Travel tips from my trip to Sydney, Australia

It was my second time to Australia in two years but i have forgotten most of the tips i gotten the last time during which i visited Perth. I'm glad though i have blogged about some of my experience back then from my week-long trip.

So I have listed down all the travel tips I have acquired during this short trip to Sydney. I stayed at Travelodge Sydney along Woolsworth Ave.

Gifts and souvenirs 

• Tim tam,  macadamia nuts are my top recommendations to buy back from australia.

Taxi

• Use Uber. A ride to the city from the airport is about AUD 35-60
• Go to the "express pick up" area near p9 car park, there will be signs guiding you there.

Accommodation

• Hotel may not offer drinking water bottles
• Buy your stuff from supermarket, it will be much cheaper. Still, expect to pay about AUD2 for a 500ml bottle of water
• Convenience stores are expensive (3 bottles of water and 3 bottles of coke costed my AUD24.60... GAHHHH) 

Traffic

• Traffic is generally smooth even during peak hours. (Probably very smooth compared to the likes of Indonesia and Philippines)
• There was a prolonged rain during the afternoon on our way to the airport, but we managed to get there in under an hour.

Currency

• Smallest note is $5. Comes in 5,10,20,50,100
• The $2 coins are gold coloured and are the smallest of the coins. A 20cent is so much bigger.
• Refer to my previous post on changing SGD to AUD... It matters where you change!

Immigration

• Singaporeans will need an ETA to visit Australia, even for a short travel. 
• The process is fairly simple and can be done at the singapore airlines customer service area on the spot for $50. (Will verify if you need to be flying SQ to be able to apply through them) 
• And yes, we can use the smart electronic immigration gate.

Learn tips, share tips

EUFASS

15 gift ideas for baby shower

This post on gift ideas for baby full month celebration is suitable for readers that:

•  Despite the Singaporean culture of practicality, you recognize that gifts display more sincerity and thoughts than cold hard cash.
• You are the type that will go for random gift rather than $20 vouchers.
• You hold a Bachelors in … (Sorry, verzon spent too much time looking for a job and started writing in job advert style unwittingly)

While contemplating whether a 一路發 angpao or a gift will be better, I decided to check up online for some ideas on what are some pretty gifts for the cute baby. Well, it seems like a very common question everyone faces, and there are tons of ideas out there. I shortlisted some of them here:

1. Baby Bouncer
   
   Experience sources shared that this is a must-have for parents. Baby bouncers take away 70% of the noise and hassle of looking after the baby. Before you head to the nearby mothercare shop to get it, check that the couple needs it, because chances are they might already have it.
   
   
2. Clothes for baby
   Clothes come in all sizes and for different stages of baby growth. Since the couple could be flooded for clothings for infants (<3months), you can consider buying some clothes at the later stage(3-6months, or 6-9months, etc)
   
   
3. Bib
   
   Never too many for this one. Babies have never-ending supply of saliva. I recommend the I love Mummy designs, super cute!
   
   
4. Baby Swimming trunks/costume
   
   
   This strike me as something people won’t usually think about. Worth a consideration especially for couples that enjoy getting wet with their baby.
   
   
5. Diapers
   
   

   Something practical. But my mom objects, for aesthetic reasons.
   
   
6. Diaper cake hamper
   
   This was a stunner – never knew such concepts existed. Essentially diapers are used to resemble that as a multi layer cake, and wrapped as a hamper. This gift idea combines both practicality and the sincerity of gifts. Brilliant.
   
   
7. Milk bottles
   
   A lot of creativity can go into this one. You can customize the bottle, or put some gifts inside…
   
   
8. Fruit basket
   
   Pretty self explanatory, pretty normal gift for assorted occasions
   
   
9. Baby blankets
   
   Choose carefully as this could potentially follow the baby for years. My sister’s baby blanket followed her till high school.
   
   
10. Playmat
    
    Immediately the alphabet rubber-like playmats pop into my mind. I love that when I was a kid!
    
    
11. Nightlight
    
    Very thoughtful gift. Definitely a must-have for couples that need to wake up frequently at night to cajole a crying baby.
    
    
12. Educational books (for parents and babies)
    
    Not only the “Parenting for dummies” kind of book, but also cute alphabet books for the babies!
    
    
13. Strollers
    
    Very useful to open up a path in shopping malls. I mean, strollers are good to have to bring the baby out!
    
    
14. Baby sling
    
    The alternative to strollers. A good baby sling is important as the comfort level makes a huge difference especially if the mom has to carry the baby the whole day.
    
    
15. Vouchers (mothercare, kiddy palace, etc)
    
    A little bit more sincere than cash. 

Some other tips

• Call the parents up and see what they need
  Things like baby bouncers and strollers would be typically what they would already have. They will also tell you things like don’t buy clothes as they already have too many or even tell you what they need.

• It could be quite a tough decision to select a gift. Some things that can help you to narrow down your choices
• Boy or Girl?
• Budget
• Practical or fanciful?
  
• If some of the above gifts are too expensive for you, get your mutual friends/colleagues to share the gift!

Hope this was useful for you!

EUFASS