Sometimes Brisbane reminds me Madrid :P

...Gallardon's dream...tunneling until Australia...

Australian Automatic Passwords

I register in Vodafone.com.au my new prepaid SIM card, and what's the password that I got from the system:

BUFFALO!!

Yes, those australian like to drink :P

Already in Brisbane, first impression

After 14 hours non-stop sleeping of recovering for Jet Lag, Baptiste, my french housemate, and me went to the city centre to make a bit of tourism and to make me feel less lost.

A view of brisbane from the South Bank (also could be a generic city)

A little background about the city, Brisbane is the Capital of Queensland, the territory situated in the northeast of Australia, around 750 km far from Sydney. Follow the wikipedia, it has 1,7 million people, with the highest growing rate of the country. 

Today was Sunday and the city was full of live with a lot of people moving around, live music (not only the typical  young guy with a guitar or the old men with a violin), and a lot of people making sports and being around.

All the city is new with a lot of vanguardist architecture, and most of buildings seems not elder than 10 years, or at least with a renovation of the facade and adding new features.

Statue in the front of the Science Museum. (''Art is useless by definition'') 

I'm still recovering of the 32 hours flying, and Jet Lag, that I'm realizing that it's quite difficult to write something, as my eyes are getting close little by little... but I'm still so happy to be here. Tomorrow, I'll begin the english lectures. Ah! There was a lot of stupid birds like this walking on the street, somebody knows the name of those ones?

Singapore Airport

Guys!

I'm writing you from Singapore Airport. About this place, I can said that you can manage a BEST internal event here with quality and almost a public event with free accommodation. I promise to make a better report soon with photos and stuff, but I'll list the things that I have seen here, for free:

-All the airport is with Carpet, even the train with between terminals has carpet. You can lay down where ever you want, and it will not be cold.

-But you will not need to lay down as there are a huge amount of extremly confortable sofas.

-OK, In the confortable sofas using the laptop, sometimes is difficult and we have no plug for the battery. No problem there are desktops with LAN and AC plugs with confortable chairs to work. If you have no LAN wire, you have two hours of WiFi for free 

-If you forgot the laptop or you don't want to use it, you can use an internet point. What is an internet point? An internet point is as simple as a Computer, with free internet. There are in group between 6-20, every 20 meters.

-There are free recharging devices points. A place that you plug your mobile phone or Ipod, close the door, and keep it there for a quick battery recharge.

-There are relaxing points with sofas to lay down and sleep.

-There are showers, in the bathroom there is a local guy taking care of you.(of drying your hands, perverts:P)

-There are a lot of shops with everything imaginable and cheap (not incredible cheap, but cheap)

-There is a little acuarium

-There is a butterfly garden

-And the last thing, all the information people are incredible polite.

OK, guys I should leave, I'll put the little amount of photos that I have made soon

Hugs BESTies

Leaving Madrid (this time sure)

Hey Guys!

I'm right now in the Airport, with Jorge, that have been enough polite to come to the airport to say goodbye ;)

I cannot extend me so much, cause in ten minutes, boarding will begin. Now, the countdown is actualized and this is the real time to reach Australia. I hope to be able to report from the other airports I reach.

Qantas Airlines, or how to reach Australia

Some of you are asked me how the hell you flight from Madrid to Brisbane. Well, it takes around 30 hours. The schedule will be something like that for this time:

• Madrid-Frankfurt: 02h 40min
• Waiting in Frankfurt: 02h 50min
  
• Frankfurt-Singapore: 12h 05min
  
• Waiting in Singapore: 05h 20min
• Singapore-Brisbane: 07h 25min

---------------------------------------

Total: 30h 20min

I haven't told before but I'm a student of Aerospace Engineering then this post will be a bit geek :P. Let's talk about the main Airline to flight to Australia, because most of other companies flights are also operated by Qantas.

Qantas is the most famous Australian Airline, it's the acronym of Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Serivces. Nowadays is the most easy way to reach Australia, as it's the only Australian company that reach Europe, as far as I know (Cathay Pacific is from Hong Kong :P)

This airline is and one of the most safe airline in the world. They have never lost a jet airplane in the whole story of the company. The accidents that they have had in the last first years of the companies where with alternative engines, when aircrafts have four engines, because always there was one or two that used to burn and spoil in the long way to Australia, :P. The only serious incident in the last years was a Boeing 747 who runs off the Bangkok Airport runway for 220 meters. And they don't lost the aircraft because it's said that they spent 100 million AUD (arround 51 million €) to recover and repair it.

Qantas 747 crashed in Bangkok (Check the slide over the tree...it's a bit WTF)

Until this last months...Qantas have had some serious incidents, including 5 emergency landings with this two remarkable ones:

-July 25th. A Oxygen Cylinder exploded, when the aircraft was over the South China Sea, making a garage door next to the wing root. The aircraft made an emergency landing in Manila (Philippines) with all the 350 passengers safe.

The Captain checking the hole (some passangers lost the Australian souvenirs)

-October 7th. An Airbus 330-300 Flight computer pull down the aircraft 300 feet (91meters) with 30 people injured (You should wear the the seat belt all the time that you are sat down). The first report said that a guy in business class where using a wireless mouse, right over all the control computers, and that was the cause of the mistake of the automatic pilot. I hope they will let me use my laptop during the flight :P not the get complete bored.

Joining this idea with the fact that the first flight is with Spanair, I don't know why but I feel a bit more afraid than other times that I'm flying. Maybe the reason is that the other flights that I use to take are right after crazy parties, then I'm so sleepy or 'affected' by the party, that I cannot feel any fear :P.

Everybody is wondering to win the lottery...

Saying Madrid 'See you soon'

Now it's 8:20 am, I'm Madrid Barajas Airport, stealing WiFi :P. And no, the countdown is not broken, it's only that I'm leaving for 3 days for my hometown (Moaña), just before leaving to Brisbane. I'm sitting next to the window of the restaurant ARS in Terminal 3, right in front of gate E67 which already has in 'VIGO' in yellow letters written in the screen over the finger door. Outdoors, it's windy and very cloudy.

Tonight (or I should say yesterday night, cause is getting clear) I went partying with Lollo, from Milan, one of the best guys that I have met in my live, Ruth, one of the horny cute girls that I have ever met and Elena Vinuesa, my mate in the kidnapping of the Carlinha in Athens, almost 2 years ago... We went to the Hawaian Bar in Santa Ana, and we have been around, something very light, for the BEST standards :P.

Ruth,Lollo and Me under Gran Vía McDonald's

But in fact, I enjoyed pretty much. It was the fact of being with friends in a good companion, relaxing, chatting, and beating around all the bushes that we could find in our topics list. Maybe I'm getting older, but it was quite nice, and we made a tour on the old places of Madrid (Via Lactea, Alepo, San Mateo 6), that sometimes made me feel almost melancholic (almost).

Hey! And Bea came to say goodbye. Bea is from Madrid, a project of Doctor in Telecomunications Engineering, that her company send to California, by the face :P . She came to the center only to say goodbye. That was great, Thank you a lot!!!

OK, Now there is a boarding in the screen and I should move to the queue of people, flying to the Atlantic Coast in this real Galician sunday. And I'm going to sleep like a Champion with the head against the window.

See u! 

Applying for an Australian Visa

#All the oficial info of Australian Visas-> http://immi.gov.au

Like in a lot of countries, Schengen passport holders doesn't need a visa...or doesn't need to go to a consulate for a Visa:). Let me explain, as happen in Turkey, you have to pay a little amount of money to enter as a visitor in Australia (9,53€). This Visitor Visa allows you to make visits for periods shorter than 3 months during the next year.

As always, making this kind of things sometimes are funny, like the back questions of the I-94 form to enter in the US:

-In the advisory, the first web where appears all the legal conditions, in red, it advises not to put your credit card data in a pop-up window, because there is a troyan that steals that info.(I have a Mac ;D).Next step is to put your credit card data in a pop-up window.

-In one point, the system tells that you cannot be in Australia at time to issue this visa, and the next question is 'Are you in Australia?'.

OK, those are a bit WTF! details, but the real WTF is that the student visa, for going there more than a 3 months, is 315€, and afterwards you still have to pay a health insurance. This student visa allow you to work 20 hours/week, that is the good point.

Then finally, I can enter in Australia

A quick presentation of Brisbane, QLD

OK, To keep writing something in this blog, here is an advance of what I'm gonna see (of course not as beautiful as this promotion video :P )