Category: Travel

A week in Sydney, a weekend in Melbourne

So, about 15 years ago I was in Australia for the first time. This time around? I am an adult. In New Zealand, I was in Auckland without a plan. I caught a bus from Auckland to Wellington and began my life as a hobbit. My first week in Australia was meant as a mix between vacation and getting things set up for my visa.

Two big things (besides a mullet)

The main goal with spending the week in Sydney was to get a bank account and a tax ID number. This I achieved within two days. That left the rest of the week for vacation!

Hostels are the way to go

My first experience with hostels was back in 2016, when I lived in Mosbach, Germany. I laid in bed for most of the day as I contemplated my life choices. They had a buffet breakfast where I tried some German ham as well as bread and I was sold. Now, nearly a decade later, I’ve stayed at plenty of hostels. Some have been amazing, others dingy. When looking for hostels in Australia, I was surprised how many 8 star and above hostels there were. I settled on one a short walk to the city and not too far from the airport. This hostel had activities, a rooftop, and a free breakfast; the free breakfast I utilized almost every day. To save money, I bought pasta and bread so I’d have food for lunch and dinner. My room had a balcony where I was lucky enough to watch the Sydney marathon!

My room was modest and the only issue I really had was finding an outlet. The pillow was a little bit on the lighter side but nothing folding it in half couldn’t solve. Showers were my least favorite part of the hostel. They didn’t have a spot where I could put my clothes easily. But for seven days, it was a great stay!

The Sydney Opera House

15 years ago I was struck by the beauty of the Sydney Opera House. 15 years ago I didn’t go inside the opera house. This trip, I did my research. If you’re under 35, you can sign up with Opera Australia and get a 15% discount on tickets. That said, it can still be pretty expensive! Luckily, I found a show that was around $90 (AUD, I think). An hour and a half of intro to opera and I was sold. There’s a nice little bar on the harbor, so stop by there if you’re early for the show!

During intermission, you can walk around the cathedral, grab food and a drink, and simply enjoy yourself. After 15 years of waiting, I finally got to see the interior and it did not disappoint. The architecture is like nothing I’ve seen before and it was a true joy to see it firsthand.

Mullet Mike

As you can see in my Sydney Opera House photo, my hair had gotten pretty long! New Zealand had me sporting long hair, mustache, and no ponytail. When I got back home, I sported the ponytail when I started attending professional events. Years before, I did a skin fade when I was in Germany. For better or worse, hair is starting to define my travel. So with that, I knew Australia might be the only chance in my life to rock a mullet. So, here it is, in it’s full glory:

A modern mullet for a modern man

Botanical Garden and State Library

Each state in Australia has its own library and garden. While originally heading for the garden, I saw a beautiful building that I quickly detoured through. Unfortunately, my photos for the Sydney state library and botanical garden are all on Instagram! Fear not, for I saved a few photos from the Melbourne state library.

A few people playing chess on the upper floor
The library in Legos

Absolutely amazing architecture and of the two state libraries I visited, Melbourne came out on top. These are places I feel like I can spend days getting lost in. Check out books, do research, read. On one of the floors, there were chess tables and people just playing; my kind of place!

A Little Rooftop here, a little rooftop there

In Sydney, I had a nice rooftop hostel. In Melbourne, an even nicer rooftop. And I have to say, the Melbourne skyline is absolutely stunning.

The trip was fairly low-key. I spent my time between wandering the city and hitting the live music scene at a few bars. The evenings were spent clubbing and drinking with friends at one of the many rooftop bars. Clubbing was a miss, where I was bored for the first time in a club. I was told later that there are clubs for 25 to 35 year old’s, which is where I should have been! Mornings were for brunches, and one of my favorites was a Korean infused croissant.

A Melbourne coffee

Getting to Adelaide

The simplest way is to fly. I however, went for the train! Sydney to Melbourne has a fairly cheap commuter train and to get to Adelaide, you can take a bus. If you want to see Australia, this is a great way to do it!

The train had a food car, so I had fun eating throughout the trip and enjoying the sights. The journey overall took about 20 hours, so if you’re going to Adelaide from Sydney, make sure you take time to rest in-between by visiting Melbourne!

And that’s it! There will be more to come in the coming months. I’m currently living and enjoying life in my quiet home in the suburbs of Adelaide. My goal is to have a lived in experience in Australia. As always, thanks for reading!

The fork in the road: Australia

I’ve heard that anything done once can be a fluke, but if you do it twice it becomes a pattern. New Zealand was supposed to be one last hurrah. It was a way to say my dreams were worth pursuing, however grand they may have seemed at the time. And now? I am currently living in Australia, in this fever dream I’m calling life.

After New Zealand

When I had left for New Zealand, I was a mess. I had a job that I sought since college, a partner, and student loans freshly paid off. But something was missing. So I left, on the chance I might find myself. And I did. I came away from the trip more confident than I ever had been. My confidence to move mountains was restored.

The Task to move mountains

Holiday working visas are no easy feat to pull off. You have the application fee, the plane ticket, and the initial months without work. Not to mention miscellaneous, unforeseen expenses. For example, if you’re tired and want to grab food after your flight. Or if your bank randomly adds foreign transaction fees to your card. If you’re doing back to back holiday working visas it can be extremely difficult.

My timeline is as follows: Pandemic -> quit job -> find work -> Pay of Student Loans -> get cavities -> New Zealand… New Zealand -> find work slowly -> start making good money -> travel last month of visa and accrue debt. Then I come back home and have 9 months to make money, which created a completely new timeline… Hop off plane -> say hi to family -> go to alumni event -> become soccer coach -> new job saving a Gala -> Finish Job -> Mini Vacation -> Job Market collapses -> become cashier -> Hop on plane. So as you can see, very little room for error. All this to be unemployed in a foreign country (at least for a couple weeks).

So as you can see, even if you are focused and know what you’re doing, you will have a period where you use the money you saved. This is especially true if you want to have a mini vacation, like I did my first week.

My Mini Vacation

New Zealand was messy. I spent two weeks in Auckland where I befriended a British person right away. This friendship pretty much sealed my fate of drinking every day (for the first couple weeks). For this trip, A week in Sydney, a weekend in Melbourne, and then a house in Adelaide. Sydney was bank account and tax I.D. (as well as a mullet) where I ate free breakfast at the hostel, made cheese sandwiches, and had pasta. My splurge was on a rooftop bar during happy hour. Melbourne? Pure vacation filled with live music, brunches, and clubbing. Did I take the train? Of course! And then a 12 hour bus ride to Adelaide. If I didn’t have the weekend, I would’ve lost my mind. And Adelaide? Settling in and getting to know my roommates.

The coming weeks

I just set up transfers with my US bank. Pro tip: do not pay international wires as they will have high fees and not the best conversation rates! Instead, get a Wise account. You could also try Revolut, although I haven’t used them. Set them up as an external transfer, similar to what you’d use for banks back home. That way, you can transfer money to Wise. Once you set up your account, you can transfer it to whatever country bank account you’re using!

My next task is to find work, which means updating my resume and getting a few licenses specific to handling alcohol and if I want to go the extra mile, a food handlers card. It involves reaching out to local recruiters for the industry I’m applying for and as an extra measure, joining local business professional networks.

Once that’s done, I can start looking into things such as run clubs and perhaps even board game cafes!

Is it worth it?

Obviously, yes. The amount of growth I will achieve on this trip is immeasurable. It’s tough to start but gets a lot easier as the visa goes on. I have my own room, with a desk, so I’m already doing a thousand times better than when I started in New Zealand! Cheers to the future and I’ll be trying to post when I get the chance!

As always, thanks for reading! If you have questions about travel, feel free to reach out! I love sharing my experiences! I’ve also expanded to medium, so I’m expecting a lot more traffic in the coming year!

New Zealand, New Mike: A New Chapter

I have survived over six months now, making this the longest time I’ve lived abroad! For the first couple of months I enjoyed my time off and readjusted my expectations. In may I secured work doing Front of House at an Indian restaurant and as a casual caterer for events, typically at the national musuem of New Zealand!

What Working is Like:

Here I am working hospitality again and the shocker is I’m really enjoying it. The customers are nice, I get paid a living wage, and I get a free curry meal every shift. I’m still doing the budget but I think I’m going to make it! It’s a question of hours and luckily by working two jobs, I’ve mitigated a lot of the risk. While I can’t spend too much money, I am excited to have a bit of money coming in and potentially saving some money while I’m here. Also going to try my hands at business consulting so I’m taking what I learned at University and finally applying it!

The unfortunate reality is the money is really only helping me break even, so whatever I’m making right now, I will have to figure out how to make more of in the next couple months. The job market is absolutely horrible right now in New Zealand so it’s a challenge I have yet to overcome.

Things I’ve learned thus far:

  1. It is best to spend in the local currency: When I first arrived, I spent in the U.S. dollar. This gave me a false sense of security. The U.S dollar is strong compared to the New Zealand Dollar and I liked seeing the prices of goods adjust to cheaper amounts. Now I try to spend with only money I’ve earned here and the hope is it should prevent going into debt. Spending in local currency means I am budgeting in the local currency, which means knowing the true value of what I can afford.
  2. Flour is king and decent prices for produce aren’t always guaranteed: When I first got to New Zealand, I spent a lot of money. I ate out quite a bit. Then, I decided to budget. I couldn’t quite figure out if I was on holiday or if I was trying to live in the country. By the time I had moved to Wellington, I was worried. Now I’m doing a bit better and I don’t regret my first couple of months but it is really important to cook and to cook cheaply. The last few months I have been cooking and I basically only go shopping once every three weeks. I buy very limited junk food and most of my dishes are flour based. When I do go, I never spend more than $90NZD If I break it down, that’s about $30 to $40 per week. Produce I buy in small amounts but since the prices fluctuate so much, I’m finding baking to be the best alternative. Chicken is also a great price and I try to throw a meat dish (as well as fish) in every once in a while but really baking is where it’s at for me.
  3. Secondhand is big in New Zealand: When I first got here, my jeans ripped. Months later, my favorite shirt disintegrated. I am broke, so it feels silly to buy new. So I haven’t. I have gone to one of the many secondhand shops around Wellington and bought (as well as sold clothing) through them. And? I have some new favorite clothing pieces. When I come home, I hope to continue this sustainable trend.

Cooking:

Better in photo

A little taste of home, made for the first time by yours truly
One of my first attempts at sushi, other attempts looked much prettier!
Random leftover veggies with shredded edam cheese, salt, pepper, and some balsamic dressing

Routine:

Now that I’ve been consistently working for about two months, I have realized any semblance of routine has collapsed. For the first couple of months living here, I was going to professional meet ups, volunteering and really pushing myself to be better but for whatever reason once I found work, I stopped. So now, I’m reaching deep within and reenergizing myself to be professionally motivated. The library in Wellington has free LinkedIn premium courses, so I plan to start doing those as a way to fill out my day.

The other challenge is bedtime! We have a firepit at our house in New Zealand and for a week we were burning fire nonstop. My schedule went from ok to going to bed around 3am. I downloaded an app called sleeptown where I build cute little houses in the evening as long as I don’t use my phone! I’m doing away with the doom scrolling and trying to reestablish healthy habits in my life.

Other Musings:

My self confidence has shot up exponentially and I’ve been feeling a lot more whole lately than I have in a long while. I still have anxiety, I still panic, but I feel stronger than I was six months ago. All the hate and self loathing I had for myself are largely gone, and as I go through Adult Children of Alcoholics I have a better understanding that my behavior has been completely normal for how I grew up. I feel unburdened by my past and am really enjoying this healing journey I’ve been on. I have a long ways to go, but am fully committed to seeing this journey through to its end when I head home in November!

Goals for the Future:

To get back to where I belong. I had an energy at University that I’ve been severely lacking since my time at a call center and then the following pandemic. This trip has always been about restoring that missing part of me. My main goal is to reinvest in my future and realize what I am truly capable of. I’m tired of doing everything half assed, settling with a “good enough” mentality. I have allowed myself to be defeated by circumstance for too long and that stops today. I have to let momentum build and to do that I must do everything I was doing a few months ago and combine that with what I’m doing now. I am not in New Zealand to sit about and I lost sight of that for a bit. More cooking, more learning, and more growing.

And that’s it! Over halfway through my journey! I’ll be refocusing my efforts in the next couple of months and we’ll see where I end up! As always, thanks for reading and following me on this adventure!

As an aside, here are links to my previous New Zealand posts. I plan to write more as I get closer to the end, so be sure to check out my older posts as I document my journey! Here is the link: New Zealand

Feel free to comment on any travel stories you might have and feel free to ask questions about how to even get started with traveling and living in different countries!

New Zealand, New Mike: Avocado toast and other things

So I’ve been in New Zealand for a couple months now! And I’m still alive! In fact things have been going quite well as I fall into routine. I’ve been attending professional meet ups, cooking, and getting ready to join a community garden as well as learn about repairing bikes.

What have I been Cooking?

When push comes to shove, I usually adapt and New Zealand has proven no different. I have been baking quite a bit, so below I’ll show off some of my creations:

Flatbread!
Peanut butter cookies!
Bread!
Cheese Puffs!

Flatbread! Why, you might ask? Because it requires 3 ingredients: flour, salt, and oil (plus water). Easy, cheap and healthy. Cookies? I made 60 and it was fantastic; literally ate cookies for three days. Homemade Bread? For a first attempt, it tasted delicious and also looked fantastic. Cheese Puffs? I took my love of cheese to the next level and learned how to make snack food with it!

What have I been doing?

What a great question. I have mostly just been enjoying my time off. I worked a little bit at a stadium serving food and this last month have been attending professional meet ups. The one I found most interesting was on becoming a business analyst, so now I am trying my luck as a consultant to those who need business advice. It’s fun and exciting, and I haven’t felt this motivation since I graduated college. I’ve been doing a bit of writing here and there and just recently got back into coding. I also recently attended a toast master where I got to practice my public speaking and since those are hosted weekly, I’m going to continue to attend more. I might not have a steady job right now but I’m hopeful if I focus this month on finding work, I’ll be able to find something I’m happy with.

Finally Doing ACA

I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve been doing a few ACA (Adult children of Alcoholics) meetings while I’ve been here. I’ve now been going twice a week and it’s been really fantastic for my mental health. Not easy but I’ve felt a lot of personal growth and really feel my mindset shifting. My problem before is I always tried to tackle everything on my end, now I have a support network where I can openly talk about just how fucked up my childhood really was. It was the missing piece in my self confidence journey and has allowed me to be more vulnerable on the whole, not just in the meetings.

It’s interesting taking this journey overseas but the distance from home really does help quite a bit. I am completely vulnerable over here and I can truly see who I am. I’m proud of how far I’ve come and know that I’m at the finish line.

Travel?

Travel? What travel? I am simply living as I’ve said a couple times before. I have done a bunch of day trips but outside of that, not much else. Since travel is hard to write about, here are some photos instead:

A visit to a lighthouse after a long day of hiking
Rock formations carved out from glaciers, one of the most majestic things I’ve ever seen
Just a normal view around the Wellington area

As you can see, it is absolutely gorgeous here. This trip is exactly what I needed for this chapter of my life and I’ve really enjoyed just traveling around the Wellington area.

Tips and Tricks for Survival in a Foreign Country

I think the biggest recommendation I can give is to simply save up for the trip. Do proper planning and have a piggy bank from back home so you can spend happily. I’m happy that I chose a country where the US dollar is strong, so all the saving I did back home goes a lot further. By saving ahead of time, you take pressure off of “needing” a job and free up time to grow as a person. If you’re working a job just for the money, it can be tough to feel inspired by the experience. I’d also recommend breaking up your trip into markers and my favorite is to break everything up into three month increments. Ask yourself how you’re feeling and if you feel overwhelmed, know that you can always go home after 3 months. If you feel ok after 3 months, push yourself for 6 months and don’t underestimate how much you can change in a 3 month period.

What are Kiwis like?

They are nocturnal. Jokes aside, I’ve found them to be overall pleasant. I had the impression going over that they’d be some of the nicest people I’d ever meet and overall that has been true. But I also realized everyone is simply human. Living with up to 28 people (yes, you read that right) I’ve met a lot of travelers in the last couple of months. And while some cultures I quite admire, I realized that back home isn’t as horrible as I thought when I was leaving. It can always been worse. That said, there is little I have to worry about over here. Kiwis are relaxed individuals that prioritize social interactions over work. I’m hoping in the coming months, I socialize with the kiwis even more and start to really feel like I’m one of them. I have a mustache and long hair now, so I very much fit the aesthetic style of the kiwis.

A Nice Showcase of my double chin

More insight to come

The longer I am here, the more I’ll learn about myself. I am slowly regaining a long lost confidence and it feels really good. And just, yesterday, I touched Thor’s hammer! If that’s not a sign of good things to come, I don’t know what is!

May I one day be worthy.