No sun? No worries!
18 days in the land down under.
18 days in the land down under.
Getting there and getting around
This trip involved a lot more travel than we typically undertake. In all, we
flew more than 25,000 miles on planes that ranged from 747s to a 10-seat
Piper.
The trip to Australia went pretty much as planned. Our Chicago-LA
segment was in Economy Plus; the only one that did not book into a
premium cabin. By booking early, we were able to secure some of the best
seats on the upper deck for the LA-Sydney flight, and that is definitely the
way to go. It was dark for almost the entire flight, and we all got some
sleep...even Chris, whose inability to catch 40 winks while airborne is a
curse of long standing.
We watched fares for quite awhile before purchasing the domestic flights a
few months in advance. We ended up with a pretty good special fare of just
over US$100 on Virgin Blue for the Sydney-Cairns segment. Qantas is the
only game in town when going to/from the Red Centre, so there are not too
many deals to be had.
Virgin Blue.
This is about what we expected. Using on-line check-in saved a few
minutes on the front end. They seem pretty strict about the 20kg weight
limit. Everything—from the water, to the in-flight entertainment, to the lamb
dinner—is available for an additional fee. The seat pitch is very tight. Three
hours in a window seat with 29" pitch can get a bit claustrophobic.
Qantas domestic.
Good service. A little better pitch and more comfortable seat than Virgin
Blue. Meals provided on the longer (2-3 hour) flights were pre-packaged
sandwiches. Alcoholic beverages were available for purchase—$5 for beer
and $6 for wine. Movies played on an overhead screen, with some decent
selections. A more liberal checked baggage allowance, at 32kg. A little
bonus: these flights earned me a few AA miles and, in turn (due to a UA
promotion) some elite qualifying miles on United.
Rental cars.
We rented cars for the Queensland, Yulara and Yarra Valley portions of the
trip—12 of our 18 days—in order to maximize flexibility. All of our cars (Avis
and Hertz) were small or mid-sized Toyota automatics. We've previously
driven on the left, but it has been a few years. Chris made just a couple of
inconsequential lapses to the wrong side of the road, and Marisa routinely
turned on the windshield wipers while trying to activate the turn signal.
Otherwise, we had no problems at all and were very happy to be able to
drive ourselves around. We even navigated straight into the Melbourne
CBD. After a minor contretemps with our rental car in France last year, and
because our own insurance company does not cover rentals in Australia,
we decided to take the excess coverage. It added a few hundred dollars to
our total cost, but it was worth it for the peace of mind.
Returning home.
The trip back was a bit more interesting. We were booked in business
class from Melbourne to Sydney to San Francisco to Chicago, all on United
and again with carefully selected upper-deck seats for the transpac
segment. At 10pm the evening before our return, we received a voicemail
message indicating that our Melbourne-Sydney flight had been cancelled—
the downstream effect of a maintenance issue. After 30 minutes on the
phone with a CSR in Chicago, we were confirmed on a Qantas domestic
flight in the morning that would get us to Sydney in time to catch the flight to
San Francisco. The catch was, we’d have to get the United desk at the
airport to issue paper tickets in the morning, and then hope that we could
get over to the Qantas domestic terminal before the cut-off time...a real
stretch.
Fortunately, a proactive United service director in Melbourne had a better
idea. She rebooked us, in business class, on a Qantas flight from
Melbourne to LA connecting to a United flight to Chicago. We enjoyed the
Qantas lounge (now that’s what we call a business lounge!), the lay-flat
seats, the video on-demand, the superior catering, and of course the
service.
See all of our photos on Webshots
our travels
home
contact us
This trip involved a lot more travel than we typically undertake. In all, we
flew more than 25,000 miles on planes that ranged from 747s to a 10-seat
Piper.
The trip to Australia went pretty much as planned. Our Chicago-LA
segment was in Economy Plus; the only one that did not book into a
premium cabin. By booking early, we were able to secure some of the best
seats on the upper deck for the LA-Sydney flight, and that is definitely the
way to go. It was dark for almost the entire flight, and we all got some
sleep...even Chris, whose inability to catch 40 winks while airborne is a
curse of long standing.
We watched fares for quite awhile before purchasing the domestic flights a
few months in advance. We ended up with a pretty good special fare of just
over US$100 on Virgin Blue for the Sydney-Cairns segment. Qantas is the
only game in town when going to/from the Red Centre, so there are not too
many deals to be had.
Virgin Blue.
This is about what we expected. Using on-line check-in saved a few
minutes on the front end. They seem pretty strict about the 20kg weight
limit. Everything—from the water, to the in-flight entertainment, to the lamb
dinner—is available for an additional fee. The seat pitch is very tight. Three
hours in a window seat with 29" pitch can get a bit claustrophobic.
Qantas domestic.
Good service. A little better pitch and more comfortable seat than Virgin
Blue. Meals provided on the longer (2-3 hour) flights were pre-packaged
sandwiches. Alcoholic beverages were available for purchase—$5 for beer
and $6 for wine. Movies played on an overhead screen, with some decent
selections. A more liberal checked baggage allowance, at 32kg. A little
bonus: these flights earned me a few AA miles and, in turn (due to a UA
promotion) some elite qualifying miles on United.
Rental cars.
We rented cars for the Queensland, Yulara and Yarra Valley portions of the
trip—12 of our 18 days—in order to maximize flexibility. All of our cars (Avis
and Hertz) were small or mid-sized Toyota automatics. We've previously
driven on the left, but it has been a few years. Chris made just a couple of
inconsequential lapses to the wrong side of the road, and Marisa routinely
turned on the windshield wipers while trying to activate the turn signal.
Otherwise, we had no problems at all and were very happy to be able to
drive ourselves around. We even navigated straight into the Melbourne
CBD. After a minor contretemps with our rental car in France last year, and
because our own insurance company does not cover rentals in Australia,
we decided to take the excess coverage. It added a few hundred dollars to
our total cost, but it was worth it for the peace of mind.
Returning home.
The trip back was a bit more interesting. We were booked in business
class from Melbourne to Sydney to San Francisco to Chicago, all on United
and again with carefully selected upper-deck seats for the transpac
segment. At 10pm the evening before our return, we received a voicemail
message indicating that our Melbourne-Sydney flight had been cancelled—
the downstream effect of a maintenance issue. After 30 minutes on the
phone with a CSR in Chicago, we were confirmed on a Qantas domestic
flight in the morning that would get us to Sydney in time to catch the flight to
San Francisco. The catch was, we’d have to get the United desk at the
airport to issue paper tickets in the morning, and then hope that we could
get over to the Qantas domestic terminal before the cut-off time...a real
stretch.
Fortunately, a proactive United service director in Melbourne had a better
idea. She rebooked us, in business class, on a Qantas flight from
Melbourne to LA connecting to a United flight to Chicago. We enjoyed the
Qantas lounge (now that’s what we call a business lounge!), the lay-flat
seats, the video on-demand, the superior catering, and of course the
service.
See all of our photos on Webshots
our travels
home
contact us
Our 10-seat Piper on Lizard Island
Australia home
Planning considerations
Sydney
Queensland, part 1
Queensland, part 2
Queensland, part 3
Red Center
Yarra Valley
Melbourne
Getting there and getting around
Planning considerations
Sydney
Queensland, part 1
Queensland, part 2
Queensland, part 3
Red Center
Yarra Valley
Melbourne
Getting there and getting around
On the flight to Lizard Island
Toyota Corolla in North Queensland
Melbourne tram
Is bungy a form of transport?
