Welcome back, you glorious reader.
Let me start by shamelessly pointing out that the title of my post is a reference to Romeo and Juliet and/or Shakespeare in Love (a movie that I hasten to point out, I bought in FYE for a modest $2)
(It also reminds me of the fact that while in a haunted cemetery tour in Edinburgh, we were warned that most of the buried had been killed by the plague - therefore covered in plague bacteria - so don't touch anything) but the real point of this blog is my short rant about Priceline negotiator.
The first leg of my flight is to Dallas Fort Worth airport. While researching my flights to Australia, it was already decided that myself and Emily G were moving into Emily U( now B post-marriage)'s house - and I had two options: a layover in LA, or a layover in Dallas.
Dallas! Then I could fly with Emily! Boom.
But then, considering the flight is ~17 hours and only runs once per day at 10 pm, it was reckless that the connecting flight from JFK would land in Dallas at 8:30 pm - in FEBRUARY aka Snow Month.
I didn't want to gamble, so I asked Emily if she would be okay with my coming the day before, if she wanted to stay with me in a hotel or if she wanted to meet at the airport or whatever. So she said sure, let's get a hotel.
Just this week she used Priceline to get a cheap rate on this really convenient hotel that she stayed in during her previous study abroad airport business (she was in Japan while Emily U/B and I were in London). Priceline rejected her first bid for being too low, and then the next bid was accepted - but with the $20 or so in fees, it ended up being the same price had we just gone and done it through the official website.
In other words - curse you, Priceline negotiator! William Shatner is a LIAR! Oh look, a commercial for it is on right now. Kaley Cuoco is so pretty. ANYWAY
The site should be called Priceline REJECTOR! (Ever notice how comical and cheesy a declaration looks with an exclamation point?) Plus this hotel is 4-star but doesnt include breakfast? true story. Nice move, Radisson. They've got class for days, apparently.
On top of my flying in a day early, the only direct flight from LaGuardia to Dallas was over five. hundred. dollars. What?? Thats $100 less than JFK to LONDON!! Why???? So I got a flight that lays over in Philadelphia. That'll be fun, especially if it snows on that day as well...good thing I got that trusty insurance...
In other news, I've been applying to some jobs in Brisbane.
I applied to a shoe store, The Athlete's Foot
A clothing store, Witchery
and both Australian Equivalents of Burger King (Hungry Jack's) and Coldstone (Cold Rock).
The thing about a working holiday visa is that it allows me to work, but not to start a career. It is an opportunity to legally work in Australia, but only enough work to fund a long holiday, not to legit steal real jobs from Australians.
I am not averse to retail or food service jobs anyway because they will get the bills paid (minimum wage is $16 an hour), and I'm not staying very long anyway. Also, part of the visa is that I can only work in one place for 6 months. I plan on being there about six months, so that's that too...
In closing, I have a bit of irony to get you through the long week:
One of the first places I knew I wanted to apply to was McDonalds.
1) I might never want to eat it again after (good for my figure)
2) When Devin studied abroad in Australia they offered her $21 an hour
3) I hear they're alwaysss hiring. I could clean the bathroom for $21 an hour. I could drop and salt french fries for $21 an hour.
4) there's that running joke, "the architecture major asks, 'do you want a spiral staircase in your house?', the physics major asks, 'why is the universe so damn complicated?' the liberal arts major asks, 'do you want fries with that?' " I figure why not become part of the joke.
I go on the application online, and I start filling it out, entering our new address, name all that jazz, and then it had a little drop-down box with your documentation allowing you to work in Australia. Choices of Australian passport, australian birth certificate, pending australian citizenship, student visa, working holiday maker visa 8417.
So I'm like, is that the one I have?
I look it up, because when Emily gave me the link for the working holiday visa, only one subclass was available for americans.
It's not that one.
The irony there being, apparently Americans can't work in Australian McDonald's (or slightly less ironic and more likely - they just can't apply online without lying!)
I am more than enthusiastic to be wrong about this, so please if any of you know anything or find anything out about this, let me know!
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