Booking Flights
Flights to Australia are quite expensive, which should be no surprise considering you’re literally traveling to the other side of the world. A one-way flight from L.A. to Sydney costs on average about USD $850, but it’s more than possible to find cheaper flights, assuming you book far in advance, are willing to endure some often brutal layovers, and get a little creative in planning. For example, Noah booked about six months in advance and paid about USD $500 for a flight from San Francisco with a 13 hour layover in Fiji (not exactly a bad place to spend the day). In contrast, Zach booked his flight six weeks in advance, and while it cost only a little more (USD $530), he endured 30 hours of flight time, including two separate flights within China, on China Eastern, the world’s lowest rated airline.
Another popular and amazing option when coming from North America is to fly to Hawaii and spend a few days there before continuing on to Australia. Depending on when you book, a flight from Detroit, for example, through Honolulu to Sydney could be under USD $700, with the added bonus of a few days in Hawaii. In comparison, Detroit to Sydney is over USD $1,000 using the same date of departure. Play around with Google Flights and you’ll be surprised what you find.
In terms of actually booking flights, we recommend first checking out Student Universe, a website that offers discounts to students and those under 26 on flights, hotels, and tours. There are often good deals available on well-regarded airlines. Another useful site is Skyscanner, which aggregates and compares live flight prices.
And of course, check out the usual suspects, such as Kayak or Expedia. If you have a strict return date in mind, booking round trip will save you a little cash, but the price difference isn’t large so the flexibility of a one-way ticket is probably worth it.
Packing
Now that you’ve booked flights to Australia, it’s time to consider how to properly pack. We recommend going to an REI or another outdoors store and picking out a backpacker bag. The size of your bag is up to you (we recommend a 50-60 liter bag), but the key is to pack light and efficiently. Remember, you will be in a developed country, so anything you may need you'll be able to find quite easily.
This is how not to pack, which we learned the hard way.
For clothing, try to limit yourself to packing only a few items of formal wear that can be worn for work. Again, you can easily pick up a button down or pants for cheap at Target, H&M, etc. Aside from work, you will most likely be wearing very casual clothes; guys, for example, typically wear jeans and a t-shirt for a night out. We advise bringing plenty of athletic wear, as it doesn't wrinkle when packed tightly. It's also absolutely crucial to buy packing cubes to separate your clothes for easy access. You have no idea how aggravating it is to unpack your entire bag just to find one shirt or pair of socks. Roll your clothes tightly and put shirts in one cube, shorts in another, etc. Again, don't overpack -- laundry facilities are available in every hostel.
Here is a very basic packing list that you can use to build off of:
- Passport
- Backpacker bag
- Backpack
- Drawstring bag
- Electronics and chargers
- Outlet converters
- Lock
- Portable charger
- Microfiber towels
- Toiletry case
- Camelbak (if you're a big hiker)
- Hiking shoes
- Sneakers
- Flip flops
- Work/going out shoes
- Athletic clothing
- Rain jacket
- Light sweatshirt
- Jeans/work pants