Italian trains

I have always had difficulties navigating the Italian train network, there has been plenty of incidents over the years including missed trains, being kicked off trains in the middle of the countryside, arguments and, of course, finding the correct platform for departure. The system makes perfect sense for Italians, the rest of us just struggle - or it just me?

Noriko and myself had a departure from Rome Terminal to Florence, we purchased the tickets at 10.21 am from the main ticket booth for a 1.03 pm departure, a bit of a wait for three hours was required - no big deal. 15 minutes before departure, the platform still hadn't been allocated, I was getting nervous, I had seen this before and I already had visions of missing the train.

Finally, the platform was announced, it was platform 2 exl - maybe something to do with delayed? We had a short time to get to the platform, then the train was delayed 13 minutes - phew, breathing space.

I went and asked some staff for directions, they spoke Italian (makes sense in Italy) and we were not able to communicate well. I did however understand 350 metres down the platform, they gestured something about number one, I wasn't able to understand though.

Noriko wanted to go and stand down on platform 2, I said no, we need to be together and move quickly, it was already about 1:10, we had three minutes before departure, I was starting to sweat now. An old man with only one tooth approached me offering help, I gratefully accepted as we were standing in of the departure board looking very perplexed.

He then told us, it is platform 1 we need to be on, as he was running us down it became apparent, there is platform 1, then right down the end (350 metres away) it is split into a further two platforms numbered 1 & 2 (of course).

We only just made the train, it wasn't more than a minute from pulling away from the platform. In the past, I have chased departing trains down the platform for no luck - with the help of the old man, we made the departure. I gladly reached into my pocket for some change, he was genuinely happy to receive the €4 I handed him, I was genuinely happy for his assistance.

Once in the safety of the seat, Noriko was a vessel of knowledge of how we nearly missed the train, I don't recall her offering such wisdom in real time except to go and ask somebody, I do recall her wanting to go and stand on platform 2, an empty platform with no train waiting. She didn't want to get up and moving with 15 minutes to departure - I just love retrospective advice.

I did ask three guys standing together in train company uniform, English to Italian translation was the problem, they showed no real interest in helping us and pointing us in the right direction. As it was, I had to interrupt their conversation, the third was busy sending messages on his phone and I guess they resented me, a non-Italian speaking tourist asking for directions in English.

So now I know, platform 1 is the standard platform 1, right at the end inside the station, then outside, not under the cover of the roof, it splits into a further 2 platforms numbered 1 & 2, not a) & b) as a sane person would expect. I would think the main departure board to state platform 1, ext a) with a sign pointing outside to the extra platforms just over a quarter of a kilometer away.

I will now know for future trains, I just wished they had posted the departure platform earlier so we had more time to prepare. We made it on time, plenty of luck involved, so no complaints.

Independents selling the country out

Both Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott were too spineless to face the electorate after their decisions to support the ill-fated Gillard government. The pair voted against their electorate's wishes to support a period of fiscal ineptness, their weakness delivered the most dysfunctional government in Australia's history.

What ensured was the most unstable period of government in the modern era, that is a big call after the chaos of Kevin Rudd and incompetence of Gough Whitlam. Rob Oakeshott stated that he would only support the minority government if Julia Gillard remained leader in 2010, when Bill Shorten reinstated Kevin Rudd as leader of the Labor party and Prime Minister of Australia in 2012, Oakeshott, however, refused to remain true to his word.

These fools picked the loser, we endured a further three years of incompetence, dysfunction and failure only to have Tony Abbott emphatically win government three later and begin the process of rebuilding the nation. Now, collectively, due to the decision of these two, we are the losers.  

Is Facebook a spent force?

Like so many others, Facebook was my primary social media interface, now I'm jaded with Facebook, but why?

The millennials and Gen Z aren't interested in Facebook, is it cool to be friended and watched by the olds? That is both parents and grandparents, don't think so. Gen Z is already online at school and socially, they are seeking new platforms to hang out.

What gets me upset is the sponsored posts on your newsfeed. Yes, I understand as a listed company, Facebook has to generate revenue and the best revenue income is sponsored adverts. Still, as a user, it is more than annoying, I am now seeking new platforms, the problem lays in the social confines of your online social group. Yeah, I still log on and update Facebook - sure.

Backpacking technology

Backpacking has certainly changed since I first left the comforts of Perth in search of excitement, challenges, enlightenment and culture in the mid 90s. It is now 2014 and technology encroaches on our every day life. As I wandered Dubai and the streets of Rome, everybody was using a Galaxy smartphone, or to a lesser degree an iPhone to organise their lives.

My choice of technology is my 10.1 Galaxy tablet, I also have an older 7.0 as a back-up device, both fit easily into my bag, the 7.0 is easier to carry around but lacks some of the functionability of the newer device. This wonderful device not only doubles as a camera, it has almost rendered my FujiFilm digital camera obsolete, it is able to immediately upload pictures to my G+ or Facebook account as soon as an internet connection presents.

My digital camera firstly has to be connected to a computer, pictures uploaded to the drive and then online. The quality of the images is astounding, I would never had expected such quality from the lens provided.

The GPS function allows you to exactly pinpoint your position without the need for WiFi connectivity. When travelling on the train and the bus, this important feature allows you to track you current and proposed location with a road map indicating streets and major features such as train stations, monuments, hotels and hospitals. If you fall asleep, you can immediately find your location - I wish I had this feature a decade or so ago, it was literally impossible to carry the full array of maps for multiple countries if you wanted some space in your backpack.

Researching and booking accommodation is easy, Trip Advisor, Booking.com or Lonely Planet is an excellent tool to connect to such services, prices can be checked and compared. Once upon a time, a guide book gave the best backpacker accommodation details, the information could be obsolete before the book went to print. Now, immediate price comparrisons are made ensuring best value and competition, furthermore, you are able to critique and rate establishments - they can't pull any of their old style stunts to rip-off unsuspecting travellers, word gets around so quick in the information age.

Finally receiving my degree

It has been a long time coming, I completed the requirements for my Bachelor's degree in Training and Development in 2013, but I decided to start directly to a double degree in trimester 3 in 2013, the university added that unit to the current degree extending the qualification, holding back my graduation until 2014.

I didn't even bother flying over to New South Wales for the graduation ceremony, instead opting to receive the certificate in the mail and saving my money for a European trip.

It is with some irony that I am in Prague on paid long service leave at the time the certificate arrived. I found out via email from my father, when I return, I will scan the certificate into my computer for employment purposes and my mother can have the certificate.

The genesis can be traced back to early 2005 when I was asked to submit an application to an American company, having worked for the Americans previously, I knew they valued qualifications. I frantically rang around seeking to gain a business qualification at any level to put in my CV.

I ended up gaining recognition of prior learning for the Certificate III in Business based on evidence produced as my time as the operations manager of a tourism business. This was really a process and not training so i didn't feel like I had achieved anything.

As I already had all the presentations, pricing structures, schedules and planning on my computer, it was a relatively easy process to produce evidence of both knowledge and application in the workplace. After all, it was all my own work and easy to verify.

However, I still felt I did not earn the qualification and enrolled in the Certificate IV in Frontline Management at the Challenger Institute of Technology Leadership Centre in 2005. That was really the beginning of the institutional learning process as I worked on an extension to the Certificate IV in Business. 

I later undertook Business Management before tackling a series of Diploma of Business and Business Management. In the Australian system, a diploma is equivalent to the first year of university studies, essentially a alternate way to receive university credits at a proportion of the cost; the skills and knowledge are equal.

So starting back in 2005, it has been a longer and arguably more difficult route; I have been fully employed during that time. I never needed to take three years off work to complete an undergraduate degree. 

With the qualification fully paid for by the time the certificate is issued, there was no hangover debt to pay off. I will complete my second undergraduate degree in Organisational Leadership towards the end of 2015 from the University of New England Business School.

While it is not a Harvard, Stanford or Wharton business degree, course material was sourced from diverse institutions including Oxford University in the United Kingdom and other internationally recognised institutions as well as numerous Australian facility ensuring an Asia/Pacific focus.

So now it is time to start negotiating with institutions for credit and advanced standing towards the Master's degree, in an uncapped business environment, they are willing to deal, all of a sudden, I have leverage.

Has Perth become a bogan backwater?

I am a Perth local, I grew up as a kid in the 70s when Perth was basically a big country town. Even during the 80s, there were times I left the keys accidently in the ignition of my car overnight, on the road out the front of the house and it would still be there in the morning.

At times, Perth was described as a quaint place time forgot, television writers had the option of killing off a character by death if they were not returning to the show and needed a ratings boost, the other option was move to Perth keeping alive a character to return to the show in the future.

Lonely Planet describes Perth as a city of cashed up bogans with money to burn on cars, beer and drugs. Then there is the associated by-products of the boom years, the attitude that goes with the success, I feel it is more a by-product of Perth's isolation and the lack of worldly knowledge held by a large proportion of the population.

Perth is now a truely cosmopolitan city, much needed investment has been poured into infrastructure, yet with the growth outstripping supply, the city is always playing catch-up. I just hope, Perth's social status can improve from the perception of the cashed-up bogan to a refined livable carefree isolated oasis.

Why I will never again employ a PADI Course Director

As both a former dive store owner and dive instructor, I thought the PADI Course Director was the pinnacle of non-commercial dive employment - I was wrong. Notwithstanding the oversupply of Course Directors PADI has created, it is both the quality of the product they churn out and the attitude that PADI instills in their highest designation that irks me.

Firstly, let's get this straight, I am not a frustrated wannabe who missed the opportunity to rise to PADI's highest level. I was offered canditure on the course, I was neither a PADI Staff Instructor nor a Master Instructor.

I easily met the con-ed ratio, had the correct number of certifications and experience. When you have a high certification dive centre pushing you, they find ways, they have confidentiality clauses to ensure you don't let the diving world know what really happened.

But lets face it, that can be manipulated as I once did to get one of our Staff Instructors on the course as a dive store manager. Strangely, he wasn't even the best instructor we had, but he had the money to pay for the course and even more importantly, he was friends with a high profile PADI Course Director.

As for me, I refused the offer of a free Course Director course a number of years later, even though at the time I was working for a high profile PADI dive centre. I knew I didn't want to go down this route, I had to stand by my personal convictions and refuse because I knew I could not keep my end of the bargain.

Nothing is free, I would have been encumbered to the business to pump out instructors at a great rate of knots. That's fair enough, but I would also be required to be down the business every living moment. Actually, I was anyway at that stage but it was my choice and I could leave at any point with no ill feelings.

A Course Director is a dive instructor first and foremost, if you have entry level divers that need training, that is their job. Likewise, if you need tanks filled, equipment sorted and washed - they need to get in and work too.

I have had the case where as the business owner, I had to get in and do entry level courses because our messiah like Course Director refused to do so. Salary wise, you pay over and above a normal dive instructor so they had better make sure they perform above an average instructor, mind you - the money as a dive instructor isn't much.

Likewise, as per the PADI code of ethical behaviour, you would expect such a highly rated PADI designation to adhere to the ethics and not act in a dishonest manner, steal from you or send your customers to your competitors or act in a fraudulent manner. Yeah, try and take on the might of the PADI Quality Assurance department and see how you fare.