Less than a month away from our hypothetical departure date on December 1st. Time to start planning my escape. In truth, I started planning my escape before I even arrived in Thailand. A friend I made in South Korea totally sold me on the idea of traveling through Australia so I was looking at ticket prices even while planning for Thailand. Since being here I’ve had conversations with dozens of people who’ve worked there, or lived there, or live there, that has strengthened the idea in my mind. On the train ride up to Chiang Mai I drowned a few beers with a bartender from Sydney who gave me the address to his pub and told me stop by once I got to town. About three weeks into our journey I met a couple of Irish girls who were on the tail end of a tour through southeast Asia then headed to Sydney to work for a year or so. We’ve kept in contact and they’re both working and seem to be having a ball there. Then there’s Stephan from France. I’ve been climbing with Stephan for the past two weeks and his story is the most impressive yet. A couple of years ago he and his girlfriend decided to go to Australia with the sole purpose of making and saving as much money as possible. So they bought a van and worked as laborers picking fruit at various farms throughout the year. In the end, they led an extremely modest lifestyle and were able to save $44,000 australian ($44,660 usd). That’s a lot of loot.

It seems like life is trying to point me in Australia’s direction. But in the mountains of research that I’ve been digging through I’ve encountered a problem. Australia is mother fucking expensive. Not like OMG I’m back in the western world expensive, but expensive even if you’re only ranking expensive places. I still have some money in my bank account and could ride it out in Thailand for months on my savings. But in Australia, after purchasing a plane ticket and paying $250 for the Holiday Working Visa, I could be dead broke in only two weeks time. Only two weeks to get a job. Or……well, I’m fucked! In order to go there I’d have to use my return flight home money……. a huge gamble. The pay off could be big, but it surely wouldn’t be categorized as safe.

In any case, if I’m going to go, I need to buy a plane ticket soon. There are a million little questions swimming through my head right now. Is there someplace else close to Thailand where the dollar goes further and I can make enough to save? Can I find work there without paying the hefty price tag of their holiday working visa? Should I just call it a day and go back home?

I’m staring at a velvet lined table. The little screw-faced man on the other side is yelling at me, telling me to “hurry up and play.” Blow into my palm for good luck. Still wondering if it’s a good idea or not to let the dice fly.