By Jerome Quinto, Contributor
INQUIRER.net

I’VE always thought that a trip to Australia is as easy as climbing down a flight of staircases. Well, if a million steps down a thousand-storey building is for you a snap, the former rings true — for you.

For a Filipino (with the Pinoy passport, of course), going to Australia, or any developed country for that matter, starts with getting a visa. Well this wasn’t a problem for me, though preparing the papers needed to get the visa is a hassle. Not to mention the agony of the waiting period where I’m caught between being prepared for the trip and likewise uncertain for I don’t know whether I’m getting a visa or not. Good thing the dilemma wasn’t that long. Just about three weeks (compared to a month or more for most).

I don’t intend to plot in detail the pre-departure process. Suffice it to say that IT IS NOT EASY and one should consider so many factors before one’s flight. So how did I get “Down Under”?

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