Home
WTF
- Work
- Travel
  - Asia Pacific
    - Australia
    - Malaysia
    - Sri Lanka
    - Thailand
  - Europe
    - England
- Food
About me
Gallery
Get In Touch

Sign up with your email address to be the first to know about new products, VIP offers, blog features & more.

Travel & Expat Blog

Travel & Expat Blog

Home
WTF
- Work
- Travel
  - Asia Pacific
    - Australia
    - Malaysia
    - Sri Lanka
    - Thailand
  - Europe
    - England
- Food
About me
Gallery
Get In Touch

About me

Hey Sailor,
please come back shortly!

No dramas in the Bahamas – About Me

About Me | TravelMermaid.com

Hi! I’m Travel Mermaid, a serial expat and international school teacher who left London in 2011 with my Sailor in tow.

I’m now based in Malaysia, after 6 years living in Czech Republic, Australia and Thailand. I write about expat living in Kuala Lumpur and travel in Asia Pacific.

Find out more about me here, or follow my social media channels below.

Like & Share

Instagram

Festive jaffa cake cocktails are one way to soak up the Christmas spirit in KL this season 😋 .. X-mas vibes were pretty thin on the ground here in November, so you’ve gotta get it where you can! Thankfully there’s heaps of seasonal cheer happening in the city this month, including Riuh x-mas market all weekend! 🎄@riuhinthecity ✽
.
.
.
#christmascocktails #jaffacake #festive #bangsar #atelierontelawi #bar #cocktail #tistheseason #kualalumpur #malaysia #christmasiscoming #igkl #christmasinkl #ig_malaysia #instakl #igerskualalumpur #ilovekl #travelmermaid #travel_mermaid

24

0

Festive jaffa cake ...

First few aerial shots of the season- Christmas came early! Testing out the new drone before heading to Sri Lanka in December- seriously counting down the days until the salty beach air is in my hair 🏖🎅🙌 ▪
▪
This shot is of my KL suburb, Mont Kiara. If you look closely, you can see the Petronas Towers in the middle for some perspective of the city’s size. It’s a massive expat bubble in this part of town and sometimes you forget you’re in Malaysia at all! What I love most about living here is the jungle that sits behind it. Crazy to think that just a couple of decades ago, most of this was jungle too and now its overtaken with high rise condos. ▪
▪
If you scroll to the next 2 pics, you can see the blanket of green that is Bukit Kiara (a vision of what this neighbourhood once was) and a construction site that has chopped down another chunk of it. Considering that the condos in this borough are only around 50% occupancy, its sad to see developers continue to unnecessarily clear more trees in favour of concrete.
.
.
.
#savebukitkiara #montkiara #bukitkiara #kualalumpur #malaysia #urbanjungle #condoliving #suburbia #expats #dronephotography #dronesgram #kllife #igmalaysia #travelgram #travelmermaid #travel_mermaid

51

8

First few aerial ...

The ultimate tropical island heaven 😍 Can you guess where? .. nope, it’s not the Maldives or Mauritius, but a piece of Australia’s paradise. Lost halfway between Perth and Sri Lanka, the Cocos (Keeling) archipelago sits remotely in the Indian Ocean. With the closest neighbour being Christmas Island, it seems like a fitting xmas getaway and I’m pretty sure Santa himself will be chilling here after his busy night shift 🎅
.
As I plan my return move to Australia next year, I couldn’t help but eye up some cracking kitesurfing staycations. Cocos has been on my radar for a while, but with only 2 inbound flights per week departing from Perth, it seemed better to wait until Australia-bound! Oh yes, 27 coral islands, with only two inhabited (approx. 100 expats and Australians on West Island and 500 Cocos Malays on Home island) it offers perfect kiting conditions and snorkelling goals aplenty. (Maybe this could be my new Aussie home? #lifegoals2019 🧜🏻‍♀️ )
.
Photo by: @jai.journeys 🤟 (loving your pics!)
.
.
#cocoskeelingislands #cocosisland #australia #kiteboarding #kitesurfing #kitelife #kitetrip #kitebeach #kitespot #extremesports #australiatravel #visitaustralia #australiagram #travel #travelgram #instago #travel_mermaid #travelmermaid

80

7

The ultimate tropical ...

It’s not too early to get excited for the Christmas holidays, is it?! So stoked to be heading back to Sri Lanka for another xmas. Last year, it completely wowed me over. It was raw SE Asia- effortlessly beautiful yet completely humble. The locals were gorgeous and the food 😍 …what can I say, the easiest way to my heart!

Sri Lanka also has some epic kite spots, which is the purpose of my return visit. If the wind is up, it’ll be nothing but two weeks of sun, sea and kitesurfing. 🙌 The set-up is ideal for beginner riders like myself, with a bunch of lagoons and local islands that have butter flat water. 💯 determined to become an independent rider on this trip! 🏄🏻‍♀️ #holidaygoals .
.
Photo by: @averagefreerider 🤟
.
.
#kalpitiya #vella #srilanka #paradise🌴 #kitesurfsrilanka #kiteboarding #kitesurfing #kitelife #kitetrip #kitebeach #kitespot #extremesports #srilankatravel #srilankatrip #srilankadaily #travel #travelgram #instago #travel_mermaid #travelmermaid

123

10

It’s not too ...

Selamat Hari Diwali! Still cannot believe it’s November already…I swear we’ve just had the summer holidays?! 😜

With the tropical climate here in Malaysia, I find it so hard to keep track of the time of year. Wandering into the shops over the weekend, I almost looked confused to see Christmas decorations! ▫️
Back home, they just had Guy Fawkes Night, wearing woolly hats in the blistering cold with the smell of mulled wine in the air. Here in KL it’s Diwali, with colourful rangoli patterns decorating the town as I walk around in shorts and a tee, timing my outings so I don’t get hit by a tropical storm (it’s the wet season here currently!) ▫️
Next year will be contrasting still, as we’ll welcome the summer in Australia, along with beach days, festivals and BBQ’s.

So there will be no fall day picks on this account for a while! Just 365 days of summer. But keep the autumn leaves coming! It keeps me in check with the time of year. 👍
✽
.
.
.
#perhentianisland #perhentians #perhentianbesar #diwali #beautifuldestinations #travel #Malaysia #igmalaysia #islandlife #southeastasia #malaysiatrulyasia #discovermalaysia #igtravel #passionpassport #traveller #travelgram #travelmermaid #travel_mermaid

71

4

Selamat Hari Diwali! ...

Five Years Ago I left Europe and ended up here. In one of the most idyllic towns you could imagine in Australia, or probably the world! Not too shabby, right? This was the spot I married the Sailor, with nothing more than 2 friends, a sunset and sand between my toes. It was perfect.

One of the perks of migrating and not being tied down with work, property or family is that you can roam around a while to see what sticks. As soon as we hit Port Douglas, it was an immediate ‘hello, where do I sign?!’ While I plan my next move back to Australia next year, after an awesome 2 years in Malaysia, I’m again faced with the decision of ‘where do I go?’ It’s nice to be free and decide on the road. But this time will be a little more strategic. Australia has given us many firsts and now we’re buying our first home 🙀

After 8 years as a bit of a gypsy, I’m looking forward to putting down a few roots. And I’m wondering if I’ll finally stay long enough for my sister to visit?! 😘
🏡 .
.
.
.
#travel #wanderingheart #australiatravel #portdouglas #queensland #australia #tropicalnorthqueensland #seeaustralia #travelgram #exploretnq #beautifuldestinations #discoverqueensland #igtravel #travel_mermaid #travelmermaid

60

11

Five Years Ago ...

Follow me on BlogLovin’

Don’t worry about the world ending today; it’s already tomorrow in Australia.

Charles M. Schulz

Travel & Expat Blog

Copyright © 2018 TravelMermaid.com. All Rights Reserved.