Recollecting the experience in itself is so exciting, it can’t be described, rather just felt. The two phases of this trip – the planning and execution – so very opposite of each other – each offering unique moments of happiness as well as fear.
The journey to an Aussie vacation
The lucky start: Being within the first persons to receive an internship call from a foreign university was in itself a lucky charm – a sign for better things to come my way. To add to that, was the handsome stipend of five grand. And nothing could have been any better than the company of two people same branch, same hostel and even same group – two of my best friends…..
The search for accommodation: Much to my surprise, Canberra was unlike other Australian cities. Though Australia is big, but it’s capital had hardly any place on offer for students like us to stay. Fascinating houses came our way – one’s with fancy furnishings, swimming pools, modern appliances and what not – ranging from 300-400 dollars a week only to be rejected by my two companions on the grounds of being too costly – only later to be found that we rejected some golden opportunities. The photos above are only some of the few that I came across – there were many more on offering. With rejections from almost all real estate agencies, I decided to stick to the “Beggers are not choosers policy” and decided to go for a single bedroom apartment for 600 dollars a week – too much by Indian standards.
And it was then that Vaibhav decided to contact some acquaintance – the son of his neighbor who had recently shifted to Canberra to help us out. He offered us a stay in his house as a paying guest. Though I argued against it, accepting only when I was outvoted….But then what I fool would I have been not to accept.
Visa & Flight problems: Our visa application got delayed because Vaibhav had still not got his passport and we had decided to apply together. The situation worsened with flights getting costlier and availability declining at a steady pace. Though I had been trying with multiple agencies to get hold of a flight to Canberra, all of them required a confirmed visa. Once again, Vaibhav came to our rescue and some uncle of his got us a ticket booked on the dates we wanted without the submission of Visa and they even offered us to pay for the ticket within a fortnight.
Australian Immigration: Australia has one of the strictest immigration policies in the world and they decided to give us jitters before the start of our trip by declaring that the earliest they can decide whether they are willing to issue us Visas are just a week before the date of our flight. All sort of stupid interviews followed, unnecessary forms were asked to be filled, vague replies about the application status from the embassy – those were the fears that haunted me for almost two months.
Singapore Visa: With uncertainity in the date when our passport will arrive back, we had decided that we will apply for Singapore visa on arrival at the Singapore airport itself when one day I realized that we would be arriving in Singapore on a Saturday evening – a delay of a day and half before we could find the visa office opened on Monday.
The Australian immigration decided not to ruin our party. We got back our passports in time, got the Singapore visa stamped in India itself. Loads of concerns followed – how we’ll stuff so much stuff within 20 kg limit, how we’ll manage our food, how would we able to meet the expectations a professor has from us budding IITians, how would we survive the freezing cold of Australia, how life would be without friends, without family……..
But it’s now only that I can realize that it has been a perfect journey – paths carving out of nowhere through every trouble we encountered. And now I can understand the true meaning of “All is well that ends well”.
1 comment:
Keep up the good work.
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