GeordieBarker.com

Day 3 – Tuesday 17th of February – Singapore, Singapore to Hanoi, Vietnam

Photos from Hanoi

I had booked a Tiger Airways flight at 6am, which meant that I had to be at the Airport at least 2 hours before.  This was pretty crappy, because it meant I had to be up at three in the AM, to leave the Hostel at half past. I got some sleep, but not enough. Reception ordered me a taxi, and I was lucky enough to get a Limo Taxi, a Mercedes Benz with a very friendly English speaking driver. He was a very nice man, who chatted with me about where I was from, and his family, and Singapore.

I arrived at the budget terminal (one of four terminals at Singapore) with time to spare. The check in didn’t open until about half past, which I was pretty annoyed about, but there were no hassles, so I headed through security, and immigration and into the very new looking lounge. There was only one food outlet open, so I ordered a pork bun, which turned out to be chicken and settled in.

Whilst I was ordering, another girl was also ordering food. I invited her to sit with me, and we chatted about traveling, and she shared her spring rolls. Her name was Sarah, a Canadian, working in London. She was traveling for a few months before she began her new job. We agreed to meet up at Hanoi Airport. (more…)

It was pretty perfect timing, I received a forwarded email about 4 hours after my last post (Delayed… Again!) The email was titled “Australian Letter of the Year”, it made me smile and made the delay a little more bearable. See the attached PDF.

Australian Letter of The Year

So after pushing my flights back to the 5th of February, my visa and passport still hasn’t arrived. I made the call this morning, and pushed my flights back to the latest date that it could possibly be, the 15th of February. I did receive a phone call from a very nice lady at the consulate, that told me that the 15th would “most likely” be the last day it would arrive. I’m not holding my breath, but at least being here has allowed me to get in a day or two of work, and two 21st birthday parties.

Hope you are all well, and just another reminder to head to www.geordiebarker.com/follow to sign up to the email mailing list or follow me some other way!

Cheers,

Geordie

Visa – noun – An official authorization appended to a passport, permitting entry into and travel within a particular country or region.

Application times for international visas vary depending on what visa you apply for and what country you are applying to. There are several types of visas, depending upon your intention in the country. For the sake of this post, we will use a work visa as an example.

In some countries, a visa is not required, for example in New Zealand, Australians are entitled to the same work oportunities as New Zealanders, as long as they are of good character and have entered the country legally. Australians between the ages of 18 to 30 can apply for a 12 month German Working Holiday Visa, it costs 60 Euro and takes 1 to 2 weeks to process. Work in the Netherlands can be undertaken under the Working Holiday Scheme, once again you have to be 18 to 30, it costs 40 Euro and takes a maximum of four weeks to process. Work in Sweeden is much the same, 18 to 30, around 60 Euro and four weeks to process. For work in the United Kingdom, you can now apply for the Youth Mobility Scheme, 18 to 30 year olds can apply with minimal inclusion of past work, or past education.

In December, I started the application for the Youth Mobility Scheme. First an online application form had to be completed, taking about 30 minutes. Upon completion a window was made available that allowed an appointment to be made at my local consulate to submit “biometric details” (fingerprints and facescan). The paperwork was stamped, and then required to be sent to the British High Commission in Canberra. (more…)

UPDATE: Still no word from the British High Commission in Canberra as to the status of my application for “Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme” Visa, so it might be a delayed start to the trip, by anything up to 10 days. Also, if you are around on Sunday, come and bid me farwell, 5pm @ Bar Etiquette, Sydney Road, Brunswick… Details on Facebook now!

Packing and “Packing”

I did a test pack this evening, and had no idea where to begin, so to procrastinate, I went looking on the iPhone App Store for Travel Applications. I stumbled across one called “Packing”. It’s pretty much what it says it is; it allows you to create packing lists for your travels from pre existing templates, and then add items from the pre-existing / customisable database. The application is great, and it gave me a “general trip” template to work off, which made life very easy for me. I added and deleted things as I needed, and changed the title of some things, like “flip flops” to “thongs” and “flashlight” to “torch”. I had figured it out, so now I had no excuse not to begin.

To give you some idea of how I am travelling I have included a photo of the two (and a half) bags below. I have my Mountain Designs 75L Pack that has a little detachable day pack on the front of it (15L). For use during the day, I have the Lowepro Slingshot 350 AW, which has the ability to carry my digital SLR, laptop and other such goodies. See my earlier travel post for more info.

Mountain Designs 75L Pack with Detachable 15L Daypack,
Lowepro Slingshot 350 AW

Travel Gadgets

Now I am going for 9 months, and unlike my last trip (2 1/2 months) I cant be without my tech gadgets. So this time I have brought the lot. (more…)

With just under 4 weeks until I depart Melbourne, and with some recent purchases shown above, I though it was time for an initial Trip ‘09 blog post.

My preparations are well underway, I still need to obtain a few Visa’s (I’ve left it quite late, bad me!). I have purchased a lovely new Lowepro Camera/Travel bag, the SlingShot 350 AW, and I love it. My father has suggested that I may have a bag fetish, due to my ownership of two other Crumpler Bags. I disagree, I just like to have everything on hand.

Just in case you haven’t had the experience of me talking about this upcoming trip, I will run you over the basic plan, (more…)