WTT Favourite Archives - Welcome to Travel

Which YouTubers Love Welcome to Travel?

Annisa Maher — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 04:18:48 +0000

Love watching videos of people on their travel (and other) adventures?

Clearly, so do we! Over the years, we’ve come across a handful of inspiring YouTubers who produce really engaging content. We’ve been lucky enough to be part of their incredible experiences in Melbourne, Australia and beyond and show them what this beautiful part of the world has to offer. In return, we’ve learned so much about them and how travel has helped them grow and work towards becoming the best versions of themselves. So if you want to know what your favourite YouTubers are like in real life and what they thought of Welcome to Travel, then keep reading!

UnJaded Jade

The first YouTuber/Welcome to Travel legend we’ll introduce is a lovely little lady known as UnJaded Jade.

Jade explores topics from veganism to productivity to self-love, and shares a lot of her personal life experiences. But our favourite videos to watch are her travel vlogs that document her solo travel adventures because she’s so relatable, incredibly down to earth and just down right inspiring (she solo travelled for the first time at just 18, and learned/grew so much from doing so).

It all started when Jade popped into our suggested videos on YouTube and we reached out to her because we saw that she had plans to travel Australia. After a few pies were thrown our way, she finally replied and agreed to let us organise her whole Australian East Coast trip starting from Sydney, making her way up to Cairns and finally flying down to Melbourne to do our 8-day tour, in February 2019. The way Jade chose to do it goes to show that even though a big part of what we do is help travellers get settled and set up for the rest of their time in Australia, our tour can also be a great way to end your Australian adventure.

Ultimately, there is no perfect time or scenario. However and whenever you choose to do it, you will still make so many friends and have an unforgettable experience in the best place in the world.

So many people loved the itinerary that we created for Jade after watching her journey on YouTube, that we’ve actually lost count of the number of times we’ve recreated it for other travellers too. She also couldn’t have spoken more highly about our 8-day tour in her vlog (we’re not crying, you’re crying!) and the love is most definitely shared!

Backpacking Bananas

Next up on our list of beloved YouTubers is Christianne Risman, also known by her alias of Backpacking Bananas!

Christie is a seasoned solo traveller who’s been going on adventures all over the world and capturing them on camera for over 8 years now. Last year, she scratched 43 countries off her travel scratch map and we’re all still picking up our mouths off the floor. She’s got a wealth of knowledge and experience to share on all topics related to travel, which is why we were so keen to collaborate with her.

After the Things Never Said By Backpackers video went viral (the creative baby of our very own Darryl and Adam), Christie and Darryl decided to do a video together on what to expect on a Working Holiday in Australia and the best way to go about your first week. Christie later had the full Welcome to Travel experience with us in November 2018 and we quickly saw just how legendary and lovely she really is. To this day, she is still our tour guide Clauds’ girl crush.

Benn TK

And now for the man of the hour, Benn TK aka world’s best videographer, aka the OG, aka Darryl’s man crush. Benn is incredibly talented at what he does and is ridiculously passionate about travel (and us, or at least we like to believe). Darryl saw an amazing video he made in Vietnam and crawled his way into Benn’s DMs to connect with him. After realising Benn was a Melbourne local and seeing how down to earth and driven he is in real life, Darryl managed to convince him to film our promotional video for our 8-day tour before we had even run the very first one!

Benn loved the idea of showcasing what Melbourne has to offer, came along on the promo tour and created the best promo video we ever could have hoped for. In fact, it was so incredible that we also asked him to do one for our East Coast tour, and he doesn’t know it yet, but he’s never going to get rid of us now. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out Benn’s YouTube channel for some serious travel inspo.

Beauty Spectrum

Our story with Molly, who goes by Beauty Spectrum on YouTube, started when she commented on a few of our Instagram posts after having seen who we are and what we do through Unjaded Jade’s videos (how’s that for connecting people?!) Shortly after, Darryl organised a WhatsApp call and they quickly discovered that they were each from parts of Northern England that are only 1 hour apart!

Molly related to a lot of Jade’s content, particularly the motivational videos on how challenging yourself can be incredibly rewarding, and that spoke to us too. When Molly came on tour in January 2020, she showed us that she wasn’t afraid to dive into the unknown and experience new things – and that’s the kind of traveller we love and will always encourage! It was a pleasure to be a part of her journey.

Holly Gabrielle

And last but certainly not least, our lovely Holly Gabrielle, lover of Melbourne markets and penguins.

Holly reached out to us and told us that while she had extensive studies under her belt and huge academic success, she had yet to come across the opportunity to travel and discover new cultures and experiences.

So naturally, we told her to come over and explore Melbourne and Australia with the best crew. In her videos, Holly speaks of her evolution throughout the tour, how she learnt to make new friends and put herself out there and how that in turn led her to grow as a person and really appreciate new experiences. Penguins are also her favourite animal, so she DIED at the opportunity to watch them waddle across the beach.

Darryl ended up planning the most incredible trip for her, stopping by amazing destinations like Adelaide, Alice Springs and Cairns. He even Skyped her mum because Holly was new to travelling, so he wanted to make them both feel at ease! By the end of the tour, our tour guide Clauds couldn’t believe the progress Holly had made and Holly, in turn, gushed about how the Welcome to Travel crew made her feel so at home. Holly is the perfect example of how even though stepping outside of your comfort zone can sometimes be challenging, travel has the wonderful ability to open your eyes to new things and push you to become a better you.

Thinking about coming to Australia and travelling to some of the most beautiful places on Earth? Then get in contact with me and I’ll be able to help with your travel plans!

The post Which YouTubers Love Welcome to Travel? appeared first on Welcome to Travel.

Why Travel To Australia?

Darryl Newby — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 22:33:12 +0000

You want to go travelling, but why Australia?

You’ve been thinking about it for a while. Your friends have done it, you’ve heard the stories and seen the Insta games improved. It’s the perfect time for you to go travelling but the question is, where do you want to spend the most of your time?

Let me tell you why Australia is the place for your big travel…

It’s English Speaking

I’m aware that English isn’t the first language of everyone reading this, but it’s a hell of a lot of people’s second language. So what?

Well if it’s your first language, and this is your first real travel experience/working holiday, it makes it a lot easier if you can ask for directions, order from a menu or more importantly, ask for a beer in your own language.

Going out of your comfort zone will enhance your experience but that can still be done in other ways. If this was my first working holiday, I’d be a little nervous and I’d pick an English speaking place over Japan for example.

If it’s your second language, this still applies but it also forces you out of your comfort zone a little too, as well as puts an importance on using and improving your English, which will only be a huge benefit to you. Win Win I say!

It’s Far Away, bear with me here…

It seems like only a sentence or so ago we were speaking about comfort zones… Oh it was.

There’s a whole world out there and there’s a lot to see, a lot to taste, a lot to do and a lot of wonderful people to meet. Some of these are far away and some of them are on our doorstep.

Due to Australia’s isolated location, I’m pretty confident in saying that it’s pretty far away from where you are and that is a huge positive.

While at first it may seem scary, there’s definitely something liberating about being on a sometimes seemingly impossible timezone to your family and friends.

I know on a personal note, being at University an hour or so away from home meant if I really needed anything, I could easily make it home. This means I always had that safety net which in some ways can be a bad thing.

Being on the other side of the world means you are going to have to make some snap decisions alone, which is definitely a good thing.

It has everything, it’s basically a continent!

So lets say that you’re someone that likes everything. You love City breaks, country hikes, adrenaline sports and even beach time. Holidays are a nightmare for you to decide on because there are so many places and so many things you want to experience.

Ahem. Australia literally has it all.

Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne are all consistently voted in the top 10 most liveable Cities in the world and are fantastic Cities to visit.

If you’re a beach person then Australia should work for you, I mean if you went to a different beach for every day of the year, you’d fill your time for around 29 years so you should be ok.

If City and Beach time is a bit low-key and you’re an adrenaline junkie then this country works for you for sure. You can Skydive in 15-20 places, AJ Hackett has a bungy site and both NSW and North Queensland have fantastic White Water Rafting opportunities.

Aussies love the outdoors and there are so many opportunities to generally be active, whether it is adrenaline-fuelled or not.

They have opportunities to try kayaking, paragliding, surfing, caving, canyoning, abseiling, horse riding and zip-lining, basically EVERYTHING.

There are a lot of places in the world where people say’ I want to go there to do x, y and z’ the great thing about Australia is it has so many of those things.

So whether it’s scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef, a classy weekend of tasting food and wine in Melbourne or swag camping and crocodile spotting in the Northern Territory

I’ll say it again, Australia has it all.

It Pays Well

Wherever you are in the world and wherever you’re going travelling, something we all should have in common is working the long hours and cutting back the luxuries to ensure you maximise that dream trip overseas.

As I just mentioned, not only is it a massive country, there’s hell of a lot to do in Australia meaning it’s always good to have the opportunity to top up the travel funds, and that’s exactly what you can do here.

Any visa where you have the opportunity to work should not be taken for granted. You are basically being given a chance to keep extending your exploring, and at the same time gain a new life experience by working in a foreign country, again, perhaps out of your comfort zone.

Now if that doesn’t sound great enough, how about Australia’s minimum wage and cost of living?

With a minimum casual wage of $24.36, it’s a great place to come to travel and then top up the travel fund (maybe more than once!) for another adventure of a lifetime.

If you don’t know about the wage and cost of living, check out this blog HERE.

The post Why Travel To Australia? appeared first on Welcome to Travel.

Why Melbourne Is A Great Place To Work On Your Gap Year

Darryl Newby — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 23:02:44 +0000

You may have guessed it already, but we really love Melbourne and everything it has to offer.

We’ve written a blog on why it’s such a good place to start your travels, but why is it such a great place to work when on your working holiday / gap year?

Forever Feeling Like You're On Holiday

And that’s the way it should be. There’s no point travelling to the other side of the world to just work, you should be there for a reason so you can see new places and experience new things.

Something people don’t like about their working routine is nothing is new day to day and that can be mundane.

The beauty of being on a working holiday is everything is new and there’s so much to explore.

Weekend after weekend you could go seek out a new place. One weekend you could meander down the Great Ocean Road, one of the best drives in the world.

The next weekend you could hiking and wildlife spotting in either Wilsons Promontory or the Grampians. There’s so many places within such a short distance!

Also, that’s just on weekends. What about after work? When it’s cold and grey you want to go home, get the kettle on and never leave the house again. I’ve mentioned it a few times before but working in a hot country revitalises you when finishing work.

After work you could go paddleboarding in St Kilda, relax in the Botanical Gardens or check out a gig at the Myer Bowl.

On top of that there’s City favourites such as the Noodle Markets and the Queen Victoria Night markets to fall in love with.

Something that will be a struggle for you is Rooftop Bars. Not the fact you won’t be able to find one, the fact you won’t know which one to pick. Whether it’s Loop, Good Heavens, Imperial or Madame Brussels, you’ll feel lucky to be working and living in Melbourne when you’re overlooking the City sipping on a mojito in 27 degree heat at 8.42pm on a Thursday in February.

The Wage & The Sectors Of Work

We’ve mentioned it several times but earning a lot more money than you’re used to earning is a great additional bonus to your working holiday.

Working in a café or bar on minimum wage in your hometown may suck, but working in a café or bar on minimum wage on a part time job in Australia would mean you’re earning $19.49 an hour but it’s more than likely you’ll be on a casual contract meaning your minimum wage will be $24.36. Not bad hey!

I’ve used bars and cafes as there’s a lot of them, Melbourne has a healthy snobbery towards hospitality. It is the self-proclaimed coffee capital of the world and is obsessed with café culture. It’s where the finest chefs in the world have brought their restaurants (Heston Blumenthal, Shannon Bennett, Nobu Matsuhisa). On top of that every back laneway door reveals another bar with another quirky difference, with cocktails being a theme prevailing more often than. If you want a job in hospitality then you’re in the right place.

Melbourne’s in the middle of a boom, meaning trade work is easy to come by. Want to work in retail? No worries, this is a City in love with shopping!

If you fancy something more office based then that’s fine too. This is a global City with young professionals working in every aspect of office life, recruitment, IT, Consultancy, Journalism, you name it, Melbourne has an opening in it.

If you’re English speaking and a teacher in your home country then you could even land teaching work here.

If I were you I’d be supremely confident about getting a job here.

This Means You Can Treat Yourself

We’ve mentioned above that the diversity of the City, weather and local beauty spots can make it feel like you’re constantly on holiday despite the fact you’re working.

This is an extension of that. The things mentioned already are quite low cost but your increased wage can mean you can treat yourselves on that bit more often.

You could even take things a bit further and jump out of a plane and feast your eyes on the City Skyline from 15,000ft as you Skydive over St Kilda Beach.

Going further out of the City you could treat yourself to relaxing in the hot pools in Mornington or maybe go on a wine making your way around the Yarra Valley.

You’re a sports nut? You’ll be fine here. Melbourne is the only City in the world that has TWO public holidays for sporting events and you can launch yourself in to their obsession as it’s so damn affordable, especially if you’re working!

In the Spring (September-November) you can throw on your glad rags on the first Tuesday of November as you attend the Melbourne Cup (Horse Racing @ $50 upwards) then in the Summer (December – March) you can watch both domestic and International cricket at the MCG ($20 upwards). Not for you and tennis is more your jam? That’s a relief as we have the Australian Open (first Tennis major on the calendar) here in January! Grounds passes start at around $35!

If you’re here in the Autumn and Winter (March – September) then that’s fine too as there’s just as much going on. There’s Soccer, Rugby (both codes) and AFL (Australian Football League, $15 upwards).

If traditional sport isn’t your thing then go check out the F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park at the end of March. It’s the first of the season and a global event. It’s also pretty well priced at $90.

As if that wasn’t enough Melbourne holds events in MMA, Darts, Snooker and Swimming. You won’t be starved of sport in this City!

Sports Not Your Thing? That's OK.

Whether it’s Manchester or New York, a cool City must have an influence from the arts and Melbourne sure does.

A city needs arenas to attract big acts but the lifeblood of a City’s music scene is in the indie clubs and rock bars and with choices like Cherry Bar, Old Bar, The Espy, Prince of Wales, The Tote, Melbourne has its fair share. Visit them.

If you prefer music of the festival variety, Victoria is home to some of the best of Australian festivals such as Rainbow Serpent in January, Falls Festival over New Years or the famous Laneway festival held right in the CBD itself.

Melbourne loves its music but it has diversity across the arts, boasting an international festival in comedy and film and musical residencies such as the Book of Mormon. It’s also 1 of 3 Cities chosen to host a residency of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, that’s pretty good going.

Maybe you just want to shop until you drop? Well then look no further than the thrift shops of the North or the retail mega mall (biggest in Southern Hemisphere!) of Chadstone, whatever you’re looking for, you’ll find it.

And that’s not even everything. Melbourne loves events and hosts things such as the Food and Wine Festival and Sustainable Living Festival and hundreds more!

There are undoubtedly some wonderful places to do a working holiday. Some have the weather, some have a great live music scene or diverse food culture, maybe even an abundance of sport to view.

What’s the thing that sets Melbourne apart from any other city in the world?

Melbourne has it all.

The post Why Melbourne Is A Great Place To Work On Your Gap Year appeared first on Welcome to Travel.