Tj Away

Megan has been bugging me for a while to do a guest post or starting posting regularly on her blog. I typically don't share much of my life, besides a few Instagram's when I travel, but in the spirit of trying new things and going out of your comfort zone, here's my blog post…

I guess I should start with Melbourne, our new home in the land down under.

Melbourne is pretty much Toronto, but a little smaller, although it seems busier if that makes sense. After living in Toronto for years, I did not find the city of Melbourne too interesting at the start because it doesn't feel different the way Paris and London were for me when I had lived there. That feeling, almost every minute, that you are in some place special and doing something special is something you just cannot easily replicate.

Though, after peeling back the layers on Melbourne, I began to understand why this city is named for The Most Livable City in the World for the last 6 consecutive years. The balance between big city amenities, an endless number of beautiful coastal beaches, and very high standard of living is really next to none.

Generally, wages in Melbourne are quite generous comparing to Canada and London. You could expect to get an extra $10-20k for the same job but the cost of living is on par with Toronto (at least based on our lifestyle). This means more disposable income to enjoy what Melbourne has to offer. And one thing they love and is truly the best I've experienced is the restaurant and cafe scene which I will concentrate on for the rest of this blog.

Typically when you go to 10 different restaurants/cafes, you would end really loving a couple, liking the next few, some are so-so, and maybe a couple you don't care for. In Melbourne, you would end up loving 8/9 out of 10 restaurants/cafes you go to and there are literally thousands of unique (non-chain) and evolving locations in the inner city. I have eaten out at restaurants/cafes and drank more coffee here in 5 months than 2 and 1/yr in London, which is a little hard to believe but you would have to experience it to understand it.

Hopefully this is interesting…