MELBOURNE Victoria

Planning to fly into Melbourne, one of the world most livable city, find what you need before your fly into in beautiful city. While being voted as one of the most beautiful and livable cities in the world, it is definitely easy to get around here. Come down under and discover the different cultures that build Melbourne as a city worth visiting.

Melbourne offers you a city of many different cultures and races. This can be seen along the busy streets of Melbourne city centre. Different types of restaurants show the wide range of races living in Melbourne. This forms a unique society that is truly Melbournian. Remember, everyone is from somewhere in Melbourne, your home language can definitely be heard here!

“Melbourne Victoria, the Place To Be” 

Photographed by me. 

10 Things a Must Before Flying Away on a Journey

http://www.roundabouttravel.com.au/file.php?f=fvYX_5.teuBSO.17

Disembarking to a foreign land is never easy. In my opinion from my travel experience, the hardest thing to do is getting yourself ready before heading off towards your journey. These are ten things I reckon is essential for you!

1:. Passport

Having a passport is essential and the key before leaving your beloved country. It is basically your main form of identity outside your country and should be carried close to you wherever you go. Depending which country you’re from, allow at least two months before you leave to prepare your passport.

2:. Visa

Another thing essential before leaving on a journey out of your country is to obtain an appropriate visa before disembarking. Depending on which country you’re from, certain countries require visas to go in. Having a journey plan will help obtain whatever visa is needed before travelling. For example, you may not need a visa to enter Hong Kong, but you’ll need a visa to enter China even though both places are technically side by side and under the China. Therefore, it is important and efficient to obtain appropriate visas from your home country. This makes the process faster and easier.

3:. Air Tickets

For most travelers, the best part of disembarking on a journey is your air flight out of your country to a new far away land. That excitement of entering the airport and going to an unknown land is one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. Well, therefore one of must items is having an air ticket. Air ticket can be booked and purchased online. Make sure air tickets are bought 6 months before disembarking. This is so that the air tickets are cheaper and you’ll make sure your travel plan is actually happening. Many people plan to go on a trip but hesitate to buy the air ticket. The more you think about it, the more you’ll delay your dream travel plan. On occasions, you might be able to obtain an air ticket cheaper closer towards your travel period. But it’s a gamble cause most of the time air tickets go up, as it gets closer to your flight date. Get your air tickets as early as you can!

4:. Insurance

When disembarking on a journey, it is important to obtain travel insurance. Travel insurance maybe costly, but you may not know what bumps you might stumble across while traveling. Travel insurance is like a support package that helps you has an ease of mind if anything unfortunate happens. Travel insurance, depending on which plan, will cover basic stuff such as lost of baggage, medical, thievery, lost of gadgets such as cameras or hand phone, and many more. Research the places you’re going to get a better understanding on which travel insurance package to go for. For more information, click HERE!

5:. Driving License

Driving license is another must bring item. You’ll find this very useful when travelling. When going to a foreign country, not everywhere you want to visit will have public transport to take you there. Therefore, having your driver’s license on you will give you additional options to get there. An example situation, you’ll realize that it maybe cheaper to hire a car with a group of travelers that following a tour, having a driver’s license will open up that option.

6:. Clothes

Packing up a luggage is never easy. You might not know what to bring or pack your whole wardrobe. Understand that, the more things you pack, the more weight you’ve got to carry around. Depending on the duration, I would recommend that packing for 5 days worth of clothes is sufficient. This is because most places travelled; there will be washing machines and dryer available at hostels and backpackers lodge, or cleaning services at hotels for travelers on a higher budget. Another important note is that research about the place you’re going to bring the appropriate attire. Research things such as currency, weather, lifestyle and so on. This will then help you decide what is needed and what is not. I know I included currency; this is because for example a place like Hong Kong, shopping is fairly cheap there. Therefore, by looking at its low currency and cheap shopping, you’ll therefore pack less and shop there instead.

7:. Camera

Having a camera is important as it captures your journeys experience. A cheap digital camera is sufficient enough as it is compact and easy to carry around. However, travelers who want to capture high-resolution professional images, a DSLR will be good to have around. But this is extra weight to carry around and make sure to keep an extra eye so that it doesn’t get stolen! A regular question is what if I have a smart phone with a pretty good camera? Well, if you loose your phone, at least you still have your camera to capture the remainder of your journey.

8:. Notebook

A notebook is important as you can note down everywhere you’ve been. Make it like a journal of your own travel experience. The best thing about noting down your travel experience, you can look back and trace back your travel experience. Pair it up with images taken from your camera, make yourself a travel photo book!

9:. Smart Phone

Most travelers tend to neglect this point. Most travelers tend to purchase a cheap candy bar phone to travel. But in this modern day, having a smart phone will ease your journey in many ways. Most countries these days has some form of data plan, it can be either 3G or down to GPRS, but still connectable to our modern day Internet. On of the most important feature is the built in GPS in your phone. This helps you get around a foreign place. Another important feature will be local public transport app. This will help you know which public transport to take while you’re in a foreign country. Google translate is another useful feature in a smart phone. If you don’t speak the language, no worries, type it our in your own language and let Google Translate does its job. Travel apps are useful to know what’s the main tourist attraction of the location you’re at. Lastly, you’re constantly connected to social media, which means you’re constantly connected to your friends and family. This helps ease loneliness and having the feeling of being homesick.

10:. Recommended

Here is a list of extra recommended things to bring
·    Electrical converter
·    Tiny flashlight
·    Toiletries
·    Sunscreen/lip balm
·    Sunglasses
·    Tiny first aid kit
·    Rain jacket
·    Cheap watch with alarm clock
·    Flip flops
·    Guide book
·    Inflatable neck rest
·    Extra passport photos

Getting Around Melbourne

Melbourne is a one of best city to live in. Being the best city to live in, the first thing you’ll realise is the public transport. The moment you get off the plane, you’ll understand the conveniences of getting around.

SKYBUS

Getting out of the airport, the best way to get into the city center is by taking the SkyBus that is located at the start of the drop off zone and at the end of the pick up zone. The ride from the airport to the city takes around 20 minute on normal times and 30 minutes during peak hours. These busses come regularly, every 10 minutes to be exact. The bus has places available for passengers to store their luggage. Don’t worry about the size of your bags cause the compartment is huge. Besides that, this compartment area is not located under the bus but within the bus so you wouldn’t have to worry about people taking the wrong luggage. Passengers going to specific hotels can be dropped off using one of SkyBus facilities. The SkyBus drops passenger at Southern Cross, which is also the place where travelers can transit from one public transport to another. The cost is fairly cheap and family deals can be purchased too. It is definitely the cheapest and most convenient way to get from and to the airport. Prices are available HERE!

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/comeng301m/7580543726/

MYKI

Arriving Southern Cross, the first thing about taking public transport is having a valid ticket to travel on it. In Melbourne, this valid ticket is called MYKI. This is the key to getting around Melbourne. At Southern Cross, there is a main MYKI booth available at the entrance of Southern Cross. Need not fear if you can’t find it cause MYKI cards can be found is all 7 Elevens and most convenient shops in the city. MYKI prices and information can be obtained HERE.

 

http://images.theage.com.au/2011/06/21/2442711/729_myki-420x0.jpg

TRAINS

Trains are available to most suburbs in Melbourne. They are technically the fastest way to go to suburbs that are slightly further out of the city. There are a total of 16 train lines that spread our across Melbourne. All trains are comfortable and exceptionally clean. It may be pack during peak hours but most of the time, seats are available. Trains on weekdays comes every 10 minutes during daytime and 30 minutes during the night. During weekends however, trains comes every 20 to 30 minutes. You may experience delays on trains due to the old train systems compared to other developed countries. Metro Train timetables can be obtained HERE!

 

Image by me.

TRAMS

Trams are considered uniquely a Melbourne thing. It is not because it’s the only city with trams but mainly because trams are fully used as a main form of transportation to get around Melbourne. There’s a total of 28 trams line around Melbourne and by looking at the vast number of tram lines, its easy to understand that trams is a highly used by Melbournians. Trams come at an average time of 7 minutes during they day and 20 minutes during the night. For the Yarra Trams timetable can be found HERE!

Image by me.

BUS

Busses are available around Melbourne. Busses are most popular in suburbs further away from the city center. This is because suburbs further out of the city don’t have the luxury of trams. However, if you’re out partying at night and worried about not having trams and trains to bring you back, busses runs all night to accommodate this. This is called the Night Rider. More information about busses in Melbourne can be found HERE!

 

Image by me.

TAXIS

Taxis are available all around Melbourne. They are colored in bright yellow, which makes it easier to spot. To know whether the taxi is vacant or not, there is a light above all taxis. If its on, this means the taxi is vacant. According to Melbourne law, taxis with their lights on have to take you anywhere you desire. All taxis have a GPS in the car. Therefore if the taxi driver doesn’t take you to your destination, you have the right to not pay them. If the taxi driver is lost while you’re in the taxi, they will have to stop the meter. MYKI cannot be used in taxis. However, passengers will have a choice to either pay by cash or credit card. Taxis are not ideal as the cab fares in Melbourne cost a lot. Taxi are only worth taking during late nights when both trams and train aren’t running. 

  

Image by me. 

Mobile Apps

Public transportation timetable, information and fares can be downloaded through your mobile phone by using these mobile phone apps such as the PTV Journey Planner App and Tram Tracker App. These mobile apps can be found on the either Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

 PTV Journey Planner
This app has many features such as timetables for train, busses and trams. However, the main feature of this app I would recommend is the Journey Planner. This is useful as it lets you know the fastest travel ways, which trainline or tramline to take and also the duration. This helps you to know when to depart from one point without being late arriving the next destination.

 TramTracker
This app is useful if you want to know when the next tram is arriving. Besides that, it also shows where the nearest tram stop is based on your location. Lastly tram timetables can be found on this app.       


x