Got the world-trip ticket, have working visa, will fly

Almost everybody knows somebody who has travelled to Australia on a working holiday visa and come back enthusing about sunshine, barbecues and all things stereotypically Aussie.

Mr Vincent Allen (25), a fund administrator about to take off on his own Australian experience, is no exception. "I suppose I heard so many things about it. People came back and they all seemed to have had a great time, no negative comments at all," he says.

Mr Allen, who has been working at International Fund Managers (IFM) in Dublin for over two years, recently completed his ACCA accounting exams. "I just needed a break," he says, so he and a friend applied for the 12-month Australian working holiday visa and booked a round-the-world flight.

Mr Allen secured his visa for €120 and insurance covering all activities for a premium of around €400 through student and youth travel company USIT. The seven-stop Qantas/BA flight cost him €1,700.

"The flight is the main thing. It's a good idea to book as much in advance as possible, because they get booked out," he advises.

He found that at the end of June the cost of flights was going to increase by more than €200, so he booked his flight for mid-June.

He is flying to Australia via Singapore, and will stay in Darwin and Cairns before he arrives in Sydney. There the plan is to find a job in his line of work. "I was at a recruitment agency the other day and they were very upbeat about the prospects," he says.

Mr Allen is not bothered by the rule that requires working holidaymakers to switch employers every three months. After the first three months in Sydney, his plan is to travel around to Rugby World Cup matches, which start at the end of October. Then he intends to work in Melbourne, before visiting New Zealand, Fiji and South America on the way home.

So would he like to stay in Australia for longer than the allotted year? "It's an option. It depends how work goes over there and if the money is good. If an employer wants you to stay, you can get a temporary business visa for four years."

At the moment, Mr Allen is finishing up work and making last-minute arrangements before he departs Dublin next week. The little things like cancelling your mobile phone contract and stopping direct debits from your bank account are the most time-consuming, he says.