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[dixon cox]

No Big Dogs back in 1998.

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[Bumblebee]

Good to see your sharing your early memories of Los DC. Great effort I think most will agree.

[dixon cox]

Good to see your sharing your early memories of Los DC. Great effort I think most will agree.

Many thanks BB, especially coming from you, the TR meister

I'm definately enjoying going through all these old tapes systematically and reminiscing on what was essentially the trip that changed my life for the better, changed me so much as a person and opened my eyes like never before. I am also so very different from the person I was before I took this initial solo foray out into the big wide world back in the summer of 1998.

Although I do not regret doing it earlier in my life, I just wish I'd shot more footage and images of my travels and the technology at the time was better. I'd also kept a journal of a portion of this trip too, but I'm buggered if I can find it now.

I don't want to make anyone worry, but I'm still only on tape 2 of 12

[KendoUK]

One of my mates approach to Thailand trips was always "a bit of culture, a bit of sleaze" and then repeat ad nauseum. Now your trip reached Nana its good to see you've reached the sleaze part

[petesie]

I'm enjoying your jaunt through past trips...on Soi 11 did you ever have a beer at Cheap Charlies?

It was a bar right on the corner just assembled out of old bits and pieces and he kept an assortment of animals above the optics...funny when the old monkey used to piss on the fruitbat...

I last drank there around '95.

[dixon cox]

... its good to see you've reached the sleaze part

The trouble was, at the time I always imagined myself gathered around the TV with my parents and family showing them footage of where I'd been on my travels and giving them a commentary on my trip once I'd got home. As it happened, that never happened, but I was quietly conscious of what I was filming :|

What I didn't expect almost 14 years later was to be posting it as a retro trip report on a transsexual forum with the expectation of sleaze from the readers

I'm enjoying your jaunt through past trips...on Soi 11 did you ever have a beer at Cheap Charlies?

Cheers Petesie

I don't think I ever drank at Cheap Charlies, not that I can remember. I do recall frequenting the beer bars at Soi Zero rather alot though, as I used to stay at "Street One Lodge" (Sukhumvit Soi1) regularly and I got a good deal.

There was an unusual bit of excitement that occured at Street One Lodge in the early hours of one morning just before the 1999 New Year, which I will cover later.

[Hoot]

I'm enjoying your meander down memory lane DC. A 'round the world trip is something I still want to do myself. It wasn't even something I considered till after my first trip to Thailand which changed my whole view on life as well. It was the first time I traveled solo and to a foreign country. Well, I'd visited other countries on vacation, but it was always in a prepackaged tour or resort atmosphere. Independent travel is so much different. So much better. There was a whole different world waiting for me out there.

Though as I get older, I realize this dream may not come to pass. It gets harder to think of trying to pull myself away from the world I'm used to. And with the recent financial crisis it is an uncomfortable thought to give up a job, a house, a car, to travel the world, spending money instead of saving it. Though in the back of my mind I still have that little voice saying "Come on Hoot, it's only a year out of your life. One you'll never forget."

But I've got a plan to make it happen. I'm going to hit the lottery and become a multimillionaire. Fool Proof

[dixon cox]

I'm enjoying your meander down memory lane DC. Independent travel is so much different. So much better."Come on Hoot, it's only a year out of your life. One you'll never forget."

Many thanks Hoot and you're so very right, independant travel is by far and away the better method, giving total freedom. That one year out of your life will be something you will never forget, both the good and the not so good will be thought upon fondly for the rest of your life and you always find something to talk about to other travellers, plus it expands your mind and gives you confidence. I'm a completely different person now.

I had been working with many Kiwis and Aussies in London for some years doing 'building systems', aircon and fire systems, and several of these antipodeans became good pals. A few kept inviting me to visit them back home when they left the UK and eventually I decided to take the plunge. I checked ticket prices to Australia thinking I'd like to go for one month, but when I saw that round-the-world tickets were almost the same price (£900+) and taking in numerous exotic locations into the bargain, my mind began to wonder. So after some lengthy consideration and a deep breath, I did it. I have never once regretted it, not even for a second.

I was at a crossroads in my life at the time too, as a 5 year relationship had just come to an end, albeit amicably, but she still remains one of my best female friends to this day. As my job wasn't going anywhere and I was generally fed-up, I pined for some major changes. So I sold my house and decided to enjoy the positive equity (I was lucky), but also put a chunk into a one year savings bond first, which paid 8% at the time (tax free, as I wasn't earning), an almost unimaginable savings rate nowadays.

I eventually completed my lap of the world early by rushing through America, only 6 weeks instead of 12 (apologies to the Americans), with the plan to save the expense and re-visit SE Asia once more following my desire for all things SE Asian. Two weeks at home (with Mum & Dad) and I was off on a plane again bound for Thailand (via Hong Kong) with further plans for Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines. The whole trip was simply one of the highlights of my life to date. But if I could change anything I would have done it in reverse, starting in the States and finishing in Asia, saving the best 'till last.

Whilst away travelling I pondered at times upon what I would do when I returned home to the UK, but I knew for certain that I wanted a change of vocation. I did an electronic apprenticeship when I was a teenager and many of my friends from there moved into IT, I didn't because I didn't want to follow the crowd and be a sheep. But once I returned I trained and acquired an MCSE (Microsoft Certified System Engineer) and got my first IT job in banking. I subsequently turned to contracting a few years later due to redundancy and I haven't looked back. It pays much better compared to the equivalent permanent role and gives me lots of time off and freedom between contracts, if I can afford it. It was the best move I ever made regarding my working life and all the travelling was and is amazing.

So, if anyone was curious as to how I get to spend between 2 and 4 months a year in SE Asia (this year was 6 months), that's how I do it. Plus, no kids.

But I've got a plan to make it happen. I'm going to hit the lottery and become a multimillionaire. Fool Proof

I wish you the best of luck

In today's troubled and difficult times taking a year-long sabbatical is not an easy thing to achieve and positive equity on a house is no longer a given. I was lucky.

[petesie]

Good on yer DC for taking the step into the unknown when you did and having the bottle to do it.

These days to me it would be a leap off a cliff into the unfathomable as family commitments and the necessity of having a job to maintain that binds.

I don't think they're doing the multi airline/country round the world tickets these days unless anyone knows different?

[coletrickle]

i think they still are petesie . i know a young lass from my village . was a barmaid (well fit as well ) . with family ties in new zealand . her and her bf left uk in april to take a year out for a round the world trip . starting in america i believe , and then working there way too ozzy nz then most of asia . dont quote me on this but if i remember correctly her ticket was around 1400-1500 quid

[KendoUK]

interesting stuff DC, especially about your career choice.

I've worked for the same local insurance firm 16 years man & boy. Worked in IT for over 10 of those. Pretty secure gig (touch wood) and I can usually wangle around 30 days annual leave.

However, you certainly got the cogs in my brain whirring about contracting. My boss knows I want to spend as much time in LOS as possible so they have been pretty flexible with me in that respect (took a month out this year, all paid)

[Thailand-junkie]

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