Photos: author

It’s quite natural to claim your home city as the best and to look down your noses at the heathens in your rival city. Sydney has held Australia’s spotlight for some time now as the “place to be”. They have the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and beautiful beaches. They had the 2000 Summer Olympic Games.

But there was a reason we chose Melbourne when we moved to Australia almost two years ago. And no, it wasn’t because of the weather (it’s surprisingly cold and rainy here).

We’ve fallen in love with the city, with the cafe culture, the gorgeous and varied buildings, and the ease of moving around — both by public transit and by bicycle. You can spend days wandering around Melbourne’s inner suburbs — St. Kilda, Fitzroy, Brunswick, Prahran, Richmond, Collingwood, Footscray — each one claiming a unique culture and vibe.

Survey says what?

I’ve known it, the residents of Melbourne have known it, and now, apparently, the rest of Australia knows it. Melbourne is Australia’s most liveable city, according to this article in The Age that is. The results of an annual survey of 1200 Aussies have been released and Melbourne is the clear winner when it comes to sporting and cultural events, shopping and restaurants, cafes, clubs, and bars.

Melbourne has the Australian Open, the Melbourne Cup, the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. It has the cafes, the compact and interesting CBD, and an outstanding music scene. The shopping is second to none (at least my wife tells me — and I have good reason to believe her).

The tables have turned. The scales have tipped. Since 1999, Melbourne has crept up on Sydney and now holds a comfortable lead. I’ve visited Sydney several times and I’m backing up this survey 100%. Sydney is car-centric. The roads are massive and the vehicles plentiful. Public transport is a pain to use, and the bus drivers I’ve encountered were very unfriendly.

Other than the surf culture around the beaches, I don’t feel a vibe, except for the vibe of aggressive drivers honking at each other.

The debate isn’t new. The rivalry is even listed on Wikipedia and a quick Google search for “Melbourne vs. Sydney” will come up with many hits, which most seem to favor Melbourne.

Sydney. It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

For some of my favorite pastimes here, check out 5 Things to Do in Melbourne.

What have you got to say for yourself Sydney? Prove me wrong!

Photo: extranoise

Perhaps it’s the “it’ll never happen to me” syndrome why many of us travelers aren’t as prepared as we should be. If you’re in Thailand, Spain, or Bolivia, would you know what number to dial to get some emergency service?

Some history

In 1937, London became the first city to introduce a system where callers could dial a short 3-digit number to get immediate help. They chose 999 as it was difficult to accidentally dial on the old pulse-dial phones. Calling 999 alerted a switch-board operator by sounding a buzzer and flashing a red light.

The first 911 system in North America was set up in Winnipeg, Canada in 1959 and, nine years later, Alabama and Alaska followed suit to bring it to the US. It wasn’t until the 1980s that 911 became a standard under the North American Numbering Plan.

There were many obstacles to overcome such as being routed to the wrong jurisdiction, but with switching technological advances, almost every single location in North America has an accurate 911 service today.

Photo: Chris.Violette

Emergency service on your mobile phone

Maybe the most useful thing to have in any country during an emergency is a mobile telephone. The GSM network uses 112 as a world-wide emergency number. When 112 is dialed from a GSM phone, the network will automatically redirect you to the local emergency dispatch, if it’s available.

In addition, many countries allow emergency calls to be made from phones without a SIM card (Latin America, however, requires one). Those who can’t function particularly well in an emergency might feel more at ease knowing this: dialing an emergency number from most mobile phones doesn’t require the keypad to be unlocked.

Since 80% of the global mobile market uses GSM technology, it’s well worth the few bucks to get your hands on one when traveling, if your current mobile isn’t GSM.

Local emergency numbers around the world

Even if you’re traveling with a mobile phone, and definitely if you aren’t, you need to know the local “911″ number of your destination. Write it down, memorize it, stamp it on your forehead. Hopefully you won’t need it.

* indicates number for Medical service only – do NOT press * when dialling.

North America:

USA and Canada – 911
Mexico – 066, 060, or 080 (some areas direct 911 to local services)

Asia:

China – 999 in most large cities. Elsewhere, 120*
Hong Kong – 999
India – 102
Indonesia – 118/119*. Search and Rescue – 115. Natural disaster – 129
Iran – 110 (112 from mobile)
Israel - 101* (112 from mobile)
Japan and Korea – 119*
Malaysia – 999
Mongolia – 103
Philippines – 117 (112 and 911 redirect to 117)
Saudi Arabia – 997*. Rescue emergency – 911, 112, or 08
Singapore - 995
Thailand – 1669*. “Tourist” police (English speaking) – 1155
UAE - 998* or 999*
Vietnam – 115*

Africa:

Egypt - 123*. Tourist police – 126
Ghana – 999
Morocco – 15*
Nigeria – 199
South Africa – 10177*. Police and Fire – 10111 (112 from mobile)
Zambia – 991* (112 from mobile)
Zimbabwe – 999

Europe:

United Kingdom – 999 or 112
European Union and many other European nations – 112

Oceania:

Australia – 000
New Zealand – 111
Fiji – 911
Vanuatu – 112

Central America and Caribbean:

Guatemala – 120*
Barbados - 511*
Jamaica – 110*
Nicaragua – 118*
Honduras – 199*

South America:

Argentina – 107* (911 will work in certain areas as emergency dispatch)
Bolivia – 118*
Brazil – 192*
Chile – 131*
Colombia – 112 or 123
Paraguay and Uruguay – 911
Suriname – 115
Venezuela – 171

Source: Wikipedia

Photo above by MikeBaird _____Feature photo by muha.

The recession is global, which means trips are cheap and local economies around the world need your support.

A recent article in TIME magazine takes a close look at the effect on local economies as people shy away from travel.

It’s hard to blame anyone for staying home — when you’re made redundant at work and looking at mortgage payments how could you possible justify a vacation?

However, if it’s in your means to get away for a while, maybe you should consider taking a nice long vacation. Traveling now is a win-win situation — you get to take your mind off all this recession business, and you just might be helping someone feed their family.

Let’s look at the numbers.

According to TIME, the world’s tourism industry accounts for a mind-numbing $5.5 trillion dollars in global income and employs around 220 million people. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates a contraction of 3.5% in the travel industry this year, and a loss of 10 million jobs by the time 2011 rolls around.

That’s a lot of food that won’t be making it to dinner tables.

Travel is more affordable than ever.

There are now more airlines competing for your dollar. Couple this with the economic crunch and you can find unbelievable deals out there.

Cheap flights aside, governments are helping themselves out by helping you out — countries like Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam have scaled back their visa fees.

I’ve seen 10-day package tours of China (from Los Angeles) going for as little as $999 US — this includes round-trip flight, inter-China flights, on-ground transportation, first-class hotels, meals, entrance fees and English speaking tour guide. I’m not a fan of package tours, but that’s just an example of how desperate the times are getting.

TIME also points out that Elite Island Resorts in the Caribbean is accepting stocks for payment. They take the value of the stock based on last October’s prices and will sell them when the markets recover. These are interesting times indeed.

Photo by Oldtasty

Think globally, act locally.

My favorite part of the article is that China has been doling out vouchers to their citizens for travel around their home country.

To me this policy makes a hell of a lot more sense than the local government handing out thousands in cash and encouraging everyone to spend it in the local economy. This is what is happening in Australia, and while I’m happy to take the money, I’m not convinced it’s a good idea.

Instead of spending the money in the community, people here have been gambling it away on pokies (poker machines), stashing it away for a rainy day, or taking it out of the country to vacation in overseas destinations.

Ride out the storm.

Carlo and his wife.

If you ever had a notion to travel, this may just be the perfect time to turn dreams into reality. Take that redundancy offer, severance package, and your savings and hit the road.

Ride out the worst of the economic storm while taking advantage of the deals and aiding the tourism industries of local and foreign economies.

This is what my wife and I plan on doing. Being the good little global citizens that we are, come next year we’ll be on the road.

First we’ll go help out the European economy and then the Brazilian economy; then we’ll help lift the Canadian and American economies before returning to the land down under to inject some life into the Australian and New Zealand economies.

It feels good to help out when needed.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Matador Community member Filmgal has some excellent tips on how to travel during a recession.

Americans, scared your dollar won’t get you as far in your travels during these hard times? Fear not – here are 17 places your Benjamins’ value won’t change anytime soon.

If it’s not the recession that’s stopping you, but the swine-flu “threat”, Sarah Menkedick tells us why we should travel despite the media hype.