Sweet Home guesthouse, offered a free (included in the ferry ticket of THB 400) shuttle service to Klong Jilad Pier, from where we would leave for Koh Lanta. The morning of our departure, I found out that it would take us 2 hours to reach the island!!

For those of you who know me well and know how seasick I can get, you can imagine the panic I felt! However, since meeting David and finding out how much he loved to sail, I had gradually been buying every anti-seasick pill, remedy and gizmo known to man, no matter the cost. That morning, I showed up at the pier, armed to the teeth with my special picks for that trip:

- a specially compounded Australian anti-seasick pill (the postage to Europe cost more than the pills!)
- a complicated anti-seasick ear plug in my left ear (what it does is still a mystery to me)
- my favourite music plugged into my right ear (yay iTunes!)
- a vibrating wrist band set to the highest vibration (5 of 5) which sent electro-shock vibrations from my right wrist all the way up my middle finger (what this does is also a mystery).

My already sinking heart sank even further when I saw that the 'ferry', was an old 'tub' smelling of diesel fumes. We were unceremoniously hustled down into the bowels of the boat, so I sat very still with my eyes closed, concentrating on my music, trying not to think of the ordeal ahead and wishing I could just wiggle my nose and find myself on the beach at Koh Lanta....

Well, guess what? One of those seasick remedies actually worked, although for the life of me, I don't know which one! The long, tall and short of it was that I walked onto Saladan Pier on Koh Lanta, not a blubbering, shaking mess of vomit, but actually feeling great! I even took photos from the boat as we approached the pier. My 'barf bag', which I got by emptying a bag of panty liners (desperate times calling for desperate measures) was unused. YAY! First time ever!!