As I generally travel on a strict budget staying somewhere with something as luxurious as a pool is pretty rare, but that’s not to say that I haven’t splashed out once in a while. The #FriFotos theme this week has allowed me the chance to dig through some old photos to look for some of the pools that I have enjoyed around the world.
Here are some of my favourites:
My first picture was taken in Mui Ne on Christmas day 2007. I had been living in Vietnam for 4 months and was finally beginning to see light at the end of my huge debt problems. Spending Christmas by a pool surrounded by lush banana plants was paradise. A room in this hotel cost me $24 a night.
The gorgeous beach resort of Mui Ne in Vietnam became my favourite place to escape city life in Saigon for short weekend breaks. The Full Moon was one of my favourite places to stay, the pool is as gorgeous to swim in as it looks! A room here was $50 a night.
When I was visiting Mui Ne on a budget, I would stay at Nam Khai – a guesthouse that had rooms for $10 a night. They didn’t have a pool but the guest house opposite did, and they allowed us to use it if we bought drinks at their bar. We were happy to oblige!
When we stayed at Utopia in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, they built this pool in the two weeks we were there. On the first day the courtyard was a building site, by the end of our holiday we were swimming! This was another Christmas day spent by a sun-drenched pool.
When I visited Bali, I was not impressed with Kuta. Not being a surfer I found the main beach too showy and sporty, so I paid a bit more for a hotel with a pool. Lured into staying at this hotel by the music playing when we walked past (Danish band Volbeat), my Swedish boyfriend was very pleased to discover that everybody else staying at the hotel was Swedish. I was the ONLY non-Swede there! I’m pretty sure that some of them actually never left the pool.
Apart from Kuta, the rest of Bali is stunning. Particularly Ubud, where my next pool is located. The hotel was pretty small and we were the only ones staying there, for three days the pool was ours to enjoy. We were staying on the ground floor of the block visible in the picture, we just had to step outside to get to the pool!
When we travelled around South America staying in hostels with pools was rare, mainly because we were travelling in the colder months. Colombia was warmer though and so we managed to squeeze in a few pools. We ate Christmas dinner as night fell by this pool at Pit Stop in Medellin.
Santa Marta was another place where we found a pool when we stayed at the ‘La Brisa Loca’ hostel. Although the pool looked ornate and decorative, the water had a disturbing yellow hue which concerned me somewhat as the hostel is a renowned party place. I didn’t go in!
During a 3 month working holiday in Tenerife I worked as a Suncare Advisor where I got to hang out on some pretty amazing pools whilst witnessing an extortionate amount of lobster-red flesh.
#FriFotos is open to all, come and join the fun all day, every Friday on Twitter!
