The ultimate travel plan for 2019

Does someone smell?

Next year I have made plans for an extended journey overseas as part of my holidays. I decided to use my long service leave of 8 weeks to take time off from work in 2019. This would mean that I take no time off in 2018 for my annual holiday in New Zealand as it will be an expensive trip away. My last trip to Europe was in 2011 and was basically just before winter. I left the UK a week before the snow arrived and the sun rise and sunset times were strange for someone coming from Australia

Thinking that a trip away to Europe would be something fun to do and I wrote a list of locations I would like to visit. I wanted the UK especially when I wanted to do some family tree research especially visiting the Archives in Kew and some of the museums like the Mary Rose. I wanted to look through some of Europe and thought about starting my journey in Rome and working my way through to France. I had been watching Great British Railway Journeys. Realising that I had limited time and having to sit down and rethink my plan I ended up with more ideas and a solid plan. The idea I had was to head over in summer, which considering the heatwaves that have been in the news does cause some concern and interest.

One thing I really wanted to do was visit museums and Instagram became very handy as I came across almost by accident the Maritime museum in Hamburg and the Vasa museum in Stockholm. The Vasa has similarities with the Mary Rose and that museum was being built around the ship in Portsmouth last time I was there. Another set of museums I wanted to visit were dinosaurs specifically ones that were not in Australian museums that I know of. Frankfurt was found to have a museum for that and a town in Dorset called Lyme Regis was well known. I had been there once before. I had gotten on the right bus, but it was going in the wrong direction for Dorchester. On a whim I jumped off the bus in Lyme Regis and had a wander. It would be later I would realise the fossil connection. Another area was Brussels for the Herge Museum the creator of Tintin. Not to be mistaken for Rin Tin Tin the dog who starred in movies of the same name. The dog is actually buried in Paris, not in the US.

Another part of my trip includes several battle sites especially World War One. Recently I found there is a new museum that had been built called the Sir John Monash Centre. I thought it was close to Ypres as I have a family member buried in Tyne Cot cemetery near Passchendaele. Turns out I would need to visit Amiens as well as the museum is much closer. I had looked at a battlefield tour and then thought about the price. I realised I don’t like to be rushed and the price out of my range even if it would be worth it. I found locations for the Battle of Sterling Bridge and also Waterloo. The same thoughts occurred for castles and I had Edinburgh Castle in my sights and wanted to visit Dover castle after it was closed over winter and only open on weekends. I was there at the wrong timer of year and week.

Because of my university studies, I have come across by accident some interesting places. Tolpuddle for the Tolpuddle Martyrs who were sent to Australia only to be returned, Tank museum in Dorset, burial location of the Red Baron and some more walking along the Berlin Wall with a museum visit along the way. There are a few other cemeteries I would visit that I will include to my master list about the locations I am visiting, although I will be realistic in saying I cannot do everything on my holiday.

Booking flights was a journey in itself especially when several were counting down with how many seats they had left. One booking said there was two seats left after I had gotten one booked. Another airline sends travel info and bookings via FB messenger, which is different. Once I had booked my flights, I went to check my accommodation as I was going to book them a little at a time. Turns out my first choices were all booked out within 10 months from travel time. Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London, Paris and Portsmouth I had to resort to other choices from where I was wanting to stay. Crazy busy would be a word I could use and very surprising. I made sure I had somewhere to stay and now comes the search for other things to have a look at while I am on my trip and for family tree research especially when I have street addresses on census records and other records like Marriages. The rest will be sorted towards the end of the year especially when it comes to transport as I want to get trains everywhere. I have already worked out the direction of some in the UK like from Portsmouth to Dover via Hastings. I am staying in Singapore on my way home and I think this would mean I will have a really busy trip away and getting home will actually be a holiday on its own.

I will update more between the time I go next year, but now there is a reason why my travel blog might be a little quiet for a touch longer. Don’t know if I would be doing a blog for when I visit Armidale later this year, but you never know.

The Hostel shuffle in Wellington

Random book in bag

An experience in a hostel on my last trip away left me with the idea that I should share the experience with my thoughts on the event that had occurred and maybe show this is not exactly the norm for any place that you should stay in. I have spent 10 years travel on and off going through hostels and this experience was the first time I had what I am writing about occur. It was an interesting experience for Wellington, New Zealand. I had some dates booked and this place was my second choice to stay for the reason I couldn’t visit my usual hostel as it had been booked out on the dates I wanted. I chose this one for the convenience to locations like the bus and the National Archives. I have had past experiences here that left me disappointed like stripping every bed in the dorm and on my return finding I had to choose a new bed and since I hired a towel, to be inconvenienced by their time period to get a new clean towel.

Names mean something

Here is the story as follows

A Wellington hostel upon checking in told me that they would be moving me several times while I am staying with them. I am not worried about being informed, but I did find it annoying though. A comment was used that my booking is different from other people’s bookings. I do not know if it is because of group bookings as this place had a few school groups and elderly people groups stay there. The first day that I had to move, I could stay in my room as I was going to be out all day. The second time I was able to move rooms at 8am and was not told of any other move. Others in my room were told that they had to move the next day, which I thought was annoying. I was happy not to be moving anywhere. The third day however, I was out all day doing my thing at the NZ National Archives and returned.  I needed coins for the washing machines and went up to my room. My belongings were not there when I walked in. There were other people in the room, which is never unusual and said my stuff wasn’t there as they must have been there when the room had been cleaned. I had thought it strange as my keycard still worked for that particular room. It could have turned into a nightmare for the young ladies in the room especially when the time was after 5pm. I ended up going back down stairs to reception as I was wondering what was going on. I wanted to know where my belongings had ended up.

I spoke to the same reception lady who gave me the change for the washing machines. I told her which room I was in and she looked at my details and realised I had to move rooms, but my belongings were in storage lockers, which were luckily next to the reception area. I was not charged for the storage facilities luckily enough. I did move to my new room, which was already full of people and the only spare bed was the top bunk. These people were workers who spent time on construction sites within Wellington. I was actually leaving the next day, but they all had to move into another room due to some group booking and move back several days later. I had been worried for my towel that I had paid $2 for rental and a $10 deposit on. Plus I had my passport within the depths of one bag as well.  I had been more concerned about losing my deposit on the towel as $10 is $10 and can go pretty far especially if you are travelling. That includes the $20 for the key deposit and would add up to $30 all up in cash that I can get returned to me on checkout. I never became angry with them over this event as its too much energy to waste and being angry would not have gotten me anywhere at all and could have gotten me removed from a safe, secure environment. No idea if there is any sort of Blacklist. The towel and passport were the first things I looked for once I had my bag out of the storage locker

There is a reason I have not really mentioned my electronics as I did have them in my bag, but my day bag at that time. Since I was in the National Archives, I wanted to save my phone camera photos to my external storage and was using my computer for that. Besides they had powerpoints as well so I had those on me too. It meant my most valuable assets were under my personal protection. The first room I had stayed in did have a locker, but the previous two did not so as expected anything could happen, but the rooms were secure from outsiders unlike other hostels I have been in where room doors can be opened by anyone.

On the mention of power points, one in my original room was actually loose. Loose as in I had to be careful removing my power devices from the wall without the powerpoint coming with my powercords after pulling them out. If I really wanted to I could have fit my fingers behind the point to touch the cables. This is life and I have honestly had worse. Worse is bringing bedbugs home with you from a dodgy hostel. I had that from a Sydney one in Pitt Street that I think no longer exists and another at a Base X hostel well over 6 years ago.

The random finds occurred once I had moved to my new room. I needed to get the washing done before I left so I waited for the other people to get out of the shower as the room shared one bathroom between 6 people. I came across a book I knew one of the others from the night before had left. It had been about Nelson Mandela and magically appeared within my main bag. I would have kept it, but space in my bag was a luxury that I really needed and the book was thick. I left it in the room for someone to take it and read as I was not requiring it at that time, also not in the best condition either. Space in the whole room was cramped so I had to make sure I was packed and ready to leave especially when I was stuck on the top bunk. When I did checkout and eating breakfast, I discovered a tag that had two names ‘Room 501, Luke (or Bradley)’. My name isn’t Luke and they had moved my bag so that could have become a huge, huge problem. Its well and good to joke about it, but this could have been incredibly serious if something had gone wrong. I think I lost a pair of socks along the way or even underwear as that part of the bag was open.

Things to keep in mind

They could have called or even emailed me to let me know about the changes. I should have been told about the last change.

I don’t know the legalities or my responsibilities, but they could have left a message stuck to the door for me to contact reception ASAP or not even touch my bags as they were under the bed.

This is actually a massive security breach and could have had a vastly different outcome.

Next time I will have bag tags with my name on them.

Travel is full of experiences and it wont stop me in any way at all, but I do research where I want to stay next. Usually I head for the nearest YHA. I could be full of resentment and anger, but you have to move on. Learning experiences are bound to happen and this time my trip was full of them

South to North Tour: Day 23 Auckland to Gold Coast, Homeward bound

By the numbers

1 plane

20 kg bag

3.09kms

4,486 steps

I decided that since today was meant to be wet according to the weather website I would sleep in. Seemed like several other of the roomies in the hostel room were on the move as well. I thought it would be best to stay in bed a bit longer and then head over to the airport by bus after checking out. At least this time there was no fire down the street that would restrict movements. Luckily I did not even hand over cash as I used the transport card for Auckland known as the AT Hop card that I had been using all week.

Once at the airport I had a bit of time and I checked the weight of the bags to see how far over I actually was. Turns out not at all unless I was flying with Jetstar, who I was not flying with. I could put more stuff from my back pack into the main bag. The boxes of chocolates did take up a bit of room. While waiting for checkin to open, I observed the Air New Zealand style as its like their domestic terminal where you put the bag and tags on yourself to be sent off. I had a cup off coffee and did see on the ground floor that the Relay shop had post packs for New Zealand. I would later go back to have a look to find that if I had actually been overweight, I could have used international post. It was a great idea for next time to keep in mind. Not sure if the same applies for other airports. Once I was able to check in, I was for the time being the second person in line although I think I was the first for my particular flight. I was asked to remove my hat and sunnies so they could see me better. The guy beside me was happy to pay $300+ for extra boxes he had with him. No idea what was in them though. I was asked if I had a power pack, which must have people thinking I am the sort that has one. I thought it was a double adapter, but soon realised two different things.

After doing the rounds upstairs where I had walked back down, I found the line for the flights was actually pretty long, but I was happy to be sorted early. On the way to the other side of the terminal for my wander, I passed a guy dragging his kayak behind him. It was plastic, but that didn’t make me wonder. I was wondering if he was going to catch a bus and how he was going to transport it. I didn’t have a gate number at the time so had to wait for that. The Auckland Airport was being renovated / upgraded so there were quite a few changes going on. I think the departure lounge area was going to be updated to look even better. I did end up with a long walk to gate 17 that I could say as one where I could have drunk all my duty free alcohol. It was a very long walk, but with the waiting, I had finished my current book I was reading and since it added to the extra weight in the bag I left it behind. I was happy to fly with Virgin, although it did not seem to be a full flight back to the Gold Coast. There were plenty of seats vacant when I used the loo. The funny part was the lady beside me started knitting and I never knew you could bring those on board. I wasn’t complaining, I was just happy to read my book.

The flight had no dramas of any sort and I was happy to be back in the country after a three week holiday. It was time to head back into work and earn some money. Besides, Christmas is on its way and getting closer by the day. I found even though the flight was early, I got through immigration and customs within 10 mins or so at least. They knew I had chocolates, but never even looked at what I had. I still had to be picked up, but that ends the trip away and I should plan for a local trip away sometime next year. Bags with wheels are something that I do not get. I watched one guy get out of a car and leave his bag on the footpath and it rolled off and ended up on the road. Another guy looked awkward hunched over trying to pull a bag that should have a long handle, but didn’t. I had a coffee while I waited as I wanted to unpack and wash my gear as well as put it all away.