¶ Thailand Adventures and Jellyfish Scare
Welcome to the Mastering Midlife Podcast, where we talk about all the crazy fun things that happen when you are a midlife mama. I'm your host, Heather London. Let's dig in. hola guapas oh my gosh i have been having so much fun that i just haven't had time to do a podcast but
I do want to do this so that I can remember all these amazing fun times and to encourage you to follow your dreams. If ever you're like thinking, hey, I want to go here and do something, but I don't know how or I'm by myself or whatever it is.
just go for it and let this be your inspiration if i can do it you can do it and loving life like so amazing here in thailand i've never been here before never been anywhere in southeast asia and i learning a ton about the culture and the people and what I didn't know is that there's a lot of Muslims here but it's a relatively Buddhist country but It's not a country ruled, like it's not a government ruled by religion. So that's what makes it so amazing why it just works. Like the tourists and...
The people that live here, it just is like, it works for that reason right there. Now, here's some fun stories that I wanted to share with you. Just to, so that I can remember them. I was swimming in the ocean the other day, so every morning I...
bounce out of bed and I go right to the ocean and I swim and then I walk down the beach and then I come back and I do it early in the morning so that I can get the morning light in my eyes because remember the circadian rhythm is based on nature which is
When the sun comes up, the color of the sun, you want to get that in your eyes. When the sun goes down, you want to see that. You want to get that in your eyes. That's telling your body, release cortisol in the morning. Wake up. Release melatonin in the evening. It's like all based on...
How our body is designed to be just from basic human nature, circadian rhythm. So I do that every single day. And as I was swimming in the ocean, like there's not a lot of people if I go. 8 8 30 i just wait i don't send an alarm i wake up whenever it's usually 7 30 somewhere in there and i'll be on the beach by 8 8 30 somewhere around there and so
The beach where I'm at just kind of drops off. So it's nice. It's so nice. You don't have to go far. Crystal blue waters. Just the beach is amazing. It's just so lovely. I can't even tell you. I can't even tell you all the reasons why it's so lovely, but it just is because there's so many reasons. Anyway, so I go out and I go swimming. And it's funny because I was facing the ocean. So my back was to the shore.
and i wasn't out very far because like i said it drops off and all i'm like thinking to myself this is heaven oh my gosh i found the perfect place i could live here forever i just love this so much and all of a sudden out of nowhere this big huge thing bumps into me in the ocean and i scream out loud and i'm not a screamer that's why i'm laughing i'm like
it escaped my face i couldn't even stop it i didn't even know that i had done it like i didn't even see it coming and i screamed out loud and then i looked because this was i thought it was going to be like a dead body floating in the ocean because it was like it hit me like a It felt like a full-on person. It had weight to it. It felt like it was huge. And I looked, and there is a huge, like, the size, I'd say two times the size of my head.
so somewhere in there jellyfish the and I was like so scared now wait a minute now that I think about it I think I I think I screamed when I saw it. Like something bumped into me and I looked at it and I saw it was jellyfish and I screamed because it was so huge. I thought this jellyfish was going to eat me for lunch. It was so big. It scared me so much.
Because I thought it was going to sting me and then I was going to die. And so I screamed and then I went running out of the ocean. And it was so hilarious because I think, I'm not 100% sure, I was going to look into it and I just forgot because whatever.
But I think that those ones aren't harmful. Like, I don't know if, I think all jellyfish have stingers, but I don't know if it wouldn't kill you if it stung you. I don't know how much it would hurt because this thing was... massive and I see them washed up on the shore every once in a while usually what I've heard is they come into shore when they're dying and so anyway that made me laugh so loud or so much because I
I just was so scared that I screamed so loudly that it made me laugh. Anyway. But the thing was, the beach was behind me. It stuck up behind me. How did it even get there? Because I'm... surveying this the whole situation when I'm facing the ocean I'm like okay I'm watching for jellyfish or whatever crazy thing is coming at me and it snuck up behind me that's the that made it even more spectacular and then
¶ Unexpected Snake and Thai Culture
I went to the beach, like I'm 30 seconds from the beach, and I said to my friend, let's go get a cabana. Like it's just a platform with a roof, so you're not in the sun and you can be at the beach all day. Like you're at the beach, you can... eat there drink there all that kind of stuff i'm like i'm gonna go early and get one of these cabanas and we could stay there all day and be like so perfect and he's like yeah let's do it because he plays volleyball there too so it's amazing
And we were there for all day, but halfway through the day, we're just kind of... you know laying on the cabana reading doing the thing and all of a sudden out of nowhere he's like he swears and his phone goes flying and he jumps up in the air and I'm like I didn't even know he could move that fast I'm like what's going on and he's like it's like a snake fell on me I'm like what are you talking about he's like there's a snake I was it just fell right on top of me and I'm like looking around
okay first of all freaked out like where did this snake go but i was like lifting up the little blankets and because it's planks right and i'm like we couldn't find this snake he's like i'm not crazy a snake fell on top of me i swear and
I believe him because he jumped so high and his phone went flying. But we couldn't find this snake. He's like, is it in your bag? He's like, no, I chucked my bag. So we kept looking and looking. And then all of a sudden, this... snake that was like maybe two or three feet long it was it was like three feet long it was really long but it was skinny and it was green it came from underneath the plank so it was had hidden
it fell and then i guess got scared and hidden under the plank and then it came up again and so we just shoot it off and it ran away but i almost peed my pants couldn't stop laughing it's like you're just minding your own business and out of nowhere this tree snake like lands on top of you like what are the odds it was so funny because it happened to him
And not me. And he screamed in French and was swearing in French. It was like, because he's a grown-ass man. And it was so funny. And he said, didn't you hear something land on the roof? I'm like, no. So apparently this tree snake. it was in the tree and then it fell onto the top of the cabana because he heard it and i didn't hear it and then the tree snake was in the roof and then it fell on top of him i'm like this is like a not a good tree snake it's not treeing very well but nonetheless
I laughed my ass off. It was so funny. And I know that if it would have happened to me, it would not have been funny at all. It didn't happen to me, so that's what makes it so funny. This snake just went slithering off. Can you imagine just minding your own business and this green three-foot-long snake just landing on you? It's so good. This is part of the adventures of Thailand. And then one of the things I love about Thailand is it's just so amazing that everybody just gets along.
the culture and the tourists and nobody's honking their horns people are crazy drivers but it's a small island so it's there's not a ton of traffic but people are never getting mad at each other it's just it just is it's like it reminds me of pure vida like just you know pure life like take it slow life is good it's all good kind of vibe and
Here's how here's just one example that I found really fascinating of how Everybody just comes together, and it's all good. It's like because when I think of the Muslim religion I think of Orthodox or very strict Muslim religion but here it's a little bit different like for example I was at this store this little store I was trying to buy a bathing suit and the
Two girls that were there were Muslim. They were wearing hijabs. And so they weren't helping me. I was going to say they were helping. They weren't. They were just hanging out watching TV or whatever. And anyway, I was looking for this bathing suit. And in comes this... guy who starts talking to the girls and I can just I don't know what he looks like but he's a tourist because he's speaking English and because I was in the change room and he's and he comes in and he's looking to
buy some pot buy some weed and these girls are like yeah we could do that for you because it's also a cannabis store because cannabis is legal here and so these
Muslim girls are selling bathing suits and pot. And the guy's like, wow, when I bought it, the last one, the guy rolled it for me. And it's like, yeah. So it was just so strange to me because I'm pretty sure that my knowledge of the muslim religion is is like you know you can't do smoke pot but maybe that's me maybe i just don't even understand the religion i know i don't because i haven't looked into it but it just seemed like
such a weird combination i'm like welcome to thailand but that's what makes it work that's what makes it work because there's no judgment there's just like everybody doing their thing and minding their own business and
¶ Solo Travel and Spontaneous Parties
Really good friendly people like it just comes together and I Feel I say this all the time, but it's true. What really makes travel amazing and spectacular are the people that you meet along the way and i am always a solo traveler and i'm a solo traveler for a reason because i enjoy doing what i want to do or not doing anything and and not having to like coordinate with other people
But then with that lifestyle or with that luxury comes the task of finding friends when you do want to hang out with people. And so I'm always, anytime I sit down and eat, I'll always chat up with... whoever sits with me or if I see a solo person I'll sit with them and chat with them and make friends like the story I told about being on walking street and sitting down the girl sitting down next to me and her boyfriend is a
tennis instructor and now all of a sudden i'm hooked up with like this canadian couple that have a tennis court and they're they've built a tennis court and now i go play tennis it's just insane like how that connection happened so I was sitting at the beach and this guy sat next to me and he was by himself. So I had two options. I could, depending on the mood that I'm in, sometimes I'm just like, I want to be left alone. So I could be like, not say anything.
or I could chat him up and it just happened to be a mood where I'm like I'm gonna chat him up because sometimes sometimes you're like like I go through this phase of going through this phase right now I was like oh I need to hang out with other people like almost desperate for friends and so i find five different ways to meet new people anyway and the hard part can be is that some people are like
leaving the next day or they're only here for five days but i actually hooked into this really nice community of locals they're partiers though i'm like hey i just posted in the local facebook group of like hey where are my over 40s at because i'm thinking like oh these people will be reasonable people and do things that i like to do and oh dear they come to the island all the time and they're like
they're like the regulars and they stay here for, they live here or they're here for three months or whatever. And they come, they've been coming for years. They are party people. You guys, they are party people, but. it's great for when i'm in a party mood you know but they're so lovely i'm like these people really know how to party anyway um so this guy sits next to me and i start chatting him up because i was in the mood to make friends
Anyway, we had this great conversation. We have a lot in common. We have like same ideas. We're both in the world of like... helping heal the physical body and all that um and he just happens to be from france that was my friend that i told you about that had the snake snake drop on him anyway
He had this good story about like we always have to here's the thing about when you want to make friends You got to tell where you've been and tell your whole life story Sometimes you don't feel like it and sometimes you do and so we were getting to know each other and he
told me that he was on this sailboat catamaran and he didn't like the captain and so he just bailed or he was going to be traveling you know for a whole year and after I think a month they couldn't take this captain guy and just bailed and ended up.
on this island he's been here before anyway so we were chatting up and he's like you know the way the french do he's like oh well i have all of this you like tapas because we were talking about spain i have all of this meat that i brought with me on the boat that was
you know gonna last for a while but I need to get rid of it because I don't have a refrigerator and all these things so let's meet and have some tapas tonight oh and by the way I have some rum from the Caribbean so we'll have some drinks and have some we'll have some little tapas I'm like
say less I'm there and so we met at the local there's just a cool local like there's tons of restaurants but there's one with a whole bunch of outdoor seating and it's got a grocery store and stuff so you can just sit there and eat whatever or order food from them and so he shows up with his he's prepared he's making these drinks and now for some reason for some french reason you can't
just drink this rum you've got to put it with sugar and you've got to put it with lime and it's just a whole thing to make it the caribbean rum anyway i'm not going to argue because it's his party and so he
He starts pulling stuff out of his bag, and he's cutting up these sausages, and we've got this whole, like, charcuterie board all of a sudden. And then he's making these drinks, and like... it was we got the cups and the ice and we're just having this party and we just happen to sit at a table with three or four other people and they're starting to look like what are you doing and so the conversation starts to
include us and it turns out they're all solo travelers and they had just met at that table on that night like they've just met as well and so we're like hey try that you want some some meat from france and you want some Caribbean rum and and that's when the party started and then from there it was like next level after one drink the party started I'm like this is where the French really shine they know how to
party there they have the best food the best drinks and we i tell you we were there for hours and we shut the place down and we had such a good time it was so much fun and we went from um there was one two three four five i think five of us complete strangers to being like best friends and we had the best night ever and then we
started a group of course i made a video and shared it with everybody because that is how i do i love doing that and um and then we just would uh meet up and so the french guy and i we have hung out more because we have a lot in common so we'll like if you're wanting to do something but you don't want to do it by yourself we just call each other up and rent a scooter or do whatever and so it's so much fun but um it's interesting because
We would meet for dinner. Hey, what's everybody doing for dinner tonight? Or we spent New Year's Eve together and we partied on the beach. It was just such a perfect... connection of personalities people from all over the world like the evening was just so perfect you couldn't have curated you couldn't have like planned a better evening
¶ Embrace Adventure, Live Simply
From beginning to end, it was just so fun. And that's just kind of what traveling is all about, is just meeting new friends. And since then, I've met a lot of different people. And so I have different kinds of groups.
playing paddle. So I have people that do that playing tennis. I have people that do that. I have the local people. So it's, you want to party, you go out with those people. And if you want to go discover the Island, here's these people. So it's really, I find that my travels are all about meeting people, but you do have these days like yesterday or the day before I had this day where I just was like, yeah, I just want to have a group of friends or just have a, you know.
community so when I do want to hang out with people I can do but I I do have but I have several communities that's the thing is depending on what kind of mood them in or what I want to do And you do have to start from scratch every time you meet somebody. So that's kind of like, that can be good or bad. But what I am noticing, this is a good thing, is that because I've been here on this island for a couple weeks, I don't know what day it is. I don't know how long I've been here. And I love...
that about this place because who doesn't want a life where you it doesn't matter you don't need to know what day it is or you don't have to be here at a certain time is that the key is having a group of people there for when you want to do something or having friends when you want to do something so what i notice is when when i go to meet a group now i i know people from
other times that I've gotten together with people so I went to meet this new group and we were at the bar and we were dancing oh and I met this girl that I had gone for lunch with with another girl oh perfect so it's it's because it's a small island it's easy to make those friends and build those connections. But like I said too, it's interesting because people come and go.
a lot and so sometimes when you're investing in that making friends you want it to be somebody who's going to be around for a while so I could see why locals you know like the people that are regulars here and stay here for the whole three months and do all that might not want.
these people coming and going all the time i get it but because i'm here for a month or who i don't even know how long then they're more willing to accept me because it's not all this effort for for not like leaving the next day anyway these are some of my super fun adventures that i've been having and i wanted to share just so i remember them but these are like things that made me laugh out loud like belly laugh so good
And the beautiful thing is you never know what every day is going to bring. Like, every day is a new adventure. And even if it's something that you're not in love with, I think when you look back on it, it was a fun... story to tell or a fun adventure to have whether it worked or not whether it was good or bad whether it was tough at the time or I don't know like life is just so good and
The reason that I'm sharing this, and I know I say this all the time, but I just want to really hammer this home is that I'm doing this so that I have these memories of all of these amazing things that I'm doing. And so when I share something, it's like, oh, that's so worth remembering. I want to remember that, or that was such a great experience, or it's really important. And if it helps you, if it makes you laugh or smile, if it makes your heart full.
Or if it makes you get up, get off that chair and go and do something that you didn't think you could do, that you've always wanted to do, or you didn't think was possible, you were scared, you didn't know how. I'm just flying by the seat of my pants here.
Like literally living the simple life. I have this cool little bungalow. It's small. It's just one room. It's got my own bathroom. That's critical. And then a teeny little fridge. There's no... kitchen or anything like that it's really really really just the basics and i love it the simpler the better that's how amazing it is and for anyone here on
watching on YouTube. It's like, look, you got the hammock, you got the trees, just this little porch here. I hang my laundry there, and then here's my little room, my one room, just like that, with a cool, awesome bathroom, and that's all I need.
literally life is so simple and because i just have one small suitcase i'm trying not to accumulate anything like no material things because you don't need it it's all about living in the moment and and just having the experiences and so i'm excited because tonight i'm going out with my canadian friends going out for some dinner and then tomorrow i'm gonna go play paddle and tennis and just like
These communities are fun. And I know when people, the one thing that I've learned is that when people live here for a long time, the thing that they do or that they have all the time is that they are party people everywhere that i've gone i've noticed that so that's a harder group for me to fit in with because i'm not a party person like i can't go out and
I usually don't drink, but I wouldn't go out and drink every night. And I'm not saying that they shouldn't, but I'm like, they party. They party. Like, there's no tomorrow. And that's harder for me.
can i this is a challenge for me can i be in that party mood and that party mindset without the partying like when i was there they're like the reefers were just like popping like no tomorrow like one after the other after the other and then drinks and drinks and doubles and triples and and For me, I'm like, oh, I don't think I could survive that but
every once in a while it's fun to let go and do that but I couldn't do that every night so the so we definitely like a difference in lifestyle but the freedom the you know just that just the Like I said, the Pura Vida. Like, life is good. Like, appreciate this. Here we are at the beach, at a club. You're in your bare feet. You're dancing in the sand. Like, what is better than that?
nothing so go out there you guys go and do it like trust believe don't have to have it all figured out don't figure out the why or the how how am i going to do it because then you'll never ever do it anyway I just wanted to share those fun stories because they made me laugh out loud. And I hope that you get a little something something from them. Anyway, I'm going to go live my best life. So as always, thank you for listening. Always, always, always love yourself.
and have a freaking amazing day.