A journey to Western Australia - Perth

Cottesloe Beach

Spent my 2015 Chinese New Year with my short sister to the hot, dry, humid Perth.

The weather sound so dull, but hey, I enjoy every moment of my stay in Perth. I felt so relax, with bigger space that I do not have to squeeze with people (like in Singapore), i do not had to get pushed away by people, and most importantly, i do not have to face irritating Q&A session by the aunties during chinese new year (that's why I dislike celebrating Chinese new year).

Here comes my total calculation of my 1 week trip to Perth, which I think my spending are lessor than my expectation.

Flight ticket (Jetstar) = 174 SGD
Accommodation = 156SGD (6 nights)
Transportation, food (including fresh oyster), shopping, drinks (including alcohol) = 421SGD
Day  trip to Lancelin & Pinnacles Desert = 104SGD

(My currency exchange is based by 1 SGD = 1.05AUD)

I'm not too sure, if my spending are budgeted to others (as everyone's budget limit are different), but hey, all expenses in Perth (whole australia, basically) are expensive, and i'm quite happy with my outcome.

FLIGHT TICKET

Popular question I get asked all the time:- Why can you always travel? Why are you so rich? Why buy a ticket in advance for 8 months or more?

Here is my conclusion:-
I got my ticket with JETSTAR on a promotion price of 1 for 1 ticket. Which means, BUY ONE GET ONE FREE. So yeah, I got mine air ticket after dividing by 2 person, is 174SGD. By buying my airticket in advance with promotion prices, it could help me to save a lot more money to buy another ticket to travel to another city. Make sense? =)

ACCOMODATION

I never tried AIR BNB (Click on it to the website) before, so me and my sister decided to give it a try since the money is around the same price (or cheaper) than the backpacker hostel in Perth. So why not?

Basically, airbnb is created for people who wish to host other people in their house (when they  have an extra bedroom). So , you will be risking your decision by staying over at a stranger's place, but is fun. =P

I stayed a total of 6 nights which cost me around 156 SGD per person, with a freedom of usage of kitchen, bathroom, shower room, private room, living room, laundry, internet. I did not booked my last night in Perth as my flight back Singapore is 8AM so me and my sister decided to spend the money on a taxi at midnight to get us to the airport and we sleep at the airport while waiting for our flights. (Not everyone can accept this situation, but me and my sister can. If you are a budget traveler, you would =) )

Here are some random photos of the place I stayed and to be honest, it really comfortable that sometimes I don't even wish to get out of the house.

Our room

The living room

TRANSPORATION & FOOD

Food in Australia, is expensive. How expensive it is? Any food you can get outside, is approximately at least a 6AUD and above. Basically, if you want to eat a bowl of ramen, rice or western food , it could cost you at least 9AUD per meal and above (which is not include any drinks).

Soft drinks are around 3.50-4.90 AUD
Ice cream are around 3.50-5.00 AUD (per scoop)
Beer around 8.50 AUD and above (you can't buy beer in the supermarket, the only places you can get is at the license store, liquor store, pubs, clubs)

So, i save my money by buying bread, ham, cheese, fresh vegetables, fruits from the supermarket and made our own breakfast, our own lunch and drink water from the tap water. (but i do buy lots of coke, because is so HOT, HAHA).

I am unable to recall how much I spent on transportation in a total of 7 days tho. But here are some guidelines. In Australia, public transport tickets (you can use on train, bus, ferry) are divided by Zones.

Click Here for Transperth Zone Map.

If you are traveling 1 Zone, it cost 2.90AUD, 2 Zone is 4.40AUD. Further up, I am sorry I had no idea, as the further I go was only 2 Zone (which you will be needing if you want to travel to the beaches).

All these tickets has a valid time of 2 HOURS. Which means, your ticket is still valid to use to go around as long it's time it not expired. So basically, you can go out and have a coffee or catch up with a friend and come back to catch the train/bus.

One thing that I find it interesting is the CAT BUSES. They look like this : MEOW

All these CAT BUSES are FREE, what? Yes, FREE. They have the Blue cat, green cat, yellow cat, red cat, meow meow meow.

The Cat Bus Routes

DAY TOUR TO LANCELIN & PINNACLES DESERT

Group photo after sand-boarding

I was doing some google research for my trip and Sand-Boarding come across and it actually interested me. I'm quite keen of trying how it felt like so I did a lot of homework. But i'm here to help you out with some information.

I went to Perth with my sister, so it will not be worth for just the two of us to rent a car to go around (although we really want to as public transport in perth is not that convenience, but is not that bad). So I was trying my very best to find us the best way to go to Lancelin (as my friend recommended me to go). The cheapest one I saw was Tours with a Twist . They offer a day trip to Lanceline & Pinnacles Desert for a day and it is only a 99AUD per person which include a lunch (a sandwich), drink, a round way transport (pick up from Wellington Bus station), sand-boarding equipment rental, all entrance fees.

For more information, you can have a look here: CLICK HERE

I love any sports that is on ground and on sky tho, (even i'm scare). Sand-boarding is a must try when you had a chance. Since it is a SAND-BOARDING, so it best you use a sport camera (GO pro or SJ4000) with a case that protect it so the sand will not spoil your lenses and make sure don't forget your sunglasses and sunblock (Man, i got sun-burnt on my shoulder).

Thanks for my SJ4000 (here are some random photos and also a VIDEO )

The Hot Hot Hot Pinnacles Desert

I spent most of my time relaxing in Perth. So I went to jam and meet some new dancers on my trip, and is fun. But here are some photos of places I randomly go if you are interested.

Blue Boat House, is just located at the Swan River, bus 950 or bus 102 can get you there.

Kings Park, A very chilly places you can stay laying around for the whole day. You can reach there by Bus 37 (board at St George, or you just ask around) and bus 37 to Kings Park is FREE OF CHARGE. 

Catch the Sunset at Cottesloe Beach 

Relax yourself at the Outdoor Big Screen at Northbridge Piazza. They screen different movies (you will have to do your own google searching on their time table).

Spend your day at Framentle. Relaxing place, have some beer and fresh seafood and fish and chips with reasonable price. 

Thank you for reading my blog and here is a sexy feet for you. 

"Stay young, stay hungry and travel more"

My Footage

Finally had a little free-time to update a little here.

Some friends asked me, what is the best advice for them if they are newbie in solo traveling, my answer will be: JUSTDOIT.

If you really love travel, just go ahead and give it a shot to try up doing a trip in a solo way. You will never know how capable you are if you never stepped out the first step to try. Traveling alone, is not an easy thing to do, feeling nervous and worry is a common thing, but don't hold back because you will not regret for everything you give out for.

Basic thing you learnt from a solo trip

1. Being independent.
2. Being able to face and solve things yourself.
3. Being able to see and learn things differently.
4. Your whole life will change after seeing what you saw (IE, the cultures, the environments)
5. Learning and upgrading your time-management.
6. Learning to approach/talking to other strangers (backpackers)
7. Learning to make friends and be open minded and heart towards things.
8. Able to relax yourself and loving everything around you.
9. Being able to managed your cost (in order to survive, in budget. HAHA)


Everyone has a different point of view and also the things they gain in their travel journey. Mine are gaining on every trip I made in my life. Sometimes, you have to give and take, sacrificing is need sometimes.

Few months back, I travel alone to UK, and some part of Europe (Florence, Venice, Rome, Santorini, Athens). I sacrifice my pay by applying for a non-income salary for a month where I still have to paid my rental fees and some bills, but I still feel every minute in my travel worth more than a penny. I am glad that I made the decision and try to travel for a month for the first time.

Taking my SJ4000 (similar to a GOPRO), I've try to randomly took videos during my trips and I tried editing my very first footage travel video. I randomly pick several short videos from my camera and combine it with random music. Enjoy ~ =)

London Underground Graffiti Tunnel (Leake Street Tunnel)

Visited the London Underground Graffiti Tunnel in November 2014 at London, UK.

Found out this tunnel when I was swiping my instagram and saw Bgirl Eri sharing the post, I am amazed by the arts inside the tunnel (I am a graffiti lover). I search the location via google (google is everything, you can do any researches you want via google, thats what I did for all my trips).

The graffiti tunnel is located at Leake Street which is in a walking distance (5 mins) from Waterloo Station or less than a mile distance from South bank. Is easy to find, if you are unable to find it , you may just asked the security guard or someone at the shop at the station, they will guide you the way.

I was amazed when I reach the tunnel, it is full of graffiti, from the ground, to the wall, to the pillar and even the top. You can basically see all graffiti scattered fully in the tunnel, the best part, graffiti in this tunnel is legal.

It might be a little stinky inside the tunnel, but I don't really care. I am lucky to see some graffiti artist doing their arts on the wall. Here are some photos taken by Iphone. 

If you ever have the chances to drop by London, and you love graffiti, do not miss this place. =) There is still a lot of places in London are filled up with graffiti, all you have to do is a "treasure hunt". Hunting down some art work by Banksy is also a challenging and fun task to do while you are at London.

SANTORINI, GREECE

OIA

15 November 2014, I board on Aegean Airline from Athens towards Santorini. My flight ticket including overseas credit card charges and taxes, is around 56 Euro one way (exclude check in bag as I don't need it).

Santorini is my final destination in my 1 month trip. I spent 5 days 4 nights in Santorini, an amazing relaxing island. 

The travel period time i picked to travel Santorini is the most quiet period as it is entering Winter Season soon. Temperature is exceeding maximum 21 degrees and minimum 12 degrees (it will be cold when there is wind). Most tourist do not pick this period of time to Santorini as it is very quiet, the popular period time to visit Santorini is during Summer (Jul - Sept). But I will personally avoid this period of time as this island will be pack of tourist and everything is going to be expensive. I rather to have the island to be low season and all belong to me. HA HA.

Fira Backpacker Hostel

The common room of Fira Backpacker Hostel

Before going on this trip, I have booked myself with Fira Backpacker Hostel in Santorini in a 4 bed female private bathroom dorm. Cost around 18-25 Euros per night. Due to the time i went to Santorini is low season, so I have the room all to myself on the last night as the first few nights, i'm sharing with my friend - Alexandra, whom I met in Athens earlier.

Destination of this hostel is in Fira. Which is the main city in Santorini and is quite convenience to go everywhere, about 3 minutes walk to the main bus station (where you get bus to go most of everywhere of Santorini) and about 3-5 minutes walk to the supermarket, 4 minutes walk to all food area. 

On the first night, I met my friend - Alexandra, a USA female backpacker that I met earlier in Athens. I'm shock as she never confirmed to me that she will be coming over to Santorini. We have a little chat, a pizza and a glass of red wine together at the common room while waiting for Ikuo (Our other friend that I met in Athens as well whom is from Japan) as he will be arriving to Santorini by flight at night.

Ikuo & Alexandra at Ancient Agora top

We have a little short discussion about what we are going to do during our stay in Santorini. (To be honest, the trip I went on this time, I did NO survey on places to go, all is last minute decision of places to visit when I am there as my main point is to get lost and also just to relax as much as I could).

Map of Santorini Island

Ikuo is the one who mainly do all the research and plan things all up and list it all out which is really impressive. (Big applause and mad respect to him). First of all, we were thinking of getting everywhere by bus and on foot. But due to is low season, all buses for the time slot are quite limited, and there is a total of 3 of us, and 2 of us (me and Alexandra) could drive, we end up decided to just rent a car for 2 days to go around Santorini. In my personal opinion, if there is at least 3 of you traveling in Santorini, it will be the best to rent a car as you can share the cost and also it is easier to let you explore this island and more freedom. But if you come in during Summer, it will be best you just go for buses, foot or rent an ATV. 

We rent an automatic car and try to negotiated the price, since is low season, we got the car for 30 EURO per day and additional of 5 Euro of insurance per day. It is a good deal for us tho. So we took it.

Alexandra (Our lovely driver) & Ikuo (the navigator)

But one thing to keep in mind: If you are going to rent a car in Santorini, it is popular to get cheaper price for MANUAL CAR, but you have to make sure that you are very expert in manual car as roads in Santorini are all HILLS and there is a lot of Winery road, so driving slow and safety is very important in Santorini. One mistakes, will cause you death. I'm very serious about this. =)

So we managed to chill out most of our time in Santorini by relaxing at some nice place.

We drive all the way up-hill to Ancient Agora, and have a walk there. But there is nothing much interesting to me tho. Probably i've seen enough of ancient stuffs since in Italy. So I just want to focus on viewing blue sea, good sunset and just relax to the maximum before heading back to busy Singapore.

I've come across some of my favourites: Perrissa Black Beach, Santo Winery Wine & OIA sunset.  Can you imagine, if you come during summer, there won't be any good spot for you to really sit down lay back and relax all the surroundings. So to be honest, I simply love the period of time i'm in Santorini to the fullest.

Perissa Black Beach

We have the Perissa Black Beach all to ourselves. Having great time, with 21 degrees and WIFI

Waiting the Sunset at OIA 

Having great time of wine tasting at Santo Winery Wine with great view

OIA

Perissa Black Beach

OIA

Wine tasting at Santo Winery Wine

OIA for sunset

Chilling Perissa Black Beach with all surrounding belong only to us

Santorini is describe as the best place for couples and also best place to catch the Sunset. From forum and any trip advisor, OIA is the best place for sunset, but for me it is pretty but I prefer the sunset in Santo Winery Wine. Probably because you are able to hold on to a glass of wine and view the surroundings in a really chilling feeling.

In Santo Winery Wine, if you are there for more than 2 people, and you are a wine lover, why not go for a 12 glass of wine tasting and it also include some small snacks (bread and cheese). Price is quote at 17.50 EURO.

12 glass of white wine to red wine, snacks and a card that explain the wine you are having

 I am not a super wine lover, but I do love this moment. With the help of the card, I get to know better about the wine that I'm tasting and because of all this tasting, I actually found the red wine that I personally love - Vinsanto. Which is also known as a dessert wine. It is a really really good wine or I could say the best wine I have tasted in my whole life. (Personally opinion tho).

Santo Winery wine is close at around 5.30PM. So we stayed up till they close to catch the sunset.

What comes into as miracle, is the stunning view after sunset. This is my first time seeing the sea color changes after sunset. It is so beautiful.

After sunset

On my last day, I'm completely alone as Both Ikuo and Alexandra has left for their next destination. I spent my time walking around Fira and eventually, I went to catch my last sunset in Fira. And this is how I met 3 new friends whom is from Brazil, Miami and local (Greece). This is the best part in my journey, non stop meeting random people and talk. This is how it makes my trip so meaningful and memorable.

Sunset at Fira

Now, come to and end to my trip. Will be blogging about some other individual stuffs I come across in my travel soon. Before I end my blog for Santorini, let me share you a FEET SELFIE =)

CIAO~~ =)