Lessons Learned on My Trip to Australia

My trip to Australia was a trip of firsts for me. It was my first solo trip. It was the first trip that I planned entirely myself. And it was the first international trip that I took in almost 10 years. These are the lessons that I learned.

Staying at an AirBNB is not the same as staying at a hotel

Adding to the list of firsts when in Melbourne I stayed in an AirBNB. Everything about the AirBNB was great. It was located in the center of downtown and easy to get to from the airport via the SkyBus. Picking up the keys was easy and being able to do laundry meant that I didn’t need to pack as many clothes.

About halfway through my stay I realized that I was not taking advantage of all the benefits my AirBNB gave me over a hotel room. The primary benefit being a full kitchen and refrigerator. I could have bought more food when I first arrived, kept it in the fridge, and cooked for myself more. Not only would this have saved me an extra trip or two to the grocery store, but it also would have made some meals easier as I would not need to go out to eat as often.

Schedule only 1 major activity each day

Before the trip I knew that I would only see a fraction of what Sydney and Melbourne had to offer, but I had no idea how the jet lag and time difference would affect me. While I didn’t suffer from much jet lag, I never fully adjusted to the time difference. Some days I would wake up at 4 in the morning and not be able to fall back asleep. This meant that if I planned to be somewhere that opened at 9, I might have already been awake for 5 hours. Thankfully I was able to see and do everything that I really wanted to, but there certainly were items on my itinerary that I didn’t get to.

Sometimes it is better to take a taxi (or Uber)

Public transportation may not always be the most convenient option, but I feel good taking it. Both Sydney and Melbourne have great bus, subway, and tram systems that can take you almost anywhere you want to go. However, sometimes it is better to pay more for the convenience of a taxi (or Uber). There were a few times when I walked further than I expected or had the energy for after a long day of sightseeing. On the last day of my trip I decided to treat myself to an Uber ride when I was tired and was a great decision.

2 hours is my limit for visiting a museum

Museums can be fun, informative, and a great way to spend time inside when the weather outside is bad. However, most of the time spent in a museum is standing and looking at things. After 10 activities (museums and others) that mostly involved standing and looking I learned that about 2 hours is the most amount of time I want to spend. Knowing how much time I want to spend in a museum (or similar activity) has already helped me plan how I want to spend my time on future trips and make sure that I see everything I want to see while skipping areas I am less interested in.