His: Living in America (Sep 4th, 2013)

Amanda and I recently returned from a month long vacation to Australia to attend my sister's wedding and visit family and friends. Since returning to America I have been asked several times what had changed the most in Australia since my last visit. It had been a little over 6 years since our last visit so there were quite a few changes. The one that immediately came to mind was...

7-Eleven's, Subways and Krispy Kremes
     7-Eleven, one of America's most popular convenience stores and have stores just about everywhere in America, only had a dozen or so stores in Australia when we were there last. Now there there is a 7-Eleven on just about every other street corner.

     Subway has had stores in Australia for around 20 years but there were few and far between on our last visit. Since then the expansion of the franchise has been phenomenal to say the least. Every mall and shopping centre seemed to have one these days. I read an article recently that said Subway had more stores than McDonalds worldwide and after seeing the expansion in Australia its easy to see why, especially if they have done similar things in other markets like Asia and Europe.

        Krispy Kreme is one of my sister's favourite treats. On our last visit they only had a few stores in Sydney so Amanda and I made a point to pick up a dozen donuts at the airport for her. These days she can run to any 7-Eleven (which is on every other street corner these days) and pick up her own. They also have their own stores in most airports and major train stations.

     I also noticed how expensive things have become and how many more coal mines there are in and around New South Wales (my home state) -- however, I will save these for another post on another day.

     In some ways it made me feel like I was still in America, but once I heard the Australian accent or see someone drive on the left side of the road I knew I wasn't in Kansas Virginia anymore.