What city do you live in?

In last few weeks, there have been one of the Facebook fads where everyone tries out a quiz or a survey. When they get the answer, it is posted onto Facebook for all to see.

I have noticed that the majority of results are saying that they should live in Paris. The website is at http://www.quizony.com.

I tried it and it say I should be living in London. (Been there a couple of times, nice city).

I had a thought to see how many other websites are there that do the same thing. Running through Google, I got 3930 hits!

The website at http://games.usvsth3m.com/which-city/ as no matter which answers I give it, I always end up at Brussels. (also been there a couple of times, and also a nice city). 

To give it a little bit of run, it would have been a good idea to correlate the answers with the other folks that took the tests. It could have turn out like this.

1. The results came back that I should be living in Barcelona.
2. The website could recommend that I contact a few of my Facebook connections as he should also be living in Barcelona.
3. The website could also recommend that I send a postcard to my other Facebook connections who should not be living in Barcelona.
4. Perhaps other fun connections based upon the answers you gave. 

At the end of the day, it is just a little bit of fun.

Our trip to Berlin and its technical musuem

It has become a bit of an Easter tradition for our family. It started during our first Easter in Germany at 2010 when we visited the Schwarzwald in the south. This year, we visited Berlin. 

As usual, we have left the hotel booking rather late, we booked it about 4 days in advance. (A mental note to myself, book it further in advance!) At one point, it was not looking very good that we may not be able get some hotel room. As mentioned during the "hop-on, hop off" bus tour, some 1 million tourist visits Berlin the Easter period. If that is to be believe, then I had some competition for those last remaining beds.

My family and I had an amazing time in Berlin. The late wintery conditions also provide some chilly mornings. It snowed quite heavily on the second day we arrived. 

While in Berlin, we visited a number of the attractions. For the children, we visited the German Technical Museum and the Natural Museum. The German Technical Museum is is a hit for the children. It had a big selection of trains engines and carriages on show. 

We took the train to the Technical Museum. Upon approaching the museum, we saw an amazing site of a plane on top of it.

This is a little bit like the Speyer Technical museum. However, this technical museum is full of everything technical. 

There were several items in the technical museum that was directly related to the world wars. The first one was an enigma machine, and the other was a carriage used in the holocaust.

The enigma machine is the real deal. The holocaust carriage, I am not so sure about. Let me know if you know one otherwise. As  step into the carriage and looked around, I can sense the sadness and futility of it all during the war years.  The holocaust carriage gave me plenty of things in life to appreciate. 

There were many trains in the museum. The children were able to climb into most of the cabin. They were having a really excited time.

It took us about 2 hours to go through the whole museum, however most of that 2 hours were visiting the train section.

One of the best part of the visiting Berlin was a chance to soak into its dramatic history in the last 20 years. I shall do a post about this.

All in all, it was a great trip, and we want to visit it again in the next few years.

Brussel's street art.

One of the surprising thing about our recent trip to Brussels is the amount of street art in the city. Every corner of the city appears to have a small (and sometimes big) art display of some sort. So here is a quick collection of some of the artwork that we came across.


It is hardly surprising to see so much art around Brussels as it is an important hub for comics. Tin Tin was created here, and it is certainly the highest profile among the many others, Asterisk and Obelisk is also one of my childhood favourite.


I didn't make it to the Belgische Comic-Zentrum this time, but it is definitely on my list for the next visit.

Brussels over Easter.

This Easter saw us kept to a newly developed tradition of not spending it at home. Last year, we ventured to the south of Germany for a trip down the Romantic Road. The year before, we visited the Black Forest, also down south.

This year, we ventured out of the country and visited Brussels in Belgium. 

Before embarking on our trip, I am not really sure what to expect from this visit. I always had this impression that Brussels as a very clean, very international city and highly politicized city. I mean, it has many offices that deals with European financial and European Union items. For the touristy stuff, most people would head towards Brugges or Genk.

My wife was quite excited as she has visited Brussels before, but was before a family was attached to her. She told me she remembered the chocolate, waffles and the beers. I think that was quite a trip, back then.

We traveled to Brussels on the Thalys train. The train was actually on route to Paris, and Brussels was just a stop for it. The trip was about 1hr 45mins. That was just long enough for the kids, as they were getting restless. We went with Comfort-1 Class, this translates to first class. It promised free Wifi connection, and free meal. The Wifi were pretty slow, it was good for checking email, and browsing the Facebook but streaming youtube is out of the question. The free meal was just some cut sandwiches and a drink. On the up side, the seats were like our arm chairs at home, super comfortable and spacious!

While in Brussels, we were caught up in the public transport strike. At first, we were quite annoyed and were cursing at the transport workers for disrupting our holiday. As it was Easter, we thought that the strike was part of their cunning plan to get more pay from the government. I really felt like an ass when I read the news later that day. The strike was triggered when one of their colleagues were killed on the job. He died as a result of an road rage incident. Check out this news item from the BBC.


The strike did allows to visit some of the sites that we were not even considering. As we were walking back to the city centre, we walk across the Belgium Military Museum. We had a look, and surprise to find its entry fee is zero! We entered to see a huge display of military equipment, plenty of airplanes and tanks. The kids had a great time exploring the planes and the tanks.

The most striking place out of our visit to Brussels are the residential areas. I was quite amaze to see the residents living in such poor quarters. Living in Germany where the social system is pretty good, it is difficult for me to comprehend how a neighbouring country like Belgium have such a large population that seems to be living poorly.

For the touristy attractions, the Grote Markt is quite impressive for its size and stature. To think that the square was over 500 years old is quite astounding. The biggest disappointment is the Maneken Pis. Not much to say about it.

The waffles were great! We really enjoyed it, certainly more than the chocolates.

Liege, Belgium

My family wanted to get away for the weekend. As it was only for the weekend, we don't want to drive too long to reach it. After doing a quick search, we settled on visiting Liege, Belgium. It is about one and half hours drive from home, and the drive is almost all on the autobahn, so it is perfect.

The one thing that strikes me about Liege is the industrial nature of it. The general colour of the city is grey and black. Not too many green or blue. I also were quite taken back by ambience of the town, the people of the town are a bit on the depress side. Maybe I am more accustomed to the higher levels of living in Germany.

I have heard that food, more specifically food from the restaurant or cafe, are a bit more expensive than Germany. We had lunch at a local cafe in town, and it costed about 33€. Lunch consists of a three servings of open sandwiches for everyone, coffees for my wife and I, and a slice of cake. I would have expected to pay about 25€ back in Germany. Having said that, I must say that the sandwiches were absolutely delicious. The children also eat all of their sandwiches as well. The Belgians really do know how to do pastry food.

The October fun fair started the weekend we arrived, actually our weekend apartment is across the road from the fun fair. It is one of the largest in the region, with about 150 stalls. Our kids were a little bit too young for the majority of the attractions, they were mainly targeted towards to young adults. However, the lights and the sounds captured their imagination.

The usual suspects were at the fair, the carnival food of hamburgers and pommes frittes, the many bright lights and loud music, and the abundant spruikers tempting you to part with your money.

There were a new fair ride that I have not seen before. It is basic and looks quite terrifying. You sit in a open capsule, and the capsule is located at the end of a swing arm. There is also another open capsule at the other of the swing arm which can also hold passengers. When the ride goes, the swing spins in a vertical axis, very, very fast. It claims that it is pulling 4G as it swings around. For the spectators, they can safely stand under the downward swing of the arm. I tell you that it can get quite scary for spectators as well.

On the Sunday, it was a trip to La Batte for the Sunday Market. It was one of the largest market that I have ever been too. It is located on the La Batte on the Meuse River. We heard that parking is hell, so the we walked to it. It was only about 15mins from where we are staying.

There is quite a large variety of things to be bought, for eating, for wearing, for admiring, for listening and for drinking. I love the noise that a market generates. We also saw a monkey in a pram!

The main language spoke in Liege is French, and this is true for the market. We were not confident enough in our French to negotiate prices on some of the items.

The market is big! The market walk stretches for at least 3km!

We bought some lovely ham, local cheese and some local sour dough bread, and had lunch at the after the market visit. It was delicious.

In the afternoon, the drive home was easy and relaxed. We are definitely looking on our next visit to Liege.

Getting access to cash while travelling

It is the middle of the summer holiday travelling season in Europe. The freeways are close to capacity as everyone gets on to road to their holiday destination.

I have just returned from England on a summer holiday. It was a great trip, and the family really loved it. It all went smoothly except for one thing, I miscalculated our access to cash. There were a couple of causes for these, I forgot to bring or remember the PIN for our international ATM cards (very seldom used at home) and did not withdraw enough cash before departing. When we discovered this, the family was not very happy.

We tried to get cash from a Bureau de Change in London via my credit card, but I didn't have enough identification. I usually would provide my German driver's license as my identification as I don't possess an ID card. The Bureau de Change did not accept this as it does not have expiry date on it. My only other alternative form of identification is my passport, which I did not bring along (who would be stupid enough to take their passport with them on a visiting trip into London! It could easily be stolen or lost.) 

Furthermore, the Bureau de Change informed that they would a whopping 12% surcharge for using my credit card! At the time, I was getting a bit frustrated and would have taken the hit on the high surcharge. Not being able to do much, we only visited places in London or purchased items that would accept credit card. Luckily, shops and tourist attractions are more likely to accept credit card than in Germany.

The next day when we visited Southend, I visited a travel agent with a Bureau de Change. I also made sure that I had my passport with me. When I ask them if I could purchase some British pounds, they said no. They said that there was a law against directly purchasing cash with credit card in England. I wasn't an expert so I accepted their decision. However, we came across the idea that I purchase some traveller's cheques in British pounds and then immediately cash them in at the same spot. It was a sensational idea as it allowed access to cash. After the lovely lady at the Bureau de Change check my identification and the necessary transaction, I walked out of the travel agent with some British pounds in my hands. The family was happy and we went to the beach for some lovely fish and chips.

Furthermore, the overheads for the traveller's cheques were quite low. It was a lot lower than the 12% surcharge. The travellers cheque cost 3% per 100 pounds to issue and the same amount to cash them.

I have learned some lessons from this trip. Always make sure that I have enough cash in the domination of the country I am visiting, before I depart. At least, make sure that I understand the methods for access to cash.

You are only worth at market value

Back in 2002, my wife and I went into semi-retirement. Well, more really like putting our working lives on hold and recharging our personal life. Since graduated from university in 1992, I have never had an extended period of holiday or even a time to reflect on my life and where I want to head towards.

At the start of 2002, I told my boss that I am resigning my position, I told my family that I am selling the house going traveling around Australia in a caravan. Their reaction was a bit of disbelief and telling us that we are quite mad.

So we sold the house in Feb 2002, paid all our debts and put any remainder into a term deposit.

We reached Brisbane after six months of a traveling up the east coast of Australia from Melbourne. I started to look for a job and ended up with an offer of a job that I thought would paid a bit more. They offer me $45K, and I rejected their offer. That is one of the biggest mistake that I have ever made!

I rejected their offer because I believe that I am worth more than the offer, and my mistake is that assumption. The reality of what I am worth is that I am only worth as much as the job market is willing to pay for my services.

You may be the the most talented engineer in the country that is worth $150K, but if the hiring companies can only pay $50K, that is all you are worth.

What do you do if you think you are worth more? Well, the following may be worth attempting.

1. Wait for the job market to evolve. The job market may change so that your position is worth more, but are you able to wait that long?
2. Move to another city where the job market is willing to pay more. Many people do this, think of how many country folks come to the city for the bigger salary.
3. Switch profession. If a different job market pays more, consider switching. However, the time it takes to reach the equivalent career level may take a few more years, and then the job market may change again!

We finally returned to our working lives when our travels brought us to Adelaide and I got a position to work in Singapore for three months. My wife enjoyed it very much, and I enjoyed the food very much as well ;-)

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If you enjoy this post, you may also enjoy the following post:

What questions would you ask in a job interview?
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Converting an Annual Leave Day to Sick Day

I just returned from work today, and was exchanging my holiday stories with my colleagues. I told them that I got a bout of gastro over the Christmas holidays and was not able to do much over a couple days. He suggested that I get a doctor's certificate for the days that I was sick and submit them to the HR department, essentially converting my Annual Leave Days to Sick Days.

I came home today and though about his suggestion. It does have some merit.

1. Sick days are stricter to obtained, and needs to be backed up with some documentation like a doctor's certificate.
2. You have the freedom to do whatever you want on your Annual Leave Days, but on your Sick Days, you are only allow to recover from your illness.
3. When you depart from your job, your Annual Leave Days are worth more and than your Sick Days, so it is worth more in your pocket.

However, during the days that I was sick, I didn't visit the doctor, so I can't claim or get a doctor's certificate. Maybe next time.

Christmas 2007

The holiday season is just around the corner with a few days left to go.

First of all, I wish to thank all the regular readers and to those who have left comments, contributing the on-going discussion of personal finance.

Second of all, I must apologise to the same regular readers for the lack for articles over the last 6 or so weeks. My life getting complicated and blogging must take a back seat for the time being. However, a couple of updates.

1. We have change over to a new car, purchased on a novated leased agreement. The procees from the sale  of our previous car went to paying off all of our credit card debts (~$12K). The remainder was put into an online high interest bearing account.
2. Reduce our credit card liability by cutting the credit limit on the cards to $1000.
   
3. One of the complications was things are not being done, so I am trying to embrace the GTD or similar philosophy . Shall let you know how I go.
4. Start to think about schooling for our son, so expenses for these are sure to mount up.

Third of all, if you are able to spend some time with your love ones, please do so as they are the things that money can't provide.

Merry Christmas!

Saving on currency exchanges while travelling

Recently, I was travelling to Gothenburg, Sweden on business. As I was starting my trip from Melbourne, I had a couple of connections, one in Bangkok and the other in Copenhagen. If I had only two hours in either of those airports, it would not be too bad. But I was in Bangkok for three hours and in Copenhagen for four hours.

Anyway, when I purchased some food, I forgot one of the less enjoyable things while travelling, handling many different currency. Having a think about the situation, I came up with a two tips to save money from the currency perspective.

At the departing airport, I exchanged some Australian Dollars to Swedish Krones. At travelex, they offer a service to buy back your converted currency at the same exchange rate as they have sold it to you. Travelex call it their Buy Back Plus, and it has cost me an extra $10. This could make a significant difference as the foreign exchanges usually would offer to buy foriegn currency at a significantly different exchange rate that they would for selling it to you. For example, Travelex offered to exchange the Swedish Krones at approximately 5.6 krones per dollar. I looked at the buying rate, and it was at 6.1 krones per dollar. At these rates, I would have got 2800 krones for my 500 dollars, and if I didn't spend any money, I would have got about $459 when I returned into Australia. In this example, I saved about $41 dollars.

To save on fees, when shopping at airports, buy from shops that accept the currency that you have. When I was Copenhagen, the majority of the shops accepted Swedish Krones, which I good as I don't need to exchange for Danish Kronas. The trick with this is ask for the change to be in the currency you use to pay, especially if you are just transiting at the airport.

Travelling for either pleasure or business is usually an expensive activity. Juggling many different currency is always a challenge to keep the fees low and not to lose over the currency exchanges.

Is $22 too expensive for a book?

My wife and son has just left for a trip to the Murray River. The day before she left, we went on a shopping trip to stock up on some baby supplies. While we were walking around, she also bought a novel to read during the trip. Now we haven't bought a brand new book for a long time, we have always bought second hand books, at book liquidation sale or at the library. I was a bit taken back by the price. It was $22 for the book!

In the scheme of things, $22 is probably not that much if it meets the following 3 criteria

1. It provides good entertainment - a novel is usually a work of fiction and it provide nothing more than entertainment. If it provides some positive insight, then we managed to get bonus.
2. It is easy to understand - This is highly dependent on the reader as everyone's ability to consume visual information is different, and choosing the right book is key to providing a good entertainment.
3. It is not overly expensive - There is no way that if the book was anymore expensive, the cheapskate in me would try to persuade my wife to look for another book, but I would not need to do this as my wife has a fantastic sense of worth. She would have know what is good value and what is bad value.

J.D. over Get Rich Slowly wrote an article about getting a debt to pleasure. He spent the day playing paint ball. From a financial perspective, he broke his activities down and found that it cost him $10 per hour. Whether that is expensive or not totally depends how J.D. views on how much recreational activities are worth.

From my perspective, paying $22 dollars for a book is well worth it as I know that my wife will totally enjoy it, especially give the month that we just had.

How much is too much for you?

photo credit: Manu M

Staying outta town

The year's easter time came and went. As we are preparing to sell our house, it came as quite a relief to be able to take a few days off and enjoy some relaxation in the country. The family and I headed up to the spa country in the Victoria hills.

The spa area centres around Daylesford and Hepburn Springs. Being the busy season of Easter, my wife rang around and found that accommodation is hard to get and is also very expensive. We got quoted $140 per night for a 3 star hotel!

We try a different strategy and found a very nice hotel just outside of Daylesford in a small town of Bullarto. Bullarto is about 5 mins east of Daylesford. Its population feels like less than 10 people.

We stayed at the Pine Cone Motel. The service was wonderful, and the rates were very reasonable. It was at about 60% of rates of the hotels in Daylesford.

Staying just outside of towns has a few other benefits. Here are my top 5.

1. The rates are significant cheaper than the hotels in town. We have see up to 30% difference in the pricing.
   
2. The atmosphere is usually more relaxing and peaceful. In town, we have to put up with the crowds and the busy cafes, especially in a busy holiday period like easter and in a popular town like Daylesford.
3. Your neighbours are usually friendlier. From our experience, people that stay out in outta town motels like the Pine Cone Motel tends to be a lot friendlier. Remember that they also want the peace and the relaxation that you are seeking by staying at the outta town motel.
4. The children usually has big open space to explore. In outta town hotels, they are usually on larger properties with plenty of grass and perhaps some animals on it as well. The kids will love the open space and the animals.
5. Improve the economy in the smaller town. The smaller town usually misses out on the economy generated by the combination of a popular period and a popular destination. By improving the economy in a small town like Bullarto, you are giving it an economic reason for it to be around the next time you are seeking to get away.

Pine Cone Motel is definitely a motel that I would recommend to anyone, they also have a room with a full kitchen. Extremely handy for a family on holiday.