Nathan's Insights

World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas


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  • World Trip 2007 – Day 3: Auckland to Melbourne, Australia

    Monday 30 July 2007 – Photos
    Highlights: Flight Home and onwards to Brisbane

    So the short trip to New Zealand was over today and all I needed to do was get back to Melbourne in time to catch a work trip to Brisbane for work.

    As my plane was leaving Auckland Airport I received a call from ANZ reporting unusual activity on my credit card.  It turns out someone had gotten hold of my credit card details.  We went though transaction by transaction stopping the fraudulent ones, allowing the legitimate ones to go forward, and cancelling my credit card.  Who would have thought with all my world travel it would be New Zealand that somehow my details were stolen?

  • World Trip 2007 – Day 2: Matamata, New Zealand

    Sunday 29 July 2007 – Photos
    Highlights: Hobbiton (Lord of the Rings)

    I had a brilliant time today.   First I got a call at 7 am local time (5 am as far as my body was concerned!) asking if I wanted to change trip as I was the only one booked, after advising no I couldn’t change this tour date I was told no problems we will go ahead with just two people.

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  • World Trip 2007 – Day 1: Melbourne to Auckland, New Zealand

    Saturday 28 July 2007  – Photos
    Highlights: Qantas Melbourne International First Class lounge, Upgraded to Business Class after taking my economy seat 🙂

    The trip is about two things, helping re-qualifying status for my next world trip and seeing Lord of the Rings sets.

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  • New Zealand pre-trip preparation

    Tomorrow I’m off to Auckland, New Zealand for a very short 3 day visit (really only 1 full day).   As with all travel you need to prepare.   As I want to check out the new QANTAS first class lounge I’m staying at my mum’s the night before (as she is only a few minutes from the airport).   That means coming to work ready to travel.

    I’m in NZ for 3 days, and then going to Brisbane (via Melbourne) for work for 2 days.   That means from Friday morning to late Wednesday night I’m away from home.   I’m only taking carry-on baggage, god I’m so used to travelling now I can get it down to the basics (helps that work is casual dress in Brisbane).

    The trip is about visiting the Hobbiton set from one of my favourite films, the Lord of the Rings, and secondary to prepare for my big world trip in 2 years (by testing out pre-allocation of seats and getting status that will make it easier for lounge access and flights).   For a $350 outlay it seems a cheap flight.   Hopefully I’ll remember everything!

  • A big presentation & stress

    Tomorrow I get to make a presentation about the project I’m heading up at work. It’s probably the most important work meeting I’ve been involved in and could, if all goes well, help my career, if it goes badly it definitely will hurt any future promotions in the near term. It’s interesting that stress is really self imposed. Others can try to impose stress on yourself but really it is up to you whether you allow it or not. I write this to remind myself, I’ve allowed myself to get stressed over something which while important in a work context does really matter a great deal. Besides I’ve done my best, I’ve got a good team and we have worked very hard. If others judge us to be off the tracks that’s there call, I know some of my best and most creative work as gone into creating a new SMSF Annual Return and the associated changes to the Tax Office.

    The travel side of the project will help me with lounge access on my next big world trip, which is the important thing. I’m rewarding myself with a quick holiday to Auckland this weekend. Seems I still have the travelling bug!!!

  • Work Travel and Health

    Having returned from an extended trip for work in Queensland last week (I was there from Sunday to Friday) I had a chance to reflect on my failing campaign to get my weight back down.   I’ve always known that when I travel I end up gaining weight.  Mostly this is due to bad eating and not doing anything healthy when away i.e. playing sport or going for a night walk. So I thought I’d look back and see how many days and nights I had spent away from home and I was very surprised by how many.

    I’ve been interstate at least once a week since 24 April (Tuesday).   In short I’ve done the following:
    Tuesday 24 April Melbourne-Sydney Return (1 day / 0 nights)
    Thursday 3 May Melbourne-Canberra Return (1 day / 0 nights)
    Wednesday 9 May Melbourne-Brisbane Return (1 day / 0 nights)
    Thursday 17 May Melbourne-Sydney Return (1 day / 0 nights)
    Monday 21 May Melbourne-Sydney Return (1 day / 0 nights)
    Thursday 24 May Melbourne-Canberra Return (2 days / 1 night)
    Thursday 31 May Melbourne-Canberra Return (2 days / 1 night)
    Sunday 3 June Melbourne-Brisbane Return (4 days / 3 nights)
    Monday 11 June Melbourne-Adelaide Return (2 days / 1 night)
    Tuesday 19 June Melbourne-Brisbane Return (2 days / 1 night)
    Thursday 28 June Melbourne-Adelaide Return (1 day / 0 nights)
    Sunday 1 July Melbourne-Brisbane Return (6 days / 5 nights)

    24 days and 12 nights, during that period, there has only been 52 working days over those 11 weeks.

    I have a trip planned for this Wednesday as well but thankfully at this stage no trips planned for the week after (but another 1 each for the two weeks are that).   The project I’m running requires a lot of travel and I’m conscious that my staff located in Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide (to a lesser extent) are restricted in their travelling which sees me take up the necessary slack.

    It’s little wonder I’m struggling.   I have to get my focused of my health; even with this level of travel I can do it.   No more excuses.   I took on this project and it’s going well but I need to ensure my goals are being met first.   Luckily night tennis starts up next month.

  • Family Birthdays

    In the last few weeks we have celebrated my nephew Andrew’s and my sister Kara’s birthday.   Andrew is very busy saving for his big trip with me due late 2009.  And for the first time in a long time that I can remember everyone made Kara’s birthday (no one sick or away).   Kara even went shopping later in the day. Now that Andrew is 16 he has his learners permit and he took me on a ride for about 15 minutes.

    I can remember Andrew falling asleep in my arms when I he was 1 now he is driving!!!!   I’m very lucky that I’ll get to spent 3+ months with him on our trip in 2 years.

  • The joys of football

    Last year I was enjoying a fantastic world trip that included the magnificent South Africa and Europe (including the crazy World Cup).   What it meant however is that I missed watching my team Essendon, have their worst season since I was born (so good timing I suppose).

    Since 1st March I’ve been heading up the SMSF Annual return project team.   It’s been high pressure with very tight timelines.   I’ve probably logged more air hours then when travelling the world last year (it feels like it).   However as much professional satisfaction I’ll get from this project you need enjoyable pastimes as well.   Good friends, family, recreation and other interests. Well the boys have given me a lot of joy this year, as well as mini heart attacks.

    Last night we won by 2 points to the 2nd bottom team Melbourne.   Our last 4 wins (out of 5 games) have been by 8 pts (really 2 with a goal after the siren), 1 pt, 1pt and last night 2 pts.   The sense of overwhelming joy in a community setting really gets your blood going.   Hopefully we’ll make the finals and Kevin Sheedy will get another season as coach, his 28th year.   I’m not ready for him to leave the club he has been coach since my earliest childhood memory and I’m not ready to give up those times just yet despite my 33 years old age.

  • Sunday Family Get Together

    The last few months I’ve been barely have to find the time to sleep, so I thought it would be a good idea to get the family together at my place.   Family can really being you back to earth (in a good way). Watching my footy team lose to Port Adelaide and having dinner together on a cold late afternoon I found myself enjoying everyone’s company.   Relationships within families can be very difficult, you need to recognise that we are all different people, that we grow and that we need our space. Watching the next family generation playing, Erin, Harry, Darby and even Andrew I really felt comfortable, happy and content.   Makes you understand the joy (along with the pain) that parents get.

  • Losing Tennis Final

    Well on Wednesday night we played our big Grand Final in B Reserve 2.   Unfortunately we went down very badly on the scoreboard.   Last season we finished top with one loss and then lost the semi-final on sets (i.e. a draw).

    This year we finished top with two losses in a higher grade, won the semi-final but lost the grand final. The opposition however were way too good for us.   Last season we missed a chance to win the whole thing, this year the opposition as a whole were too good.   I did manage to play in the only set we won with the beautiful Elizabeth Hay 6-5.   Liz served out the match with a very sore serving shoulder; she was very keen to get that set.   Well done SG!!   I don’t mind losing to a better team, in fact it usually makes you better in the long run.

    As for next season, it looks like we have played our last season as a team together.   Andrew and Sue are looking to play in B Special with other very good players and Liz has year 12 exams etc to worry about.   I might have played my last game with Mt Carmel.   You never know however.