy products
• Best purchase -New shoes in Peru (I kept falling over in my other ones!)
• Silliest located town - Hoi An, it floods every year because they are 100m too close from the river
• Favourite article of clothing - Black summer dress
• 1 thing I never used - battery charger
• Least sleep - none, from BA to Floripa. Awake for over 40 hours
• Most nights in one place - Hanoi, a total of 8 nights (in two different blocks)
• Worst journey - Siem Reap to Kampot. Were told it was direct overnight bus, but were in a bus station from 4-8am
• Longest journey - 19 hours from Hoi An to Saigon - Train
• First time I ate a whole tube of pringles - Samipata, Bolivia
• Best hostel - Backpackers Sunset, Floripa, Brazil - Great food, awesome spot, good fun.
• Favourite river - Nam ou, Laos
• Tme taken to hack into facebook when in a blocked location - 2 days, Vietnam
• Proudest language moment - When Spike was sick in Bolivia and I managed to get some orange juice off a vendor and take it back to spike and return the galss
• Number of times without power - too many to count
• Worst internet - Samipata (Bolivia) or Don det (Laos)
• Most tourist friendly detination - Thailand (the whole place!)

Until next time...