All in all its very fun to find out stuff yourself and experiencing the independent ups and downs. However, I came to Australia and soon realized that I knew shit about all the stuff here. A lot of people try to recommend you things, what-to-do and what-to-avoid-at-all-costs. That was the only real thing that overwhelmed me. The constant urge to do everything and see everything what everyone recommended me. Sooner or later I realized it’s more about the things you find by yourself, without trying to hard. Thats what these tipps should be more about, the small things I wish I knew before, which would have probably saved me a lot of energy and money if I knew them earlier. But what is life without trial and error and I’m sure, even though you’re reading these tips, you will still end up in situations, you have to go through by yourself and that’s totally normal. That’s the fun of traveling, isn’t it ?
Clothes
No matter how often you walk past a Cotton-on, no matter how often you see beautiful fits in the store windows, and especially no matter how bad you want these new beautiful shoes, souvenirs for your family or art pieces , don’t buy them. I know how hard it ist, I really do believe me, but I’m pretty sure you packed enough of nice clothes from home. If you’ve been intelligent enough, knowing yourself enough, you might have packed the bare minimum in your backpack, hoping you will find nicer clothes in Australia, then it’s fair ig haha. Looking back, I shouldn’t have brought only my favorite pieces, because literally in the first week I got rid of one of my favorite tees and Bermuda shorts (it took me about 3 months to finally find the right ones) and in the end I gave them to a French boy in my hostel room because he had only packed 1 shorts (if only I had been that smart). Anyways, be very considerate of what you will bring, because you have to carry it and shit’s gonna get damn heavy. So please pass on the jeans (in any form, not like me), don’t bring similar shirts (or you gonna just give them to random people or donate them and thats not what you bought the luggage room in the airplane for) and don’t ever bring your favorite leather jacket (like I did omg). This thing is so heavy and big (ofc it’s oversized) and it breaks my heart every time carrying it with me but it would kill me to leave my baby behind. Even though it had at least over 20 degrees every day since I’ve been here, I used it once (omg once). So do me a favor, don’t get too attached to your clothes, buy second hand, don’t buy designer brands or expensive brands (even not from the cute little shops that have soso pretty tops), because after some time you will wash them with your red socks and the light pink can’t be removed anymore (not that I did that), or someone will accidentally pour dark vinegar on your beloved white skirt on the roadtrip (nope not happened to me lol) or it will simply just rip because you either wore it too often or you go hiking and just trip over a stone (all just examples really). So to safe money, always consider if you really need new clothes, because there has to be room in your backpack or you simply have to workout more to lift a 25kg backpack every time you change places, that’s up to you.
Food
After proudly having pasta with tomato sauce for almost every dish when I stayed in hostels, I can tell you, it’s gonna become disgusting after a couple of weeks. So to not always eat the leftovers from others/ your friends or to beg them to share their meal with you (not that I would do that), you can simply ask your new friends if they want to cook together something special, because buying groceries together and then splitting the bill with splitwise or whatever is one of the best inventions so far, because it is literally so cheap to get a nice meal if you buy more in quantity and don’t have to gulp down the 500g Steak by yourself but are actually able to have a side dish to it with a salad. Sharing is caring, so if you have leftovers (your pasta maybe), always ask others if they want some, because next time you are going to be the person to get 2 leftover cookies or you can use some of their salad or whatever. The more open you are about your food, the more open others will be to share or cook together. And if you are so budget friendly like I am and tend to like the really cheap things, I got another one for you. The slushies (slurpees) from 7/11 completely changed my life. One raspberry or sour blackberry literally makes me so happy and it’s only 1,50$ so about 80cents, which is the definition of my dreams. Be careful about the ones from MCDonalds, they tend to be 4,50$ sometimes and then other times just 1$, but they don’t taste as good as the ones from 7/11. No ad just my own preference and well-intentioned advice, you are gonna thank me later for.
Transport
Public transport will be your best friend, trust me. If you play your cards right you get away really cheap. Best would be, to not do it like I did. Get a transport card, depending on where you are located. Every state has their own systems and you can get the card right at the train station or airport or in a shop like 7/11 (not like I’m a huge fan lol haha). If you tap on with your Apple Pay or your credit card, they charge you more (don’t try out how much, if you don’t have to). It’s normally not that more expensive but if you use transportation frequently it’s unnecessary money waste. Please never charge more money on your transport card than you actually need (I personally still have 25$ left on my transport card of Victoria which is really a waste). And please don’t get all too confused like I did and tap on with your public transport card and tap off with your phone because that day I basically paid twice for a full travel route haha. So if you tap on, please tap off with the right card lol. If you sometimes don’t want to tap on and off just go for it, but be sure you are safe. Normally in busses or trains you have to get through gates or enter the bus in the front and that’s really awkward, as they know you are just not paying for the transport. In trams it’s really easy though. In Queensland you only pay 50cents for transport, where it doesn’t matter where you hop on or off, so I would suggest just tap on and off from time to time because that really was a good law that was being executed there.
Living
I usually booked my hostels through the Hostelworld App or booking.com, which always worked really good. Don’t feel like you always have to be a part of a group or know people there. It is literally so easy to get to know new people at a hostel, so you don’t always need the hostel connection chats or friend apps everyone talks about (but I have to admitt that I used them frequently and it was always a win, when I just didn’t feel like straight going up to new people and talking to them, and especially when you are an au pair or living in a remote area). Generally in hostels, I stayed in mixed rooms, because it has been really fun living with guys haha, but I also know a lot of girls who would prefer to stay in women’s only dorms, because they’ve experienced some really shit situations. If anything unnormal happens in your room, always feel free to talk to someone from the hostel or the reception, maybe they will put you in another room or you maybe get the night for free. If you didn’t feel comfortable, it is more than valid to express that. Another point to mention is that, I would have really saved a lot of money, if I had checked the kitchen and storage rooms before getting groceries, because sometimes they have a „free food“ area with food people left there, and these items normally are quite handy (maybe already open and often just tomato sauce and pasta but better than nothing) and especially spices and sauces can pimp up your food. In general, I really had to accept my own boundaries and my own pace, when it came to living in a shared room with people I don’t know. Really listening to what my body needs, was really important for me so I can only recommend that. Not everyone is a party person, not everyone is a early waking up person, not everyone is a social eater and not everyone falls asleep straight after getting to bed. Everyone has their own small routine and in order to respect other peoples boundaries, you have to really accept your own ones first to deeply understand one another (that would be the best situation, I know that is often not the case in reality).
2 Kommentare
Schreibe einen Kommentar
Verwandte Beiträge
Earning money in Australia
Me writing about job opportunities in Australia is by far one of the most hilarious things. In Sydney I ran around and...
Alles lesenAustralia Hostel Recommendations
the casual mess of a hostel room Sydney Stoke Beach House in Manly https://www.stokebeachhouse.com.au (Stayed for 5 nights) It were my first...
Alles lesen
Prague
Prague http://travel-amy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/MVI_3314.avi Das erste mal alleine unterwegs zu sein ist schon scary, bin ich ehrlich. Als ich am morgen nochmal zum 5....
Alles lesen
Du bist super geil
ganz viel liebe haha