Looking Back – First Time Overseas

Oct 13, 2011 by Joel

It is hard to believe that just twelve months ago, I was taking my first trip overseas. In fact just four days ago it was exactly one year since I took that first International flight, leaving from Brisbane International Airport. I was bound for Vancouver, Canada, with a stop over in Los Angeles. Back then it seemed like such a huge step, yet now after making that same trip three times, is not no big deal.

The Stats

This was by no means a small trip, even though it may have been my first. I made stops on three continents (North America, Europe and Asia), visiting 6 countries (USA, Canada, Germany*, England, Switzerland* and Hong Kong). I flew over 42,000KM (26,000 Miles) in a total of ten flights with three overnight flights and 50+ hours in the air. With a total of 35 nights in hotels (Vancouver (10), Seattle (4), Las Vegas (9), Toronto (2), Various English towns (5), London (2) and Hong Kong (3)).

And all of that in just over 5 weeks.

Vancouver, BC, Canada – 10 Days – Empire Landmark Hotel

I cannot really pinpoint why, but Vancouver was always on my list of cities I need to visit. So it kind of made sense to include it, and why not make it first. Vancouver really is a beautiful city, and almost an ideal place to start out. It is easy to find your way around, there is a great choice of food, and there is a lot to see and do.

I really did make the most of the time that I had in Vancouver, I took three tours which included a city tour, a visit to Whistler, and a visit to Victoria, BC. I went to Vancouver Lookout, Vancouver Aquarium, Capilano Suspension Bridge and Stanley Park. Plus I got to see some area’s such as Gas Town, The waterfront, the many different Sculpture’s around the city and of course some shopping.

Seattle, WA, USA – 4 Days – Hampton Inn Downtown

If I made good use of my time in Vancouver, I think I just about did better in Seattle. I took two different tours in Seattle, the first was a city tour, while I also took a tour to Mt Rainier, which is about two hours south of Seattle. While Seattle is also a nice city it is much bigger and busier then Vancouver, but still relatively easy to navigate your way around, once you work out the way the street’s are numbered.

Although I was in Seattle for just 4 days, and filled two already with tours I still managed to fit in visiting the Space Needle (Seattle’s Observation deck) and Pike Place Markets. While losing almost a whole day to travel between the train from Vancouver to Seattle and my flight onwards to Las Vegas.

Las Vegas, NV, USA – 9 Days – Planet Hollywood

Many people questioned why I would spend nine days in Las Vegas. Considering I do not gamble, I was also questioning this as well. Three days was for a workshop I was attending. But even still to be honest the other six days, really is maybe to much. Looking back now two days to see Vegas is more than enough. I did however also find two tours to take in Las Vegas, which filled another two days, and are well worth the time, The Hoover Dam and The Grand Canyon. Of course if you want to Gamble, or Shop more time would definitely be an advantage, but just to see what is here, two to four days is more then enough.

Toronto, ON, Canada – 2 Days – Metropolitan

Toronto started out as a transit stop, solely as the place to break up the flight from Las Vegas to Europe. Seeing is on my itinerary I decided to extend it slightly to a two day stop. However once I was here I knew that 48 hours was never enough time, and quickly listed Toronto as a place I must return to.

Even though I only had 48 hours in Toronto I managed to squeeze in a day trip to Niagara Falls, which are just amazing to see. I followed this up the next morning with a visit to CN Tower (one of the tallest public observation decks in the world) and finally walked around a fairly large portion of the city just to see what was here.

Various Towns in England – 5 Days – Various Travelodge Hotels

I chose to rent a car in England and get away from London for the majority of my time here. I ended up driving over 900 Miles around the south of England. Visiting towns such as Devizes, Bath, Plymouth, South Hampton, Margate, and many in between. I also stopped and looked around many different sites with heritage buildings, ruins, castles and made sure not to miss a visit to Stone Henge. This really was quite an enjoyable trip, having the freedom to see a good deal of the country side and not just stuck in the big cities.

London, England – 2 Days – Rydges Kensington Plaza

While London definetly is a highlight in England for the amount of things to see and do. It really did not capture my mind at all, I was more then ready to leave after barely two days in the city. The traffic was horrible, I could have likely got around quicker walking then the Hop-On Hop-Off bus. The weather is compeltly unpredictable and it cycled from raining to sunshine twice between midday and 5pm.

Even this being the case I did not lock myself in my hotel room, although the first evening was one of the Riot’s that has been undertaken by student’s in London. This was no where near my hotel though. The next day the Hop-On Hop-Off bus seemed to be the best option although it took me pretty much all day to get round one loop and back to the hotel only making a stop at London’s Tower Bridge. Finally in the afternoon even with the inclement weather I managed to find my way to London’s Natural History Museum, and also Harrod’s department store.

Hong Kong – 3 Days – Salisbury YMCA

In the end Hong Kong was but a break in the journey home. I chose to do a couple of tours here, one which i really enjoyed while the other was disappointing. The tour that I really enjoyed was called “The Land Between” it was a tour that took our group through a number of different locations in the countryside between Hong Kong City and the border with China. Getting to see some of the countryside was many times better then the other tour, which seemed mainly focused on selling something or taking you jewelery shopping.

One Great Trip

All in all, I found this was really a fantastic trip. There is little if anything that I would change except maybe taking a couple of days off one or two stops (maybe Las Vegas and Vancouver) and giving more time to other stops such as Toronto and the English Country side. However there is no point in looking back and looking at how things could have been different. The only thing that thinking about how you could have changed the past is good for is better planning for the future.

*Transit only through the airports