Money, get away (Pink Floyd)

I'm the kind of guy that is into the idea of having a safety net in case I fall. I agree that the most beautiful things in life are free, but it's different when someone else provides you the the means to get through every day life.

So, I won't emigrate to Australia (all by myself) without enough money that would allow me to buy accommodation/food for up to 2 months (nothing fancy, just everyday needs).

At this moment I think this is an important aspect to take into account if you emigrate to another country. And that period of time should be enough to allow me to find a job and adapt to the new living conditions/culture/people.

Next stop: the calculus for this sum of money and the way I plan to raise it.

Australia VS New Zeeland

I originally wanted to go to New Zeeland.

I have an image of New Zeeland as being one of the purest (virgin woods, low pollution etc) countries on Earth while being technologically advanced and having a strong economy. I will not go into the reasons I originally wanted to go there.

New Zeeland has a rather strict work visa selection process.
If you want to make sure you get a Skilled Migrant visa you need to obtain 140 points in the Points Indicator. That proved to be impossible for me (as I'm quite young and I don't have all the required skills).

Australia is encouraging immigration
For the same type of Australian visa (General Skilled Migration Program) I scored well over 120 on the Points Test that I took for free on Synch1.

That made me think for a little (seriously, just a little) about my options. This was doable in a medium length of time. Wow! I can do this. Australia, the country-continent, kangaroos, koalas, deadliest species of animals, The Great Barrier Reef, The Great Sandy Desert, The Daintree Rainforest, Uluru and so many more I haven't heard of yet.

This is the best moment to leave, I'll do it!

Making some financial decisions

I'm happy to be able this post from my phone, on my trip back to Bucharest from home. Sorry for the missing formatting :)

I'd like to talk about an important decision I made in order to rise the money I'll need for my departure.

A little background first: this year I've finished my undergrad courses. For the last 4 years I've lived in a student dorm in a room with other 2 students.

Starting this fall I will loose my right to stay in the dorm. So, I'm faced with 2 choices:
1) I'll move to a 2/3 rooms apartment and find apartment mates.
2) I'll buy a place in the student dorm (illegal, but overall cheaper).

Both choices have advantages and disadvantages. Main advantages: no 1 offers a lot more comfort; no 2 is really money efficient.

My decision is made: I will sacrifice my personal comfort.

Later Edit:  My initial to buy my place in a student dorm successfully failed. The price was too big for the living conditions that it offered. So I went with moving to an apartment.
Now I have my own room (that I'll make as welcoming as possible), no one disturbs me and in a very short while I'll adapt to the new neighborhood.
I estimate this move will cost me at most 700 ron per month, so I'll have to be careful with the ways I'll be spending money if I want to save money.

Are you ready?

The best way to tell if you are ready to leave for Australia is to do this:

Close your eyes and imagine that in 10 minutes someone will knock on your door and tell you that everything is ready for your departure (for the sake of the exercise, don't imagine that he's lying): starting from plane tickets, to the visa, to the job you're been wishing for, to the apartment, even a AWD car...

Try to imagine every little detail you can think of has a convenient and reasonable solution.

But this man tells you this wonderful spell will wear off if you don't start heading towards th airport in 2 hours (that's plenty of time to say goodbye to your relatives and pack a little bag with personals).

Now open your eyes... are you ready?

If you're not ready try to think about what's holding you back. Write them down on a piece of paper. Really. Write them down; that way you'll be able to explore them and find more than one solution. I know it sound silly, but why not try it?

P.S.: What I like about this execise is that it can be applied in many circumstances.

The why's

Because it helps me is the best answer (the simplest) I can offer to anyone who is curious why I've decided to put some effort into this blog.

It helps me track progress.
It helps me see the steps clearly.
It helps me get used to thinking in english.
It helps me to be motivated in the search for information about this subject.
It helps me to learn the tech behind blogging.
And last but not least, it could ease the decision/process of those who wish to be more than tourists in Australia.

Getting from point RO to point AU

Do you remember all those math problems in school that started something like:

A plane takes off from point A and travels with a speed of 800 kmph towards point B. What is the distance between the two points if the plane arrives at point B after 19 hours?

Let's substitute point A with any airport in Romania and point B with Canberra (the capital of Australia) International Airport (and let's disconsider that this airport is used only for internal air traffic).

I'd like to say that getting to Australia is as simple as the above question, but this is not the case.

Truth is, with all the other details of the trip solved you have to make at least one stop on the way. As you can see, getting to point B gets complicated fast.

The best way to achieve the dream of immigrating to Australia is breaking the whole process in manageable chunks and making baby steps towards the destination.