A Little Engagement Story

Time for a little personal update as errrr… something pretty massive happened recently!

As you may remember, at the end of March I was getting VERY excited for our holiday to Thailand. We’d spent months planning it and had created our dream trip. Well it turns out Macca was excited to go to Thailand too, but for completely different reasons to me.

The day we left turned into one of those never-ending travel days. We spent 20+ hours travelling from London to Bangkok, then down to the island of Koh Lanta. We went from bus to tube to plane to plane to minibus.

By the time we arrived we were starving, tired and sweaty… but WOW were we happy to be there. I’ll never forget that first view as we walked out of our hotel onto the beach and took in our surroundings! Colourful deck chairs, inviting blue water, soft sand and mysterious mountains covered in rugged jungles – WOW! Moments later we’d found a cute beach bar and were tucking into Thai curries and sipping on coconut cocktails. Holiday mode was well and truly on.

The plan for the next few weeks was to switch off and relax. My laptop needed repairing so I’d left it back in London. It was weird travelling without it, but I knew it would be good for me to have a mental and physical detachment from it and the world that lived inside it. No blogging for me! No big emails. No quick exports of photos people needed. It would all have to wait. We wanted to read books, enjoy each other’s company and live life.

The next day we woke up feeling refreshed and excited to explore the island. We decided to hire a scooter for the day and head to Mu Koh Lanta National Park, right at the bottom tip of the island. Macca attempted to bring his huuuge camera bag, kitted out with lenses, filters, drone and a tripod. He quickly realised that there was nowhere to put it, and that his photography dreams would need to be… well, diluted! He returned to our room, abandoned some of his kit, and came back to the scooter with his camera and tripod.

I asked why he was bringing a tripod when ‘we’re not working’ but he said he just wanted to take a few nice pics. I huffed a little… Was this the start of a ‘holiday’ where I’d be spending half my time waiting around while he set up a timelapse or a long exposure?

We explored the national park and walked up to a pretty viewpoint overlooking the bay. By this point we were hot, sweaty and I was already turning a shade of lobster from the intense Thai sun. As predicted, Macca set up his tripod and started taking some long exposures. I decided it was time to escape the burning sun and find any shade I could find.

He snapped a quick photo of me with the view behind and said how gorgeous it was. I had a look and agreed – it was a really beautiful view. He then suggested we try to do one of our classic jump shots as a little memento of our trip. You know, like these…

If you’ve ever tried to do a shot like this, using a self-timer, you’ll know it’s virtually impossible! We watched as the flashing light on the camera marked the countdown from 10 to 0, trying to jump at the exact right moment to clap hands in the air. We missed on both of the first two attempts.

My skin continued to turn a darker shade of red and yet we persevered, hoping the third attempt would be THE ONE. Macca pressed the shutter and once again sprinted into place…

“But the flashing light isn’t going,” I pointed out as I was poised ready to jump. Macca continued a mock countdown and told me to jump anyway.

I jumped.

He got down on one knee.

And there in front of me was the most beautiful sparkly diamond ring I’ve ever seen.

There were words. Special words. I know I’m sharing a lot of what happened but a few things are between us two! It was a beautiful moment, a perfect setting and I couldn’t quite believe it was actually happening!

What followed was a mix of crying, smiling, shock, laughter, hugs, kisses, screams and more. It was such a happy and emotion-filled moment! I’m smiling from ear to ear just thinking about it again! It turned out he’d flicked the switch to video too… so you can imagine how many times I’ve watched the moment back. It gets me every time…

And that was day one of our holiday in Thailand.

Oh and did I mention we perfected the jump shot eventually? Still got it! 

Over the next few weeks we enjoyed an incredible engagement-moon! We celebrated, adventured, ate and drank whatever we fancied and spent almost three weeks in each others pockets, and still came home wanting to get married!

I’m hoping to write a few blogs about a few of my favourite activities from the trip, but one of the ultimate adventures was our trip to Khao Sok National Park.

If you ever get the chance to go – GO!

Yes it’s a little tricky to get to, but it’s 100% worth the effort. We spent a couple of days exploring Cheow Lan Lake, snapping photos of the limestone karst formations, trekking through caves and enjoying a complete switch off from phones, social media and the world outside.

It was pure bliss. Just look at it…

Bikini and hat gifted by Simply Beach an amazing swimwear site which has so many gorgeous brands available! I absolutely adore this bright turquoise Seafolly bikini. 

Another highlight was the four island tour we did while we were staying on Koh Lanta. The places we visited were so remote, with pristine beaches and gorgeous warm, clear waters. We snorkelled with tropical fish, sunbathed, and I even found an island swing to relax on!

This bikini was also gifted by Simply Beach. It’s by a designer called Jo Severin and was perfect for my holiday in Thailand. I just love the colour and style – comfy, flattering and looks great as you get a tan too! 

Another huge highlight came in Bangkok. We arrived a few days before Songkran (Thai New Year). It’s a time when huge celebrations happen across the country, in the form of water fights. Everyone gets dressed up in brightly coloured floral shirts, grabs a water gun, and soaks everyone they see from dawn til dusk! We couldn’t wait to join in with the locals, and it’s definitely a day I’ll never forget.

I can’t wait to share more from our trip to Thailand. I’m hoping to write a guide to Khao Sok as it was SO incredible. I also loved Erawan Waterfalls near Kanchanaburi, so watch this space for info on both of those soon.

I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about our special moment. Thanks for sticking with us so far, and hopefully I’ll have time to blog between bits of wedmin!

And on that, I guess it’s time to start planning the biggest party of our lives…

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