Tag Archives: Travel

Travel, to the ends of the Earth

Travel

Travelogue: Auckland

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After a short hop from Melbourne (and a lot of trouble getting my bag cleared to fly as carry-on), I arrived in Auckland, just in time for an entire week’s worth of rain to rolled in.  Seriously, it rained every day I was here.
Auckland - Portrait

There’s no use tiptoeing around it – Auckland is quite boring.  It calls itself the “city of sails”, and I’m sure at the right time the bay is full of sails for the yearly competitions, but when I was visiting, the bays were basically empty. And the city of sails without sails is basically a pretty mediocre city – the mentality behind a lot of the tourist attractions seemed to be “Sydney has one, we should have one too!”

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Travel

Travelogue: Melbourne

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If one day I get the urge to move to Australia, it will without a doubt be to Melbourne.

After spending five days on the ship (and losing at least five pounds), we finally reached Melbourne!  Those three ‘clouds’ are actually smudges (?) from my camera – presumably some dust on the lenses.
Melbourne - appraching by sea

The thing about Melbourne is that it has this rivalry going on with Sydney -Sydney is the larger and older of the two cities, but Melbourne claims to have more culture.  Though, it’s mostly folks from Melbourne who insist on this rivalry – folks from Sydney tend to smile condescendingly at the notion that Melbourne could be a rival.

I do agree though, that Melbourne has “character” – it’s as if there were a law saying that if you want to build anything in Melbourne, it has to be unique.  While this character infusion makes it more interesting to walk around the city, sometimes it’s pretty apparent that the city is trying too hard.

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Travel

Travelogue: Sydney!

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After ten days on the road, I arrived in Sydney!
Sydney - portrait in Sydney

After being dropped off by my travel companions, I hit up a library, looked up some cheap hostels, and ended up in King’s Cross – the center of nightlife and (unbeknownst to me) the red light district. There, I ended up staying at Sydney’s worst hostel for a couple of nights, before finding a couch surfing host to stay with for a couple of days.

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Business Analysis, Travel

The Backpacking Industry

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From my travels in Australia, I’ve noticed that there’s an entire industry here that doesn’t exist in the USA – the backpacking industry.

Going around any big centers of activity – tourist hot spots, city centers, nightlife areas – and you see all sorts of businesses absent in America – hostels, backpacker flights centers, backpacker ‘hubs’ offering free (really crappy) wifi while selling you on travel experience packages (and invariably full of people checking facebook).

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Travel

Travelogue: Gold Coast – Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Nimbim, and Port Stevens

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From Brisbane, I fell in with a Canadian couple who were traveling on a leisurely road trip from Brisbane to Sydney via the Gold Coast.

Meet Jesse (28) & Kristina (20)!

Gold Coast - Kristina and Jesse

They were traveling in this ancient camper van, at least 20 years old. It used to be rented out by Wicked (one of the many camper van rental companies), but was then sold to a series of travelers before passing into our hands.

Gold Coast - Campervan

 

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Travel Stories

Interlude: Travel Camping

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On the way down the Gold Coast, I tried out travel camping almost every night – since the campervan was only large enough for two (my new Canadian friends), I slept outside in a tent.  It was pretty comfortable though, since it was fall in Australia.  And in the week and a half that we traveled together, I had a lot of variance in my camping.

Exhibit A: camping right along the coast, going to sleep while listening to the waves.  I think the best part isn’t even falling asleep to the waves, but waking up to both the sound of the waves, and the warmth of the sun shining down on my tent.
Australia travel camping - camping by campervan Australia travel camping - camping alongside ocean

Exhibit B: camping right along the side of the main highway, after finding that every campground in the area had closed at 5pm.  Seriously, every campsite closed at 5pm – even if they had space, they wouldn’t allow you to check in.  Take my money, damn it!
Australia travel camping - camping on the side of the road

Exhibit C: tent + wind + dubiously placed pegs.  My travel companions and I all laughed our asses off, but the boy scout in me was so ashamed.
Australia travel camping - blown over tent

Travel Stories

Chance Encounters: Gold Coast

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It’s really cool, how you can have fascinating chance encounters by being friendly and keeping an eye out.

Somewhere along the beaches of the Gold Coast, while hiking along the beaches, I came across a bunch of guys from Sydney, playing a game a beach cricket, and decided to join in.  Never having watched or played cricket before, I found it a really fun and fascinating game.  At its core, you have a batsman defending a post (a small tube stuck in the sand), and a pitcher throwing a ball at the batsman / post.  If the pitcher hits the post, the batsman is out.  Otherwise, the batsman gets to keep swinging at the ball until he connects – at which point he has to run to the pitcher and back to the post before somebody either catches the ball, or picks up the ball and pegs the post.

This being the beach, of course the dominant strategy is to hit the ball into the ocean.  I’ve no doubt the game is more complicated than I’ve described, but I had fun!  And I managed to score quite a few points too!

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Travel Stories

Chance Encounters: Byron Bay

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After a chance encounter in Byron Bay, I’ve got a new nickname: Zen

While camping out at Byron Bay, I arrived back at the campsite one night to see a bonfire off into the distance.  Hoping there might be s’mores, I headed over and check it out, and discovered a bunch of 20ish Aussie blokes, who all leapt up and yelled “hey, its Zen!”  I rolled with the punches, and thirty seconds later was having a beer with them.

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Personal Reflection, Travel

Reflection: Fear of the Unknown

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“Fear can hold you prisoner, hope can set you free” – Shawshank Redemption

In my travels so far, I’ve had two case where I’ve really felt the fear of the unknown.

First, in New York City, when I got rid of all my material possessions in preparation for my trip.  Walking out of my apartment, knowing that there was no turning back, I felt this emptiness, like a mini panic attack.

This was it.  It hadn’t sunk in when I booked my plane ticket, it hadn’t sunk in when I gave my roommate one months notice.  But now, when all I had in the world was one backpack worth of gear, it finally hit me, this fear of the unknown.

The second time was in Brisbane, when I set out for Sydney.  I had relatives in Brisbane, a place to stay, and it was comfortable.  safe.  peaceful.  But now, I was once again venturing into the unknown, with a Canadian couple I had barely met.  And once again, the fear of the unknown set in – though this time, thankfully, it was much milder.

Maybe because I’m starting to get used to it.  But this is why I left on this journey, to overcome my fears.

As (I think) quoted in The Power of Now, “when you live in the past, you feel disappointment.  When you live in the future, you feel anxiety.  When you live in the present, you feel at peace.”