My name is Rick, I am from western Sydney, Australia. I am 27 and time to finally see much more of the world. I have sold my car and quit my job (as an IT consultant) - Woohoo lets go !
Email: brovah@gmail.com
Todd Ahh, at the foot of the blue mountains. We'd get up to the mountains every easter, we'd love it up there. I think spending time there, away from computers, etc., is part of the reason we're now exploring the world and not stuck in offices.
You mention you'll buy a one-way ticket. You may already know this, but the trick is to buy the one-way ticket using reward points. If you pay cash, it will cost just as much as a return ticket. But it only takes half as many points. So if you plan it properly (and don't have any Qantas points now), find a credit card deal where you get lots of bonus points up front. Sign up for it, do whatever you have to do to get the point, cancel the card, and get your free one-way ticket. That's how we got to Montreal one-way.
Just to let you know, the reason we have to leave Latin America by mid-Feb is for this trip: http://globetrooper.com/the-great-circular-indian-railway-challenge-2011. It's going to be crazy. We think there'll be 30-50 people joining.
brovah Interesting to know about the credit card, however a) ive never had a credit card, only a debit card, b) i am not spending any money, I am totally in tight ass mode hahaha so dont think I would be able to aquire more points, but I will look into it (any companys to recommend as a starting point). I was thinking if the price was close for a return, i would get it and put a far off date on it, that way i could take it or leave it.
How to open ended tickets work? I gather you have to be a full fare ticket holder to get this option?
Yeah, being in an office all day sucks hard. It's all I have done and you can waste your life doing it for nothing. One of the aims of my trip is to get away from computers. Plus I am looking for my passion in life, another reason to get out of Sydney - it's expensive and after 26 years of living here, I need to be somewhere else :P
Todd We only had debit cards too at the time. We signed up for the Qantas American Express Ultimate card. We both received 50,000 points for signing up. But we had to spend $4k on each card within 3 months to qualify. Sounds like a lot, but we just put everything on the card and paid it back straight away. I even bought a couple of Macbook Pro 13s from JB Hifi and sold them on eBay straight away to hit the target. We needed 64,000 points to get to Montreal, but we did a few other things to get the numbers up. It took a bit of effort, and we weren't really strapped for cash, but it's a real bonus not paying for the flight, especially from Sydney. Since being here, we've seen return flights to Sydney from North America for as little as $650. Crazy.
I only realised how expensive Sydney was once we spent some time OS. In Montreal we live in what I think is the nicest area possible, and it's $200 (CAD) per week including elec, water, phone and broadband. Food isn't much cheaper, but you'd pay $400-600 for accomm in a similar area in Syd. If you're willing to share a house, you could get it down to $100-150 a week in Montreal. About half the cost of staying in a hostel.
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