Took the bus to Leamington and spent the day there with the sun shining across the blue sky. Had a nice lunch at Whetherspoons and took the bus back to Rugby. Went back to Nan's and changed clothes before we shared this amazing nachos plate at The Lawrence Sheriff and had a few glasses of red wine. Just finished sandwiches, tea and crips back at Nan's. Tomorrow the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham awaits!

Lying on the sofa at Nan's whilst eating this buttery toffee and listening to her telling Daniel an extra time to boil the kettle properly for er tea. 

"It has to be bubbling when you make mine!"

"Ooooh, I'm going to need more milk in than that. What do you call that?!" 

Hahah. 

So so so so happy being here. I love England.

- Nastasja

Nu är jag tillbaka på vardagsbloggen igen, även om denna kommer finnas kvar och uppdateras med våra framtida resor och så. 

 

Ni hittar mig på: http://nastasja.blogg.se   och möjligtvis   http://thefoodtrain.blogg.se   om det blir något matbloggande.

 

- Nastasja

Hey guys!

 

As some of you already know, we flew back to Sweden on Wednesday. As we needed to have a ticket out of Thailand before we went there we decided to book our flight back to Sweden and then go to England for the rest of our budgeted money. We've kept it really quiet as it was probably a once in a lifetime chance to surprise people like we were going to do. I only told mum because she decided she was going to England with my sister two days after our arrival. We didn't let Chey know though. I also let one of my besties, Thure, know as I needed a partner in crime.

 

The last few days in Pattaya we sunbathed at the hotel we'd been staying at and went shopping. Daniel who is obsessed with watches bought some really nice new ones and I managed my best attempt at bargaining and bought a Jimmy Choo bag (fake of course). We ate icecream, went to Ripley's - Believe it or not!, got mani-pedis and visited The Sanctuary of Truth (the temple in the picture, completely made of wood). We weren't ill one second after our antibiotics so we have been able to really enjoy the rest of our trip. We got picked up at 5am from Daniel's uncle's on Wednesday and then went to the airport in Bangkok. (The week before we'd had a bit of a scare because the Thai farmers were on their way to the airport to protest because the government weren't paying them for their rice. China has stopped buying rice from Thailand because it's so corrupt. But they turned around when they were promised their money).

 

 

We flew just over 11 hours to Arlanda, Stockholm and were met by a cold airport, very very tall Swedish people and a bottle of water and a shrimp sandwich for 180kr. Crazy. There was also a bombthreat whilst we were there. Got on our last flight to Gothenburg, got our luggage when we got there and looked for our mothers who.... were at the wrong arrival hall. So we walked round and sneaked up behind them and surprised them. 

 

Came home and juuuuust got inside before Chey got home. I peeked my head out the kitchen and her eyes were like golf balls and her response was: "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. IS THIS REAL? IT CAN'T BE!", hahah.

 

Woke up at 3.30am on Thursday, jetlagged like mad. Went to the insurance company, invited cousin Krista back for lunch and then kind of waited around until Thure came and picked me up. We were going to go to Borås and surprise Sofie and go out partying. It was a sweeeet reunion and we were like two kids high on 1kg of sweets in the car all the way down. When we arrived at Sofie's I put a pillowcase on my head and sunk down in the seat. She came in and sat in the backseat and Thure was so excited she kept revving the car. I was filming under the pillowcase and after she'd guessed I was Hannah Wass I pulled it off and was met but a shriek and then TEARS. Our lovely Sofie never cries, haha. SO much fun. Went and bought alcohol, Indian food and then had a reallllly fun night that ended at 3am (23,5h being awake...). 

 

Friday morning we cleaned and then went down and met Sofie for lunch and did some errands in the city. So surreal walking around there again. Walked back home, Thure on the phone to Nana trying to speak like I wasn't there, saying "I" and not "we". I drove Thure's clio back to Ulricehamn with a bit of trouble in town, haha. I text Nana back on whatsapp talking about stuff in Thailand. Had a conversation with Malin about her visit to the dentist, Let's Dance and that we'd be in touch during the weekend and it was a shame it'd be hard with facetime as Daniel and I were going to Cambodia on Monday, HA HA HA.

 

In the evening Daniel came home to mine with Swedish shrimps, marinated garlic cloves and olives. It was the weirdest thing seeing each other after just a few days, in other clothes than we'd had for months, and just... at home. But it was so nice. Thure and I were staying in touch and she then text me to say that Nana had arrived at Malin's and we could turn up. Daniel and I parked the car and sneaked up the stairs and knocked on the door and walked in, me with my heart in my throat. "Hello?". Walked out from behind the wall and was met by the loudest screams ever, Nana throwing sweets and breaking wine glasses, tears and absolute shock. BEST surprise ever. We stayed and were all high on adrenaline watching the film clip with Nana breaking the wine glass over and over again laughing uncontrollably. 

 

The next morning Daniel and I booked our flight to England, so we are going 12-21 of March. We land in Birmingham and will either go straight to Manchester or Rugby. We then went down to town so I could surprise another very missed friend. Peeked inside the book shop to see when Marika left the till and then sneaked in behind the shelves. When the till area was clear I walked forward and asked if she could help me too. "OHHHHHHH!" she said, her eyes going round and her hands clasped around her mouth. Absolutely fantastic. Big hugs in the shop and promises to see each other soon.

 

We drove down to Borås, Daniel meeting friends for lunch (finally sushi, haha) and me going to another dear friend for a haircut and then a ceasar salad at Viskan. 

 

 

The days back here have been mental but fun, and it feels good to be back. We've been away for 5 months and two days. The most incredible experience and we are both very proud of each other that we did it so so well.

 

Until next time!

//DD

Nästa snorkelplats (100 m bort) hoppade jag i med Nastasja och vi drog runt lite. Så svårt att hålla koll på alla de fiskar vi såg osv, så många! Hittade iaf ett snorkel-set mitt i det stora barriärrevet! Så dök ner o plockade upp det! Perfekt, vi har snackat om att köpa det så vi sparar massa dollaros! 

Fler bilder kommer

Simma lugnt /DD

It is our last day on the Great Ocean Road and we stopped off in Koala Cove for lunch. The birds there were more fun than the koalas - we even saw the guy from the café feed a kookaburra into its beak! It's been so bloody cold, windy and rainy yesterday and today that I can't wait to get to Melbourne and just have a shower and a cup of tea. Atleast most of the people in the group are a real laugh. 

- Nastasja

Bring on the new HIMYM episode!

- Nastasja

Vi hann knappt checka in innan vi fick veta att flyget var en timme försenat. Vi har två timmar på oss på Heathrows mobsterflygplats. Att ta sig från terminal 5 till 1 på EN timme nu istället och att bagaget hinner flyttas med verkar bli lite smått stressigt. Men så länge vi kommer med ska det gå bra. De viktigaste sakerna har vi ändå i handbagaget.

- Nastasja

P.S

Vi har haft problem med kommentarerna då det tydligen kommer upp att de måste godkännas innan de publiceras. Har fixat det nu så det ska bara vara att kommentera på! Puss!

FINALLY the blog is up after a week's brainstorming for a good name. Here we'll be uploading everything that we're up to on the other side of the world. At the moment we're in the final stages of fixing stuff. The rucksacks are unpacked and I am a bit worried about how I am going to survive without my straighterners. Time will tell.

 

Laters!

 

- Nastasja