The Full Moon Party

A guide to the Full Moon/Half Moon Party

I’ve been back from Thailand for about a month now and I can safely say I am suffering major travel blues. One of my favourite memories from my trip was the famous Moon Party on Koh Phanagan, which is something from out of this world, honestly. I thought I’d share a quick guide for those who are planning on visiting Thailand anytime soon or those of you to reminisce the crazy experience!

Alcohol Buckets

Cheap, big and strong. These buckets are always a good idea, until you end up face planted on the roads of Koh Phangan. Buckets in Thailand are sold on every street you pass, so if you are desperate to try one, don’t worry you will be sure not to miss out! The buckets cost anything from around 100- 500 Baht which is £2-10. This may seem very cheap for us Brits but very expensive in Thailand so be sure to bargain or even move 1 metre down the beach to find another stall! They are also ridiculously strong which you may be thinking why is that a problem?, but it is when you start to forget how much you’ve actually drank! – so be wise and make sure you only buy the buckets that have not been pre mixed.

Burning skipping rope

Great for all you adrenalin junkies but if you want to leave the island with a ‘Koh Phangan tattoo’ I suggest to skip this detail out.

Bum bags

This was probably my most handy accessory I ever bought with me. I used it every day and it meant i wasn’t on edge about my valuables. I know for some of you this seems like the ultimate fashion crisis (I never thought I’d be seen dead in one) but purchasing a thin/slim bum bag means you can put it under your clothes without looking like you’ve had one too many Thai curries.

Have a meeting point

Chances are, you’ll be attending this festival with friends. Trying to keep an eye on them among 30,000 people can be a bit difficult. It would be far more fun to hangout and dance with them, rather than spending hours searching the beach for them. Before you go out, decide on a meeting point so, if you can’t find one another for say 10 minutes, head to that point and meet up. Then, reunited, you can continue partying together!

Accommodation

While you’re on Haad Rin Beach having a great time at the party, who’s watching your precious belongings in your bungalow? This party gives thieves a prime chance to break into your hut and take your expensive travel electronics, money, or even worse – your passport. Get a hotel/bungalow that looks well taken care of and has someone around 24/7. Better yet, go for a room that isn’t right in the middle of the action. With 30,000 people on the beach, the odds of someone walking up to your room unnoticed are pretty high! It’s a good idea to stay off the beach and into the centre of the island, but not too far; the taxi drivers take the piss slightly.

Transport

Going off my previous tip, try to get accommodation relatively close to Had Rin beach or Ban Tai beach for the Half Moon. The last thing you want to be doing is getting a boat onto the next island in your drunken state on an over packed long tail boat. They have capsized in the past which has killed many students, so don’t risk it!

Neon paint – always a good idea.

On that light note, be sure to pack the neon paint. You’ll see some insane pieces of body art so make sure you fit right in!

Here are some of my photos from the Half Moon Party! Excuse the crude body paint which was painted on by my intoxicated boyfriend. 

7 tips on how to survive that dreaded Long Haul Flight

For those of you to love to jet off away from the norm and occasionally love just a bit more than that European city break, you’d understand the pain that is long haul fights. Recently I travelled South East Asia to see my boyfriend, after 4 months of being apart! The trip was utterly amazing and I was so lucky to spend a whole month with him in the most amazing countries! But soon I had to face the horrific reality that was a long haul flight back to freezing London. FECK.

As I had to endure 24+ on long haul flights that pretty much makes me an almost an expert on surviving the dreaded things, so heres 7  ways to survive your dreaded long haul flight!

Get comfortable. 
Wear a super comfortable outfit for the plane. My favorite outfit for long-haul flights is a pair of stretchy leggings, a cotton tee, and dolly shoes and of course a fluffy jacket or scarf to use as a cover up or pillow! If you are thinking outfit disaster like I am, you can always freshen up and make yourself look more presentable when getting off the plane. Unless you want to meet the man of your dreams flying over Asia but let’s face it, comfort wins. Everytime.  

Pack an inflatable pillow. 
The pillows provided by the airplane are really only useful as lumbar support. If you intend on sleeping on the plane, pack an inflatable neck pillow. If you are lucky enough to get an adjustable  headrest then you are already one step ahead of the game.

Move around. 
Sitting for long periods of time can increase the risk of deep vein thrombosis and in non-scientific terms; a really numb bum.  Larger planes usually have space in the back to stretch (literally).  On my last flight from Singapore to Dubai, I stood in the back with the flight attendants twice for 30 minutes. I've learned that flight attendants usually have great travel stories to tell and free goodies so hit them up for a chat if you're bored.

Bring a sweater or an extra blanket. 

It may be 30 degrees down below but once youre in that airplane the aircon is turned on and without a jacket you are stuffed. Some aircrafts supply blankets, however these are usually very thin that they quite frankly do not keep you warm at all.
Travel with a warm sweater or a small travel blanket so that you'll be comfortable during the flight. Luckily I had my sarong to cocoon myself in with an Emirates blanket but don’t always count on that!

Choose an exit row. 
Exit rows have a ton of extra space and are often available for an extra fee. The worst thing is getting trapped in-between two sleeping people and having to wake them up several times cause you’ve drank too much wine.

Use an eye mask and ear plugs.
Depending on the time of day your flight takes off and the direction you're flying, it might be bright outside, making it difficult to fall asleep. It's also challenging to sleep when there's constant conversation, babies crying and noise from the meal service. Some airlines provide seat stickers so you can let the flight attendants know you don’t want to be disturbed but this doesn’t l=block out the noise. ­ Many international carriers give out a free amenity kit that includes these items. If your airline doesn't offer an eye mask and ear plugs, it's definitely worth investing in a set.

Try get upgraded.

When flying from London to Dubai I was a nervous wreck, while trying to keep myself together I got approached by Emirates staff who asked if I was flying alone and/or this was my first time travelling alone. All I had to do was say yes and I was automatically upgraded to business class! Unfortunately it is not that easy every time but the free champagne, business class seat and luxury lounge is worth the effort!

Soon to be blogged; My tips and favourite places to see in Asia. Good luck with your next long haul flight! x

Visual Merchandising workshop

For winning our Visual Merchandising brief we were awarded with a guest lecturer: Adrian Ashmore. We got to spend a session getting to know the basics of TexStore, which designers/PR/Showroom creatives use to create a mock up of a store. I found this workshop extremely interesting, apart from the fact it is exactly like playing Sims TexStore is a great program to use for the planning and designing of our 3rd year exhibition!

Take a look at what I created!

Unique DIY business cards

For my current project; self promotion I am producing several creative concepts to promote myself as a fashion creative. After making my business cards I decided to add a bit of creativity to it. I previously saw an image on Pinterest.com in which a graphic designer had created a folded CV. I thought I would mix the two together to potentially hand out to cilents.

I started off making a front cover to present myself with the text 'I'm Georgia Sheehan - Fashion Creative' to engage customers. However you only see this when then you unfold the envelope. On the back is my visual CV so potential employers/cilents can read about my work and experience.  

I went with a super minimal black and white business card, which contains my signature motif of the circle. 

As for the poster, in an ideal world I would have made this huge (like 18×24 or larger), but I couldn’t figure out how to fold the paper properly at that size AND it would have been extremely expensive. So, I opted for a normal size sheet of paper, professional printed on matte paper.

Then I folded every single sheet, so that my business card could rest inside and create a black triangle that slightly resembles the shape of a house. It took a while to create a design that would line up perfectly, but eventually I figured it out. Here is the photos of the steps of the business card holer. Enjoy! x

Life drawing

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to attend a life drawing class. A bit skeptical at first to say the least as I had never done life drawing before! This opportunity correlates with my new brief 'What is beauty? which is a topic I have always had a passion to explore and research. Life drawing allows you to draw /judge another from just their appearance , you are projecting what you physically see in the outside and portraying their perception on paper. This is what I feel is the beauty of life drawing. It allows you to manipulate a human body how you wish - much like editors do in campaigns in the media today. 

Below is my finished piece from life drawing. I decided to use a different technique to technically challenge myself. 

What am I like?

I've been away for awhile catching up with uni friends and work so excuse the lack of posts! 

So I've been given my first brief of bye semester: what am I like?. Initially I thought this task will be an easy breeze but then I thought what am I ACTUALLY like? Our task was to select 10 topics from a list of 13 and visually display what we feel defines us. I decided to take a different route and ask my close friends what they feel suits me best to each topic. (Which was quite interesting to hear to say the least), I asked 10 friends and wrote down the majority of answers. 

Above is a mind map of what things I will include in my project. I have decided to use real life objects or pictures to create a  visual mood board. Here is some of my inspiration. 

          Development and experiments 

                     My final piece 

To see my final piece or more exams did my work make sure to check out my online portfolio at issuu.com/georgiiasheehan 

City travels

Over the summer I visited two European cities and realised I haven't shared my stories yet! 

First stop was the beautiful city Paris.

Identical cafe tables and chairs. Space invader graffiti. Flowers on Parisian balaconies. The Eiffel Tower and it's lights. Handmade ice sherbets and I've cream from berthillon. Creamy shades of the Parisian walls. The heavy scent of Serge Lutens fragrance in the Palais Royal arcade. 

Breakfast? 

Try Rose Bakery at 46 rue des martyrs, even better than London! 

A quick tea break?

Visit cafe de flore on 172 boulevard saint-germain. Could of spent all day here people watching the streets on Paris 

Handmade ice cream? 

Go to berthillon. 31 rue saint-Louis-en l'ile.

Even though I only stayed 2 nights in Paris, I managed to see all the top tourist attractions and about 10 brides strolling round the street in their wedding dresses! 

Be sure to check out the love lock bridge (just be sure to get the right one! - blonde moment for me) 

I also stayed in Barcelona for 3 nights with my boyfriend. Unfortunately I was I'll the whole time so luckily I have a Spanish speaking bf to get me the drugs I needed! Although I was ill I still appreciated the amazing architecture. As Barcelona is a fairly big city there are lots of tour buses to chose from, which was great for poorly me to have a sit down while getting the breeze blown in my face!