type
Post
status
Published
date
May 8, 2024
slug
melbourne2024
summary
tags
Travel
Personal
category
Life
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How can I summarize this trip? Perhaps the best way is - lessons learned.
Let's go over the areas that could be improved for future trips.
First, the flight booking. While arriving in the morning allowed time for settling in, a trip longer than 5 days would have been better for a destination as far as Melbourne, which involved 2+9 hour flights to and from Shanghai. The timing of arriving in the morning and leaving around noon was convenient for rest on both ends.
For far-away destinations, plan for a longer trip duration.
As for accommodation, Europa Melbourne proved to be a decent place for backpackers - quiet room, clean bathroom, free breakfast, and a comfortable bed. The only drawback was the lack of complete privacy, despite the room curtains. It made it hard to fully relax and unwind.
Pay more for a private room when privacy is desired.
In terms of preparation, I overpacked, which isn't necessarily bad as it helps prepare for the unexpected. For toiletries, it's better to pack the whole small bottle instead of wasting money on dispensing bottles. Earplugs were a waste too since ears are already uncomfortable on planes without adding more discomfort.
My plane pack for long-haul flights now includes earplugs (just in case), an eye mask, comfortable slippers, and a neck pillow. The most annoying aspect of plane travel is the extremely dry air that makes the nose uncomfortable and eyes and face feel hot and burning.
On Day 1, after landing in Melbourne and taking the skybus to the hotel, I made the mistake of choosing an expensive SIM card instead of a cheap, one-time-use option since I could always update my phone number for the ANZ Plus account later. I set up my account smoothly but then became too focused on depositing money that I lost my wallet containing cash.
Day 2 involved recovering from the flight, visiting places like the Victoria market, parks, the library, a church, and the excellent movie expedition. I indulged in some donuts and pizza before resting at the hotel due to foot pain from excessive walking.
Walk less to conserve energy and avoid foot pain.
Day 3 was more free exploration - a beautiful church, a park (with rest breaks for foot pain), an art museum with Picasso's works (a first for me), amazing human body artworks, and an inspiring puppet show called Fly Away Peter. I didn't enter the regular museum as I'm not a fan. Back in the city, I tried depositing the remaining $200 AUD from my wallet, which is when disaster struck - I lost my wallet with my IDs (Chinese and Hong Kong driver's licenses), HSBC cards, BOC card, and OCBC card. Mistakes made: leaving my wallet behind, not checking for it regularly, not enabling credit card transaction notifications, and freezing my HSBC card. The biggest mistake was not being more careful with my wallet. This costly lesson resulted in losses of around 5000 RMB - 900 for the HK license, 800 for the OCBC card, and 3100 on the BOC mastercard. Lesson learned the hard way.
On Day 4, I could barely motivate myself to travel after the wallet incident. After breakfast, I visited the South Melbourne market for some snacks, bought chocolates at WWS, and then opted to head to the airport early. I made another foolish mistake by forgetting to order a combo and paying $5 AUD just for a soda at Burger King. I took the skybus to the airport and flew back home.
TL;DR: I stupidly lost my wallet, resulting in hefty costs to replace IDs and cards. This opened up an opportunity to revisit Hong Kong for unfreezing my HSBC account and potentially meeting Eunice there.
While frustrating, I coped better than expected because the monetary loss was manageable. Going to Hong Kong again isn't the worst thing as it allows me to meet Eunice. We need such failures in life to learn from our mistake-prone tendencies before bigger losses occur. This was a hard-learnt lesson in being more careful with finances and belongings while traveling.
- Take good care of your ID, passport, credit card, your phone
- Enable transaction notifications and promptly freeze all payment cards when you do not use them
- For far-away destinations, plan for a longer trip duration.
- Pay more for a private room.
- Pace your sightseeing and exploration to avoid overexertion, fatigue, and discomfort from excessive walking or activities.
- Do not being stingy with food. Try stuff, take some risks.
- Do not be obssessed with anything or action.