Visiting home from Australia...

[Zuckman]

Hey Guys,

I've been thinking...how often do the international med students studying in Australia visit home? I'm thinking most come home during the summer vacation (Oct to Dec) and try to get jobs in their home country for the summer?

My mom is quite worried about me going to Australia. She's scared I'll never visit home or I'll start a whole new life there. It's a HUGE deal for her. Anyone else in the same situation?

Zuck

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I had classmates that went home for every break, and some who never did.

You have to keep in mind two things:

1) flights to the US, even "off season" are expensive. If flying from Sydney to LA, you will generally never find it cheaper than $700 USD. More often it will be over $1000 for a RT.

2) flying back to the US is not something you can do for short periods of time. Obviously its possible to come home during the summer break (which is more like end November - end January) but not for a week off here or there.

Tell your mom you'll come home as often as she'll pay for it; or maybe SHE could come visit you!

 

[greens]

Going home I think is all dependent on available money. As the poster mentioned above it is not cheap. Cheapest I've ever gotten a ticket from New Zealand to KY (1600) but it usually is closer to 2000. Depends on where in the States you have to get to. However if you do become a frequent flyer with one of the Star Alliance members you'll earn good mileage and can use that as either free tickets to cheaper places like Pacific Islands/New Zealand/Other parts of Australia/Or the leg of the states after you made it into LA, etc. That being said I have managed to go back at least twice a year for the past four years. Have to admit though some of those two week trips were rather short. But to answer you question it is definitely possible.

 

[JoeNamaMD]

You are way off round trip airfare to North America from Oz is nearly 2000 dollars US, the Aussie dollar which was once undervalued is now very strong, due to the high demand for commodities because of Chindia. If you are going to miss home don't even bother coming because this place is on the other side of the planet. I left home a long time ago so I did not have these issues.

 

[Winged Scapula]

You are way off round trip airfare to North America from Oz is nearly 2000 dollars US, the Aussie dollar which was once undervalued is now very strong, due to the high demand for commodities because of Chindia. If you are going to miss home don't even bother coming because this place is on the other side of the planet. I left home a long time ago so I did not have these issues.

Actually, I'm not.

I went a few months ago and paid $1200 for a non-stop flight from LAX to Sydney.

Its true that flights are more expensive than when I lived there so you probably can't find a $700 flight anymore but its not a given that the cost is $2000.

 

[Zuckman]

Ya, I'm not too concerned about being home sick myself. I'm more concerned about my Mom who would want me to visit at least once per year. She doesn't have any cash for my trips so it's a bit of an issue.

Zuck

 

[HanmoLi]

I've been thinking about the same thing, as my mom is sort of in a similar situation as your mom. So I did some looking around for air fare... I'm from Montreal, Canada, which is a lot more expensive to fly to AUS than if you're from the west coast. Roundtrip tickets ranged from 2500$ to even 5000$ during the november-january months because that's considered the 'peak' season for this route at Air Canada. I found that it would actually be cheaper to fly to Hong Kong first (~1000-1200$ during the winter, which is an off-season for Air Canada), and then book a flight from HK to Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane, which are usually very cheap with the various Asian airlines. It might take longer, but it is cheaper, and it allows you to check out HK if you want.

 

[Zuckman]

Oh nice. I didn't know that going the HK route would be cheaper. I'll check that out. HK seems like a sweet place!

Zuck

 

[JoeNamaMD]

What airline did you get round trip airfare for 1200 bucks, just about every travel agent I spoke with gave me an average of 2000 US dollars with taxes and fees. I am finishing some electives in the US and I paid 2700US for my 3 month ticket.

Travel to and from Australia has gone up in price considerably, anyone who is planning to come here should know if they are going to like it here, visit the place for a month or two before making that big decision.

Also I do not recommend students from North America to use an Aussie medical degree as a subsititute for a US or Canadian MD and who plan on going back home after finishing, those people should go the DO route, I do not care about the letters, you will have a much easier life as a DO than as an IMG MD.

 

[Winged Scapula]

What airline did you get round trip airfare for 1200 bucks, just about every travel agent I spoke with gave me an average of 2000 US dollars with taxes and fees. I am finishing some electives in the US and I paid 2700US for my 3 month ticket.

Air Pacific with stop over in Fiji.

You can usually get cheaper flights if you choose the Asian airlines and stop over (you don't need to stay, but you will change planes). I used to regularly fly JAL (as I had friends in Osaka so could visit on the way over) and Korean Airlines (had a friend in Seoul). Better service, better food and cheaper airfare than Quantas, AA, etc.

Travel agents will often only give you info on the big airlines.

 

[JoeNamaMD]

Air Pacific and Air Tahiti usually offer cheap fares. I heard of Eva Air but they are GHETTO. Korean Air and JAL are insanely expensive, even pricier than Qantas and Air New Zealand. I also saw that Singapore, Thai, and Cathay Pacific are pricey as well.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Air Pacific and Air Tahiti usually offer cheap fares. I heard of Eva Air but they are GHETTO. Korean Air and JAL are insanely expensive, even pricier than Qantas and Air New Zealand. I also saw that Singapore, Thai, and Cathay Pacific are pricey as well.

You just have to watch the prices.

I think I only flew Quantas once because it was actually cheaper to fly JAL or Cathay Pacific to the west coast (which were incidentally my favorite airlines for the amenities and food). Sometimes one would be more expensive than the other...the Asian airlines were pluses for me because I could stop over in Korea or Japan and visit friends.