Brand loyalty when going overseas

This time I want to talk about an issue that might help people moving countries or even just going for a long trip overseas. It's a small issue but can be very annoying.

Which brands are you loyal to? And don't tell me you have none. 

We all have our favourite and much loved brands and products. It can be something as cheap as shampoo or something as expensive as a car. But even if a product is cheap and the financial risk or switching brands is low, the emotional risk can be really high. 

Well, maybe you're not truly loyal to any brand or product, but admit it, switching from a product that works well for you now and looking for the next best thing is just tiresome. Well, you might have to.

You might not find all your favourite brands and/or products in the new place and for highly brand loyal people it can be stressful. For the less loyal of us it can be just annoying. You might think that nowadays, with international brands and online stores, it's not a real problem but that's not necessarily true especially with disposable and everyday products like food and toiletries.

Before I moved to Australia, I had been living in Israel for almost 15 years so you can't really blame me for being attached to a fair few products. I was (and still am actually) a huge fan of Milky, Krembo and Cervelat salami (made of beef). Milky and Krembo are unique to Israel and Cervelat elsewhere in the world is make of pork, which I don't eat. I was also happy with my toiletries and was annoyed at the idea of looking for alternatives. Also let me tell you something girls (guys, just skip to the next paragraph), all the women hygiene stuff in Australia sucks big time! 

Coming to the USA from Australia wan't such an issue for me in regards to brand loyalty. I was aware of the availability of almost anything here and was actually eager to try new brands and products, especially those I heard about but couldn't get in Aus. 

So here are some tips to those going overseas to live or to travel for a while: 

- Research. Think of the brands and products you are attached to and see if they are available in the country of destination.

- If you find out that the products are available in the other country, great, just make sure they are affordable and accessible for you. Driving 3 hours to buy your favourite bread doesn't count.

- If the products aren't available, first of all be open minded. Try something else, you might end up liking it better. 

- For products you can't find a substitute to and you need to buy only like once a year, order them online. 

- Watch ads. It can be frustrating to walk into your new local store and find long shelves of unfamiliar brands. By watching ads on TV and other media you'll get an idea of what are the brands available and what they stand for.

- And finally, you might find that your favourite products at the new country just aren't the same or don't suite you anymore. You probably don't image it so don't be stubborn and try something else. 

Hope it helps to at least some of my blog readers. Also, I'd love to hear about your experiences with brand loyalty in a different country.

Cheers. 

The big face plant

So lets see what happened this week...

On Thursday it snowed again, this time heaps more than the last time and it kept snowing during the day. It was one of hubby's first days at work and he was rather puzzled as to how he was meant to drive to work and whether he should drive at all our 2 wheel drive hire Chrysler. Luckily the snow wasn't too deep and it worked out all right in the end.

In the afternoon we took the dogs to have some fun in the snow and it was funny watching them. Some of the time they were hopping like rabbits in the deep (for them) snow and Nyx face planted a few time. I even have the photographic evidence. You can also see that it was still snowing.

When we got home we had to give them a warm bath as they had ice/snow balls on their fur, mainly tummy and back legs. They quite enjoy the baths so no issues there.

Click on the image for the GIF to play

This week we also kept looking for houses and cars. It is rather time consuming. Yesterday we finally bought a car, or a mini-tank, as I call. It's a 2002 Chevy Blazer. The buying process was easy and very similar to buying a car in Australia. Unfortunately the process required after buying a car is much more complex and tiresome, at least according to every Aussie who lived here. The waiting lines and the bureaucracy apparently caused even some tough men to burst into tears. So yeah, I'm not looking forward to it and need to make sure I bring enough water and snacks for the day, and download a new book to the Kindle, before we head to sort it all out. 

The house hunting is going OK, though with a few hiccups along the way. We applied for a couple of houses, the first really large and nice one in Aurora and the second one is small but amazingly well designed in Denver. I like both although they are really different and will be happy to live in either of these two. The one in Aurora is pretty much the house of my dreams with maybe one bedroom too many. The one closer to down town Denver is at a better location and as I said, really well designed. The problem is that the agents for the second house are stupid bureaucrats doing everything except working in the interest of their client and since we are bloody foreigners with no social security numbers, no rent history and no pay slips from the states, our chances of getting it are slim. Not to mention that although we offered to pay a few hundred dollars more than the advertised price each month, they check the application on a first in first served basis. Oh well, at least these are not our agents, renting our house and missing such an opportunity. Also, to be fair, we didn't have issues with any of the other agents in the houses we saw.

On a different note, I was a bit worried about the food in the States but it has been good so far. We went to Sprouts for vegies and organic meat and it was great! All tastes good and lasts long in the fridge. My restaurant and take away experiences were also positive with dinner at Red Lobster topping it. My only real negative experience so far (aside from the terrible food on the internal flight) was the bread. It was meant to be Italian bread from the supermarket bakery and it was a fail! Today we got some different bread from a different bakery. Fingers crossed.

Have a great week everyone!

First snow in Denver (for us anyway)

Woke up this morning to some fresh snow! It was clean, nice and soft. So once I managed to drag myself out of bed, we took the boys for a walk and I took the camera, of course. At first they weren't very keen on the snow but when they realised they had no choice but go on it to do their business, they got to like it. So we took them to the back of the apartment blocks, where there is lots of space, and they got to run around, chase each other and have fun! By the afternoon all the fresh snow melted so it was good we got to enjoy it in the morning.

Chaos the fawn big boy & Nyx the black & tan puppy

Sniffing around...

One of those chase games...

Have a great week!

Hello Denver!

view from the apartment balcony

I'm finally in Denver! Got here yesterday afternoon, went to bed at 9pm and slept till 9am, which didn't stop me from being tired all day. So if any of the sentences don't make sense, I have an excuse - I'm jet legged.

I had the best long flight ever. It started at the Qantas Business Lounge in Canberra with comfy seats, free breakfast and free wifi, continued at Business Lounge in Sydney (even better than the one in Canberra) and topped with the flight from Sydney to LA in business class on an Airbus a380. There is so much room and the food is actually good, not just bearable. I could do it again...

The domestic flight with American Airlines was average and their definition of First Class is Qantas' economy. Their definition of a sandwich is also quite fascinating (in a very disturbing way)... shame I didn't take a photo. Oh well, at least there was personal entertainment in the form of a flight attendant who sounded like a 12 year old girl and spoke to us like we were in kinder garden... "Make sure your cellular phones are on the off mode. Not silent, not flight mode. Off. O-F-F." 

At Denver airport I was distressed to see "Tornado Shelter" signs. I am more scared of tornadoes than of spiders and that tells you something, doesn't it? 

When we finally arrived at the apartment where we are going to stay for the next month. This place is nice and cozy although we got the third and last floor which isn't highly appreciated by the dogs or the hubby who had to take the heavy suitcases up the stairs. 

Today my lovely dogs arrived and I spent the whole day in the apartment giving them attention. So as you can see I haven't seen much of Denver but here are a few things I saw so far. Snow and rabbits. I'm not quite sure when it last snowed here but there is still a fair but of snow on the ground. The dogs don't like it and try to find snow-free-grass to do their business. It's gonna be a struggle when the snow covers everything... There are also a fair few rabbits around and they don't seem to be scared of people. I heard that there are many prairie dogs in Denver (which I haven't seen yet) but didn't expect to find any rabbits. Not that I'm complaining, rabbits are really cute too.

That's all from me for today.

Irena :-)