The Anything Thread

Question of the week: What places would you like to travel in the world? and why? Where have you travelled before?

 

I'm glad to hear you arrived safely! Thank you for letting us know!

 

It might just be fewer hours of sleep if you had to wake up earlier to you went to sleep later than normal. I've spent more than a month of my life on an aeroplane

I've been to lots of places and I still want to go to lots of places

 

Might be I find that at least for short flights, it is the hassle of getting to the airport more tiring than going on the aeroplane itself. Which airline did you use? Have a nice week Joyce

 

I want to go to Europe a year after I finish school, it will be the first time I have left Australia I have always loved Europe I learnt Italian for 5 years and fell for it hehe. Then Ireland pictures are amazing I want to go there so I shall just dont know how being clostraphobic and scared of hights will help

OMG I just seen my count thingy down to double digets til schools over :yahoo:

 

Hi Joyce, it's nice to hear from you, enjoy the rest of your holiday

As most of you already know I want to travel everywhere though first on the list is Europe (Paris and Barcelona) and Scotland. CP and I started a travel fund now, so we save money each month in this account for the purpose of travelling, this way we can ensure that we have the resources to travel some day (soon!). I would have started travelling along time ago if it wasn't so expensive, since we are so secluded (feels that way anyways ) flight tickets is very expensive. At this stage I'm travelling through South Africa and Africa, at least I can explore my own country

 

Nonsense and you know it Cost to fly from Johannesburg to Amsterdam is $896 USD compared to $1840 USD to fly from Sydney to Amsterdam. I could probably find an even cheaper price if I looked hard enough but I'm sure you understand the point...

I thought you were going to visit us :unsure: I like Scotland but was not that keen on Paris. I've only been to the airport in Barcelona.

 

I know... so when is SA on that list?

Ditto. I'm not as big on Barcelona as Gerda although I'll also like to see it. Scotland is one of the big ones on my list, I'll like to go all over Europe. I would also like to see the Netherlands... More African countries as well. It's a beautiful continent.

You haven't always been in Sydney and tickets are expensive Not only that, the Rand isn't nearly as strong as the Dollar (Canadian or other), Euro, pounds etc so the conversions kill us It unfortunately translates to a huge amount of money when going overseas and since eating and living is more important, travelling has been put on the back burner. It is something we really do want to do though but we can't be irresponsible about it. We have to prepare properly.

Code it is exciting when finishing school! You don't have far to go, it's a great time. Enjoy it

 

But we're here now

The problem is how much you earn, not necessarily the exchange rate (unless the Rand devalues anyway).

 

I'm working on it... I need to visit my grandmother in England so if I can get a flight via South Africa I will (provided it isn't a lot more expensive because of how remote you are ).

True, but I've flown even more since I have been here

That is true although it tends to be a bigger issue for hotels and things than flights.

 

Africa in general all over would be amazing! A friend of a friend I was looking at photos tonight from her trip!

I am in the formal/ end of year committee and we now have meetings every tuesday at lunch and its so good planning activities for whats known as "muck up day" because the legal age to drink is 18 here and 90 plus percent are going to be 18 by the last day we want activies so people dont turn up blind drunk at 9 am. Ideas are hard to come up with lol any fun ideas that anyone can think of? We have to fundraise down town in the morning dressed up as slaves and such and we get sold to students which is a "right of passage" it happens every year. Im not selling myself because I dont wish to spend my last day at school doing some idiotic year 7 childs work

Have my dress but I dont like it now, plus it was a cheap one so I'm cutting it and wearing it to my 18th, and wearing a $330 one I have to buy for my cousins wedding

 

$896 is R7168 - which is expensive, or in my book, I'm barely not a student anymore so not that easy to justify a luxury like travelling when I can use that money on my house(CP and I am buying the house from my parents), savings etc (yup, I have this nagging habit to be very finance conscience and do "the right thing") if you include accommodation, food and spending money a trip overseas will easily be R20 000,which is just too much at this stage. That is why we have a holiday fund now, then it doesn't feel like you are taking this huge sum of money that you could have spend more responsible In other words I won't feel guilty yup I'm weird. I know I have the money to do it, but I don't want to regret it afterwards, I only started working this year and think it is important to spend money wisely.

 

True, but you spend money on things like cars and so on which I don't. Our travel fund comes from what we would have spent on a car/petrol/television and other things lots of people have but we don't.

Brenda is spending a considerable portion of that on alcohol for her wedding I've frequently told Brenda that the money spent on her wedding would be better spent on (preferably my) travel but she won't listen

I suppose the real difference is that I consider travel to be a necessity but other things (cars and eating in restaurants among other things) not to be so I don't spend money on that type of thing.

 

Thats not weird thats SMART So dont think any differently I 100% agree with you!

Thats why Im working for about 13 months to save while smooching off my parents (AKA living at home) before I travel then UNI

 

LOL I think her wedding would be the necessity

I dont pay for any of them, well petrol I do now since dad got a car for clo and I but thats only $40 to fill and thats spilt half even though we havent filled it yet dad has All I pay for is my phone bill which is $60 a month which is good for what I get

Edit.

Plus tax return shall go straight into my savings which I cant touch I seem to be the only child in my family to be able to save

 

By the way, I had a quick look for you. You can fly from Johannesburg to Madrid for $485 USD which is 3784.15492 Rand. If I lived in Europe I would be getting a low cost flight to Madrid and then flying to South Africa from there I know it is still expensive but my point is that if you know how to look you can visit places without spending a fortune (relatively speaking) doing it.

 

Here cars are a must, we don't have public transportation (or one that can be used sensible anyways) so we have to buy cars and spend money on petrol but I get what you are saying, it does help a lot though that you don't have those expenses. Travelling for me is definitely also a neccesity that is why we started the fund because it is something we are going to do . Since I've been living of my parents for the past 5 years whilst studying I must admit it is nice to be responsible for myself now (financially anyways) and I think it is good if I start to budget and plan from the start, that way in the end I'll be able to do more then if I didn't I've always felt just because you have the money doesn't mean you should spend it.

Codie that is a good thing, it's nice to be able to travel a bit before going to UNI, and you are just finishing school so you are allowed to smooch off of your parents

 

That is the difference though. My telephone bill is $15 every six months. Therefore:

Code: $60 * 12 = $720
Adrian and Richard (since we share): $30.
Amount saved by A&R: $720 - 30 = $690.

$690 would easily cover two return tickets to New Zealand from Australia (East Coast) or would get Gerda all the way to Madrid (via Cairo I might add which means she can probably include a stopover in Egypt as well).

If we each had a $60 monthly telephone bill, both Gerda and CP could fly to Spain on the amount we are saving

 

You could get the company you work for to pay for it. When we lived in The Netherlands our father's car was paid for by the company.

Sponging is a very valuable skill and one I have a lot of practice at doing

 

I suggest you do an experiment where you replace all the alcoholic drinks with drinks that look and taste the same but are non-alcoholic and then see if people do anything differently than they normally would.

I used to be able to save until I had to start paying tuition. Tuition eats up all the savings

 

We don't have the luxury of safe public transport so a car isn't an option we can leave. I don't pay much for television, it's very cheap

Even of you earn a lot of money, it doesn't make the conversions less, true the hotels etc works out more than the flights but everything together (including flights) does come to a good chunk of money for essentially a luxury. (Yes as much as I value travelling I do see it as a luxury and not a neccesity)

We have an open bar remember? and I'm not paying for it. André's parents are paying for that part. Our wedding is also not going to be that expensive, I haven't gotten anything ridiculous and have done everything I can do myself so basically it's the food and venue costs (that you'd have with any other function) that is the most expensive and even with that I've gotten good caterors for much less than usual and my venue is very beautiful in my opinion but not the price of some ridiculous places... anyway you get the idea

Code sorry I don't have any ideas for functions but I'm sure you'll come up with great ones

ETA I see there's been a bunch of replies. I'll get to them now. i received a vhonecall before I clicked reply so I missed a few.

 

Ill pay them but it will be cheaper then living away from home, my brother whos 22 this year pays them like $40 a week but thats for him and his gf, thankfully they are moving out next year

OK way good point I pay too much but that $60 is for
-Unlimited text
- Unlimited internet
and Hiptop

Which is the dodgest phone, I used to pay $99 a month when I was addicted to textng which added up to $640 prepaid credit a month!

 

I would take a bet here and now that 50% plus will get drunk anyways and stuff the day! They really dont care about school

where did you do uni??
HECKS?



The ideas so far are

- Jumping castle
- A car wash (another right of passage, happens each year)
- A giant slip and slide over the oval
- A giant game of twister

They all would involve chicks in bikinis I think thats why the males picked them :rofl:

 

Any chance your parents want to buy this flat so we can rent it from them for $40 per week instead of more than 10 times that much?

$60 seems good for what you get and if you feel you need to have that then that is your choice. It certainly adds up though.

 

LOL, I know about that (wasn't about to tell you because then you would have been more on my case ) I keep an eye on the different airlines and the costs of the flights (to keep my options open, never know when I'll actually just buy the tickets), there are a lot of specials these days, espesially to madrid and some other destinations. You know how many plans I've made to travel, so you know I really want to and that it'll happen eventually

 

Exactly. I must rather be patient and plan appropriately so that when we finally do travel we can do it properly. plus I'm funny in the way that I appreciate and enjoy something way more if I had to work hard in order to do it

 

I think they may pass lol, we have it good really actually really good, their rules are once your out of learning you pay rent, so if I skip uni for a year then travel for a year then move back and then go to uni I wont need to pay

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$60 seems good for what you get and if you feel you need to have that then that is your choice. It certainly adds up though.
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I dont need it anymore, it just sits there. The phone is over priced and crap! I hate it In may its going in the BIN when my plans up

 

Parents paid for the undergraduate degree (which we didn't do in Australia). We are paying tuition for our Master's degrees (at the University of Sydney) but we're not eligible for HECS (one of the things NZ citizens aren't eligible for) and there are no commonwealth supported places for our subjects.

 

LOL, I work in between and then post - I'll refresh next time, I keep missing posts

 

That isnt good,so you are origionally from NZ? Its stange I thought that everyone would be able to get hecs hmm, because im an Aus citizen would I be able to??

 

We are all posting over the top of each other its the battle of the fastest typer

 

Pity. Our parents didn't want to either... I wonder why

I enjoy things either way. I don't particularly like spending money normally but I do prefer to travel and forego plenty of things to do that.

 

It's complicated. We are NZ citizens by birth but we weren't born there and have lived in several places along the way. You should be able to get HECS as an Australian citizen, as far as I know only Australian citizens and people holding specific (and uncommon) visas are eligible.

 

I'm too busy (and lazy) to google now. What is HECS?