Evaluating vs. Vacationing

What is the difference?

I have no clue.

This was something that I kept asking myself throughout our one week, whirlwind adventure through Brisbane. I didn't even know what I should tell the customs people when they ask the routine question, "What is the purpose of your trip?" It's partly business, but not really, but then it's not quite a vacation either. In the end, it didn't matter, because they didn't even ask.

When I first arrived in Brisbane, I had decided that by being a lifelong Calgarian (a rare breed), Alan would probably have a better sense of evaluating this potential new city than me. After all, he had already moved from Winnipeg to Calgary, and orientated himself to a new city. I, on the other hand, have spent my life in Calgary. And until I moved out, I lived in the same room in my parents house my whole life.  Whoa! So, I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the prospect of coming to an decision to move to this new place, based entirely on a week of evalucationing. As it turns out, they aren't too different. In the end we did a bit of both, we did tourist things, and we did decidedly untourist things.

I held a koala.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane

We looked at cars.

The actual car dealership we went to.

We went to the Gold Coast.

Surfer's Paradise

And we went to a real estate open house, although it's called an inspection there.

(Can't find a picture to illustrate this)

There were so many moments when I just couldn't quite believe that we were actually in Australia, a zillion kilometers from home. Well, 12533.32 km to be exact (according to somewhere on the internet). To me, this was a good thing. Obviously we were far from home, but the fact that it didn't feel that foreign or unfamiliar was quite comforting (you can call me a xenophobe, I'm okay with that). There was one moment in particular when I was sitting in our hotel room, waiting for Alan to get back from the airport. When I stood on the balcony, I could hear bagpipes. It was a little surreal, and very cool.

Maybe we did it wrong, but it seemed that evaluating is kind of like intense vacationing. You want to see as much as you can from a tourist perspective, but on the other side of the equation you're also looking at potential suburbs to live in, and how long it took on the CityCat (Brisbane's public transit ferry system) to get from point A to point B during rush hour. A strange combination, really.

Reflections on Business Class travel

There's a lot to catch up on. Holy! Might have to split this up into a few posts.

First off, let's talk about traveling in Business Class. I think I'm ruined for all future travel in economy class. I'm what you might call a "nervous flyer". I like to get to the airport early, get through security quickly (blegh), find my gate, and am the first one in line when they announce that boarding has started. I come by it honestly, and I'm going to share a little travel anecdote here, but it relates, I promise!

Whenever we traveled as a family, my Dad would ensure we were at the airport in plenty of time. Which is fine, and we could usually entertain ourselves by playing on moving sidewalks, people watching and reading. It became slightly more problematic when we traveled with our diabetic dog in the days of overbooking flights. We arrived in Toronto for our flight home to Calgary, probably 3 or 4 hours prior to departure (family, feel free to correct me). We checked in, headed to the gate, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, there were actual warm bodies at the gate and the pre-departure preparations were in full swing. The gate agents looked a little harried, and concerned. And then the announcements began...

"This flight has been overbooked. We are looking for people to give up their seats, and take the next flight home"

And then they got progressively more enticing... I think the first step was an offer of a $25 food voucher, which then increased in value. And the next step was flight vouchers, again they got progressively more valuable. And the cherry on top was an upgrade to first class. By this time, my parents had approached the counter, with our five tickets and a challenge.

"You can have our five seats on the plane, but you need to get our diabetic dog off the plane so that we can feed her and give her some insulin."

Challenge accepted. Dog fed, watered, walked and insulin-ed. We had a further five hours to wait, but had $150 each in flight vouchers, plus $50 or $75 each in food vouchers, and first class seats to show for it. So, that was my first taste of the mysterious first class cabin. It was great! I'm sure the people who paid for their seats were really pleased to share the cabin with us, but boy was it fun!

I completely understand the appeal of first class or business class. Once you arrive at the airport, you check in at your own counter, there's an express lane through security, executive lounge access, and priority boarding. And then, while the rest of the unwashed masses (lol, I joke) are boarding into economy (yuck), we are sipping champagne, with our feet up on our ottoman (which conveniently doubles as a guest seat), perusing our gourmet menu and investigating the in flight amenities goodie bag. I mean, come on! I was totally born to fly business class! But the perks don't stop there, folks! Not only are you first off the plane, but you're also in possession of an express pass through customs, and your luggage is the first to reach the carousel. I have pictures to share of all of this, but haven't gotten them off the phone yet... The people in business class are also interesting. It's good for people watching. One guy in particular was memorable, he had a satin blazer, sparkley red belt, and red reptile print leather boots. And bling galore.

Next up...

Evaluation visit vs. holiday. What's the difference?