How I'm Making Australia on a Budget Happen
Australia. The land Down Under. Kangaroos and koalas. Finding Nemo. The outback. Steve Irwin. G’day, mate. Crocodiles, snakes and massive spiders. I believe that is the American perception when we think about Australia. It is what we’ve seen on Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel.
However, I reckon my perceptions are going to change a lot once I land in Melbourne in a few short weeks. I’ve learned that Melbourne is a lot like London and London is my favorite place in the world. Australia is supposed to have some of the best coffee culture anywhere, and I love a nice bold cup of joe at any hour of the day.
I have three weeks to discover as much as I can. I’ll land in Melbourne on September 4th (Australian Eastern Standard Time) and then I’ll fly out of Sydney on September 24th. My plan is to spend most of my time in Melbourne exploring the many laneways, coffee shops, bars and cafes. I might go to “the bush” with Alaina to visit her family’s farm. The end of my time will be spent in Sydney for a few days as I explore the iconic Australian sites such as the Opera House and Sydney Harbour. I’d like to make it to the Great Barrier Reef but I am not sure if it will come to fruition or not.
Now, you might be confused as to why I am traveling to Australia. I’m only 24. Why not stay and explore the many parts of America that I’ve never seen? The reasons are fairly simple. The mere fact that I am 24 is the biggest factor for me. So much ties into my age and where I currently am with my life. I’ll be 25 in the middle of December so I see my trip as a Quarter Century birthday gift to myself. I have friends in Australia of a similar age that are finishing uni so now is the time to venture over there and explore with like-minded people. I don’t have anything tying me down. I’m very single, I only live with my cat, and I have yet to find my career job. If I don’t explore the world now, when will I?
I hope you enjoy following along as I discover all that the east coast of Australia has to offer!
Hard Work and Job Perks
I certainly do not make a lot of money as a Front Desk Agent but I do have some nice job perks that I do my best to leverage. For Australia, I was able to book roundtrip airfare with my Starpoints. Starpoints are what members of the Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program earn with their stays at Starwood properties. There are 11 brands under the Starwood portfolio: St Regis, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels, Westin, Sheraton, Le Meridien, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels, aloft, Four Points and element. To make it more complicated, Marriott International purchased SPG so the programs are slowly linking but that’s irrelevant to the current story.
As a Front Desk Agent, I’ve been able to earn points by enrolling people in the Starwood Preferred Guest program. SPG is free, free, free! Anyone with an SPG account can actually make the same thing happen if they stay at Starwood (now also Marriott) properties often. It would just take longer to accrue points than it did for me.
My property has a special incentive for Front Desk Associates and their number of monthly enrollments. I was the top enroller for six straight months and my hard work was rewarded with a large chunk of Starpoints.
Starpoints can be redeemed for free hotel stays, upgrades, gift cards, flights and a few other things. For reference, it costs 10,000 Starpoints for a one night stay at the Westin I work at. Certain properties begin at 2,000 points and can exceed 25,000. To book my flight I searched spgflights.com for weeks hoping to find a good deal. If I were to fly from Pittsburgh to Melbourne, I would have needed 105,000 points. However, I did not want to fly from Pittsburgh because my big suitcase and fall clothing are all in Michigan. I wanted to fly from Detroit or Toronto. Flying from Detroit is very pricey since Delta has a monopoly there and it would have cost me 95,000-105,000 Starpoints. Too much for me. After weeks of searching, I eventually found the perfect flights while sitting in Le Petit Chocolat and Cafe with friends in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood. I redeemed 75,000 Starpoints for a roundtrip flight from Toronto to Melbourne and then Sydney to Toronto on the way home. If not for points, the flight would have cost over $1,000, which is a cost I most definitely cannot justify!
Friends (with Benefits)
With airfare covered, I already saved a lot of money for this trip. Another wonderful aspect is that I have friends that live in Australia and they have offered me their flats/homes so I do not have to pay for lodging! If I didn’t have a place to stay, the cheapest hostel I can find in the Melbourne city center is $25USD/night. That means I’d be spending a bare minimum of $500 on lodging. However, there is no way I could handle sharing a room with five strangers for three weeks. I’m an introvert that needs alone time and a place to unwind. So, the cheapest hostel I can find with a private room is $37.91. That would put me at over $680 for accommodation. Also, the hostel only has a 5.1 rating from 398 reviews so there is no way I would stay there as a solo female traveler. Now, you might be asking, “how in the world does she know people from Australia?”
The answer is this: while on an overnight bus from London to Edinburgh, Scotland, I met three Australian girls. We got chatting for a bit and learned that we were all heading to Edinburgh for the exact same three-day Haggis Adventures bus tour of the Scottish Highlands. I had two roommates from my flat in London joining on the trip on a different bus so I was traveling alone for quite a while. Their coach from London had issues with traffic and long story short, if not for my new Australian friends I would have been exploring Loch Ness alone. Comment below if you’d like a more in-depth post about Scotland! It is easily the best weekend I have ever had.
Scotland's famous Loch Ness with my Australian friends.
Now, it is pretty easy to meet people but it isn’t easy to make friends and keep them. I’ve met many people in my life that I’ve found to be genuine and interesting people, but I didn’t do the work to remain in contact. There must be commitment on both sides to make a friendship last. I am fortunate that I have a fairly innate ability to keep important friendships going. That doesn’t mean I talk to people daily or even weekly but when I meet someone and am intrigued and we instantly click, I have some unusual ability to make those friendships last. I am so lucky that I really clicked with Alaina and Torii and spent time with them during the Scotland trip and then also when we all returned to London. In just a few short weeks, I’ll be staying in (Aussie Friend) Alaina’s Melbourne flat and Torii will be visiting, too! I’m also going to be spending time with my Best Friend Kyle’s best friend from his study abroad program. Sounds complicated but it actually is not. I’m just lucky to have a best friend with other great and kind friends.
I've got to say, I am very excited for my trip but also beyond nervous! The only thing helping with my anxiety is the fact that I am staying with friends who are locals! They're sending me links to their favorite restaurants. I'll have companions for coffee shops and pubs. I also will have advice and recommendations on places I can explore alone. My trip would not be happening without friends!
Fun night at a Scottish pub.
What Do You Want to Know?
Did any questions or future post ideas pop into your mind as you read? Comment them below and I will provide answers as best as I can!
Thanks so much for reading! All products and businesses mentioned are linked in the text because if I’ve a good experience, I’d like you to have it as well. And no, I am not getting paid for any of this.
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