Yeah this trip is costing me uh a lot, in my currency. Basically everything is 50% more as a baseline and then cost of living is also more.
I feel like I would find tipping stressful if I lived here. I tip 20% as a baseline and typically more because I am like it’s 4 weeks who cares. I wouldn’t like to be faced with the decision between giving someone a decent amount vs not bankrupting myself in the long term.
I was mildly shocked at the end of my Winds trip when one of the American guests asked me if I knew what tip should be. I said 10 to 20 % of trip cost, trip cost was 1350 or 1395 or something. He was like ok so like 150? This dude was a lawyer, obviously doing ok. I don’t know man like the tour guide made dinner for us on the first night and then a thunderstorm rolled in and we all scampered for tents while he cleaned up in the rain and then went to bed in a wet sleeping bag because he hadnt had time to put his tent up before making food for us. Tough for me to not max out the tip there. 150 bucks for 4 days for a guy who works intermittently seems like fuck all.
Edit: like bearing in mind that our accom in Jackson had been minimum 350 a night. How am I gonna nickel and dime the guide there. I would do it I guess if I lived here because you have to but it’s not a situation I enjoy.
I’ve got a few Oct trips that I’m thinking of going on? When should I buy tickets for these and make hotel reservations? I was going to do it this weekend, but should I wait longer.
I’m airside at New Orleans Airport, on my way out of the country. I have 19 hours of flying ahead before hitting Sydney airport, which is a total shit show at the moment.
The government in their wisdom privatized it. I guess the good news is the Free Market will ensure that a new airport opens up soon to compete with this inefficient one. I think I have to enter the country there and check in again for the 2 hour domestic flight. It’s gonna be fun.
Had a good time overall on the trip, with some mood swings. I’m too old I think to travel to cities by myself. I’m fine in the outdoors but in cities it’s just a struggle to motivate myself to go out and do things. I did have a good time in the end in New Orleans though.
If I had my time over I’d shorten the trip a bit and just make it nearly 100% hiking. I was surprised by how well I started holding up to repeated days of it and I was always happiest this trip when out on trail. The highlight of my trip was the Wind River Range hike in WY for sure. When I come back to the US I will probably have as little contact with the cities as possible. It’s a pretty awesome country you guys have out there, you should get out and take a look at it whenever you can imo.
I’m going to set myself up for multi day hiking when I get home (basically just need to buy a stove/cookware, an airbed and a tent) and start tackling some smaller hikes close to where I live, with the idea of building up to doing the big boy ones in Tasmania in the summer. Maybe one day I will come back and do a chunk of the Appalachian or PCT.
Tipping and the addition of various “taxes”, “surcharges” and other bullshit to the bill so that I need a college degree to figure out what anything is going to cost. Then this three step dance where I have to give my card and get a receipt and write stuff on it. It’s a relief to be back here where there are prices on things, I tap my card, and am charged that amount of money exactly. Crazy I know but it works for us.
Bars whose idea of a menu is 17 different burger and hot sandwich options and nothing else. Fuck off with this.
The coffee. It sucks. It’s all the equivalent of Bud Light and Coors and everyone is habituated to thinking that is ok.
Bonus Australian petty annoyance:
Having to go to a liquor store to buy any kind of alcohol. Just sell it in convenience stores like a civilized country.
There are two dimensions to the suck. One is the prevalence of vats of like plunger coffee or whatever it is, which here is pretty much the exclusive domain of airlines and hotel buffet breakfasts. The other is that when you do get espresso that often sucks too, like Starbucks is awful. I’m sure at local coffee shops it’s probably fine but the nature of coffee is that you want it on the go, wherever you happen to be.
There are one or two basically as novelties because people know the brand. We have a couple of our own chain coffee places, but also a ton of places do espresso as a sideline. Like you can get an acceptable espresso at most gas stations, McDonald/Burger King, etc.
According the Starbucks Australian website, there appear to be zero locations in Adelaide, 17 around Melbourne, 24 around Sydney, and 20 around Brisbane.
