Briathrail // Albert 2MNG

This might be the vacation that I have really prepared for earnestly (and maybe a bit more expensively). The others before ranged from “meh I can live with the random” to “we’ll overprepare this shit”. The upcoming trip to Australia has all the things I learned from all the trips I’ve done.

Accomodations

For accomodations, I prioritized certain things I wanted in the trip:

• Proximity to local transport – this is crucial in Sydney and Melbourne.
• Proximity to mini-marts and grocery chains
• Airport proximity – this one only applied to Bali. I’ll expand on this later.
• Proximity to some attractions
• Transportation convenience

With those in mind, I booked three accomodations via Agoda. For some reason, among the three apps I have an account with (Agoda, Klook and Trip), Agoda almost always had the best and cheapest prices. Trip comes close sometimes and I booked an accomodation there once but generally Agoda gives the good cuts.

For Sydney, I booked a decent room with a queen-size bed at 28 Hotel. Originally, while I was applying for the visa, I booked a lodging at a serviced apartment right near Bondi Beach. It had massive appeal – the rental area is big and there’s a freaking beach just outside the apartment – but when I started drawing up the itinerary plans, I realized I booked myself into a corner. Most of the stuff I wanted to see were right in the CBD area, and to get out and back to Bondi Beach, I had to take a train and bus a lot. I have to account for extra time and extra money just to have my beachfront preference to be pandered to. So I cancelled that one and rebooked, and fortunately I found 28 Hotel with an affordable room, and it’s just right across Central Station. It’s also walking distance from places like Paddy’s Market, so it’s a good hub point whenever I need to unload stuff and go to the next area. Lots of restaurants and shops around it too. Amazing location, if you ask me. It made most of my plans way easier to plot for when it came to time.

For Melbourne, my itinerary plan’s original accomodation didn’t change – it’s still at Oaks Melbourne, the one near Flagstaff. They had an opening for a room with a queen-sized bed and a balcony. Sure, it’s facing some normal-ass street instead of the nice green park out front, but it’s still nice. The main (and maybe sole) reason I booked it is that it’s a very short walk near Queen Victoria Market, and if anything happens to the ideal transport, I can still walk towards the Southern Cross station. Secondary reasons, there’s a tram station right out front and it’s in close proximity to decent eats and grocery stores. Third reason, is that it’s a roomy option. Sure, there are more cheaper rents out there but I’ve throughly researched those budget hotels and they are, shall we say, only suited for last-minute bookings. Some had inadequate lifts/elevators, some had only single beds, some had only a tiny-ass window for a view, some had their bathroom sizes to only fit a petite Asian-height supermodel. I’ll gladly pay a bit extra for the less stress and more room, thank you very much.

For Bali, I booked Aloft Bali Kuta at Beachwalk, and I chose a room with a king-size bed and balcony. Main reason I booked this one I’ll expand later in my trip plans (it’ll make sense), the secondary reason is that it’s a hotel within Beachwalk, a prominent Kuta beachside mall. Right in front of the mall is the Kuta Beach, so location-wise it scratched the itch that I deferred to have in Bondi. I can watch a picturesque sunset with beer in hand, and walk back towards my hotel (weather permitting). The Beachwalk mall also has loads of stores and amenities that I can go to and have a wonderful time in. Won’t really run out of conveniences there. There’s a pool as well, so I can enjoy that. But probably I’ll go at the alleyways going outside of the beachways to seek out genuine street food.

Fortunately for me going to Bali, I look Asian. Light brown, dark hair, Indo-Malay facial features. I get mistaken a lot to be from many other countries. In Thailand people either assumed I was Malay or Indonesian (people said “terima kasih” to me quite a lot). In Taiwan, a tour guide tried to guess my nationality (“Are you from Thailand? (No) Malaysian? (No) Filipino? (Yes) Ahhh, mabuhay” lol). So I don’t have to be that wary of the Bali locals compared to the alabaster-white tourists looking for a tan and a good time. Same thing with me when I went to Thailand and Malaysia – people were 50-50 on me as I look decently Asian enough to pass for a local, so I never was in any notable brouhaha – I walked the streets of Bangkok at night and the vending locals didn’t give a shit about me but started talking when they saw them Europeans. But I was born and raised in Metro Manila so my street smarts were still on high alert anyway.

For airport proximity I mentioned earlier, Sydney and Melbourne are safe. Sydney CBD has a train station with a line going to the airport in short time and order, while Melbourne has a nice express bus from Southern Cross to the airport (one which I also booked roundtrip for) with a decent time going there. Bali… well, trip plans.

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