Tag: Holiday Working Visa

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!

Journey’s Beginning: There are no ends

We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.

Orson Welles

The Beginning?

So here we are again, at the beginning. Or is it the end? I am trying to find myself. My decisions, my choices have led here to this moment. And I am proud, but I am also broken. I have held the world on my shoulders for too long and it has left me hollow, an echo of my childhood self. The kid who dreamed, the kid who sang, and the kid who never gave up. The kid who wanted the world to be a better place only to watch his heroes die and the shadows infest the very flame that burned so bright.

The Cycle Ends

To be fair, the last ten years have seen tremendous growth in my life. A lot of tough choices and no easy answers. I understand myself and know I cannot exist as I am. I came back home and said goodbye to my Dad as alcohol consumed him. My once hero became my sparring partner and truth be told I’ve been lost without him. In another reality he never touched a bottle and I could spend this portion of my life asking him advice, having him guide me in an uncertain world. Instead, I can visit his grave and hope he is watching over me. My questions are told to an urn as I slowly lose my mind.

As I prepare for New Zealand, I’ve been spending a lot of time with my friends. Beers on the weekends, game nights, and running. I’m grateful that I’ve nurtured these relationships over decades and have the capacity to create new ones. I’ve been treating my working visa as if I’m on my deathbed and it’s made me appreciate what I have all the more.

What I’ve been missing in my life has been hope and love which has proven to be my undoing. When I was younger, I wish I had appreciated the love I had, because I never realized that one day it would be gone. I was reminded the other day what it means to still have a heart that beats and as I feel the blood slowly come back into my body, I leave my life in the hands of the fates. I want to believe it will all work out as it was meant to even as I watch my once safe world crumble before my eyes. Life is tough but worth living.

The Cycle Begins

This chapter of my life is about finding myself and perhaps even building a new fire from within. New Zealand is my hard reset. It has forced my hand to lay a foundation of success. I have a long ways to go before I’m ready but everything is in motion. I have sacrificed pleasure for the past 6 months to have enough money saved up to pay off my student loans. We are here; after this month they will be gone. Now my focus has shifted towards personal finance; I don’t just want to survive, I want to thrive. I’ve started looking at credit card usage, have been investing for the last year, and am planning to get a second credit card before I head overseas. I’ve cut subscription costs since the pandemic and now only have what I use on a consistent basis. The other path to success has been focusing on my skillset and knowing my value; versatility will be king if I am to spend the next couple years traveling. New Zealand, Ireland, and Japan is my current three year plan; when I next arrive in the US, I will be a different man.

For my US send off and to end my twenties on a high note, I opted to run a half marathon. Since I started my training back in April, I can now run 13 miles with relative ease and the next couple months will be focused on getting faster. Physically, I feel better than I did when I ran cross country and it seems fitting that as I get ready for the next decade, I reconnect with an activity that has given me so much joy over the years.

Living my Dreams

Since an early age, I have wanted to travel and experience the world. I achieved this dream when I did study abroad in Mosbach, Germany. This time, it’ll be New Zealand and it’s all on me. Housing, Work, and a one way plane ticket. What better way to spend my first year as a thirty year old? As I get closer to October, the more excited I become. And what’s even better is I’ll finally get to write about travel once more. I’m also planning to bring my camera, so I’ll be trying to get out and take as many photos as I can while I’m overseas. Just me, in a land of strangers. It’s just what the doctor ordered and it’s one of those few moments in life that just makes sense. While I can take a small breath with my student loans, these next couple months will be crucial. I am focused and I am motivated, so bring it world.

And that’s a wrap. If you had asked me a year ago that my crazy dream of traveling and living abroad once more would become reality, I would have wondered if it would ever work. Does lightning strike twice? Apparently it does. So this year will be a busy year! Luckily, all I need to blog is a computer and an internet connection! Cheers to the future and get ready for more travel content as I prepare for my trip!

Duolingo: One Angry Owl

I have foregone many a day without practice. Late in the evenings, a chill goes down my spine. A feeling as though I’m being watched and an impending dread looms. I hear noises shuffle about in the darkness and remember that I have yet to complete my lessons. My phone buzzes but there is no response.

If you’ve been with this blog for a while, you are aware of my love for travel and languages. So it may come as a surprise that I have not been practicing. It shames me to utter such words. I have bursts of inspiration to practice and then nothing. No French, No Spanish, No German. On the flip side, I’ve been speaking Spanish at work. So there is some practice. Recently, there’s been a change in my life and with it comes new motivations and plans. With no debt, I am free to travel and explore. I am [now] This week I’ll be turning 29 and this means the window on doing a holiday working visa is closing. If all goes well, I’ll be living in New Zealand in 2023. If things go really well, I’ll live in Ireland by the time I turn 30. The year beyond I hope to spend a year in Japan to teach English.

It’s The perfect time

I have talked very little about my current life. I have given updates here and there but for the most part have keep relatively quiet. Right now I am working four jobs (Welcome Desk Associate, Event Planning Assistant, Rock Climbing Instructor, and Child Care Specialist); over the summer, I was a Summer Day Camp Counselor. This puts me in a relatively unique position for the twilight of my twenties where I am beholden to no company and my ties to one area over another are almost nonexistent. I am also single, which bodes well for travel. It’s a now or never sort of situation, where things seem to just line up. If I work in a foreign country I am more or less in a spot where I can be highly adaptable with my work experience.

What does this Have to Do with an Angry Owl?

I’ve decided to pick up Japanese again with this 3 year plan. New Zealand and Ireland I need not worry about the language as they speak English over there. Japan I’d feel more at home knowing the language. This last month has been decent thus far with my language endeavors. Off and on as I work my way out of gold league and back to more competitive ranks in Duolingo. So now I have a less Angry, more disappointed owl.

Life Dictates Motivation

Part of the issue I have is motivation. I am a practical man and also very much a planner. I seem to have a proclivity for language and am lucky in the sense that languages fascinate me. Most would not even attempt to learn another language but I love it. My assessment this last year has been looking into proficiency. It is one thing to appreciate language, it’s another to understand and hold conversation. It wasn’t until I started speaking Spanish at work that I realized I can be quite proud of all I’ve accomplished. It is not perfect but more often than not there is recognition in the eyes of those I speak with.

A Hostel of a Time

Quite recently, I was up in Seattle for my old College Roommates wedding. While there, I realized Airbnb and Hotels were ridiculously expensive. So I opted for a hostel, which I haven’t done since Germany! It was there I met a few Danish girls and a German couple. This had been the first time I’ve spoken German with native speakers since I left 5 years ago. They were impressed so surely Duo will have mercy on my soul!

A Little help from a friend

Out of the blue, one of my old co-workers reached out to me on Duolingo! I started learning Japanese and apparently he is doing the same! It’s a new experience for me to have a language learning buddy that is in the same boat as I am! Duolingo has quite recently added missions and I’m feeling pretty motivated to complete those as a way to earn extra experience. It’s a fun time in my language journey and between Spanish, Latin, German, Japanese, and French I think I have a pretty good base.

And that’s it! I’ve been wanting to talk about travel once again for a while now! With my language habits I figured now would be as good a time as any! As I learn more Japanese I’m sure I’ll have more to say but for now it’ll be grouped in with my other languages! Cheers and I hope everyone continues to learn and grow!