Public Transport - A Whole New World

Ok so the thing about Australia is that it's excessively organised when it comes to giving the public heaps of information to sort though.

I'll start by including a list of straight-to-the-point links which should make you feel self-assured about how easy it is to get around in a new country.

General Links for the self-inquisitive 

Melbourne Transport Links:

• Airport Transit
• Melbourne Trains 
• Melbourne Trams 
• Journey Planner

Sydney Transport Links:

• General Info (I don't know about Sydney because I rarely go!)

Brisbane Transport Links:

•  General Info

Things I know about Melbourne Transportation 

Melbourne transportation is very straight forward and convenient. (Australians might not agree with me on this note, but they don't even know how bad it can be).

Once you get into the city (Take the skybus to the middle of the city) you have a plethora of options to take you to wherever you need to go.

General Facts: 

• Melbourne has trams, buses, and trains which all use the same ticketing system
• You have to get a "Myki" card in order to ride any of these vehicles. You put money on the card and then "Touch on" to the vehicle of your choice. The MYKI credit gets deducted.
• Everyone hates "Myki". 
• Here is more information on ""Myki"" 
• Trams generally go North/South while buses go East/West. Bus stops and Tram stops are usually very close to all Train Stops. This makes it easy to make connections. 
• Buses have Orange  Signs, Trams have Green Signs and Trains have Blue Signs
• There is a thing called 'V-LINE' which takes you to regional places in Victoria around Melbourne. V-line tickets are purchased separately (At any train station, I believe) and can be used as day-pass tickets on normal transportation. 

Transportation Enforcement

• Metropolitan Officers "Metties" randomly parole Trams and Trains to check and see if you actually 'touched on'.  They scan your card to make sure you were not 'fare evading'
• If your didn't scan your card before you get on the train/bus and they catch you they will ask for your name and address to service you a ticket
• Metties do not go on buses but the bus driver will scowl at you and possibly not let you on the bus if you do not 'touch on' 
• Fines can be at least $200 I believe.... but I wouldn't know

Being Safe: 

Where Do I Start?

Where do I start?

i. Visa

ii. Plane Ticket

iii. Insurance

Start by getting the visa. No need to waste money on a plane ticket if for some reason you aren't permitted in.  The visa requires you to have insurance, but you really can wait until you get to Australia to do this. 

Anyway READ ON

Australia's Success: Incentive

Why Australia? 

In the previous post, I mentioned the success of Australia's economy.  But you don't want numbers, you want jobs.

Today for me is October 18th, 2012.  I'm going to do a little experiment and go to http://www.gumtree.com.au/ .  This is the craigslist of Australia, if you will.  It has jobs.  I'm going to use Melbourne as the key place for the purposes of this blog... feel free to do the same.

Today in the Melbourne region..

Let's break some of these down:

Hospitality:  Over 2,000 jobs, but you'll never be able to see the wage price.  This is because the hospitality industry tends to tax evade and pay you under the table. While the National minimum wage is about $16.00 per hour, most cafe jobs in Melbourne will pay you more if you are on the books and will pay you around $15.00 off the books.

Sales/Marketing:
Target "backpackers" which are people like you.  These jobs are tedious, high pressure and sales-oriented, but you have the potential to make heaps of money. I heard of people making up to 2k per week, but most of the time it's commission based. Look for the Base + commission jobs to ensure you at least get a salary.

Admin: 
Harder to get, have to network.. but you can expect around $24 dollars per hour with these roles

Anyway, just play around on Gumtree. You can easily expect to make around 600 dollars per week at any job. Start with a crap job and work your way up! I had 10 different jobs in my first 6 months of being in Australia.

Next Up: Where do I start?

Breaking the Mold! (some snarky statistics)

You know how I said that we Americans don't tend to think beyond our borders?  That's a bit of a gross generalization. Americans travel. They just are traveling for the wrong reasons.

Allow me to do some statistical inference: 

(USA data taken from here and here; Australia data taken from here and here)

18.7 % of Americans traveled abroad in 2011

The trend has been going up every year, so it can be assumed that the percentage is higher this year.

Of this 18.7 %: 

34% To Mexico:

6.4 % of USA population

(SPRING BREAK! WOOOOO!!!!!)

19.6% to Canada

3.7% of USA population

(These are all the people who say "if ______ happens" or "if _____gets elected... I'm moving to Canada. I mean it! This country is going to be divided at the 38th parallel soon enough!")

18.4 %to Europe: 

3.4% of USA population

(The yuppie family vacations to get some old-world culture, The Euro-trippers, The Study abroad once-in-a-lifetime "experiences")

10.2% to Caribbean

1.9% of USA population

(Cruise and Cigar loving types)

7% to Asia 

1.3% of USA population

(I bet some of this is business related travel... )

2.7% to  South America

.5% of USA population

(Save-the-world types)

2.2% to Middle East

.41% of USA population

(Some more potential entrepreneurs here, although There Will be Oil )

.85 % Oceania

.15% of USA population

(Mostly hobbit-loving types, BUT ALSO  people who are taking advantage of Australia's economy...like myself in 2011!)

What does it mean? 

This is what I gather from all of it.

•  It's harder for Americans to travel in general, because most Americans don't make enough money to save up for the cost of an airplane ticket. This explains why North American travel is more common.  It also explains why, relative to say... Australia where 30.5% of population travel t,here are fewer people traveling.

•  When traveling, Americans tend to travel for experience in lieu of business opportunities. Mexico and Europe are not places to start a career. Most business opportunities abroad come from large companies operating overseas. 

•   When we travel for Business, it seems that Australia is completely off the radar! 

 Sure, Canada and parts of Europe have done well to avoid the GFC- and it looks like the numbers are high enough to deduce that some of those statistics representing business related travel... but who would want to move to Canada when there is a much warmer English-speaking country available to travel to?  One which is arguably more economically viable! In 2011, it ranked 5th highest for GDP per capita (IMF) and 2nd for Human Development Index (UN).  It's amazing that it doesn't crop up in the news more often.  This Article, for instance, encourages Americans to seek jobs elsewhere, much like I am doing now.  It gives no mention of Australia.   

Going back to a more general commentary on American labor migration.  We've never had to consider looking for work elsewhere before.  It's always been other people trying to get across our own borders and we are used to a very US-centric world. It frightens us to think that the reality is different.  Perhaps by admitting that other economies are relatively stronger, we are admitting that things might not get better here. 

As I mentioned before, there seem to be a lot of young people, just graduated, who are taking temporary trips abroad to do volunteer work.  Sure, the economy sucks.. but they, as Americans, are better off than lots of people.  Why not try and escape the crisis, help others to be better off, and also gain experience in the field? 

It's a lovely thought, but eventually you have to get a job.  You can gain experience and gain an income at the same time.   There's an amazing niche just waiting to be filled... and so very few Americans are taking the opportunity to do it. 

NEXT UP: Some proof of why Australia is a good move. 

An Introduction and Incentive

My Fellow Americans: 

It has occurred to me that we are in a dire position.  The prospect of hope, the endless frontier of career possibilities, the belief that we can do anything in our adult lives have become now trodden-upon dreams left to be extinguished by an economic depression.
  (Feel free to click any of these links for more on the subject: A really great radio interview!, This really depressing website. This book, A whole Amazon search page of books!, This Blog, More Blogs about the Financial Crisis, WIKI Page, ) 

But here's the thing: It turns out that you are by no means confined by borders. Seriously. I know that most readers of blogs are generally internet people and are thus completely aware of accessibility of the world, but most Americans have yet to make the essential paradigm shift.

It took a lot to convince me that the investment of moving to a different country would be financially viable.  Having just graduated from University with only a summer's worth of savings, it seemed like a big and scary step.  Now, on the other end of that year on Australia, I am 7,000 dollars richer, I have experience running a company, and have even found a way to continue  making money by working for Australian organizations.  It was the best financial decision I could have made considering my circumstances, and I also happened to have experienced all the other perks that come with living in a new country.

It is my hope that I will be able to convince you, readers-of-blog, to do the same. I will outline for you the steps I took, and give you a bit of an insight to what it's like down-undah.
 (It turns out, it's really not that different. It's just much more lucrative.)

Feel free to go in order, skip about, and PLEASE keep checking back here for more updates.

1.  Breaking the Mold (current travel trends, and how you can break them)

2.  Australia's success: Incentive 

3.  Alright. I've been Convinced! Where do I start?

          i. Visa

          ii. Plane Ticket

          iii. Insurance

4.  I'm here! I'm at the airport!  How to get out of here? 

            .....public transport? What's that?

5.  I have no money because I spent it all on the plane ticket.  Where do I stay?

6.  Melbourne Suburbs: A Guide

7.  How to Find a Job and Everything Else about Jobs

8.  What to expect from Aussies: (Stereotyping to the max)
            i. Lingo
            ii. The hipster, the hippie, the tradie, the bogan

9.  Life-hacks: Melbourne Style

    (how to deal with $15.00 six- packs and everything it entails)

10. I have money now! What should I do with it?

NEXT UP: Breaking the Mold!