Reboot!

Well folks, my year in Oz is nearly up. I’ve had the chance to explore Victoria and New South Wales, experiencing unique events like New Year’s Eve in Sydney, cheering for my footy team during the premiership, seeing great sights like the Twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean Road. I’ve had an awesome time over here but unfortunately all great things must come to an end.

It’s been a fairly tough time for me in the last few months. Getting work when your visa is running out is quite tough, even more so if you restrict yourself to office jobs like I did. There is stuff out there but you have to be aggressive. If you see an opening, apply! Then wait a few days and call! Especially if dealing with an agency you’ve got to track down the person in charge of the job posting and make sure they know you’re up for it. Thankfully I have something for the moment.

At this point in time I need to concentrate on work and budgeting, planning and booking my next travels as well as forecasting my finances for those travels. I hope to reboot the blog at some point towards the end of 2012 - early 2013 from a new location. Where? Who knows? I’m quite excited to start travelling again. Expect the following in the coming months:

- All the fun stories I DIDN’T want to write about while in oz
- More airline reviews
- More culture shock wtf articles

Stay tuned, more is yet to come.

Fighting Homesickness

When you’re travelling for so long you’re obviously going to get homesick at some point. Regardless of how “strong” you are, how determined you are, or hard-headed, at some point you’ll wish you were with your friends or family back home. Unfortunately there’s no real cure for homesickness other than getting a flight home, but there are some ways to cope. Obviously I’ve dealt with homesickness, mostly over holidays. Over time I’ve found ways of watching TV back home, getting food from back home, as well as meeting people from back home. These three things can definitely help you cope and get your home culture fix.

Getting a care package from home always helps as well - bug people to send you one!

Watching TV

Thanks to the internet I’ve been able to watch stuff like local/national news from back home, as well as sports. TV here in Oz is ok, has most shows that I would watch back home (all if you have Foxtel). Obviously there won’t be any NHL, CFL, or NBA, nor any news. It’s just a matter of searching online and finding a stream. Sadly local Canadian sites might not let you access live streams (CBC Hockey Night In Canada) if you’re outside of the country. Thankfully there will almost always be a stream (especially if it’s a major sporting event). Getting newscasts is a lot easier. I’ve had no issues finding local/national newscasts for Canada. Hopefully these links help you out if you’re on the road and want to watch some tv from home:

NHL & NBA: Use google to find a stream.

CFL:  http://watch.tsn.ca/cfl-games-on-demand/ *Games won’t be live but you can still watch

News:

Global News: http://www.globalnews.ca *Good for local news
Sun News Network: http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca *National News

Food

I’ve already done an article on poutine - you CAN get it here in Oz. But say you want something else like root beer, high sugar cereal, or some high powered hot sauce. Thankfully there are some shops here in Melbourne that do specialize in North American products. It did take me a while to find these but they are awesome. Just keep in mind that you will be paying a premium for these products such as $10 for a box of cereal or a box of pop tarts, or $20 for a 12 pack of A & W root beer. There are at least three places that I know of here in Melbourne where you can stock up on North American goods:

USA Foods - http://www.usafoods.com.au - 110 Cochranes Rd, Moorabin VIC

Amazing Savings - 162 Carlisle St, St Kilda VIC

Americandy - stall at Vic Market.

Meeting Fellow Canadians

Poutine on Canada Day

Nothing beats a bit of homesickness than getting together with some fellow people frome your home country. When you move away from home, try searching for clubs catered to your country. Here in Victoria Australia there is a Canada Club which puts on events throughout the year, usually coinciding with Canadian holidays. I had the pleasure of celebrating Canada Day with them at a bar in Melbourne’s CBD. It was a lot of fun as the bar served ceasars, poutine and beavertails. I also win a bag of goodies playing name that Canadian song buy guessing correctly Rush’s Closer To The Heart. So be on the lookout for local clubs near you!

My prize for guessing correctly at Name That Song.

Hopefully these tips help you fight your homesickness blues. It gets all of us as we travel the world - so you’re not alone. So just get online, search for TV, stores, or clubs near you. Also don’t forget to keep in touch with everyone back home.

30 Things I Miss About Canada

1. Harvey’s burgers - Oh so good!

2. Authentic poutine - even though I can get some around the world, it’s not the REAL thing...

3. Hooley’s Happy Hour - $4 pints and 1/2 price appetizers, just won’t happen out here

4. TV - Unless you have Foxtel (pay tv) you only get maybe 20 channels here in Australia, and 5ish of those are home shopping networks.

5. Late night shopping - everything here closes at 5:30 or 6 unless it’s a Thursday or Friday. Need to buy something like a gift or a suit after work on any other day? Forget about it!

6. Driving - I refuse to drive out here after getting a ridiculous speeding fine

7. Reasonable speeding thresholds - Here in Victoria if the speed limit is under 100km/h you get a 3km/h grace threshold for speeding, do 4 and it’s a fine! Over 100km/h it’s 10%.

8. Central heating - As far as I know houses here don’t have furnaces. We do get winter out here where the mercury drops to 1C or 2C so it does get cold!

9. Canadian beer - I miss my Alexander Keith’s!

10. Breakfast restaurant chains - There’s no such thing as Perkin’s, Cora’s, or IHOP out here... bloody shame!

11. North American sports - While I love my footy, I miss being able to catch baseball and hockey on TV here.

12. Fiery political debates about CANADIAN issues - boy did they ever get fiery!

13. 24hr News media - We do have ABC News 24, but unless you have Foxtel you won’t get CNN, Fox News or Sky News.

14. Reasonable fast food breakfast prices - I miss paying $4.02 for a McD’s BLT Bagel, 2 hashbrowns and a large coffee. Here I can pay $7.50 for a coffee and a donut

15. Urban music - Not popular here, miss hearing rap/hip-hop on a regular basis in the clubs.

16. Canadian holidays - While I’ve had the chance to celebrate Canada Day here in Oz and had the opportunity for a Thanksgiving lunch, just not the same as being back home.

17. Bacon - You can get bacon on your burger or parma but it’s back bacon and not the strips

18. Wal-Mart - The one stop shop for anything you could ever need.

19. Ketchup - Feels weird calling it tomato sauce...

20. My videogames - They’re gathering dust...

21. Tim Horton’s coffee - Oh how I miss paying $1.50 for an amazing large double-double, here a large coffee will set you back $4-$5.

22. Being able to plug all my toys in - I only have one power adapter for Oz so I have to balance out charging my toys

23. Coins - I still get frustrated with the fact that the smaller the coin the more valuable it is. Our $2 coin is the largest and easiest to find when you’re fiddling around for change. Also we don’t roll our coin here, we bag it!

24. Table service/running a tab - The honor system is a rarity here, usually you have to pay everything up front, including food.

25. My birthday during SUMMER! - I’m a winter baby here, was 2C on my b-day... :(

26. A White Christmas - Feels absolutely wrong slapping sunscreen on and walking around on a 32C Christmas day... totally wrong!

27. Cinnabon - Terrible yet so delicious! No such thing here in Oz.

28. Quizno’s - My main meal for years at work! Only Subway and their terrible toasting oven here.

29. Country music - BARELY exists here - not on the radio, tv, nor in concert unless it’s Keith Urban...

30. Last but not least, my friends, family and loved ones!

Unemployed Life...

Oh boy, I never imagined being without work so long! After coming back from Hawaii I started my hunt for work fairly confident I was gonna land something quick. Boy was I wrong! Every week that went by I would become more and more unemployable. Part of my difficulty was that I was concentrating on corporate jobs which is probably the most difficult to get on a working holiday visa - even more so when your visa is running out.

Between applying for jobs and waking up at 2 in the afternoon I did get to catch up on my blogs, attend some wild parties, and brush up on being frugal. Hell even my cooking skills have been greatly improved (hey I had A LOT of time on my hands...). But after two months, money was getting tight and shit was getting boring.

It was coming to a point where it looked like my trip might come to an early end! After weeks of applying and boatloads of rejections (even Kmart rejected me!), rent was coming due and wasn't an attractive investment considering I could still be unemployed. While it would be nice to be home at Christmas, it would suck to just be finishing winter here and get back just in time for Canada's winter! I started to plan my way back...

As of last week my phone has been ringing non stop! Interviews and offers galore. Thankfully somethings come up and now my trip is saved! Fingers crossed I can outlive another Canadian winter!

Jetstar No-Frills Experience - My Jetstar Review (Part 1)

Oh how the mighty have fallen! Having gone from flying business class to cattle class was absolutely terrible. Sadly this was the most economical way of getting from Melbourne to Honolulu as I had just missed out on a special from Hawaiian Airlines which would have been MUCH better. As the title would have it, Jetstar is a no-frills airline. I had to forgo my cookies baked for me on the plane, or eating my sumptuous filet mignon steak for well... nothing! Anyways lets start off at the very beginning with booking your flight.

Booking your flight:

When it comes to booking flights I generally like to go to the source, unless there’s a deal out there that I just can’t refuse. So I logged onto Jetstar’s website and set up an account and searched for my flights. MEL to HNL round trip totalled around $1400 which is not exactly ideal but it was the best price I could get. You choose your flights and pre-pay your luggage as it’s way higher paying for it at the gate. Everything was good up until I was bombarded with so-called add-ons for your flight. Do I want to upgrade to business class for $300 each way? NO. Do I want to choose my seat for $7 per flight (4 flights total)? NO. Do I want to pre-book a meal with my flight for $12-15 per flight? NO. Do I want an entertainment system/Ipad for my flight for $12/flight? NO. Do I need to get a hotel at my destination? NO. Do I want to rent a car at my destination? NO. Do I want to donate to charity? NO. OMG SERIOUSLY I JUST WANT MY F!@#ING CONFIRMATION ALREADY! I was very successful in booking my flight for the original price quoted with NO ADD ONS.

About 10 days before my flight (which happened to be my birthday) I got a call from the airline just to “confirm” my itinerary. Everything was going well right up until I noticed that the girl on the other end of the line started going through THE WHOLE DAMN UPSELL SPIEL AGAIN. With my Canadian patience gone but luckily my politeness still intact I advised the girl that I like my booking as-is and don’t wish to make any changes. I might of had to repeat this once as she tried to persist but she got it and ended the call. Whew what an experience...

The Domestic Experience:

Finally the day came where I’d be making my way to Hawaii. Woke up at 5:45am got ready and did a last minute frantic packing check as I normally do. Being a domestic flight I thought I had tons of time between check-in and getting to the gate as any normal person would assume you’d be leaving the country (going through immigration etc.) at the last port before departure. There was a massive traffic jam at Tullamarine Airport so I was a little nervous but got to the check-in counter and there was NOBODY! Safe! Well...not so much. I found out that I had to go through immi and customs HERE as well as go through airport security. Got through everything smoothly but what’s that on the screen?? FINAL BOARDING CALL FOR MATT’S FLIGHT... F!@#. Made an amazing race style dash to my gate only to find out that there’s still 40min or so before leaving... F!@#kers. Of course we also left 30min late... sigh...

The flight to Sydney was about 2hrs total - simple stuff. I planned on listening to a few tunes or play games on my phone (no laptop on this trip). Basically I got nothing to eat on the flight as I refuse to use a credit card on a plane - weird security paranoia. Anyways there was a darling couple sitting next to me composed of a failed jersey shore wannabe who was more flubber than muscle and his trophy pizza-face girlfriend. They spent the whole 2hrs nagging at each other in the form of thanking each other. Thank you so much (guy’s name) for being a condescending prick. Thank you SO MUCH (girl’s name) for being a nag. Thank you so much (guys name) for not moving your legs so I can go to the toilet. And so this went on...and on... My rage was burning but I then realized that these are probably the only four words in the english language they know. It’s never cool to yell at those with special needs.

Anyways we landed in Sydney and here I was pointed to the international transfer checkpoint. There were a few of us headed there. As I walked I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder constantly on the lookout for my two special friends from the earlier flight. No sign of them! Safe...safe for now!

Hiatus Over... For Now...

Well dear readers, I think it’s about time I remove my blog from hiatus and share with you some new material that I’ve come up with. It’s been a long time since my last post so let me bring you up to date on some of the past few months.

I’ve actually been living a very comfortable life here in Melbourne - essentially my life is now the same as it was before I left. I was working the 9-5 grind, well... 9-6 grind, pub on Friday night, watch the footy, and chores on the weekend. It really wasn’t that eventful. Oh what was I doing for work you ask? Well I was in a call centre working for a telecom company - which was a BIG switch from the live entertainment ticketing industry that I was used to. It wasn’t the easiest adaptation but thankfully the crew over there was top notch. Overall the experience I gained out here has boosted my resume, gained me friends for life, and opened up a whole new industry.

A few fans might remember my post on integrating into a foreign society, and I can definitely say that I’ve achieved this here. On the flip side though I have lost touch with a lot of my traveller friends in the process as I’ve been living the 9-5 lifestyle, living in the burbs and not going out on a schoolnight. Thankfully for social networks everyone can still keep track of each other’s movements around the globe.

A lot of you may be wondering where I’m at now? What am I doing? Well I recently had to leave my job due to my 6 month visa restriction. While a lot of my workmates were cursing this restriction, I fully understand it and accept it. And sadly all attempts to find any sort of loophole failed. I took a trip overseas which was a great way to escape the bloody winter here - but winter’s welcomed me back with a vengeance here in Melbourne. So for the time being I’m back at bat when it comes to the job search and living the good life for now.

Stay tuned - lots of entertaining material coming up...

Hiatus Househunt Firestorm

I must say, this blog is a lot of fun to write for. So far my posts have touched 6 continents and my articles read almost 2500 times since I started the blog in December. I’ve been bringing you guys a dedicated 2 posts per week now for 16 weeks. Just to give you guys an idea to the dedication to my blog/readers, for the last 6 weeks I’ve still been churning out 2 posts a week despite working 45hrs/week and commuting 2+hrs a day. Unfortunately due to circumstances you’ll see below, I now need to prioritize getting a more permanent place to stay. At the same time I’m very thankful for my mates who’ve allowed me to stay while I look for housing.


This past weekend I couldn’t help but be enraged, and here is my story. Recently, after moving out of the hostel and staying with some friends in the West End of the city, I’ve started looking for more permanent accommodation. A friend of mine sent me a lead that someone was looking for a roommate to share her house for a decent price in a good suburb.  I phoned her up and set up a viewing, the place was nice and had everything I’d need. Everything was looking good, phone manners were good, friend of a friend, all signs pointed to yes. Set up to move in over the weekend after my camping trip. Well to my surprise my phone buzzed on Saturday with the following:  

Useless...

A text? Are you serious? I’m not so much mad at losing the place, but more at how I’m being let go. Why is she thanking me for wasting my time? In a way it’s a blessing in disguise as with this lack of class I could just imagine how things would have been living with her. While I can imagine the effort and hard work at trying to write this obscenity, it still doesn’t cover up the lack of respect. In the end I suppose I was lazy as I went into this without having a plan B (my bad! lesson learned!). Anyways now I’m in a tailspin as I need a place, and soon. Hunting mode engaged! Thankfully I came across a place Monday afternoon that fit all my criteria and more!

There it was, a place in the city centre, minutes from the trams that take me to work within 20min (rather than >1hr of trains and trams), fully furnished, 30 floors high with nice views. All that for $600/month holy shit it’s on like donkey kong. Within hours of sending my message with my number and a request to view the place, I get a message asking me to send them an e-mail to their private e-mail. Weird? Yeah, but I’ll go with it. E-mailed her my number and asked for a viewing, instead I get an e-mail with more info about the place, more pictures, but nothing on viewing the place. Reply again, here’s my number, when can I drop by to view the place? Then I get the following:

Dear Matthew,

Thanks for writing back again,, i would have really love to show you the  two vacant rooms in my three bedroom flat  in person but  am presently in Philippine on an honey moon with my husband that is why i need just two decent flatmates because i don't want to leave my apartment empty before my arrival by of  April,2012

My property solicitor who is a busy person advice me to package my apartment keys and made the deposit of keys at the FEDEX OFFICE .There is a car space which has already included in the bills including water and there is no extra fee in the $150  per week for  you and $600 for bond per room with no extra charges in the electricity, gas, cable, phone and internet.

Since you are really interested i can contact my property solicitor to make arrangement  for you so that you can proceed on how to reserve the room for yourself before my arrival

Attached is the pictures of me and my husband in our lovely honey moon over here.

Regards

*Redacted*

Wow, this looks just as legit as my winning the UK Lotto every other week (according to them I’m a BILLIONAIRE). Seriously where to start? In a previous e-mail The girl mentioned that she was looking for a “gay-friendly” housemate yet she’s obviously not gay if she’s on a honeymoon with her HUSBAND. Gay marriage isn’t legal here in Oz so it’s obviously not her female partner (she also sent pics of them making out? she’s ugly so no it wasn’t pleasant to look at.) The “solicitor” and FEDEX key deposit are key scam indicators. While I can’t help but feel angry about all this, in the end it’s part of the experience that I signed up for. Oh well gotta keep hunting...

As much as I love writing for you all, and the feedback I’ve been getting, I have to take a break. I’m not necessarily going to stop altogether, but for the time being posts will not be regular or as frequent. On days where I post I usually get to bed at around 1am or later. I can’t help but feel as if the quality of my posts has suffered in the last little bit. So bear with me while I get my shit together. I’ll be active on twitter and the comments section. Do you have questions about my posts? Want more details? Leave a comment, I will reply!

The Art Of Being Cheap

Being cheap (or frugal if you prefer to sugar it up) is an art. Obviously like anything else practice makes perfect. Australia is an expensive place, and I’ve already gone over how to stretch that Aussie dollar. Last week I also covered getting some cheap eats while in St. Kilda which although not really “on a shoestring,” it’s an affordable luxury while on that budget! I’ve had a learning curve here as well, having realized that you can’t necessarily be cheap with everything. Honestly sometimes it’s worth paying the extra 25 cents! At the same time however, if you see a good deal there’s no shame in jumping on it. I’ll give you an example of both extremes where I messed up and succeeded.

sigh...

#27 of my 50 things I’ve learned in Australia was that ALDI is a lifesaver if you’re on a shoestring budget. Seriously this place is the shit, with cheap everything! Even the $8.99 six packs of beer aren’t bad at all. But here’s where I made the mistake... I went cheap while at ALDI! I needed sandwich bags to pack a lunch to go volunteering. Here I had the choice of the 99 cent pack or the 69 cent pack of plastic bags. Of course, why pay 99 when you can pay 69 right? What’s the difference? Well it turns out that the 69 cent bags are “snack” bags, and hence you get the result from the picture above... I’ve succeeded in making myself look like an anal-retentive dork packing my sandwiches individually. In retrospect, I should have just spend the damn 30 cents, it would have made my life a whole lot easier! Thankfully I’m almost done this set of bags...

This is the most amazing thing I've discovered!

Recently, now that I’m working, I’ve decided to cut down on my coffee expenses as they add up quickly here in Melbourne. It’s particularly expensive since you can’t get the regular stuff at a coffee shop. This past weekend I bought a travel mug at Coles in the hopes of making my own coffee in the morning and saving the $3 for a small coffee that I pay every morning. While at the grocery store I came to the realization that I need both milk and sugar on top of getting coffee... This was getting get bulky, expensive and inconvenient. Like magic I saw the following product on the shelf which was an answer to my prayers. That’s right folks, instant coffee with milk and sugar in a toothpaste tube! Just add water! It looks ridiculous but I’ll vouch for it. This is probably the closest I’ve gotten to the taste of a double-double since I left Canada. Instead of $3/day it’s now $3/week yeaaah!

As you can see, the art of being cheap is one learned through trial and error. I got greedy with those sandwich wrappers and I pay for it every day... (and no I won’t let them go to waste either! - see article title!). Then again on the flip side I had the coffee which was a BIG risk as I’ve never seen such an invention. Like every other skill, practice makes perfect. Although far from perfect I have become much better at the art of frugality.

Hostel Life...

Heh, while I was definitely living the high life getting here to Australia... more recently I’ve been living a more humbler lifestyle after I got here. While you’re on vacation, hostel life is great as there’s always a party going on and people to have a drink with and stay up half the night. However when you’re running out of money, looking for work and taking life a bit more seriously, it can be a source of anger. Hostel life is what you make of it, remember YOU chose to live here... by no means are you forced to stay. Here are a few interesting tidbits of my daily life living in a hostel.

Sleep hard... or buy earplugs!

Notice those towels? That's the only way to get privacy... Why a bottom bunk is prized!

Many people would argue that it’s an Olympic sport to wake me up in the morning. Thankfully that’s a good thing here in a hostel. Depending where you are, noise levels can be pretty high, so it’s a good skill to have to sleep like a rock. The only problem however is getting to sleep... It can be a little frustrating when the bongo drums start a drummin or there’s an impromptu Oasis singalong at 1 or 2 am, but that’s just a fact of life here. Thankfully my brain could tune those out! What’s a little harder is when the couple sleeping in the bunk next to you (or god help you the bunk beneath you) are a shaggin’. I’ll always remember at one hostel there was a couple going at it next to me, as uncomfortable as it was I couldn’t help but laugh as all the girl could do was whine. Bravo Romeo... lol! Now some would recommend earplugs, but those are a double edged sword as if you have an alarm clock well guess what... your ears are plugged! Nightshades can be useful as well. It can be a little frustrating adjusting to living with 6-12 other people in the room, but you get used to it.

Kitchen Frenzy!

Try finding your bag in here...

As I’ve mentionned in my article Stretch That Australian Dollar, cooking food will save you A LOT of money. Only thing is that EVERYONE DOES IT, so sometimes space is an issue... the worst is if you have something like beer or goon which takes up a big chunk of space. The other thing is be sure to label everything! There’s always an opportunist waiting around the corner, and they WILL steal your beer or goon if they think they won’t get caught. Personally I recommend keeping your alcohol secure in your room and cooling it in the fridge in a cooler bag available from your grocer. For your goon, label both the box AND the bag that way you can try and catch the fool who stole your drink!  

Friends, roommates, and unsavory characters

It might not stop a determined thief, it makes it inconvenient for the amateurs!

The people you meet at a hostel will vary, thankfully while travelling you learn a very important skill that will help you weed through the unsavory characters. I’ve met tons of great people during my stays (you’re probably reading this right now!), and I’ve also met some unsavory characters as well. There’s always a few bad ones staying in the hostel, usually you can easily tell who they are and avoid them, but other times you’re stuck with them in your room. I’ll always remember one fellow in Halifax, he seemed really nice but something was off about him, we later found out he was kicked out for supposedly stealing laptops... I do recommend getting a security device for your backpack, but I recommend only using it when you REALLY feel sketch about the people you’re staying with. Otherwise a) you’re announcing to everyone you have something really valuable and b) you’re basically accusing everyone of being a potential thief, so exercise some restraint on using it in first world countries, third world...LOCK IT UP!

To be quite honest I never expected to be living the hostel life this long! While it’s been a challenge at times, and I can be caught cussing about it, deep down inside I do think it’s all right. I’m quite happy where I’m at right now... But don’t get me wrong, although I may complain about it from time to time, I still chose to live here. Sooner or later though, some privacy would be nice...

Alone for the holidays... maybe not!

This is the first time I’ve ever been away from home for the holidays. Love ‘em or hate ‘em you do want to be around your family during the holidays. My trip began as Christmas season was in full swing which made it very weird saying goodbye. Most of my family gave me my gifts before I left and threw many goodbye dinners. It really was weird saying goodbye, but I did. Reminders were everywhere!

Christmas tree at Seoul City Hall

Funny enough reminders of Christmas were everywhere in Seoul. There were plenty of Christmas trees, some of which were quite spectacular. As well there were the traditional Christmas tunes playing in the shopping malls. The one that I really found cute was the k-pop version of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, made me chuckle but a little sad at the same time as it reminded me that I’m on my own. I was also in town for Santacon, which is a global gathering of people dressed up as santa. As I was coming home, Hongik University station was overrun with people dressed up as santa singing carols. What was great was that it was all foreigners and they invaded the bar area. It was quite the night lol! I managed to survive the holiday season in Seoul, but that was just the beginning, as they hadn’t even happened yet.

SataCon @ Hongik Univ. Station - Seoul                                 

One day surfing on facebook I somehow glanced at the people you may know... portion of the newsfeed and saw a name that I knew well many years ago. Funny enough... he was living in Sydney. Got in touch and found out he was going to be on his own for the holidays as well, so what better way to spend the holidays than together? Rob was nice enough to let me crash on his couch for both Christmas and NYE and every day in between, and a bit after. I got to have my first ever Filipino meal when a coworker of his graciously invited us both to spend Christmas Eve with their family. Christmas day I spent visiting the Opera House which gave me an amazing photo op as nobody was around, as well as stuffed my face with yakiniku, the Japanese BBQ. It was a lot of fun and definitely helped relieve some of those holiday blues being on the other side of the world. It was really odd Skyping with the family as I’m pretty much a day ahead, and the Christmas moment was done and it was Boxing day by the time we spoke.

Christmas with my mates in Sydney.

It’s definitely weird being surrounded by beaches and palm trees when you’re so used to snow and pine trees. I was a little shocked as well as the Christmas decorations weren’t as prevalent as they were in Seoul. In the end it just didn’t feel the same... but don’t get me wrong, it was still great to be on a beach on Boxing Day rather than freezing my butt off! I was very fortunate to be taken in by Rob and his friends at Christmas time. I had originally resigned myself to spending the day on Skype and watching Die Hard movies (truly a guy oriented Christmas movie series!) Sounds like fun doesn’t it... thankfully it didn’t come to that...

Integrating Into A Foreign Society

Being away from home can be tough... I’ve been away for almost 2 months now. Although it doesn’t seem like so long, I think the fact that I was gone over the holidays just kinda made it feel like I’ve been away for longer. My position is obviously a tough one as I’m here solo so I definitely have to milk my social skills and make some friends here otherwise I’d be a very bitter lonely traveller. Now I can’t really give many tips apart from being social and getting rid of your shyness, but I can definitely offer you some advice on what NOT to do if you want to integrateinto society.

YOU WILL NEVER INTEGRATE INTO ANOTHER SOCIETY IF YOU’RE ALWAYS IN CONSTANT CONTACT WITH BACK HOME.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s cool and all to be on facebook or whatever your social network fancy is to keep in touch. You’ll only make your homesickness worse if you’re constantly chatting up, calling, skyping everyone from back home. I’m not advocating cutting your friends and family off, but if you’re talking to them daily I think that you’re overdoing it. Once or maybe twice  a week at most is probably the best solution. As much as you will get homesick on some days, DO NOT clutch your smartphone and start skyping or facebooking back home. Instead you should be concentrating on making connections and expanding your social network LOCALLY. Unless you do that you will be alone and it’ll just be a vicious cycle where you’re constantly calling people from back home instead of making friends and conquering the lonely traveller blues.

YOU WILL NEVER INTEGRATE INTO ANOTHER SOCIETY IF YOU STAY IN A BACKPACKERS HOSTEL

Hostels definitely are a great place for a solo traveller like myself to stay as they kinda force you to be social and get out there and be with people. However here in Australia you will NOT meet many Australians while staying in a backpacker hostel. My current hostel is pretty much a European outpost here in Melbourne. I’ve mentioned in previous posts about the amount of French and Irish out here, and while most are great people... I didn’t come to Australia to meet French or Irish... I also love my neighborhood but as well it seems like all the nightlife is dominated by backpackers. Almost like a sort of foreigner ghetto. Once you get out of this sort of ghetto you’ll have a much easier time integrating yourself into your new society and culture.

YOU WILL NEVER INTEGRATE INTO A NEW SOCIETY IF YOU STICK WITH YOUR OWN

It’s great running into fellow Canadians. I love to have a quick chat about the happenings from back home. But as tempting as it is, you didn’t fly half way across the world to stick to your own. If you did you just wasted a lot of money and time! For example the French here really tend to stick to their own and keep things in their own language. Between each other they will stick with French and not attempt to socialize with those around them who might not understand them. You see this with many foreign cultures here. Best advice I have is just get out there and create a diverse social network. Don’t just gather and lament about your motherland, if you want to do that then just fly home!

While the advice in here does seem harsh, it is the best advice that I can giver to you in terms of killing the lonely travellers blues. On top of that, if you’re looking for the true local experience, you won’t get that living in a foreigner ghetto surrounded by any culture but the local one. The best bet is to try and balance everything such as contact with your friends and family back home as well as your social network locally. Don’t fall into the traps I’ve outlined in this article as they’re a sure road to the solo traveller blues!

The Australian Toilet Experience

Everyone has seen the Simpsons episode where Bart visits Australia regarding the whole toilets flushing counter clockwise. I hate to say this but despite the massive amount of requests that I’ve received to film and post on Youtube a toilet flushing counter clockwise, it just won’t happen... But on that note, let’s talk about Australian toilets as they sure have been an experience for me since arriving here a month ago.

Your average plain Jane toilet here in Oz.

This my friends is your normal Aussie toilet. You’ll notice the two flush buttons on the top. Here in the land of Oz there’s a huge water conservation movement going on as this is the driest continent on the planet. One button is a half flush and the other is a full flush. The one thing about the toilets here is that they do not swirl. It’s basically as if somebody is dumping a bucket of water in the toilet to flush whatever it is you left in there down the drain. So when you do get here, don’t be expecting like the Simpsons and get a counterclockwise swirl.

Urinals here in Oz, it's just one big tub!

All right men, let’s talk urinals! Now I went through a lot of trouble to get this photo, as if anyone would have walked in I would have been on my way to the local hospital. This is actually a sort of luxury urinal as you’re not standing over a grill watching your urine go down the drain. You’ll also notice that unlike in North America, privacy is NOT guaranteed here. Back home we have individual urinals as the norm, in some cases we even place walls in between them, here they’re only in the fancy places. Those who have trouble going with others around might need to reconsider a trip here!

Flies everywhere!!!

Now let’s start talking about unconventional toilets here in Oz. Above we have a picture of my first outhouse toilet here in Australia which I had the pleasure of experiencing on my first weekend camping along the great ocean road. I really had to go the first time I visited this toilet, but as soon as I raised the lid I had an unpleasant surprise! All of a sudden all I heard was buzz buzz buzz which I thought was bees. I got laughed at when I asked about all the buzzing as I was terrified of getting stung. Turns out it was flies all along! The flies here are something else, but that’s a whole other blog post.

Ugh this was disgusting!

This my friends is the worst of the worst toilets I’ve ever been exposed to in my life. I had the pleasure of visiting this gem while on the greyhound bus from Melbourne to Sydney, which is a 12hr bus ride. This has to be the closest thing to a 3rd world toilet I’ve ever experienced. There is NO water to flush. The flush mechanism is basically a flap at the bottom that opens up. There was also no toilet paper for people to wipe themselves. I had a mixture of anger and pity for the girl who had explosive diarrhea 1 hr into the 12hr trip. While I was angry that she stank up the bus so early into the journey, she also couldn’t wipe herself till either Sydney or Canberra. This is by far the worst toilet I’ve ever visited...EVER!

As you can see, I’ve had some interesting experiences with the toilets down here in Oz. While my experience is nothing compared to the adventure in the Simpsons episode, it’s still pretty interesting. It can be a little bit of an adjustment from the luxurious North American toilets we’re almost all accustomed to, but easy enough it’s not that much work. Just be sure to remember that in the bush, that buzzing sound is probably flies, and avoid the greyhound toilet at all costs!

Stretch That Australian Dollar

By far the number one complaint from fellow travellers that I meet has been that everything here is bloody expensive! Most of the world’s economies and currencies have tanked in the last year yet Australia’s has soared. The days of things balancing themselves out with the exchange rate are over... You’re just going to have to face it that things here can cost an arm and a leg. So here are a few tips to help you stretch that dollar to help make ends meet:

DON’T SMOKE

It will bleed your wallet dry I tell you!

Anything here that’s vice related is expensive and taxed beyond imagination. I’m not your mother so we’ll spare the health issues, but financially you will suffer here. I used to joke about how expensive cigarettes were in Canada when they were $10/pack... Folks here you can pay between $14 to over $20 for a pack! Plenty of people here have resorted to rolling their own but even then it’s still fairly expensive (and time consuming). Funny enough there is no shortage of smokers here in Australia, patios are PACKED... Honestly I’m shocked! If you can’t beat the habit, ask around your hostel as there’s bound to be some entrepreneurs who are taking advantage of selling off their goodies purchased at the duty-free stores.

Plan your meals

Fast food (just like pretty much everything) here is expensive. One gimmick that will catch you off-guard here is the way the combos work. Here the price you’ll see on the menu is usually for a small combo, and who wants a small drink and fry with their burger? So you’ll need to clarify if you want a small, medium or large combo. Your average combo price will usually be around $10-$12, can be $7ish if you go when there’s a lunch or dinner special. Most places I’ve been to, people weren’t big on buying food at the grocery stores and cooking at the hostel. Well here it’s the thing to do! I purchased a meal, snack and 2L bottle of water to last me the day while out volunteering, cost me $12. Definitely beats any fast food combo. Doing this will definitely help you stretch that dollar.

Find that HAPPY HOUR!

Ugh, honestly do I ever wish for those Hooley’s $4.50 pints right now! Prices for alcohol can be pretty ridiculous out here (being a vice and all!). Here pints aren’t generally served in bars, and if they are they’ll be around $10-12. More often you’ll have pots (285mL) and schooners (425mL) available at lower prices. Also, pitchers here are referred to as jugs and are smaller at 1125mL of beer. Happy hours have some good deals, especially here in Melbourne where you can get $10 jugs. If you see pitchers on the menu, avoid the place at all costs! Once at dinner in Sydney we indulged in 2 normal size pitchers... at $35 each... that hurt the wallet for sure!

Accomodation

Hostels here in Melbourne usually hover around the $30 range, and can move up to a whopping $42/night during special events. You can forget about hotel rooms as the cheaper places range around the $150 range in the CBD. Hostels also offer private rooms which can range from $60-$120/night but you might need to sacrifice a private bathroom. You can also look at offering a hand around the hostel, in many cases for 3hrs of work you can get the night free. Also go directly on the hostel/hotels website as there might be better rates or even negotiable weekly rates available to you.

As you can see, things here are pretty pricey! It’s funny how people will warn you ahead of time, but it only ever hits you when you land in the country. I’ve already complained about the $4 medium coffees, but as well the $10 pints, $20 cigarettes and crazy hostel prices make this an incredibly expensive country. Had I not carefully planned ahead I would have been in serious trouble by now. Be warned, this is definitely not the land for penny pinchers!