Royal Thai Embassy Time

       

New Vlog is up on Suze and the Beard

http://youtu.be/bhtY2onSfk4

We headed to London to see if we could extend our Thai visas. 

Can't lie it was a rush trying to get there in time (9-12 opening times) when you live out in the sticks, however once we arrived, a little out of breath, the process was so easy. 

Take the following with you: 

Visa Application Form - filled out which can be found on the Royal Thai Embassy website

Two Passport Photos - mug shots at the ready guys 

No smiling 

No hair in the way 

No duck faces 

Fee - in cash 

You grab a ticket, a little bit like your at a deli in a supermarket, and wait your turn. 

When you are called up, hand everything over to the lovely member of staff and a few stamps later your all done. 

They will hand you a receipt and tell you to come back to collect the next day, or in our case on the Monday. Simple as that. 

It's now just a waiting game to see if it's approved....fingers crossed everyone!! 

We then couldn't resist a little mooch into town and a remanising moment of our first date.

Go check out the VLOG, subscribe and maybe give us a cheeky thumbs up. 

Suze and the Beard x

The Royal Thai Embassy - http://thaiembassyuk.org.uk/?q=node/

The Diner Camden - http://www.goodlifediner.com/locations/camden

AllSaints - http://www.allsaints.com

Urban Outfitters Market - http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/uk/index.jsp

Starbucks - http://www.starbucks.com

Happy Pancake Day

1 cup of milk 

1 cup of self raising flour 

1 to 2 eggs depending on how many pancakes you want to make 

A bowl 

And a whisk

A quick, easy pudding you can have either savoury or sweet. 

Suze - I love mine with fresh orange juice and some sugar. Nearly every pancake day I get asked why orange and not lemon, and this year was no different. It's just seriously tasty! Trust me. 

Beardy - Golden syrup, lots and lots of golden syrup, for that sugar rush effect. 

Happy Pancake Day Everyone

We hope you had a 'flipping' good one...such a bad pun. 

Suze and the Beard 

Our First Vlog

So it's finally here! Our first VLOG! 

Sorry for the odd wobble we are still learning. 

Go and check it out, give us a little like and please subscribe! 

http://youtu.be/-MXG00vKBIM

Information: 

Hixter http://www.hixterbankside.co.uk

The Chop Shop 
http://www.chopshopuk.com

The Park Plaza Westminster 
http://m.parkplaza.com/mweb/london-hotel-gb-se1-7ut/gbwestmi;jsessionid=CwGkJhhD3Gqm2sv0HjYkDGpzGLqvyny2HXGQBmgG06Q2WC9D2Dn4!921506962

Instagram: @suzeandthebeard @beardyandsuze 

Twitter: suzy0305 

YouTube: Suze and the Beard http://youtu.be/-MXG00vKBIM

Thank you to everyone for your support it really means a lot. 

Suze and the Beard x

Liebster Award - Discover New Blogs

       

Something pretty awesome happened to us today! We got nominated for the Liebster Award! 

To be honest the puzzled look on Beardy's face was brilliant, so that alone deserves a huge thank you to alwaysrainsglitter for that treat, but more so for acknowledging us. 

This is all very new to us, as we have only just started blogging/vlogging, so we weren't even aware that this was a 'thing'. 

We both think it seems to be a fantastic way for aspiring bloggers to get noticed and we are very grateful for the nomination. 

So rules and the nitty gritty

You need to make sure you thank the blogger who nominated you with there link

Thanks again alwaysrainsglitter 

Go check out her blog 

http://www.alwaysrainsglitter.blogspot.co.uk

Check :) 

Nominate 11 new bloggers that who have less than 200 followers and Include the link

We are going to nominate:

The Wanderer

http://katthewanderer.com/

Taking America

http://taking-america.blogspot.com

The Cosy Traveller

http://www.thecosytraveller.co.uk

Misses Honeyblossom

http://www.misseshoneyblossom.blogspot.com

Bunks and Beaches

http://bunksandbeaches.blogspot.co.uk/

Emilys Endeavours

http://www.emilysendeavours.com/

The Wandering Lens

http://www.thewanderinglens.com/

A Life Passport

http://www.alifepassport.com/

What ever life throws at me

http://whateverlifethrowsatme98.blogspot.com.au/

Dutch On The Move

http://dutchonthemove.com/

Frolic and Wander

http://frolicandwander.blogspot.co.uk/

Check :) 

Answer the 11 questions the blogger has given you to answer. We are both going to answer these

1. Whats your favourite film? Suze - toughy, has to be Anchorman, quotes galore!                        Beardy - definitely Dude, where's my car !? Much to Suze's disgust. 
2. What could you not live without? Suze - cuddles, I do love a good hug, that and hot sauce.     Beardy - luckily you like those things separate, would not be a fan of smothering myself in hot sauce. Definitely agree with Suze.
3. What is your favourite clothes shop? Suze - we don't usually go clothes shopping as Asos is just awesome, has to be Asos.                                                                                                     Beardy - No favourite just whatever looks alright and is comfy suits me
4. If you could only take one makeup item with you in your bag, what would it be? Suze - Eco lip balm don't want a chap chap city situation, what about you Beardy, what make up item always needs to be in your man bag?                                                                                                         Beardy - I'm going to pass on this one
5. Do you prefer winter or summer? Suze - both, love wrapping up warm but also love an English summer, can't decide. Beardy - you may as well enjoy and make the most of what you get with standard British weather either way I'm not fussed.
6. Fav chocolate bar? Suze - Cadbury dairy milk whole nut. Beardy - I do quite enjoy a boost bar there's a bit of everything packed in it.
7. What perfume do you like? Suze - it has to be Victoria's Secret Noir Tease. Gorgeous fragrance, sweet, fruity, lush. Beardy - I always use Diesel only the brave, just because I'm boring and I know I like it so why change.
8. Have any pets? Suze - We have a little bundle of high maintenance fluff called Figaro. He's a 15 year old mixed tabby. Fig and beardy have a right little bromance. Beardy - My adopted fluff child Figaro, imagine a small grumpy old man in cat form pretty much sums him up.
9. Whats your favourite holiday? Suze - I think the best is yet to come. Beardy - agreed, not that I've had many previous.
10. Whats your next blog post going to be about? Suze - I am being taken to London for the Valentine's weekend by the bearded wonder, so I think we'll attempt our first Vlog, what do you think, up for that? Beardy - not sure on the vlog front but I'll give it a go, I'm sure I can get some good photos and suggestions to put forward though
11. What was your first blog post about? Suze - it was pretty much explaining our travelling plans/introducing ourselves. 

Check :) 

Make up your own 11 questions for bloggers to answer.

Why did you start blogging? 

Favourite blogger? 

What is your favorite animal? 

What is your favourite makeup brand?

Any annoying habits? 

Do you have any pets?

What is the meaning behind your blog name?

One thing you would take on a desert island? 

Number one on your bucket list? 

What are some of your future goals?

What are the 3 things that make you happy?

Check :) 

Most importantly make sure you let the bloggers know that you have selected them.

Once again thank you for the nomination. We both really appreciate it and we can't wait to continue this adventure. 

Suze and the Beard x

Asos Travelling Bundle

The bundle has arrived! 

From bulk buying undies to essential t-shirt sets, Asos has well and truly set us up for our travels. 

We got everything in the sale and the bill didn't make us nearly drop the IPad. 

Vests

T-shirts

Shorts

Undies

Sunglasses 

Harem trousers 

Crop tops 

Bikini tops and bottoms 

Bum bag - yes that's right 

With the 'up to 75%' sale and the easy to use app/website you can't go wrong for all your travelling needs.

http://www.asos.com

We also reccomend purchasing the Asos Premier for only £9.95 for free next day delivery for a WHOLE YEAR! 

As you can see, all the trying on has tuckered someone out. 

Thanks Asos 

Suze and The Beard x

Don't Be So Naive

Now the thought of going travelling round the world, seeing all the sites and having that sense of freedom fills us all with that wonderful warm feeling....however that all changes when reality strikes! 

VISAS, VACCINATIONS, oh and of course COSTS,COSTS and more COSTS! Suddenly that warm feeling turns into a massive knot of worry. 

We have had massive discussion about costs, as we had planned so many exciting things to do and places to go, then it hit us, what about all the other bits we need to get/do to even get there in the first place. 

Naive Number One

The Visa 

FACT: A visa is a conditional authorisation given by a competent authority of a country for a person who is not a citizen of that country to enter its territory and to remain there for a limited duration.

Granted it's obviously for safety and a very important document, however its are also a blumming pain. 

Not only is there a mountain of paperwork to fill in, along with having those awkward passport photos taken, but also the cost! 

There are a few companies out there that will do all this for you, but again at a fee!

The visas we need range from £16 up to a whopping £125 for the locations/time we want to stay. 

Now the company we were looking at using were adding a charge of another £50 to EACH yes that's right EACH visa, so even the cheapest of visas at £16 suddenly turned into £66!! 

So we have come to the conclusion, as we are working to a very strict budget, that we have done the sensible thing and cut some locations from our journey and are going to do the paperwork ourselves. Tedious but more money in our pockets. 

Naive Number Two 

The Vaccinations 

Now no one likes the thought of these but they have to be done for your safety! 

Whether they are in tablet or injection form, they are a MUST. 

We have done a lot of research into this. 

Boots do a fantastic guide on their website where you type in all your destinations and they give you a list of all the things you need.

Now when we did this we found we needed SEVEN different vaccinations! 

The look of horror on Suze's face was hilarious! 

Now obviously they come at a price, however if you look on the NHS website you can get some of them for FREE: Cholera, Hepatitis A are just a few, and this will save us a lot of cash. May not be pleasant but better to be safe than sorry. 

We are still having to fork out a good £500 for some others, one being Rabies (which you need 3 separate injections over the course of a month)! 

Joy of joys. 

NHS Website http://www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/1071.aspx?categoryid=67&subcategoryid=152

Boots Website http://www.boots.com/en/Pharmacy-Health/Health-shop/Travel-health/Travel-vaccinations-and-advice/

And Naive Number Three 

The Extra Costs

We have obviously sorted flight and accommodation for all our destinations but you also need to think of all the little extras. 

Daily spending? 

Food budget? 

Activity budget? 

Travel, buses, taxis etc? 

Contracts to end before you leave? 

It all adds up! 

We have very much come out of 'Naive Dream Travelling Ville' and got our feet firmly on 'Sensible Cost Effective ground'. 

After a lot of talking and number crunching we have had to do the unthinkable and scrap some destinations.

At first we thought it will be shorter, however we will just get to spend more time and have opportunities to explore the places we do visits for longer, so no need to panic. 

We can't lie, we are a tiny bit heartbroken, but we aren't going to let this little hiccup tarnish our dream.

So fellow travellers please keep a sensible head on your shoulders through all the fun and excitement of the thought of travelling! Don't get caught out! You have been warned! 

Suze and the Beard x

Wagamamas And All Things Travel

The past few days have been eventful, from travel preparation curled up on the sofa in Cafe Nero, to car restoration that involved Beardy getting mugged by a bush, all will be explained, and finishing with some remanising over some noodles.

On Friday night we were getting the Jetta all ready to be sprayed on the Saturday which involved a load of shrink wrap, a thick jumper and a lot of patience.

It all started off so fun and light hearted, I mean how often do you get to wrap an entire car in what is basically big cling film? Very rarely in our case. So we were looping and swirling all round the car until it was all wrapped like a sandwich, but then it all kicked off.....beardy had lost the keys!

We searched everywhere, the garage, the lounge, the kitchen, the drive way floor, everywhere!!!

Pretty much retracing all the steps taken before the wrapping began. 

By this time another layer of jumpers had to be applied as it was getting bitterly cold, and let's just say the fun and light hearted atmosphere had turned into anger and panic.

Crawling around on the floor and both looking at each other in such a way as if to say 'We better not have to cut the car open' was just a tiny bit heartbreaking. 

The search for the keys must have gone on for a good thirty minutes and to be honest, we had both had enough so I headed to the kitchen to grab some scissors when all of a sudden I hear 'Suze!!! You are not going to believe this!'! 

I ran out to find Beardy standing next to our neighbours shrub, and upon one of its twigs were the blumming keys! 

That's right we were mugged by a bush! How this happened we will never know, and how we BOTH managed to miss them...well that's any bodies guess. 

We laughed an awful lot about it though. 

Saturday 

Volkswagen Jetta GL 1989 gets a make over.

The most time consuming part of this was just wrapping every single door and window on the car so there was no risk of overspray inside.

The Jetta has been a bit of an ongoing project where I would just spend a couple of hours a night to remove a panel paint prep it, sort out any damage or rust due to its age, seeing as its older than I am.

With our leaving date approaching quickly and me not having the heart to sell my little project which I've been plodding along with for quite some time now, I badgered a friend at work to finally get our arses into gear and get it sprayed back to its original jade emerald green colour. So far due to a massive cock up on my behalf I forgot to ordered more thinners. Suze and myself raced around two towns trying to find the right type but annoyingly to no avail. So unfortunately process has been prolonged yet another week, but at least we have started, and it's looking a lot better than I thought it would. Might have to have a cheeky dip into travel savings just to ensure the car is completed and ready for storage before we head off on our adventure.....but shhh don't tell Suze. 

Sunday (Today) has been pretty productive. Got up early and sorted through some old DVDs, grabbed the camera and notepad and headed to town.

We went straight to CEX to trade in a box full of unwanted films so we could add a little more cash to our savings jar. The poor lad behind the counter looked mortified at the amount we had plonked on his desk. Let's just say we didn't do too badly. Thanks CEX Man. 

Next we headed for hot chocolate central Cafe Nero. Honestly if you haven't tried their Hot Chocolate Milano GO TRY IT! It's lushness in a mug.
Luckily for us we were able to nab the one and only sofa in there. So we set up our planning station and hit the web to look for accommodations. 
We are finding reading lots of Blogs, trip advisor reviews and a couple of websites really helpful. Some of our favourites include:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com - Fantastic for finding accomedation and hearing reviews from other travellers who have had a first hand experience of the hotel/hostel in question. 

http://www.worldofwanderlust.com - She has brilliant, easy to follow tips for pretty much everywhere, from how to pack, to save and to make the most of your adventure. Well worth the read.

http://tripplanner.airtreks.com - Now we have never used this site before, however we have only heard spectacular things. They are an American company who help you plan your travels. You pick all your locations and then they give you a rough price of how much it will cost, normally at a fantastic rate. RESULT!

You call them up when you are ready to move on to a new destination and they tell you the next avaliable flight. You turn up at the airport with your reference number and bobs your uncle (in suze's case this is true) and they hand you your ticket. It seems and sounds pretty straight forward, and we trust our reliable sources but we will obviously do a review when we have tried it for ourselves. 

After writing nearly 10 pages of notepad we felt we needed a little treat so headed to good old Wagamamas.

If you have never been before its a great place for fast fresh pan-Asian style food.

This sounds bad but we actually have our 'usual', yes we have been so many times it's obvious what we are going to order.

Suze and the Beards Wagamama Favourites 

Tori Kara Age - Deep fried chicken pieces with a chilli sauce
Duck Gyoza - Duck dumplings with how sin sauce
Chicken Kare Lomen - Chicken and noodles in a spicy coconut soup (Suze)

Ginger Chicken Undon - teppan fried Undon noodles with chicken and ginger (Beardy)

Add some Tiger beers into the equation and you've got yourself one very happy couple.

http://www.wagamama.com

Great weekend and planning is coming along nicely. 

Suze and the Beard x

The BIG Clear Out

So it's begun!
We have finally started to declutter the cave.
At last count we were up to NINE, yes NINE bin bags, and thats in just one room!
The amount of forgotten gems and random purchases we have come across have just been amazing, and in some cases the odd 'what on earth were we thinking'.
That's the joy of a good clear out. You not only get a fresher perspective on things, along with a clearer mind, but re-telling the stories behind these random treasures made the day more of a pleasure than a tedious chore.

Yes that is an old school Game Boy, some records, Suze at the age where she was smaller than the smallest Disney Character 'Fievel' and more importantly a life size cardboard cut out of Michael Buble. 

Ahem....moving on. 

As nearly all the forgotten clothes and shoes we have dragged out from the back of the wardrobe, seriously it's so big in there we were practically having to snatch things back from of the sneaky hands of Mr Tumnus, are near enough brand new we will be taking a trip to our local charity shop at the weekend. However I must say there are a few items we came across in there that belong well and truly in the bin. Would never push an unholy bridesmaids dress on anyone .

We are getting there! Slowly but surely and as our home is becoming more of a shell, it's starting to really hit us that our leaving date is getting closer and closer! 

Travelling Treat

After a lot of reading reviews and playing around in many photo shops we have only gone and brought ourselves a little treat, the Samsung NX3000. 

We first saw this beautiful piece of kit on a Christmas shopping trip. Unfortunately for us, we made a huge mistake of not getting it there and then, as John Lewis was in a price battle with a competitor and had slashed the cost by £50!! However we had our 'no it'll be the same price next time' heads on and walked away, only to find on our next visits it was full price!! 

I have to admit we had a slow motion 'Noooooo' moment but went ahead anyway, and to be honest, we couldn't be happier. 

It's lightweight, easy to use, with so many extra features including apps and wifi connection to mobile devices. We haven't even mentioned the brilliant flip screen which is ideal for vlogging/selfies and let's be honest, the quality is just awesome. 

We can't wait to take it out for a spin or should we say 'flip' to fully test it out. Thanks to fig for being such a cute model. 

Link to camera below: 

http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-galaxy-nx3000-compact-system-camera-with-16-50mm-lens-hd-1080p-20-3mp-wi-fi-nfc-3-flip-screen/p1575128?sku=233804305&kpid=233804305&s_kenid=1c08d9a7-640e-6969-33af-000073d0f005&s_kwcid=402x24080&tmad=c&tmcampid=73&kpid=233804305

Let's Get Travelling

My Name is Suze and I am a 24 year old girl who, if I'm perfectly honest, hasn't found her way in the world just yet.

I have had numerous jobs from rocking the headset in a call centre, being a wedding expert for a make up brand, to being a recruiter in a well known TV station, but nothing has ever felt right.

Early last year whilst heading back to the shire from London to see some friends something very unexpected happened.

Let me tell you the story.

One of my very good friends who I have known since little school said to me, 'Suze, I want to set you up with someone.' Now alarm bells were ringing when the list of 'issues' got longer and longer, examples such as:
'Right he's blonde' (nope)
'He's cocky' (nope nope)
'He most likely will call you a C**T at some point' (OH HELL NO)
'But that's just his way'. 😳
Reluctantly I said fair enough let's see what happens and we headed out.
When we arrived at the, what I would call, interesting local in town, you know the sort, corner with the drunks, corner with the youngsters trying to look thirty, skirts half way up their bums and serious foundation/bronzer combo and the 'jack the lads' wolf whistling at any female with a pulse, that sort. We clocked the others and I waited, telling my other friend how horrible I thought this was going to go.
Next thing I know, shots are on the table and the blondie has arrived, and what do I see standing behind him? A tall, dark, stubbly, shy buddy of his. I leant over to my friend and said, 'shit! I like his mate!'.
And let's just say after a few drinks, some laughs and some outrageous flirting on my part we hit it off.

Ever since then me and Beardy (Matt) have been inseparable.
It's happened very quickly. I moved back from London to help my parents out with their house as they now live in Dubai. I asked Beardy to move in and we couldn't be happier.
*Warning Cheese Alert*
That odd random night out brought me the most genuine, down to earth, hilarious best friend and boyfriend I could ever have asked for.

Since living together, pretty much from the start, we have both spoken about how we have always wanted to go travelling, but it's never quite happened, from lack of funds, not having the right plan and to being let down by others. So we have just said sod it, let's take the plunge and go!

So that is what we are going to do.

Like me, Matt has never been fully able to settle here in the UK and as much as I loved living in London, we both feel there has to be more to life than working, sleeping and repeating.

So we are heading from the cold, wet UK to the heat and sands of Dubai, to the temples of Thailand, and wherever the wind takes us.

So we thought we would vlog/blog our journey.
The planning, the saving and the taking off. All the essentials.

So get ready and come with us on the most exciting time of our lives 🌎✈️

First stop: Prep

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