Monthly Travel Summary and Stats; July – Aug ’12

The last 4 weeks of my travels have been pretty slow pace wise in comparison to the last few months – but it’s been one dominated by surfing!

Having bounced around every few days for the best part of 5 months I decided to change my game plan and take a slight break from the actual travel side of things, sit tight in one spot for more than 3 nights and get some serious work done on the blogging side of things.

So after landing in Kuta, Bali and meeting up with Rich (aka @Asia_Surf and the man behind the soon to launch AsiaSurf.com) I decide to book 2 weeks at Ayu Beach Inn on the infamous Poppies 1 and spend some quality time relaxing by the pool, partying and of course surfing.

And that’s exactly what happened! Those 2 weeks were fueled by free cocktails at Skygarden, Indonesian buffets, ice cold Bintangs and the company of some crazy Aussies and Brazilians! To be honest I didn’t venture outside of Kuta town much – only on the odd occasion to go surf the infamous Uluwata and Padang Padang surf breaks an hour down the coast.

Recharged and stoked to be back amongst the waves I then spent a week fulfilling a life long surf dream of mine – a surf charter around Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa with the guys at Dreamweaver Surf Charter.

It was everything I’d hoped it to be!

From there I headed back to Kuta for a final few days soaking up the Balinese waves with some of my surf charter buddies before jumping back on a plane to Thailand.

After meeting up with my gorgeous Swiss girl who I first met back in Ecuador at the beginning of the year we hopped back to the island paradise of Phi Phi, where – thanks to the guys at AsiaRooms.com – we checked into some 4* luxury!

And then of course there was the chaos of fellow blogger Allys birthday!

A month which gave me some seriously needed down time, heaps of productivity and time to organize the next set of adventures…!

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Stats;

Overland Distance; 88.9kms (+whatever the hell I did via my surf charter!)

Flight Distance; 2613.05kms

Total Distance; 2701.95kms (not including the surf charter kms)

Main Spots; Kuta, Phuket, Phi Phi

Transport Taken; Mini buses, taxis, surf charter boat, ferry

Flights – DPS – HKT (Air Asia)

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Money Breakdown

Bali – £983.23 over 24 days (including 7 day surf charter at £400 and purchase of a surfboard at £150, although I’ve not included the £70 for my Thai visa) = £40.96 per day

Minus the surf charter and board though it would’ve worked out at £433 over 17 days = £25.47 per day

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Thailand – £150 over 7 days – = £21.42 per day

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Total spent – £1183.23 = £36.55 per day (without surf charter and board costs it would’ve been £24.29 per day)

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Bit of a dent in the budget this month (AGAIN) thanks to my surf charter shenanigans…honestly didn’t think I’d spent that much either! Just goes to show you’ve got to keep a close eye on things before they spiral. Next month HAS to be cheap!

Cheapest Place – I’d say Kuta. My accomodation was lush – private room, two pools, restaurant and wifi and centrally located) but still coming in around £10 per night! If you hunt around it’s easy to get a feed for under £1.50 and with Skygardens free flow drinks from 9-10 it’s easy to party on the cheap too!

Most Expensive Place – same as last month, Phuket.

Biggest Splurge/Unforeseen Expense – easily my trip with Dreamweaver which cost roughly £400, however that’s half of what it would usually be! I also bought a surfboard, but recouped half of the cost back by selling it before I left Bali

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Highlight – Apart from living the luxurious life of upmarket resorts with Katja at the moment I’d definitely say my surf charter. Like I said before it’s a right of passage for surfers – stoked to have been given the opportunity to do one!

Lowlight – tough one actually, this month has been pretty epic! I’d say not getting the Bali barrel I’d dreamt so much of!hahaha!

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Top Shot

This month is all about the waves – so I’d say this shot of a traditional outrigger sat on the shoulder of a pumping Desert Point, off the coast of Lombok.

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What’s Next?

Well the next month was supposed to entail the start of my divemasters course over on Koh Tao. However some other plans have come up in the mix – and being ever the oppotunist I’m giving myself some time to mull things over.

I’m waiting on a few emails to be replied too which will decide where I’ll be headed next – and as of publishing this blog I’ve literally no clue as to which way fate will take me…all I can say is that it’s between Koh Tao, Phi Phi Island, a random jaunt around Asia or heading back to Australia…!

It should be an amazing adventure however it turns out…