My ultimate adventure began in the middle of a cold night as I travelled down to Heathrow airport to board start the journey to the beautiful island of Koh Tao, Thailand. I had an overwhelming sense of anticipation and uncertainty. It was my first adventure of this kind and I was kept awake through the wee hours of the morning by millions of thoughts of what, where and who.
After lots of travelling, we arrived in Bangkok and took part in the welcome dinner, experienced some of the life and soul of Bangkok, including a very thrilling ride in a tuk tuk. I saw my life flash before my eyes several times as it hurtled through the over crowded streets of bangkok, including the u-turn infront of an incoming car.
After 2 days in Bangkok the travelling began again and included sleeping in the most uncomfortable position on a bus and being tossed up and down on a boat. The ordeal became suddenly worth it when we docked in Koh Tao. The island was beautiful, like nothing i'd ever seen. It became like a second home to me in the short time we were there. It also soon became apparent that I had over packed and all the grunting and heave ho-ing my bag about, which had caused amusement amongst others was unnessessary. Im a bit of a 'pack the kitchen sink' person.
Our i to i project involved volunteering as a teacher in a local school. I think I was a little unprepared for the challenges that we would face which included furniture hurtling across the room, hyperactive children and LOTS of noise. Despite all this they were very friendly and worked hard to communicate with us. We spent lots of time playing games and laughing with them. If ever the camera made an appearance then my memory card would be bursting at the seems with the funniest and most random photos i've seen.
One of my favourite aspects of the trip was the immediate bond that was formed with the other i to i volunteers. We became instant friends and shared some brilliant times together including eating at our favourite thai food restaurant, drinking buckets full of thai rum, dancing on the beach, getting tattoos, laughing for hours on end, watching people swing chains of fire around their head, swinging on big swings at the beach, getting the most heavenly thai massages, drinking cocktails and shopping in all the quaint little thai shops which were more like aladdins cave than shops.
One of my most memorable days was when we took a long boat trip around the island to snorkel. Lying in the sea with the most beautiful fish swimming past you, the sun beating down and the most peaceful atmosphere ive ever known was like a dose of heaven. The fact that we looked ridiculous in massive goggles and the snorkel tube was irrelevant when gazing down at the gorgeous coral that lines the sea floor around koh tao.
I loved everything about Koh Tao and would definatley recommend it to anyone who would like a slice of heaven for a few weeks.

• Thailand
• Koh Tao
• teaching