Where is Sydney?

Photo by pareeerica

Sydney is an incredible place. There’s nothing quite like Sydney anywhere on Earth. It’s also a great place to live, and the lifestyle is the true Australian lifestyle, the real deal. Sydneysiders love the place as a big, sprawling, beautiful place with a lot of charm, and endless things to do and see. This isn’t like the mega cities of the northern hemisphere, or American cities with their huge populations. It’s a city of about 4 million people, spread over an area of about 50 x 50 miles. It’s a beach city, a bush city, and an international city. Grab some travel insurance and come and check it out.

Sydney as a place to live

Everyone has their favorite places in Sydney. This is a very diverse city, with cultures from all over the world. Sydney picks things up very quickly, and if you want to find anything from anywhere, particularly China, you can just stroll down to Chinatown. These are cultural assets, and most Australians have rapidly developed a real taste for the cosmopolitan side of Sydney.

The famous places in Sydney are places where people live and love. In the city itself, you can see a huge range of human situations which can make you laugh like a horse. Sydney is a hedonistic place, and the combination of the climate, the social environment and a fairly typical Australian liking for the best of the good life does the rest.

Sydney is the New York of Australia, its biggest, oldest city, and a combination of the Australian cultural traditions and the huge energies of a big city with its own inner life is unique. Every region is rather houseproud, and prefers its area to the other areas.

The regions are like worlds. Exploring Sydney, you could be forgiven for thinking that you were travelling around the world, seeing a range of people from literally everywhere on Earth. If you want Tibetan food, African music, or German beer, you’ll find it. The different areas of Sydney all have their own natures:

The Northern Beaches: The coastal north, expensive but beautiful.

The North Shore: The older northern suburbs. The “silvertails” according to the rest of Sydney.

The City: The CBD is the place where it all converges, several miles of a strange menagerie of architecture from the ultra modern to the almost colonial. Includes Chinatown, Darling Harbour, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House, and Australia’s best and arguably most eclectic shopping.

Darlinghurst and Paddington: The Oxford Street scene, famous for the Gay Mardi Gras.

Eastern Sydney: A wealthy older zone, with beautiful homes and many famous Australian places.

Bondi: The famous beach area, and a great example of the endless Australian fascination with being on the water.

The South: The southern beaches area, a distinct region with a beach and surfing culture of its own.

The Inner West: The trendy zone, also the student area, a fun place by any standards.

The South West and West: A big inland part of the city, from the incredible Blue Mountains to the multicultural south western suburbs.

All these areas have their own special places. Take your time, get some cheap travel insurance online, and have fun!

Sydney (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Map

TravelTipsPlus Google Map of Sydney

One Great Reason to Visit Sydney

One great reason to visit this travel destination is most certainly to view its claim to fame, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

Sydney, Australia

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Student’s Guide To Travelling Overseas

This article was written by Jeremy Cabral who is part of the team at Credit Card Finder, Australia’s most popular 100% free Australian credit card comparison website.

Students looking to travel overseas are often in a tight financial situation. Even if you supplement your studies with a part-time job you are probably looking for smarter ways to travel – ways that let you enjoy your trip while not having to scratch and scrimp your last pennies.

How to Let Your Hair Down Guilt-Free

If you want to enjoy a trip to a sun-soaked beach guilt-free you need to get your finances well in order before you leave home. A great way to do this with relative ease is by putting some money aside each week as early as one year before you leave for your holiday.

It would be foolish to travel with a credit card in tow but no money in your bank account. A sure recipe for financial disaster on your return home.

Handy Tips for Getting Cashed-Up

The following savings tips can help you acquire a nice nest egg for your next holiday. Most of us spend way too much money on things we don’t really need; expenses such as cups of coffee on your way home from uni, gadgets that go out of fashion tomorrow and clothes you won’t be able to wear in 6 months because you’d be laughed at.

Instead, why don’t you aim to inhibit those spending urges in order to save money for a better cause – your next holiday.

Consider Prepaid if You Suck With Credit

Prepaid cards are a great alternative to credit cards. You won’t end up with debt because you can only spend what is yours to start with. If you need extra funds on your card before you leave home you could ask your family to be paid in “cash” for birthdays, Christmas and any other occasion where you’d normally receive presents. If you do, load the cash to your new prepaid card, then keep it tucked away until you are ready to travel.

Consider Your Destination

Some exotic destinations make it very hard to stay fluid with cash. It is a good idea to research your holiday destination because you might need a combination of cash, credit card, prepaid card and travellers cheques to keep cashed-up.

Keep Your Documents in Order

If you are planning an overseas trip, chances are that you might need a visa to visit the country of your choice. The last thing you want is to be stuck at the airport in a foreign country because you failed to bring the necessary documents with you.

Check to make sure your passport is valid for a minimum of 6 months after your planned return home. Trust me, you won’t be the first student stranded overseas because his passport has expired.

If you are planning to do a working holiday you will need the appropriate International work visa. Plus you might want to check the following to cover all of your bases:

Where to Stay

Students love to bed for the night on the cheap. Thanks to a wide range of networks you can stay in comfortable and safe surrounds while mingling with like-minded people. Try the following for fun and to save money:

See the World While You Are Young

Travelling is one of the best education you can have. It will teach you respects, introduce you to other cultures and make you new friends in all corners of the world. Chances are high that you’ll come home a more confident, relaxed person and once you catch the travel bug it will accompany you for the rest of your life. Make the most of it!

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500 Travel Secrets in 7 Fabulous e-Books

During 2009 Tripbase initiated amongst travel bloggers world-wide “3 Best Kept Travel Secrets”. Travel Tips Plus’ travel secrets included Xlendi Bay, Malta; Stourhead Garden, England and Hallstatt, Austria.

Many of the posts have now been compiled to form seven wonderful travel e-books, resulting in 500 inspirational travel secrets from 200 of the world’s best travel bloggers. Featuring Peter Greenberg, Rolf Potts, Harriet Baskas and Johnny Jet. Each e-book covers a specific category ranging from Travel Tips, Worldwide Destinations to Beaches. Better still, when you download them, Tripbase will donate $1 for ever e-book downloaded to Charity: Water.

So come and click on the cover image below to download your copies and enjoy these wonderful travel secrets. Share the link with your friends, so they too can help a great cause and initiative by Tripbase.

My 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets

I was recently nominated to participate in Tripbase’s “3 Best Kept Travel Secrets” by Katie Sorene.

“Congratulations on being nominated in Tripbase’s Best Kept Travel Secrets Project! Two months on, and we’re amazed at the response we’ve had. Over 100 travel bloggers have participated so far, sharing their Best Kept Travel Secrets on far-flung destinations, hidden hotels, exotic foods and expert travel tips.” – Katie from Tripbase.com.

And so here are my ’3 best kept travel secrets’. They were all unknown to me and I found them to be true gems…

1. Xlendi Bay, Gozo, Malta

Found on the small island of Gozo, is the fishing village known as Xlendi. Its focal point is the small sea-inlet ‘Xlendi Bay’ with its deep turquoise waters, sandy beach and surrounding cliffs. The bay is often dotted with the traditional fishing boats displaying the bright colours of blue, red and yellow, adding further beauty to this town.

Photo by stevesheriw

2. Stourhead Garden, England

For a period of six months I lived and worked in Shaftesbury, England. Every weekend was spent exploring the surrounding areas and the National Trust property of Stourhead Garden was a place I frequented. For a short period of time I worked as a groom just down the road. What a divine area of Wiltshire it was to work! I don’t expect, as a passing traveller, I would have had the time to have Stourhead on the itinery but as a ‘local’, I got to truly explore the magestic, 18th century garden with its bridges, grottos and temples.

Photo by BethM527

3. Hallstatt, Austria

Hallstatt is still the travel destination that I hold the fondest memories. I have in the past already dedicated a full post to Hallstatt. What captured my attention is that I stumbled upon it quite by chance and found it to be so lush and green, and tidy with a dolls-house atmosphere within the village. The surrounding mountains and lake, simply resembled nothing like what I would see here in Australia.

I now have to nominate five other bloggers to share their 3 best kept travel secrets.

Here are my nominations

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