Travel to Australia

[4theCYcle]

Correct. I went basically 20 years ago in college. We spent the entire summer there between semesters. So 20 years ago I just put my debit card in an ATM and it gave me Aussie dollars and did the exchange immediately. It'd be so much easier now with Apple pay and Apple maps as well.

I love Australia, It's my favorite place in the world. I still harbor dreams of moving there sometimes. Beautiful place, great people.



We flew DSM-Chicago-LAX, then all the way to Sydney. First time I was ever on an airplane, so everything since seems fine.

Speaking to the size, we never even got down to Melbourne. Sydney was as far south as we got. But we spent the last month we were there just going up the coast from Sydney north all the way to Cairns, only stopping places maybe 1 or 2 days at a time. And it took us a month.

Dang, that's a ways of travel.

It'd be cool to do some of Adelaide, and then the Gold Coast area and on up to the Great Barrier Reef.

But your sentiments towards Australia is how I feel about New Zealand. There is so much to do on those 2 little islands that its amazing. My wife and I went there for our honeymoon back in 16' and I could easily move there if it wasn't so far from family and on the other side of the world. The people are so nice. The country is gorgeous. It's a landscape photographers dream with so much to see and photograph. We hope to get back sometime in the next 5-10 years once our son grows older. We were not there long enough. I'd like to easily be there 2+ weeks.

 

[JimmyChitwood]

Dang, that's a ways of travel.

It'd be cool to do some of Adelaide, and then the Gold Coast area and on up to the Great Barrier Reef.

But your sentiments towards Australia is how I feel about New Zealand. There is so much to do on those 2 little islands that its amazing. My wife and I went there for our honeymoon back in 16' and I could easily move there if it wasn't so far from family and on the other side of the world. The people are so nice. The country is gorgeous. It's a landscape photographers dream with so much to see and photograph. We hope to get back sometime in the next 5-10 years once our son grows older. We were not there long enough. I'd like to easily be there 2+ weeks.

Snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef. Simply beautiful. My wife had a shark under her just lying there.

 

[mynameisjonas]

No idea how long you are going but that is a massive undertaking in one trip. Could spend months in Japan and Australia and still want more. Thailand is good after about 7-10 days.

About two weeks for all three.

 

[BryceC]

Snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef. Simply beautiful. My wife had a shark under her just lying there.

We snorkeled it a bunch, but we actually went scuba diving 2 or 3 times. Am I certified, you may ask? Well certainly not, but in 2003 Australia they give you some pointers on how to do everything as you are boating out to the massive coral trench we were going to be in. They also were telling me I would need a wet suit for 80+degree water. You sir, have never been swimming in a Minnesota lake.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I've been to Oz a few times now. Great place, would consider living there.

You should check with her cards, some have more fees than others, especially if you're getting cash. I haven't had a card in a long time that requires notification before travelling, but I've had a Cap 1 for a decade plus, because it is good for traveling. Wouldn't hurt to check that either.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

About two weeks for all three.

That is aggressive. Good luck! Try to carve out as much time in Japan as possible.

 

[mynameisjonas]

That is aggressive. Good luck! Try to carve out as much time in Japan as possible.

So if you had to split up two weeks, how would you break it down.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

So if you had to split up two weeks, how would you break it down.

The travel makes it kinda weird but if I’m going off of 14 days. I say 3 in Thailand, (hit some ruins, some beaches, sample food) 7 in Japan (travel to a couple different areas, the cities are amazing but travel to at least one more rural spot, hit a hot spring in the mountains if you can) the remainder I would do in Australia but personally I would do NZ first.

Lot of it depends on what kind of activities you want to be doing.

 

[mynameisjonas]

The travel makes it kinda weird but if I’m going off of 14 days. I say 3 in Thailand, (hit some ruins, some beaches, sample food) 7 in Japan (travel to a couple different areas, the cities are amazing but travel to at least one more rural spot, hit a hot spring in the mountains if you can) the remainder I would do in Australia but personally I would do NZ first.

Lot of it depends on what kind of activities you want to be doing.

Good stuff, thank you.

 

[keepngoal]

Great advice above. Also take with you $200 in cash ( not sure how long she is there), as some things require cash.

If you’re a BoA customer, you can order a currency exchange at a very good rate, and they fed ex you your order.

@mynameisjonas laugh all you want. Having cash on hand at the moment you land is sound advice. Keeping it for when you absolutely need it (some places only take cash, lost card, etc), is also helpful. Doesn’t take a lot of cash to get out of a bind, its just very helpful.

Enjoy your trip to Asia.

 

[ianoconnor]

Correct. I went basically 20 years ago in college. We spent the entire summer there between semesters. So 20 years ago I just put my debit card in an ATM and it gave me Aussie dollars and did the exchange immediately. It'd be so much easier now with Apple pay and Apple maps as well.

I love Australia, It's my favorite place in the world. I still harbor dreams of moving there sometimes. Beautiful place, great people.



We flew DSM-Chicago-LAX, then all the way to Sydney. First time I was ever on an airplane, so everything since seems fine.

Speaking to the size, we never even got down to Melbourne. Sydney was as far south as we got. But we spent the last month we were there just going up the coast from Sydney north all the way to Cairns, only stopping places maybe 1 or 2 days at a time. And it took us a month.

Lol DSM-Chicago-LAX-Sydney is quite the first flight experience!!

 

[Farnsworth]

No idea how long you are going but that is a massive undertaking in one trip. Could spend months in Japan and Australia and still want more. Thailand is good after about 7-10 days.

Yes way to many places to hit up for the full experience as they are so different. For Australia: Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Frasier Island, Byron Bay, Cairns. Those and more, and that's only the east coastline.

 

[Farnsworth]

I love Australia, It's my favorite place in the world. I still harbor dreams of moving there sometimes. Beautiful place, great people.

Same here. The (at the time) wife and I were offered jobs there in Melbourne around 2015. Still think about how I probably should have jumped on the opportunity. Housing there is just insane though and we would have had to live around an hour train ride outside the CBD.

 

[4theCYcle]

Good stuff, thank you.

I 2nd the pitstop in NZ. I've never been to the other two spots of Japan and Thailand, but South Island (Queenstown) trumps the north in Auckland. The most effective would stop in Queenstown for 3-4 days and see that area, then Australia to cover your interests there for 4-5 days and that leaves roughly 7 for the other 2. But thats covering a lot of ground in little time.

 

[Farnsworth]

I 2nd the pitstop in NZ. I've never been to the other two spots of Japan and Thailand, but South Island (Queenstown) trumps the north in Auckland. The most effective would stop in Queenstown for 3-4 days and see that area, then Australia to cover your interests there for 4-5 days and that leaves roughly 7 for the other 2. But thats covering a lot of ground in little time.

If your more into the tropical scene, I'd pitstop in Fiji. We did a 2 week layover there on the way to Aussie, did some island hopping, and it was amazing. The diving there was 10x better than the great barrier.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

My daughter is going next month to visit a friend and we were wondering about the money exchange situation. Can she just use a credit or debit card for everything? Anything else we should know?

Does she have her visa?

 

[ImJustKCClone]

I've been to Oz a few times now. Great place, would consider living there.

You should check with her cards, some have more fees than others, especially if you're getting cash. I haven't had a card in a long time that requires notification before travelling, but I've had a Cap 1 for a decade plus, because it is good for traveling. Wouldn't hurt to check that either.

Second this. The conversion fees on the cards really do add up. Cap 1 does well with eliminating that.

 

[mynameisjonas]

@mynameisjonas laugh all you want. Having cash on hand at the moment you land is sound advice. Keeping it for when you absolutely need it (some places only take cash, lost card, etc), is also helpful. Doesn’t take a lot of cash to get out of a bind, its just very helpful.

Enjoy your trip to Asia.

I laughed because of the $200. Personally, I would bring more than that. $200 is nothing these days.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Second this. The conversion fees on the cards really do add up. Cap 1 does well with eliminating that.

Most of the higher end credit cards have zero conversion/travel/foreign use fees. Still good to let them know you’re traveling to avoid an issue if you don’t travel frequently but I’ve never paid a single fee using a cc abroad.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I laughed because of the $200. Personally, I would bring more than that. $200 is nothing these days.

Not in Thailand outside the resorts, that money goes stupid far. Japan also has shockingly good value.