Sunday Sum - 21st Jan 2023

Hey , welcome back to

The Sunday Summary

, a collection of insights and my behind the scenes from the past week.

🇹🇭 Travel Update:Ao Nang, Koh Yao Noi, and Pai

• Sunday - Tuesday.  Stayed in the Nomads Ao Nang. Visited Koh Phi Phi Le as part of a day trip (to see the ever popular Maya Beach from the Dicaprio film “The Beach”.  It was a bit of a party hostel so I was glad to get out of there.

• Tuesday I travelled to Koh Yao Noi, a smallish island that has little backpacker activity.  I’ll be honest 1 night was enough and I found myself fairly bored, so craved to move on.

• Wednesday morning I travelled to Phuket airport direction. Had no intention of visiting Phuket itself, so just stayed in a relaxed hostel nearby for my flight in the morning.

• Thursday I flew from Phuket to Chiang Mai.  2 hr flight from south to north.  I will be doing a 4 day meditation retreat in a monastery at the end of the month in Chiang Mai, so hired a scooter to drive to Pai.  3 hours of twisty roads on a crunch scooter was delightful. Pai is a wonderful chilled out, hippy vibe place. Watched the sunset at the Big Buddha statue.

• Friday went to a hot springs with some friends at the hostel and spent hours just relaxing and talking, before coming back to Pai to watch the sunset over the mountains to a live band.  Night market where I ate chicken feet and fried bugs.  It's a lot colder here in the mornings and evenings, about 18c at night rather than the 28c of the south.

🌴 Moments of though and reflection:Hold on a bit longerWhen I separated from my social group in Krabi, I instantly felt compelled to organise more travel plans, book hostels and transport.  I realised it was a bit of a coping strategy of being solo again.  Like the Guinness advert; "Good things come to those who wait".  In a travel abundant place such as Thailand, there's little benefit to booking way in advance, in fact it stifles just how much you can move around.  My learned tactic is 1 night in a hostel in a new area, see if you like it and then book to stay more.  If they are booked up for the following nights, just move somewhere else.You're not going to get every move rightStaying at a party hostel wasn't the greatest move, my rationale was the larger the hostel, the more social opportunities.  This was largely true, but the party hostel also attracted a different kind of traveller to me.  Not a great move.Staying on Koh Yao Noi was a bit of a pointless exercise.  But it's s reminder that not every move you take will be the correct or most optimum one.  Just learn from the experience and move on. 

🔈 A travel gadget I'm loving:JBL Clip 4 speakerMum bought this for me as a travel gift. I've got a UE Megaboom at home but it's a bit large for travelling.This clip has been epic. Biggest benefit is how easily it clips to my bag, so if I'm particularly heavy or overpacked, it hasn't got to go in the bag, just clips to a strap.  Perfect for those sunsets where there isn't a live band playing!🚖 London taxi trade update:Even though I'm away, I'm still very much plugged in to the trade.  Yes I must be an anorak.

1. The Plug in Taxi Grant (PiTG) which every TXE owner got off the list price of the TXE (£7500 automatically at the point of purchase) is ending in March 2024.  There's no news if this grant will be replaced, so very likely that the taxi will rise in price by this amount.  A very big blow as the TXE is still the only new taxi we can buy in London, and this will push the price of rents up as well as the cost of ownership

2. Price of extended warranty on the TXE has increased for a second time.  It was £1800, then £3500 now I believe around £5500 (with a £250 excess for using it, as well as limitations on the number of claims).  This has thrown a spanner in the works with my long term plan of owning the taxi.  More than likely I will just save a buffer for any expensive repairs, rather than paying the gargantuan extended warranty price.

3. TfL have paused the English language test for Private Hire Drivers 🤯.  This was a licensing requirement, but as a large number of PH drivers were not passing the test, TfL has taken the decision to pause this requirement.  Imagine travelling to one of the world's most popular capitals, and not being able to communicate with the driver in the language of that country?  An incredible safety concern!

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Please feel free to reach out to me with your; comments, concerns or just general conversation.  

I'd love to know what you're up to or what you might be working on!

 📝😁

Have a great week everyone!

Tom

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