You’ve probably never heard of the travelling student, and I lay little claim to the title given how Athabasca has empowered so many students to study toward their degrees while travelling.  But, between 2014 and 2016, I travelled across Quebec, Australia, and Thailand while working toward my degree in Professional Communications from Athabasca.  During that time I regularly wrote articles for The Voice Magazine documenting my experiences as both a traveller and a student.

Shortly after that, I graduated, returned to Canada, and worked at a tech company, producing internet of things devices for two years.  Since leaving I’ve started pursuing my Masters in Information Systems at Athabasca.  I’ve also had the chance to co-author two books on the JavaScript programming language.  Having a mixture of a tech and communications background, I’ve found the process enjoyable.

Having the writing bug sparked again I wrote a few articles for The Voice Magazine over the last month or two.  It’s a lot of fun writing free flow and getting to choose the topic more or less each time you sit down to write an article.  This is unlike my experience co-authoring, where a single topic has to be written about for months on end.

Over the last month I was contacted by another publishing company asking if I’d be interested in solo authoring my own book.  The editor helped me put together a proposal that is pending final approval before the contract is sent out.  As writing and working on my graduate classes will be my main occupation over these next few months, I’ve decided to relocate to Mexico for the duration.

Tomorrow I will fly from Montreal to Mexico City where I hope to settle as my first location in the Southern Hemisphere.  Admittedly I’m completely unprepared for the trip.  My knowledge of Mexico City is limited at best, and my Spanish skills non-existent.  That said, I hope to learn more as I go, and hopefully pass on things of interest.

I’ll start my journey by finding a good location to stay in the Historic District of Mexico City.  I’m told this is one of the top tourist destinations and safe by Mexican standards.  How long I’ll stay and where I’ll go from there is yet to be decided.  Mexico City has the advantage of having lots going on, and lots of options to choose from in terms of lodging, food, and transportation.  On the other hand it is a loud mega-city and one of the more expensive locations in Mexico.

I’ll be studying COMP 657 Artificial Intelligence: Principles and Techniques starting in January.  During the course, I hope to produce research to present at The 5th IEEE Cyber Science and Technology Conference, which will be hosted by Athabasca University in Calgary, Alberta.  I was excited and surprised when I found out the Science and Technology department at Athabasca would be hosting a conference, and one associated with a prestigious organization like the IEEE.

Though the course starts in January, the submission deadline for papers for the conference is February 15th.  So, I’ve already started preparing based on a paper which I wrote during my previous class COMP 601 Research Methods in Information Systems.  The paper deals with how websites with user accounts can make use of machine learning algorithms to detect account intrusion—that’s when someone uses a stolen password to login to an account that isn’t their own.

Since I’ll be travelling/studying in a unique way I figured it would be a great opportunity to share that adventure through The Voice Magazine.  I hope to write a mix of articles on travel, research, studies, and student issues.  For those interested keep an eye out for my upcoming articles on the Cyber Science and Technology Conference as well as my journeys as a graduate student living in Mexico.

When I first started writing for The Voice Magazine in 2014 as an undergraduate student in Communications, I was ecstatic that I’d have a chance to get paid to write.  Despite putting significant effort into my articles, my writing was nowhere near professional level.  Yet, as a student at Athabasca University, I was part of an exclusive group with the opportunity to write and submit articles to be published in The Voice Magazine.

Despite finishing my bachelor’s degree, I never really “made it” in the journalism world.  I felt like a sore thumb among typical communications and journalism majors.  That’s not even considering that I’d completed my degree through correspondence.  I ended up falling back on my college diploma, related to web development and programming.  At least in the programming world I felt like I fit in, at least a little bit.

Last February I was first contacted by Packt Publishing, a publisher specializing in instructional material for IT and programming.  They asked if I’d be interested in being one of four co-authors on a course that focused on a popular programming language called JavaScript.  They said it’d be a quick project, which ended up being far from the truth.

They first had us work together as a group to come up with a course outline.  After going back and forth several times with the group and the company we finally came up with an outline that we could all agree on.  We’d each be in charge of a section of three chapters in a twelve-chapter book.

Due to the nature of the company, and the amount of books they produce every year, there ended up being a lot of waiting.  The amount of work we all thought it would take was only a fraction of what ended up being required; edit after edit was requested from us.  Given how hard we’d often work to meet their deadlines, it was annoying only to have them then return our edits late.

I imagined requested edits would be something like changing the wording of this paragraph or that sentence, but often it required removing large sections, or adding full exercises under deadlines that seemed completely unreasonable.  There were many weekends where I spent the majority of my waking hours writing and creating the associated computer programs that come with the book.  In the end, the other three authors slowly dropped off the project.  It was a major set-back, but I was determined I wanted to make it to the end.

It added several months to the project for the publishing company to get three new authors, one by one, to complete the remaining chapters, but I was happy with the co-authors they found, and, in the end, they came through.  Finally, on September 30th the book, Professional JavaScript, was officially released.  It took me off guard, as I’d come to think the book would never be released.  For a brief period we were the number 1 new release in a very niche category on Amazon “web browsers”.  I still have no idea how many sales being number one in such a niche category translates into.

While the first book took forever to complete, I have since had a chance to work with Packt on another project, as an author brought in to help complete 2 chapters of an anthology that was already in the very end stages of production.  I’ve been told the next book The JavaScript Workshop will come out in November, but. given my first experience, I’m not holding my breath.

I’m happy to say that after all this time I’ve finally had a chance at a second paid writing gig after The Voice Magazine.  Something which seemed like a pipe dream when I first started back in 2014.  I’ve now returned to Athabasca as a graduate student studying Information Systems, I’m hoping it is my second writing gig of many more to come.

Free Licence for Windows

Looking to upgrade your old version of Windows but don’t want to shell out $200 for the latest version? No problem, thanks to educational discounts available to Athabasca University students you can get a free copy with a unique activation key.

Windows 10 for free

Description:  Provides students with a unique activation code for Windows 10 and link to download Windows 10.

Link: https://athabasca.onthehub.com

The OnTheHub portal also offers many other discounted software deals that might be worth checking out such as Adobe and Norton.  I won’t list them here because I think most students will be better off using free alternatives like GIMP an open-source alternative to photoshop.  None of the other deals jumped out at me enough to make a purchase or even recommend.

That said OnTheHub currently has a promotion where you can win an Amazon giftcard for checking out their services and signing up.  So if you want to checkout what discounts and software they’re offering now would be a great time to do so.

Github for Education

Despite the limited offerings on “OnTheHub” you’re still in luck because several other sites offer free or good discounts.  One program I’ve been impressed with is GitHub for Education.  GitHub is an online tool for managing software revisions but their education pack is a bundle consisting of products and services from many companies.

NameCheap – 1 free domain, ending in “.me”

Description:  Get a free domain to host a website or portfolio

Link: https://education.github.com/pack#offers

GitHub Pro Account, with unlimited private repositories (folders for your projects)

Description:  Just sign up and you get upgraded automatically

Link: https://education.github.com/pack#offers

Digital Ocean – $50 credit

Description:  Cloud hosting for developers

Link: https://education.github.com/pack#offers

Heroku – One free Hobby Dyno for up to two years (valued at $84/year).

Description:  Hosting for apps that you program

Link: https://education.github.com/pack#offers

Microsoft Azure – $100 hosting credit

Description:  Hosting credit for cloud storage and services

Link: https://education.github.com/pack#offers

There are other technical services offered as well, but these are the ones that stood out to me.

AWS Educate

AWS (or Amazon Web Services) Educate also offers a free credit which can be used for their services, such as website hosting.  In addition, they also offer a variety of free training courses, and a large list of job and internship listings.

$75-$150 in AWS Credits

Description:  Provides students with an AWS promo code

Link: https://aws.amazon.com/education/awseducate/

While we’re talking about Amazon I’ll also mention the Amazon Prime student discount.  It’s not free but it was a good enough discount that I decided to use it.  50% off Amazon Prime which gives you faster and often free shipping when buying from Amazon, and access to some other content like the Prime video library.

Amazon Prime

50% discount

Description: Same as Amazon Prime’s normal offer (faster shipping, amazon music, offers, ect.).  As a Prime Student though, you can also get discounts on some textbooks.

Link: https://amazon.ca/b?ie=UTF8&node=9648404011

I recommend checking out AWS Educate for more than just the free hosting credit.  They also offer training programs, contests, and a regularly updated job board.  Everything ties together so if you complete one of their free courses a badge will be displayed alongside your resume when you apply to companies using the job board.

AWS Education also has some very cool contests.  The biggest currently is based around something called DeepRacer.  DeepRacer is a self-driving remote control car.  You can start with a pre-built model for driving the car, tweak the parameters, and train it in a simulation.  When you run the simulation, they show a 3D rendering of your car making attempts of driving around the track.

In the setup phase you define your rewards and punishments which are used to teach the car in simulation.  For example, you might reward the car 1 point every second for staying in the middle of the track, and then award another 2 points every second that its speed is above 10 mph.

How you reward your AI is completely up to you and because it’s done by writing a script in the programming language Python the possibilities are endless, rather than selecting from a pre-defined drop-down menu.

That said if this all sounds way too complex don’t worry! You can use a pre-built script as a starting point.  For my first attempt I just used the template without making any changes.  Amazon really makes it easy.

Once your AI has spent a few hours training based on your model you are ready to enter the competition.  When you enter the competition you’re not just running a simulation.  Amazon actually takes your trained AI and uploads it on to a physical, remote-control sized car and has it attempt to do a few laps around the track!

There are some big prizes like a paid trip to an Amazon conference in San Francisco all expenses paid.  They also do weekly smaller prizes for Amazon giftcards based on who can get closest to a specific time.  For example, for one track the all-time best speed was 24 seconds, but the weekly contest was a prize for whoever could get closest to finishing in exactly 66 seconds.

So if you’re looking to score some freebies I definitely recommend checking out the programs listed here.

My name is Philip Kirkbride. I’m a college graduate from Ontario with a bachelor’s degree from AU. I’ve always wanted to do an exchange program or study abroad but never found the right time to do so. This is the story of how Athabasca University has allowed me to create my own study abroad program. In the last instalment, we were driving up the east coast of Australia and stopped in the beach town Byron Bay for a night at the bar.

Despite being hungover, getting up the morning after our night out in Byron Bay was relatively easy. Partly because we got out of the RV to see the shining sun reflecting on the beach water. As usual, Dylan woke up and walked around the beach taking photos with his 1980’s camera. It was early but surfers were out, kids were going for a swim, and even a parasailer was on the water.

We drove up a large hill (small mountain) to the Cape Byron Lighthouse at the top. After finding a spot with free parking (not an easy task) we parked and prepared the RV’s kitchen to cook breakfast in the scenic spot.

Dylan fried up some eggs and vegetables for an omelet sandwich and we ate, standing, with our plates resting on the railing at the side of the hill overlooking the water. Despite the looming deadline of having to return the RV in Cairns, we managed to forget our worries, enjoy our breakfast, and wander up the hill to the lighthouse. We even saw a strange lizard?like nothing I’d seen before?but despite looking hideously dangerous Dylan assured me it was mostly harmless.

After an hour at the lighthouse we returned to the RV for a very long day of driving. The views were stunning but the ride was an exhausting 10 hours. We drove north along Australia’s East coast; there is definitely a gradual, but sometimes dramatic, change in the landscape you see as you travel this route. Between Byron Bay and Cairns the change is one of the landscape becoming more tropical.

While it was difficult to read or write anything for my classes as we drove up the coast I was able to find some relevant audiobooks that I hoped to cite for a class. The hard part is getting the hang of making audio bookmarks so you can get back to the part you need later on. It also helped to pass the long hours on the road so it ended up being a great strategy to do some light research for an essay.

After 8-10 hours on the road we reached our final spot. It was a place called Millaa Millaa Falls, just outside Cairns. The day had been long, with lots of hours on the road. So long, that when we got to our final RV camp-site for the trip it was completely dark outside. While it was a great place for photos, a bbq, or going for a swim, don’t expect any lighting if you show up at midnight. Technically parking and sleeping in your RV at Millaa Millaa falls is not encouraged. Our plan was to get up early and act like early morning tourists when the park ranger came around. But as we fell asleep we had no idea whether or not we’d get a knock on our window.

Both being exhausted from our travels, and excited for a cold beer, Dylan and I headed into the first bar from the beach: a large patio bar?half indoor, half outdoors. After grabbing a beer we went to the outdoor half to enjoy the combination of music, beer, and beautiful scenery. With the Australian summer starting we weren’t the only ones, though in Byron Bay the difference between summer and winter is just the difference between ?the water is perfect? and ?the water is almost perfect?.

By our second round we had joined three Australians, Jen, Sarah, and Kyle, at their table. Kyle and Sarah were a couple from Sydney who were meeting up with their friend, Jen, whodunnits’d moved to northern Australia. Dylan and I told our rag tag story of joining forces to get my rental RV and ourselves across the country. While Kyle told us of his experience taking a working Holiday in Canada living it up at Whistler and flying back to Sydney broke.

As we finished the last drops of our drinks it was decided we’d head to our new friends? hotel room for another round?or two. It was a nice place only a block behind Main Street. We sat up on the balcony drinking rum and laughing at anything and everything. At some point I agreed to get an Australian flag temporary tattoo. For the rest of the night we forgot of the journey ahead and the many hours of driving we’d have to do the next morning.

After we finished the rum we found ourselves with our new friends at Byron Bay’s self-proclaimed backpacker bar, Cheeky Money. The bar is far from classy, as the 2.2 star rating on Google maps will tell you. Despite this, having the cheapest beers on the strip keeps it packed with young people from around the world. Playing a game of giant Jenga I even ran into the two German girls I had met in Sydney.

As the night went on the hours blurred until closing time, when the bouncers started kicking us out. It was only walking back to the RV ready to get some sleep that I remembered the distance we still had to drive (not to mention the mounting deadlines for class assignments). I jumped into the top bunk of the RV dreading the early morning ahead.

— This, from January 22, is the last installment of The Travelling Student series of articles that we’ve received (to date.) A couple of students throughout the year have asked me if we’d ever see how Philip’s trip ends, and the only thing I can say is, “I hope so.”

Both being exhausted from our travels, and excited for a cold beer, Dylan and I headed into the first bar from the beach: a large patio bar?half indoor, half outdoors. After grabbing a beer we went to the outdoor half to enjoy the combination of music, beer, and beautiful scenery. With the Australian summer starting we weren’t the only ones, though in Byron Bay the difference between summer and winter is just the difference between ?the water is perfect? and ?the water is almost perfect?.

By our second round we had joined three Australians, Jen, Sarah, and Kyle, at their table. Kyle and Sarah were a couple from Sydney who were meeting up with their friend, Jen, whodunnits’d moved to northern Australia. Dylan and I told our rag tag story of joining forces to get my rental RV and ourselves across the country. While Kyle told us of his experience taking a working Holiday in Canada living it up at Whistler and flying back to Sydney broke.

As we finished the last drops of our drinks it was decided we’d head to our new friends? hotel room for another round?or two. It was a nice place only a block behind Main Street. We sat up on the balcony drinking rum and laughing at anything and everything. At some point I agreed to get an Australian flag temporary tattoo. For the rest of the night we forgot of the journey ahead and the many hours of driving we’d have to do the next morning.

After we finished the rum we found ourselves with our new friends at Byron Bay’s self-proclaimed backpacker bar, Cheeky Money. The bar is far from classy, as the 2.2 star rating on Google maps will tell you. Despite this, having the cheapest beers on the strip keeps it packed with young people from around the world. Playing a game of giant Jenga I even ran into the two German girls I had met in Sydney.

As the night went on the hours blurred until closing time, when the bouncers started kicking us out. It was only walking back to the RV ready to get some sleep that I remembered the distance we still had to drive (not to mention the mounting deadlines for class assignments). I jumped into the top bunk of the RV dreading the early morning ahead.

As I stood outside, waiting for my bus from Longue-Rive, I felt like a bit of a strange sight. People could tell I wasn’t from the Cote Du Nord area, and they could probably tell I was an ?anglo? (if You’re an English speaker in Quebec you’ll hear that term a lot). A woman walked past me and I greeted her with “Bonjour,” still staring straight ahead she increased her pace. “Ouch,” I thought to myself.

A few minutes later the young man whodunnits’d been called to sell me my ticket because he knew English came outside, seemingly for the sole purpose of speaking with me. Longue-Rive essentially gets no tourists and an anglo being there must have intrigued him. His English wasn’t great but we exchanged stories and found a common interest in nineties grunge rock and video games. After a few minutes my bus arrived and I said “Au revoir.”

It was an uneventful ride but the scenery was great. Especially the bits where we drove along the Saint Lawrence River. To this day I regret not stopping in Tadoussac for a whale-watching cruise, the Saint Lawrence is home to thirteen species of whales including belugas and blue whales. Of course lugging around a large blue tot and my backpack wasn’t exactly appealing.

After about six hours of driving and break stops we were approaching Quebec City. I thought about the embarrassment I would face going back to my hometown so soon, the dullness of said town, and the feeling of complete lack of opportunity. As I pondered what I would do next I looked out the window to see a large sign which read “Bienvenue Quebec la capital nationale”.

I stepped off the bus in my steel toe boots, my bomber jacket, my backpack strapped over my shoulders, and holding a large plastic storage container. I got some weird looks from the people with convenient travel bags with wheels, something that I wished I had instead of having to carry this tote into the bus station.

At the ticket counter I asked for the pricing on a ticket back to London. After a few minutes on the computer the attendant informed me that their company only operated in Quebec, I’d have to transfer to Greyhound in Montreal but she could sell me a ticket. After she called Greyhound on the phone and spent a few more minutes on the phone I was informed that the trip would be just over $300 after taxes.

That was more than I expected, so I headed to subway to think about what I’d do next. I didn’t have much waiting for me in London, so paying over $300 to get there seemed like a steep price. I figured I’d stay in Quebec for the night and think about it. I used Google Maps and found a nearby hostel. What would normally be a ten-minute walk was a very painful 20 minute walk thanks to my large blue storage container. Every few blocks I had to stop when I felt like my arms were about to fall off. It probably didn’t help that I was still sore from lugging the brush cutter through the bush yesterday.

I finally arrived at a hostel, La belle Planet Backpackers. The first floor was a café with a ?chilled out? atmosphere playing a mixture of indie rock and underground hip-hop. I walked over to the counter where a heavy-set man with a small dog sat. I informed him that I had made an online reservation. In a condescending French accent he told me that check in was not for another hour and I’d have to wait.

Not discouraged, I sat down in a comfortable chair. I figured I could take advantage of the next hour by enjoying the atmosphere and getting a head start on an Athabasca course that I’d start in the coming week. The class was an overview of Electronic Commerce (ECOM320), and I was excited to learn about the field I’d worked in but from a Managerial perspective. As I read my textbook the hour flew by.

I approached the counter again and asked if I could be checked in. The large man with the dog said it was a busy time for them and because of that they only had 1 very small room, for a price of $40, minimum stay two nights. I was surprised because I had a confirmed booking for $30 for a single night. After arguing my point to no avail I gave in as it was still a lot cheaper than any hotel, and all the other hostels had been booked up.

A girl in her mind-twenties showed me to my room. It was a horribly cramped room with a single bunk-bed and enough room for two people to stand up straight. The bedding felt like the kind of plastic sheets which I thought were only made for children who frequently wet the bed. While I wasn’t happy with the room, or the price, I figured, “Oh well, at least I can have a hot shower.”

After my shower I went downstairs to ask about what I should see in the city. The owner rudely mentioned that I should probably pay first. I handed him my credit card and said “I figured you already had my card on file from the online booking I made.”

“We only take cash,” he said in his most condescending voice.

That was it. I’d have enough. I tossed the key over the table at him, “You keep it,” I said, “Saving a few bucks isn’t worth being treated like dirt.”

I walked back up to my room and proceeded to empty my blue storage container. I had a few extra bags I was able to cram most of my stuff into. A few things including the storage container and some extra clothing were abandoned in the room.

I walked out of the hostel feeling liberated. I had been treated like crap and I spoke up, letting the owner know I wouldn’t have it. What was even more freeing was not having to carry around the storage container I’d left behind. With that, I found a bench where I’d fire up my phone in an attempt to find somewhere, preferably cheap, to sleep that night.

The Travelling Student series of articles was mentioned as a favorite by a couple of students. This one, from January of last year, I particularly like for having a solid story-arc, including a hero in strange circumstances, a conflict that gets resolved, and even a villain.

While the NDP hasn’t been specific on how it will support our financially troubled university, it has promised assistance. Advanced Education Minister Lori Sigurdson has stated that the current problems cannot be allowed to continue and that the province will step in if need be. An improvement from the previous government’s attitude that AU should just ?tighten its purse strings?.

We haven’t heard much with regard to new policy which will affect AU students, but That’s changed as of last Wednesday when the NDP announced an Alberta wide tuition freeze. The freeze will affect tuition rates for the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 school years. While the news is far from a complete solution to the current problems facing AU, it does seem to be a step in the right direction. The NDP has acknowledged the solution as temporary, saying they’ll continue to review the current funding model of post-secondary institutions in Alberta.

In some ways the tuition freeze may make it even more difficult for an already cash strapped AU to balance the budget, if the NDP does not also provide extra funding to make up for the shortfall. The other damper on this positive news is the fact that it only applies to residence of Alberta. A large portion of students at AU, like myself, are from out of province and while tuition may be frozen no such guarantee has been made for the various out of province fees that most AU Students have to pay.

According to Statistics Canada, Albertans currently pay an average of $5700 a year. That’s about $1800 cheaper than tuition in Ontario, which is the highest in Canada at $7500. But That’s still significantly more expensive than tuition in Newfoundland ($2600), Quebec ($2700), and Manitoba ($3900).

Shawna Wasylyshyn President of AUSU says the tuition freeze is great but won’t solve the current problems facing AU:

“A tuition freeze is great news for all post-secondary students, as it helps to control student debt levels. What the Alberta government must clarify is how they will be supplementing the revenue to Alberta’s colleges and universities. Most importantly for Athabasca University is how the government will assist AU toward their goal of sustainability and if they will introduce a special funding model to address the number of distance students at our University.”

Despite these new developments having little effect on myself and many other AU students I remain optimistic. The change, however small, is a symbolic move showing that the provincial government is acknowledging the problems facing students in Alberta.

Philip Kirkbride is an AU Student, now AUSU Councillor, with a penchant for travelling the globe while doing his AU courses.

“We’re good to go”
“What’s that?” I replied
“My Dad’s mate is out of town but we have the thumbs up to park the RV.”
“Awesome!”

We drove up a small winding hill which was surprisingly close to the beach. Driving up a winding hill in a manual, multi-ton vehicle can be either exhilarating or terrifying. If at any point you come to a complete stop (which we did) you have the pleasure of shifting back into first gear. On our first try the RV began rolling backwards. Dylan slammed on the brakes, which was followed by a loud crash! Luckily it was just some dishes being rattled around in the back. After the small mishap we drove through a gate onto the property.

What was most surprising was the magnificence of the house itself. It looked like the kind of place a modest executive might buy. Not a McMansion, but I could tell no cost had been spared in either quality or location. It was a bit ironic being led there by Dylan, who looked like an Australian vagabond.

With the family out on vacation I wouldn’t get a tour of the stunningly beautiful home, but we did have access to an outdoor (warm water) shower, a grand luxury when you’re living on the road.

After a quick dinner, I took some time out to do a bit of reading and write an article for The Voice. While I wanted to share my adventures in Australia, I was still telling the story of my travels in Quebec. As time had passed my memories had matured, some details being forgotten, but others taking on a more symbolic importance. Of course, I remembered the obvious stuff?key places and people?but, looking back, it’s always interesting to see the small things we remember. A morning coffee completely ordinary yet so perfect as to take a permanent place in our memory, or the particular way the waves hit the sea wall on Wakki Beach.

After some routine reminiscing while writing, I packed up and readied myself for a night on the town. As the sun set bats came out in the hundreds?maybe even thousands?high above us, making a sort of constant buzzing sonar sort of sound.

As we made our way to the main street I tried to push back the reoccurring thought that we had over ten hours of driving ahead of us the next day.

A bit further down the beach surfers gathered to take their turns hitting the waves. Like many of our stops, this beach was a popular surf spot. After about a half hour of swimming we showered down and made a few peanut butter sandwiches for the road. It would be a short day on the road. Dylan had his heart set on stopping in Byron Bay. Our total time on the road that day would be about four and a half hours meaning we’d have to drive eleven hours the next day.

Initially I insisted we stick to the schedule, but Dylan was convincing. Byron Bay is apparently a must see stop. After the uneventful three hour drive we arrived in Byron Bay to find that we weren’t the only ones who thought it was a must see stop. The small town of 5000 was crawling with young Australians and tourists from across the country and world. It was the beginning of summer (December in Oz) and the positive mood was contagious.

The only downside of being in Byron Bay during the start of summer was the parking situation. We’d managed to avoid any paid parks or hotels so far, but doing so in Byron Bay would be difficult. Not only was parking sparse along the beach and bar area but there was also an increased police presence?who’d likely tell us to move along if we parked in a public spot.

We stopped on a bridge with a beautiful view of Byron Bay’s beach. While we’d already stopped at a few nice spots over the course of our trip, nothing compared to Byron Bay. It’s as if the bay was specifically crafted as a picturesque spot for postcard photos. As I looked down on the bay a kite-surfer criss-crossed along the water below. Essentially surfing with a large parachute-like kite that propels the surfer?at times lifting them meters above the water.

While I watched the surf, Dylan made a phone call to his Dad asking about setting up camp on a family friend’s beach-side property for the night. We sat along the bridge watching the waves and hoping we’d hear back soon.