After ten days on the road, I arrived 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.
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).
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)!
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.
Continue reading Travelogue: Gold Coast – Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Nimbim, and Port Stevens
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
“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.”
For the first stop on my journey, I stopped at Brisbane, a river city located on the banks of the (aptly named) Brisbane River – which always to be a pleasant shade of brown. Brisbane is actually a pretty large metropolitan area, and at it’s heart is Brisbane City – rather like how Manhattan is the heart of New York City.
When traveling, you naturally want to get the best exchange rate, so that your money goes further – which is especially important given how the USD has been steadily weakening. This article will tell you exactly how to get the best exchange rates while overseas.
1) Find out if your current bank has a partnership with any overseas bank. For example, Bank of America has a partnership with WestPac in the Australia region. If you use your existing bank card with a partnered bank, you not pay zero bank fees, but you also get favorable exchange rates!
It’s important to note, the partner bank may offer to convert your withdrawal into your home currency at it’s cash “buy” rate, as shown below. Note how this dialogue box is intentionally ambiguous, not telling you what will happen if you skip conversion. But don’t do it! If you skip conversion here, it will be automatically converted at a much better rate (the Visa daily rate).
No, skip conversion at this horrible rate! (VISA rates were at ~1.04 at this time)
2) Open a brokerage account with Charles Schwab, and you will automatically receive a Charles Schwab Checking account and accompanying debit card. Use this debit card to withdraw money at any ATM. You will have to pay a bank fee, but Charles Schwab will refund that money to you at the end of each month.
Using either option 1 or option 2, you will exchange money at the daily Visa rate.
3) Use a credit card. Depending on your card, you will have to pay a foreign exchange fee around 3%. There are special cards that charge no foreign exchange fee, but I find that not only is it a hassle to apply, but there are often annual fees.
4) Bring USD, and use a money changer in the city. You will have to pay a foreign exchange fee (spread) of around 5%. From personal experience, I have found that small exchange kiosks (foreign exchange businesses) usually offer better rates than big banks.
Here’s an example of some pretty bad exchange rates being offered by a bank:
5) Bring USD, and use a money exchanger at the airport. Foreign exchange fee of around 8%. Ouch!
6) Use your regular ATM / debit card at a non-affiliated bank. You will typically get charged a $2-$10 bank fee. If you don’t like carrying too much cash, and make many small withdrawals, these add up very quickly!
For a demonstration, you can check out the numbers in this real-life example:
| Date | Service | Charge AUD | Amount USD | Fee USD | Stated Rate | Effective Rate | Daily Visa Rate | Difference | |
| 3/6/2013 | Amex | 36 | 36.91 | 0.99 | 1.02527778 | 1.052777778 | 1.02677 | 0.026008 | |
| 3/6/2013 | Schwab ANZ | 102* | 104.72 | 1.02666667 | 1.026666667 | 1.02677 | -0.0001 | ||
| 3/8/2013 | BoA Visa | 71 | 73.08 | 2.19 | 1.02929577 | 1.060140845 | 1.02933 | 0.030811 | |
| 3/11/2013 | BoA Westpac | 100 | 102.11 | 1.0211 | 1.0211 | 1.02876 | -0.00766 | ||
| 3/11/2013 | BoA Westpac | 100 | 102.11 | 1.0211 | 1.0211 | 1.02876 | -0.00766 | ||
| 3/13/2013 | BoA Westpac | 200 | 205.52 | 1.0276 | 1.0276 | 1.03396 | -0.00636 |
* I withdrew $100, and was charged a $2 bank fee, but Charles Schwab refunded it at the end of the month.
As you can see, I paid the lowest exchange rates when using options 1 and 2 – using my existing bank card at a partnered bank, and using my Charles Schwab debit card.
Other travel websites often give alternate ‘expert’ advice that is often more trouble than it’s worth
– Traveler’s check: These tools are useful, but you often have to pay a fee to get your bank to provide the check.. In a world where ATMs are everywhere, if you can withdraw money without paying ATM fees, traveler’s checks are outdated.
– Services that “deliver” foreign currency to you while overseas: you can get good exchange rates with these services, but they are a tremendous hassle, since you have to book well in advance. I prefer the flexibility of being able to find an ATM anywhere. This option may be useful if you need access to very large amounts of money.
Today I visited Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, a zoo of sorts on the outskirts of Brisbane (40 minutes away by bus).
Here is the main attraction of Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary: koala cuddling!
