Moving Countries - Any advice?
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Im leaving my home city of Sydney in Feb with my shinny new UK passport and an open ended ticket to Amsterdam. I spent a few weeks there this year and I have a friend there who will help me out initially with somewhere to sleep and getting settled. I am hoping to spend a few months contracting then travel till the money runs out then find another contract, then travel etc etc Im sure a lot of you have travelled a bit and worked away from home, perhaps even in Holland, and I would like to hear any advice you may have. Im very excited about it but somewhat nervous at the same time, Im leaving my full time job (good pay but I don’t like it here at all), my mother, my new girl friend, all my mates, favorite golf course, pub, cafe and my comfort zone.
Take Tim Tams. And vegemite. My advice, if you are planning on actually settling down a bit, is to get all the stuff like bank accounts, health care, driver's licence and social insurance number (if needed) sorted out immediately. If you're working and living there you may be classed a resident and you're Australian licence may no longer be valid and they may ask you to sit for one of their licences (happened to me in Canada). Take a camera, and reassure your girlfriend that all the girls in Holland are ugly and unappealing. Lie like a dog. Make sure you have someone at home who can deal with your stuff, and maybe even give your parents Power of Attorney over you so they can do emergency money shuffling for you if disaster strikes. Also make sure you have a will and good insurance. Yeah, morbid I know but it happens. Oh, and send us a postcard :) cheers, Chris Maunder
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Im leaving my home city of Sydney in Feb with my shinny new UK passport and an open ended ticket to Amsterdam. I spent a few weeks there this year and I have a friend there who will help me out initially with somewhere to sleep and getting settled. I am hoping to spend a few months contracting then travel till the money runs out then find another contract, then travel etc etc Im sure a lot of you have travelled a bit and worked away from home, perhaps even in Holland, and I would like to hear any advice you may have. Im very excited about it but somewhat nervous at the same time, Im leaving my full time job (good pay but I don’t like it here at all), my mother, my new girl friend, all my mates, favorite golf course, pub, cafe and my comfort zone.
Josh Gray wrote: Im leaving my home city of Sydney Good move ;P I've just returned from a couple of business trips to Sydney, and I still can't work out why anyone would want to live there :rolleyes:
Ryan
"Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"
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Josh Gray wrote: Im leaving my home city of Sydney Good move ;P I've just returned from a couple of business trips to Sydney, and I still can't work out why anyone would want to live there :rolleyes:
Ryan
"Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"
Mate, Sydney is my home and as such has a very special place in my heart. I am asking for constructive suggestions. Your 24?, you come from Perth, a big country town at best? how can you come to the biggest, most exciting city in Australia and have a bad time? Dude, get out more
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Im leaving my home city of Sydney in Feb with my shinny new UK passport and an open ended ticket to Amsterdam. I spent a few weeks there this year and I have a friend there who will help me out initially with somewhere to sleep and getting settled. I am hoping to spend a few months contracting then travel till the money runs out then find another contract, then travel etc etc Im sure a lot of you have travelled a bit and worked away from home, perhaps even in Holland, and I would like to hear any advice you may have. Im very excited about it but somewhat nervous at the same time, Im leaving my full time job (good pay but I don’t like it here at all), my mother, my new girl friend, all my mates, favorite golf course, pub, cafe and my comfort zone.
I found that once you stop spinning the globe, most countries stop moving.
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygen -
Take Tim Tams. And vegemite. My advice, if you are planning on actually settling down a bit, is to get all the stuff like bank accounts, health care, driver's licence and social insurance number (if needed) sorted out immediately. If you're working and living there you may be classed a resident and you're Australian licence may no longer be valid and they may ask you to sit for one of their licences (happened to me in Canada). Take a camera, and reassure your girlfriend that all the girls in Holland are ugly and unappealing. Lie like a dog. Make sure you have someone at home who can deal with your stuff, and maybe even give your parents Power of Attorney over you so they can do emergency money shuffling for you if disaster strikes. Also make sure you have a will and good insurance. Yeah, morbid I know but it happens. Oh, and send us a postcard :) cheers, Chris Maunder
Thanks Chris, I know you can get vegemite over there but I will ask Mum to send tim tams one a month. Unfortunately my girl friend has been to Holland and as anyone who has been there knows the girls are anything but ugly :) I have been looking at travel insurance but for a 12-month stay its pretty expensive. Im sure I can find a very non-politically correct postcard for you
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I found that once you stop spinning the globe, most countries stop moving.
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygen -
Funny you should say that, I found the world started spinning a lot the last time I was in Amsterdam.
Yeah, that's why "most countries", Holland (or at least Amsterdam) is an exception... :cool:
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygen -
Mate, Sydney is my home and as such has a very special place in my heart. I am asking for constructive suggestions. Your 24?, you come from Perth, a big country town at best? how can you come to the biggest, most exciting city in Australia and have a bad time? Dude, get out more
I didn't say I didn't enjoy Sydney and I didn't say I had a bad time. Last time I was there was just over a week ago during the festival in Kings Cross. It was quite fun, although a bit on the wild side ;) I still maintain, however, that I wouldn't want to live there. It's too busy and rushed for me. It's almost impossible to get somehere without wading through oceans of people to get there. Maybe I just went to the wrong places, but It was the same everywhere I went. It's a good place to go for a few days, but I wouldn't want to stay much longer. Josh Gray wrote: you come from Perth, a big country town at best? I'll try not to take offense at that. That's the typical eastern states opinion that we all expect over here. Anyway, I guess you didn't notice (or just ignored) the smileys in my post. It wasn't meant to be taken that seriously...
Ryan
"Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"
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I didn't say I didn't enjoy Sydney and I didn't say I had a bad time. Last time I was there was just over a week ago during the festival in Kings Cross. It was quite fun, although a bit on the wild side ;) I still maintain, however, that I wouldn't want to live there. It's too busy and rushed for me. It's almost impossible to get somehere without wading through oceans of people to get there. Maybe I just went to the wrong places, but It was the same everywhere I went. It's a good place to go for a few days, but I wouldn't want to stay much longer. Josh Gray wrote: you come from Perth, a big country town at best? I'll try not to take offense at that. That's the typical eastern states opinion that we all expect over here. Anyway, I guess you didn't notice (or just ignored) the smileys in my post. It wasn't meant to be taken that seriously...
Ryan
"Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"
An Aussie East coast / West coast slanging match in the lounge? Now I've seen everything. Lads - remember there's plenty of Kiwi's (Brycey and Colin Davies to name a couple) if you really want to do this properly :D cheers, Chris Maunder
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Im leaving my home city of Sydney in Feb with my shinny new UK passport and an open ended ticket to Amsterdam. I spent a few weeks there this year and I have a friend there who will help me out initially with somewhere to sleep and getting settled. I am hoping to spend a few months contracting then travel till the money runs out then find another contract, then travel etc etc Im sure a lot of you have travelled a bit and worked away from home, perhaps even in Holland, and I would like to hear any advice you may have. Im very excited about it but somewhat nervous at the same time, Im leaving my full time job (good pay but I don’t like it here at all), my mother, my new girl friend, all my mates, favorite golf course, pub, cafe and my comfort zone.
Josh, you should look into Rotterdam, it’s like Holland’s version of Silicon Valley…. Never really liked Amsterdam but Holland as a whole is a great place I know out of experience; I am sure you are going to have a good time Best of luck ~Alexander Kent
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Thanks Chris, I know you can get vegemite over there but I will ask Mum to send tim tams one a month. Unfortunately my girl friend has been to Holland and as anyone who has been there knows the girls are anything but ugly :) I have been looking at travel insurance but for a 12-month stay its pretty expensive. Im sure I can find a very non-politically correct postcard for you
>I have been looking at travel insurance but for a 12-month stay its pretty expensive Not sure about in Australia but in general, over here in Ireland, if you buy flights with a credit card, then you automatically get free health insurance for a certain period of time (I think my card gives me 1 month and covers medical expenses up to €300,000 and all the costs of getting me home etc etc etc). I know some cards here will cover up to 6 months. If there is something similar in Australia then perhpas you could knock a month or two off of the cost of your main health insurance. Regards, Brian Dela :-) Now Bloging![^]
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Thanks Chris, I know you can get vegemite over there but I will ask Mum to send tim tams one a month. Unfortunately my girl friend has been to Holland and as anyone who has been there knows the girls are anything but ugly :) I have been looking at travel insurance but for a 12-month stay its pretty expensive. Im sure I can find a very non-politically correct postcard for you
Josh Gray wrote: I have been looking at travel insurance but for a 12-month stay its pretty expensive. You have a UK passport - for the medical stuff, while insurance is better, you can probably get an E111 form from a UK postoffice which entitles you to health care in the EU paid for by the UK government. Josh Gray wrote: Im sure I can find a very non-politically correct postcard for you But, I'm sure that at least it will be anatomically correct.
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Yeah, that's why "most countries", Holland (or at least Amsterdam) is an exception... :cool:
we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is Vonnegut jr.
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygenpeterchen wrote: "most countries", Holland I wasn't aware the Holland was a country. I was under the impression it was the largest province in the Netherlands* (Which is actually split in to Noord Holland, and Zuid Holland). * Yes, I've been to Friesland
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