I had a great holiday – enjoyed catching up with all the family, but as always, it was over far too quickly.
Not quite as action-packed as my last holiday but I still managed to squeeze quite a bit in:
- A day out at the trampoline park with my niece and nephew – I did realise that I shouldn’t really be flinging myself around on American Ninja-style apparatus at my age but I couldn’t help it!
- A karaoke session with the siblings – we sang all our 80s and 90s favourites!
- Five days in Koh Samui, Thailand where I snorkelled, kayaked, ate a lot of yummy food and stayed up til 3.30am watching England in a nail-biting penalty shootout!
- A foot massage evening with the siblings
- An outing to celebrate my sister’s birthday
- Ten pin bowling session, scoring 73 in the first game and 150 in the second – clearly the first game was just a warm up, haha!
- A game of badminton
- Lots of dim sum and sushi!
I didn’t know that planes with open propellers were still used commercially!
Budget Blown
As with previous holidays, I hardly bought anything for myself (just snacks and green tea teabags!) but I spent a lot on eating and drinking out and of course, I had to treat the kids and ended up spending a lot more than planned.
So much so that I had to borrow from my sis so she will be wanting to collect on her debt either later this month but maybe I can stall her until next month…
Some people buy souvenirs on holiday….I buy toilet rolls!
As always, I leave home with a heavy suitcase (full of stuff for the family) and end up with a light/empty one and as with my last trip, I stocked up on toilet rolls for my return trip home.
Toilet Rolls
Why toilet rolls? Because they’re something I will use, I can store them away and I needed to fill up my empty suitcase!
I usually buy Tesco brand, £3.35 for 9 rolls, 2-ply, average 220 sheets per roll.
The HK ones I buy cost £2.88 for 10 rolls, 3-ply, average 340 sheets per roll.
And that’s with a crappy Sterling exchange rate. There will, however, be no need for me to buy any more on my next trip – the stash I have will last a long time!
On the subject of spending, I successfully used my Starling card in both Dubai (airport) and Thailand – am very happy with the app so no doubt, I’ll be using it again on my travels.
Thoughts and Ideas
As mentioned previously, I didn’t do any blogging while I was away but while I was lounging by the pool in Thailand, I jotted down a few ideas and thoughts about my investments.
I’ve now got more of an idea of how I will use my SIPPs and ISA for income when I pull the plug on full-time work. It’s still only a loose idea and I’ll see how things look at the end of year as I’m overdue an update on my investments plan.
I’ve realised that I’ve been coasting along when I could probably make a lot more effort with my expenses and my savings. I guess a bit more focus won’t do any harm and might be enough to make a difference. I have family staying with me later this month so perhaps the focus will have to come after they leave!
Some clowns, plus a couple of guys wearing white make-up…
A shame that ‘football didn’t come home’ in the end as this trip was very much entwined with the World Cup, with various plans being made around catching the timezone friendly (and some unfriendly) matches.
I almost miss the ‘Three Lions’ song which has been played endlessly everywhere!
I shall still enjoy watching the final as a neutral and also look forward to catching the Wimbledon finals – tennis has been forgotten with all the football excitement!
Have a great weekend all!
