u/shenmiya

Hey everyone!

Travelling from Australia and backpacking Europe from the 18th of October - 9th of December, so I have (52 days) to spend.

The following is the order I'm considering.(NOTE: I MUST arrive and depart London. A bit non-conventional, I know).

1. England: London, Lake District, Oxford, York
2. Scotland: Edinburgh, Highlands, Isle of Skye
3. Netherlands: Amsterdam, Haarlem
4. France: Paris, Nice
5. Switzerland: Interlaken, Grindelwald, Oeschinensee
6. Spain: Madrid, + somewhere in northern Spain
7. Portugal: Lisbon, Porto + maybe Madeira???
8. Back to London for my flight home

I really enjoy outdoors, hiking, scenery but also don't mind checking out typical tourist attractions and of course the cities!

I am aware the weather isn't ideal as as I enter November and December and as Winter approaches hence-why I have put Spain and Portugal towards the end of my trip. A bit worried about Switzerland however.

Would have loved to go to Chamonix however I've been told it isn't worth it in November due to it being shoulder season. Additionally, not sure if going to Nice is possible since its location is a bit awkward.

• Would you make any changes to the order of these countries more efficient? Should I go to Switzerland earlier even if it's less efficient?
• Madeira seems fantastic for hiking but with only 52 days I'm not sure if it's possible. Thoughts?
• Would love any recommendations or thinks to consider as well for any countries if you have any :)

Hi everyone,

Currently I am a casual employee under the Amusement, Events and Recreation Award 2020 and I’m confused about how breaks work under the award. I have two main questions, but I'll list the relevant clauses first.

Clause 15.2 states that:

   Paid rest breaks—casual employees

(a)         Casual employees engaged for a minimum of 5 hours must be allowed a rest break of 20 minutes without loss of pay.

(b)        Casual employees required to continue working for a further 5 hours must be allowed a further rest break of 20 minutes without loss of pay.

Clause 15.1 states that:
An employee, other than a casual employee, must be allowed a meal break of between 30 and 60 minutes, not later than 5 hours after starting work.

1. If I work for longer than 5 hours, for instance 8 hours, shouldn't I receive a 20 minute paid rest break, and be paid accordingly for the full 8 hours instead of having a 30-minute unpaid break deducted as according to my payslip and thus only being paid for 7 and a half hours?
2. If I were to work for EXACTLY 5 hours, am I entitled to a full 20 minute paid rest break? Currently I do not get a break when my shift is exactly 5 hours at all.

Thanks.

I got the circumcision due to having a medical condition called 'phimosis' where my foreskin was too tight and unable to retract fully.

I am currently on my 5th week of recovery.

I'm located in Australia, and was put under general anaesthesia. I believe the surgery was done in less than 2 hours.

Ask me anything! Happy to answer any questions regarding pain, the recovery process, my day-to-day and so on.

UPDATE/EDIT: At the time I am writing this edit it is currently 11PM so I will respond to a couple more questions before I go sleep and reply to everybody else when I wake up tomorrow morning.

Hi,

In December 2020 my elderly parents installed solar panels to cut costs and after calling our provider (AGL) they have informed us that they never received the documentation required telling them that solar panels were installed and therefore our solar meter reconfiguration was never done resulting in excess prices.

I only realised this today when they received a statement and I noticed that it states that their house does not have solar panels despite having them.

Now, I'm unable to reach the installers as the number is disconnected (which I assume is because the company has now closed down)? Do my parents just have to take the loss of paying the extra amount every month due to an oversight by the original installers?

I know that 5-6 years without noticing is insane but I'm trying to sort it out now.

Would I just need to contact a third party to validate the solar panels and get them to send the information to AGL separately?

Hi,

In December 2020 my elderly parents installed solar panels to cut costs and after calling our provider (AGL) they have informed us that they never received the documentation required telling them that solar panels were installed and therefore our solar meter reconfiguration was never done resulting in excess prices.

I only realised this today when they received a statement and I noticed that it states that their house does not have solar panels despite having them.

Now, I'm unable to reach the installers as the number is disconnected (which I assume is because the company has now closed down)? Do my parents just have to take the loss of paying the extra amount every month due to an oversight by the original installers?

I know that 5-6 years without noticing is insane but I'm trying to sort it out now.

Hi, I'm travelling in from Australia and planning to backpack Europe this October but unsure of how many countries I can realistically check out given my time frame.

I'm roughly planning to either be in Europe from the 17th of October - 9th of December (53 days) or 17th of October - 29th of December (74 days). The places that I'd like to check out while I'm there are as follows:

• London
• Scotland
• France
• Netherlands
• Germany
• Switzerland
• Italy
• Spain
• Portugal
• Norway
• Sweden

I wasn't sure if the 53 days would be enough or if I should opt for the 74 days instead? If I were to go for the 53 days, should I potentially cut out Norway and Sweden and come back to them another time?

Would appreciate any other food for thought considerations as well. Ideally I would like to spend a maximum of $10,000 AUD (excluding the departing and return flight) if that's possible for that amount of time. I'm a bit conflicted since I've heard from some peers that they have spent an upward of $15,000 AUD-$20,000 AUD for a similar amount of time but others which have been fine with just $10,000?

Thanks!

My birthday is the one event that I hate every single year. I’m a pretty extroverted person myself but planning my birthday celebration is always something that makes me extremely anxious and the reason why I never celebrate it and celebrating alone by doing nothing (which i hate lol)

There’s always a struggle of not knowing who I want to invite and who I’m obligated to invite. I have been told numerously by people that “it’s my birthday and therefore I can choose who I want to invite” but I feel like I can’t?

If I have a celebration that’s slightly bigger then I can’t NOT invite certain people and if it’s a smaller celebration I’m forced to invite only a certain amount of people while possibly not inviting others. What if I invite people thinking that I’m close to them but really they don’t feel the same?

Don’t even get me started on being invited to birthday parties/celebrations because then I feel obligated to have to invite them to mine.

I really wish I could explain and put into words what I’m really struggling with in terms of this issue. I want to celebrate my birthday and it’s honestly so saddening when I don’t celebrate it but planning birthdays just leads me to overthinking about who I’m actually close to and not close to. On top of that comes with (if it’s a bigger celebration) an expectation of having to invite people from university, family, work places and other events and it’s just so much added stress.

Alternatively, if I celebrated in smaller groups (e.g. if I were to celebrate with individual social groups) and there’s somebody that I don’t particularly get along with or aren’t my type of person, I feel like a dickhead if I were to exclude them from the celebration but invite anyone else?? It’s just so much to think about

Not sure if this is an irrational thought or not

I’ll be visiting the UK from the 18th of October - 11th of November and I’ve always wanted to do the Tour du Mont Blanc as someone from Australia that doesn’t really get as drastic views as other parts of the world.

However I understand that late October would be way past the season? Has anyone experienced the hike that late of the month, and what’s the weather like at that time?

I understand refuges would be closed but I was planning to camp in a tent either way.