The Aussie travellers thread!

[malakaix]

^ thanks for the suggestions guys, will look into it. Croatia (zagreb?) would be a pretty short flight from Paris or Berlin yeh?



Haha what things don't I like? It'll be a pretty short trip so we're just hoping to immerse ourselves in the cultures as much as possible.

If you do check out Berlin, awesome! I haven't had a chance to see Germany yet.. would love to checkout the countryside, but i have been through parts of it's neighboring countries (Switzerland and Austria for the ski/snowboard season) and i really enjoyed the culture and people, very very friendly and hospitable, they were a bit more on the expensive side, especially Switzerland.. i'm not sure about Germany though.

Only spent a couple of days in Paris, so i can't comment to much on places to see apart from the typical tourist attractions, i was really taken back when i was there earlier this year watching army commando's casually patrolling tourist locations with machine guns, but i guess this is normal? Haha..

 

[miasma]

Alrighty it looks as though I'm about to break my travelling cherry and am hitting France for a few weeks later in the year. Anyone have any suggestions for places to visit, things to see on a tight budget? I guess from Paris it'd be easy to do trips into adjacent countries by train too so the Netherlands, Belgium & Germany might be on the cards.

Student restaurants are a life saver if you're on a tight budget in France. From the web:

"Students of any age are eligible to apply for tickets for the university restaurants under the direction of CROUS de Paris. you can find a complete list on the CROUS website, www.crous-paris.fr, or from their offices at 39 av Georges-Bernanos, 5e (tel 01.40.51 .36.00; Mon–Fri 9am–5pm; RER Port-Royal). The tickets have to be obtained from the particular restaurant of your choice: just turn up during opening hours (generally 11.30am–2pm & 6–8pm), buy a ticket (cash only; bring your student ISIC card as proof of status) – and then get your meal. Though the food is less than wonderful, it's certainly filling, and you can't complain for the price: meals cost €4.40."

The food is much better than what's claimed here though.

 

[sydkiwi]

Defiantly do Ocean Park. They have more rides that are suited for older people than Disneyland, plus while I was there they were in the process of finishing off this massive roller-coaster which looked like awesome fun..It should be finished by the time you make you're way over. Have a look at the aquarium and the jellyfish pool...Real amazing stuff. Also, make sure you save a whole day for Ocean Park..Get there as early as possible and don't leave until they close (10pm). They have some wicked light shows at night.

Other things to do I would recommend would be The Peak Tram and Disneyland..Again make sure you reserve full days for them though as it's pretty full on. I regret only going for a week know as I'm pretty sure I missed out on some places but there's always next time.



Hey man, really can't help you out on the night-life as we didn't venture anywhere close to the clubs etc etc although we walked up and down Portland Street which is known for its famous red light district. It runs through Kowloon and has some pretty chilled pubs/restaurants and also runs into Langham Place which is absolutely crazy for shopping.

We got warned by a taxi driver though that pickpockets are abundant at night and to watch what you eat.. Stay away from the street vendor's.

Hope that helps you both.. Any more questions just hit me back..

Awesome and thanks for that! I've just booked my airfares there and since I'll be there for almost 4 months I'm sure I'll discover some good places.

 

[OPP]

I strongly recommend going to Croatia, Split and one of the islands a ferry ride away, Hvar. I spent only a couple of days in the area, I definitely want to go back.
What things do you like Belarki?

I was in those parts around 5 years ago. Crystal clear water and lovely scenery. I did find it to be pretty expensive compared to other countries eg Italy. It was possibly the most expensive.

I caught a overnight ferry (complete with band) from Pescara to Split, then island hopped down to the coast via Split, Hvar, Corcula to Dubroviknik. THeres some pretty cool stuff to do along the way. Snorkelling and other ocean related activities.

During peak season I would not like to be there due to too many tourists. Shoulder seasons would be better.

If you are single and can get across to Estonia there are so many beautiful women there its not funny.

Budapest has alot of culture and is pretty cool.

Bosnia was really interesting and hard to believe the war only finished a few years ago.

Heard many good things about Berlin.

Italy was cheap, good food, good wine, good culture and lifestyle and lots of grafitti.

Its impossible to see everything. You should always leave something so you have a reason to go back!!!

 

[belarki]

Update: looks like I'll be going to Paris, Lyon, Saarbruken, Amsterdam, Brussels then back to Paris with surrounding towns included (have contacts in St Etienne, Trier, and Leiden). Unfortunately Berlin, Czech Republic etc will be out of my reach given budget and time constraints. Thanks for the advice though guys

Now have to decide whether to stick to trains or hire a car for a few weeks. Decisions decisions...

If you are single and can get across to Estonia there are so many beautiful women there its not funny.

Lol estonia might have to be pencilled in for my next holiday then

 

[OPP]

^^^ Definately get there.

The ratio of good looking women to average looking was higher than in any other country I visited (I spent 2 years travelling around the world). And the good looking women were gorgeous.

A note about trains- If you are planning on getting a Eurail Pass check the condition because I had friends who bought it only to find that they still had to book seats on certain trains (may have been peak season) and had to pay extra for a sleeper train.

 

[Erikmen]

What do you like most about Vienna?

 

[malakaix]

I've quoted you from the 'Is the ride over?' thread Erikman to avoid derailing it too far, this thread seems more suitable to respond.

I have been to Sweden, Finland, France, Holland and its neighboring countries, latest.
Scandinavian countries are very nice. I missed Iceland so I could stay longer in Sweden.
I just love being in Sweden, specially during summers.

Sweden is the only Scandivanvian country i've visited, but i only spent one week in Stockholm.. expensive but i loved it. Wish i had a chance to visit the laplands in the north as they look stunning. A friend of mine spent a month in Iceland and i was very envious of her photo's, icebergs, glaciers, volcano's and incredible landscapes. I hope to visit Norway at some point, i've slowly built a network of contacts through my travels of people living all over the place so hopefully for those more expensive countries i can stay with them

I spent most of my time in Eastern Europe, i quasi-lived in Budapest, Hungary for almost a year.. but i spent a lot of time moving around the Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Croatia etc) people there are very friendly and have an unquenchable enthusiasm for good food and drinking. I love this region and i'm sure i will visit again.

In 2013 I went to Ushuaia near Antarctica, El Calafate and the islands south of Argentina and Chile.
Quite an adventure! And absolutely surreal with all those glaciers.
And further up to the mountains and lakes of Bariloche on the following winter (July there..)
It looks like Swiss, with much less snow. Not too structured but very charming.

I actually had no idea until last week that there were such stunning glacier's in the south of Argentina, after viewing alasdair's photos. I definitley want to visit there at some point, i love icy landscapes because they appear so alien and surreal.. you can feel like your literally in another world, in fact in the far north of Finland it's so cold with so much snow that the tree's there turn into snow worm like structures which makes the landscape seem very alien.

Nepal should be really interesting!! Have never been there, yet! The tickets are expensive but the living costs, depending when you go can be quite reasonable.

Yeah, i can't believe how expensive the flights are to there.. but the cost of living is so low that it can balance out. I've had a few friends do trekking there, but for me im fascinated with mountains and especially The Himilayas, i've done a bit of mountain hiking in Switzerland during the summer months.. nothing like walking through clouds on top of the peaks with blue skies above.

 

[Klue]

Good on you two for coming over to this thread. Thanks.

 

[Erikmen]

I've quoted you from the 'Is the ride over?' thread Erikman to avoid derailing it too far, this thread seems more suitable to respond.



Sweden is the only Scandivanvian country i've visited, but i only spent one week in Stockholm.. expensive but i loved it. Wish i had a chance to visit the laplands in the north as they look stunning. A friend of mine spent a month in Iceland and i was very envious of her photo's, icebergs, glaciers, volcano's and incredible landscapes. I hope to visit Norway at some point, i've slowly built a network of contacts through my travels of people living all over the place so hopefully for those more expensive countries i can stay with them

I spent most of my time in Eastern Europe, i quasi-lived in Budapest, Hungary for almost a year.. but i spent a lot of time moving around the Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Croatia etc) people there are very friendly and have an unquenchable enthusiasm for good food and drinking. I love this region and i'm sure i will visit again.



I actually had no idea until last week that there were such stunning glacier's in the south of Argentina, after viewing alasdair's photos. I definitley want to visit there at some point, i love icy landscapes because they appear so alien and surreal.. you can feel like your literally in another world, in fact in the far north of Finland it's so cold with so much snow that the tree's there turn into snow worm like structures which makes the landscape seem very alien.

Yeah, i can't believe how expensive the flights are to there.. but the cost of living is so low that it can balance out. I've had a few friends do trekking there, but for me im fascinated with mountains and especially The Himilayas, i've done a bit of mountain hiking in Switzerland during the summer months.. nothing like walking through clouds on top of the peaks with blue skies above.

This is a very good picture!

Yes north of Sweden is pretty awesome, and the northern lights. Very special although quite dark during winters.

Ushuaia is a southernmost city in the American Continent so there are plenty of cruises, to the islands where Pacific and Atlantic waters mix.

Small but nice/different..

Cheers,
Erik

 

[Erikmen]

Good on you two for coming over to this thread. Thanks.

Thanks

 

[Boku_]

I'm having a short trip to Singapore in December. Can anyone recommend any nice bars/pubs?

 

[miss_goody2shoes]

ooers well I guess I belong here - I am living in the Netherlands with my boyfriend atm. We have been here 5.5 months (half the time in Utrecht then the rest in a small town 25km from there) and will stay for at least a year (still need to investigate if we could renew our visas and stuff, I think we can). It has involved a lot of organization, stress and money but it has been a great experience. I knew it wasn't going to be easy but finding somewhere to rent and somewhere to work has been almost impossible! Everyone speaks English here but it seems they still want you to know Dutch in the job world :/ Very lucky for us, our second lot of housemates helped us get jobs at their workplace - order picking at a distribution center for a large supermarket chain. We had to learn all the Dutch numbers and how to understand and communicate with the headset (which speaks Dutch) within the first week!! We got there though. We had all of summer off holidaying and exploring the country which was awesome but now it's work, work, work so we can travel next year. We have had some long weekends away but the only other country we have been to during this particular adventure thus far is Belgium (but we did 10 European countries in 6 weeks 3 years ago). This round we want to go to Poland, Romania, Turkey, Greece, Spain and more recently have added Bulgaria and Slovenia to the list after leaning more about these countries during a travel program haha. Just frustrating that we are so poor so cant do much exploring at present - I'v never been poor like this before, it really sucks hehe (work haven't been giving us full week's of shifts and I had to have time off due to a silly injury [fell down some stairs and sprained my ankle. Wasn't even those dangerous, steep Dutch stairs either!]).

Why the Netherlands? It's easy for Aussies to get a visa there as the country has a special agreement with our country (and it has no restrictions like many other visas - you can holiday and work for a year, period), it's different to the UK where a lot of Aussies seem to go but not too much of a culture shock/language barrier, it's in a convenient, central location in Europe plus is a pretty rad and beautiful country in general. Added bonus is we are fans of certain genres of hard dance music and they have great events catering to that here.
The catch with the visa (for those who care) is that you have to be no older than 31 for the year long working holiday visa. Happy to give more info if anyone is interested.

We also went to Japan for a month late last year too (Tokyo, Sapporo, Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto and some lesser known areas) so happy to have my brains picked about Japan too. We absolutely loved Japan and want to go back one day.

 

[malakaix]

Interesting story!

I don't know of many Australian's who have chosen to work in the Netherlands, I did meet a young Australian guy there when I spent some time there in 2012 who had started his own kite-surfing business and learned Dutch, he would work hard during the on season then go travelling on the off-season.. seemed like he was really living the life. He lives there permanently now, close to Amsterdam.

Those destinations sound good.. Eastern Europe is where you want to be heading if your short on cash, personally it's my favourite region of Europe. I lived in Budapest, Hungary for over a year and hitch-hiked most of my way around those countries.. your money will go very far and the people are very friendly, especially in the Balkans. Slovenia is stunning in the summer, there's endless shades of green covering the entire country and because it's so small you can hike in the mountains and see snow and in the same day go swimming at the beach.. you can see Italy and Croatia at the same time from the Istria peninsular. Lake Bled is also an incredible spot in the country.. about one hour fro Ljubljana by bus, pristine water and fairytale surroundings.

 

[Erikmen]

Those destinations sound good.. Eastern Europe is where you want to be heading if your short on cash.

True, but if you know the location well even in Northern Countries you can adapt with a lower budget.

 

[deeCee]

I'm gunna go on a Canadian adventure next year, any tips from anyone? I'll probably check responses again in about 6 months when I next log on

 

[the_ketaman]

Reading this thread is so cool, I was 17 when I created this thread over in Europe and seeing that its still going is nice

 

[miss_goody2shoes]

I'm gunna go on a Canadian adventure next year, any tips from anyone? I'll probably check responses again in about 6 months when I next log on

hey deeCee did you remember Pete AKA college_dropout? He is moving to Canada quite soon soon, I think Toronto. Not that mentioning this helps you but yeah =P Not sure if you guys ever met "back in the day"...

 

[miss_goody2shoes]

Super late reply but thanks for the suggestions I've taken your advice on board actually for we are doing a day trip to Lake Bled whilst in Slovenia. After lots of planning & research our itinerary is
Germany (Hamburg, Kiel [more passing through to see friends])
-> Poland (Gdansk, Torun, Warsaw, Krakow, Zakopane)
-> Slovakia (Levoca, Bratislava)
-> Slovenia (Ljubliana, Bled)
-> Croatia (Hvar, Split, Dubrovnik)
-> France (Paris, La Charité-sur-Loire to Montargis via a Bike & Barge tour then fly out of Clermont-Ferrand)
-> Portugal (TBC, Porto & Lisbon definitely, maybe squeeze in either Coimbra or Sintra...)
then back home to Melbourne. All that is over about 7 or 7.5 weeks. Till then it's workworkworkworkwork and not spend much heh.

Only part not sorted is Portugal, we only decided this weekend to go there after realizing it's a lot cheaper to fly home from there than Barcelona (and a cheaper tourist destination in general I believe). Anyone been to Portugal?? Thinking maybe 2 full days in Porto (for it doesn't seem that big) then south towards Lisbon in some manner...

 

[sir pacman]

Burning man this year. Giddy up