Aussieland Day One: Sydney

After nearly missing our flight from LAX to Sydney due to a visa issue we were so thankful just to get on the flight. We were both in middle seats in row 50 but ended up being able to switch some seats around to sit next to each other. The 14 hour flight was long but bearable thanks to a few essentials: a good travel pillow, ear plugs and an OTC sleep aid. When we arrived in Sydney it was about 8:30 am local time and we hit the ground running. Sydney has an amazing transportation system that is easy and convenient. Trains leave straight from the airport to tons of different destinations. I downloaded an app with the Sydney rail map so I knew exactly which rails we would need to take when we got there.

We found the hotels in Sydney to be extremely expensive so we stayed in a hostel instead. We had never stayed in a hostel before and it's certainly not for everyone but we spent very little time actually in the room so we didn't mind it much. The hostel we stayed in was directly across from the Kings Cross station. This made it very convenient to get from place to place (especially since we were pulling luggage) however if we were to stay in Sydney again I would choose a different area. It wasn't the nicest part of town and there were a few too many strip clubs on the street for my taste.

When we arrived at the hostel our room wasn't ready yet but we were able to leave our things and change. We packed important essentials in our backpack since there wasn't a safe and off we went! We went straight to the harbour to check out the bridge and the opera house. One of the things we really loved about Sydney is they have water bottle refill stations everywhere! We never had to buy drinks and we just kept refilling our bottle everyday. After a quick lunch by the water we hopped a ferry to the famous Manly Beach. The ferry gave us a great view of the opera house and harbour bridge. Manly beach was beautiful! The beach itself was quite large and people were able to really spread out and relax.

My husband's wallet popped out of his back pocket as we were taking our shoes off and we didn't notice it missing until a couple of hours later as we were heading back to the ferry. We retraced our steps and combed the beach in a little bit of a panic. Thankfully the lifeguard was holding onto it! Even more thankfully, all of the cash and cards were still there. Australians are awesome.

After catching the ferry boat back from Manly beach we were on a quest for Kangaroo pizza and boy did we find it! We wandered over to the Australian Heritage Hotel where we found good food, good beer and good company!

Non-Revving: Not for the feint of heart

One of the amazing perks of being married to a pilot is taking advantage of the flight benefits. You get to fly anywhere in the world at heavily discounted prices depending on the agreement your husband's airline has with the airline you're trying to fly on. Every airline is different and has different rules so being prepared is key. The major downfall of being able to fly this way is that you have to fly standby. No guaranteed seat. We have been stranded and it has been a nail biter on more than one occasion but overall we've gotten pretty lucky so far.

A few weeks ago my husband and I returned from 10 days in Australia! I'll go over our trip in a few posts simply because there was so much to see and do. We were able to get on our first choice for almost every flight and we flew a lot getting there and then getting around the country as well. We almost didn't make our flight from LAX to SYD because of a visa issue that we spent close to two hours sorting out with a very patient and amazing gate agent. We almost didn't make our flight from SYD to Melbourne because of a very tight security protocol and a small bottle of sunscreen we forgot we had purchased in Sydney. Our flight from SYD to LAX was cancelled, displacing us and 200+ paying passengers. We didn't make three more flights after that due to the cancellation causing us to get a little creative. After spending the entire day in the airport we took a late night flight to Honolulu, hopped the very next flight out to LAX and then finally returned to SEA after 32 hours of traveling!

While it was stressful and cost us a little bit of time, non-revving is the only reason we could afford to go to Australia at all. We flew SEA-LAX-SYD-MEL-CNS-SYD-HNL-LAX-SEA and we never would have been able to afford all of those flights! Allowing for extra time is key and know your other options and where those gates are because you could be waiting for hours and it could come down to changing flights at the last minute and running to your gate. Also, keep in mind that the fastest route to your destination might not be the most direct route. When we took the flight from SYD to Honolulu we had grand ideas in our head about being able to take a direct flight from Honolulu to Seattle because there are so many of those! When we arrived we found that our chances of getting on any of those direct flights were slim and we had much better odds going from Honolulu to LAX and then from LAX to Seattle. It took longer but we would've rather gotten on the flights we knew we could then sit around and set ourselves up to get stranded.

Non-revving requires a lot of flexibility and I am a major planner. So instead of having one plan and panicking when it falls through, I have several. When your first plan doesn't work out you could miss out on your second plan trying to look up the next flight because it might be leaving minutes after the first one. Knowing all of your options and having them all written down will keep the stress level down!

P.S. Overseas they call you staffers or staff travel instead of non-revs :)

Private Pilot Flight School: Financials

Are you ready for some hard truth?
Flight school is crazy expensive.
Like private university expensive.

In my last post I talked about how holding a job is a really bad idea for pilots first starting out but it's also very expensive. Your best bet is to scrimp, save, live on ramen, take on roommates, donate plasma, do whatever you need to do in order to avoid holding a job that will interfere with training. To cut down on costs DH started his training at a community college. Even though the program was through the University, it was significantly cheaper and more comparable to community college pricing. However, for every hour you fly a plane, you're renting it. And that adds up fast. The farther along you get in your training the type of plane you have to rent changes and becomes more expensive.

We were extremely lucky in that DH's parents agreed to pay for 2 years of his 4 year degree. They let us choose which two years so we chose the last two years since we knew they would be more expensive, and then instead of holding a job he worked his butt off and completed his degree in 3 years, so we only ended up paying for that first year when we were at a community college. We managed to graduate debt free and while I don't know the exact percentage I can tell you we were in the extreme minority on that one. Most of our pilot friends that had little to no assistance graduated college with roughly 100-110k of debt. They currently make mortgage sized monthly payments towards their student loans.

We were also extremely lucky that we had each other. We weren't married until we both finished college but we were already depending on each other financially. After I completed my first year at the community college I took my degree completely online which allowed me to hold an almost full time job. It was a typical college student job and it didn't pay much. The best way I can describe how we managed to graduate debt free is we got really good at being poor. I coupon clipped, got creative with my cooking and leftovers never went to waste. Trips to a sit-down restaurant were far and few-between, only allowed for the most special of occasions and only if there was a coupon or deal.

Knowing that our lifestyle was only temporary helped us embrace it. Every month I would try to out do myself in how much I could save or how little I could spend. You have to make it fun, make it a competition, make it a game. Dream big about where you will be when you get there and know that the flight school portion is just a stepping stone to get there.

Private Pilot Flight School Training: Weather and Flexibility

At the very beginning of flight training, with 0 flight hours under his belt, DH had a ton of limitations as far as what kind of weather he was allowed to fly in. Weather plays a huge factor in whether or not your flight is cancelled. As you gain certifications and ratings you're allowed to fly in different weather conditions but it takes many many hours to get to that point. His first year of training took place in Eastern Washington which can be known for wind and rain, especially in the Fall. Which isn't the greatest time to be starting out as a pilot, I'd like to point out.

Since he chose to do his flight training through a university there was a curriculum that corresponded with his flights and he was expected to schedule those flights with his instructor and keep up accordingly. There are pros and cons to this but it was difficult to keep up for the first two years simply because weather is unpredictable and fog, rain, a breeze or simply low clouds is enough to cancel a private pilot's flight.

So when DH first started his training, holding a job was not an option. He was part of the University of North Dakota satellite program which was a rigid university structured curriculum with the smaller class sizes of a community college. Since our first year in college was spent at a community college many of our classmates were working while going to school at the same time.  I won't sugar coat it- the majority of his classmates didn't make it past the first year because they fell so far behind.

Flexibility in your schedule is absolutely key when it comes to getting flight hours. Trying to hold a job while doing flight training generally leads to flight training becoming an expensive hobby. Every flight hour is crucial and when your schedule is limited it will lengthen your training time exponentially. DH did flight training for 3 years and held a part time job flight instructing for the last 6 months of his training. However, he didn't take summers off like most students did. It was more common to see training last the full 4 years, with most students also holding a job flight instructing for the last year of their training. 

While there are many different routes to obtaining flight training, we chose the college option because we were right out of a high school and it was a natural next step and because many airlines now require their pilots have a 4 year degree. By going this route he was able to knock out both at the same time. Also, since UND is one of the top flight schools in the country, it looks pretty good on a resume too.