I survived my first week back at work after travelling through Vietnam and Cambodia for almost a month.

This is how my first week went:

• Monday: anxiety is neck-level, but I’ve got my holiday glow on and it’s not so bad.
• Tuesday: I think I’m actually depressed. Also tired AF.
• Wednesday: surprisingly not as tired as I thought I’d be. Would still rather be sipping cocktails.
• Thursday: a lot of holiday bloat has deflated thank God. Still not fit to wear anything too tight or that exposes too much skin.
• Friday: I made it. Now gotta get back on the beers for Not Sarah’s Hens. Lord, give me strength.

I have a few things I feel I should share in case I forget later on. They are things I discovered or re-discovered whilst travelling and whilst they may not particularly relate to all travel experiences, I feel they are worth mentioning, especially for those of you about to embark on your own travel adventures.

ONE

Bloody Mary’s are my new cocktail of choice.

I mean, I seriously don’t know how I’ve gone this long without having one. I hate overly sweet things, so cocktails are usually a bit hit and miss for me anyway. Enter good ol’ Bloody Mary. It tastes like tinned tomatoes with a kick of spice and I am here for it. As Josh pointed out, it’s basically Italian in a glass and anyone who knows me, knows this is a great thing. I urge any savoury-lovers like myself to give this cocktail a crack.

TWO

How to Get Away With Murder (HTGAWM) is my new favourite Netflix show.

This is not to be confused with Making a Murderer (which is also brilliant). Josh and I decided to start watching it on a whim when we were in Cambodia and we smashed out four and a half seasons of it in less than three weeks. It is the shit. Fortunately for us we picked up the extra season on Netflix because we were in a different zone, but coming home meant the fourth season dropped off our Netflix. So now I have no idea what’s happening and I’m not happy about it.

THREE

It was actually Vietnamese coffee that was making our bellies hurt, not our malaria tablets.

How we didn’t make this connection last year makes me think that all of the beer made us totally fucking stupid. The minute we stopped drinking coffee that was a bajillion times stronger than what we were used to, the bellyaches stopped. Which also sucked cos Vietnamese coffee tastes goooood. Keep that in mind if you’re a coffee-fan headed to Vietnam.

FOUR

Some people are still absolute fucktards in airports.

They have absolutely no idea when it comes to going through security checkpoints and appropriate etiquette at the baggage carousels. I saw a woman walk through the security sensor with a hat on her head. Another with her passport and phone in her hand. Another woman tried to cut in front of me when walking up to customs. I actually said to her “I don’t think so mate” and made sure I got in front. One man got sent back to take extra things off so many times that we came up with a level-up for our airport rules. Initially we decided that when you messed up, the rule should be to send you to the back of the line. Now, if you are gonna waste that much time, you have to get back on a plane and start your trip again. I don’t care if you’ve been travelling for 26 hours either.

Also – when we collect our bags at the end of our journeys, how about we don’t all stand on top of each at the very fucking edge of the carousel? If you’re standing at the very edge and then shoot a dirty look at my partner when he swings his suitcase into your knee (cough definitely not on purpose cough) that’s not anyone else’s problem but yours because you’ve acted like a dickhead. Airports need to paint a thick, bright yellow or red line for people to stand behind and only when your suitcase approaches can you cross that line. And the line should have words such as DON’T BE A PRICK, WAIT YOUR TURN.

FIVE

Duck fetus doesn’t taste terrible.

#sorrynotevensorrymate

SIX

Sun World in Bana Hills has to be one of the weirdest places on the planet, even though I haven’t been to every weird place on the planet.

As my sister pointed out beautifully, it’s a bit North Korea-esque and creepy, whilst still being a bizarro and cool experience. Go visit if you get the chance. Just remember that no matter what you read or see on the internet, it is not as magical as Disneyland. Not even close. It’s like Disneyland that’s been on crack for a week and needs to stop before it gets hospitalised.

SEVEN

I overpacked. Again.

Even though I wrote a post about what not to pack last year I still somehow packed shit I did not need or use once.

Whilst it probably sounds like I’m complaining in a lot of that, my holiday was nothing short of amazing.

So many wonderful, exciting, weird, emotional and happy things happened that it hurts my brain to think about how I’m going to get it down into words. But I will. Because a) I love to write and b) getting to relive my experiences brings me so much joy.

And if I can get even one person to travel to Vietnam or Cambodia with what I have to say, I’ll be absolutely stoked.

More to come.

Han x