Travel & Holidays

It was end of 2015, but upstairs after you go through customs/security.

Arenā€™t there multiple terminals?

Pass. It was quite a big weekend.

Of course you were eating

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Heathrow or at least T4 is old, and they are in the process of fixing it up.

I found the lines for ā€˜The Borderā€™ very long compared to Melbourne and the staff just tired and grumpy (like almost everyone in the UK) except for the one guy on the luggage cart inside the terminal.

They only thing about Heathrow is that you never feel the outside world until you have got off your tube. Melbourne greeted me with cold air and rain :expressionless::expressionless::expressionless:

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Last time I went through Amsterdam security was done at the gate like Singapore. Had that changed?

(Edit - sorry @pelican not sure why it has replied to you)

Travelling with my partner to Melbourne for the first time in 2 weeks.

Any suggestions on what to see/do while weā€™re there?

Booked flights with QANTAS to Japan for January next year. Flights are on sale at the moment from $350 one way. Too good to give up.

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Thatā€™s really good. Where are you flying out of?

Brisbane

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That is cheap, for Qantas.

Iā€™ve flown Coolangatta to Tokyo (Narita) tor the last few years with Jetstar, which is the only time Iā€™ll fly with them, and never paid more than $350-400 return. I generally find it worth the drive down there from Brisbane and have a friend who lives near the airport so I can leave my car there.

I honestly couldnā€™t fault the service, comfort, staff & overall experience to date - the new Dreamliner planes are super comfortable, have entertainment which is worth the $10 for the 3-4 movies you can watch in that time and have always arrived feeling fresh and the departure / arrival times have always worked well.

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Thereā€™s plenty to choose from: the MCG, Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne Museum, Eureka Skydeck, Melbourne Star observation wheel, Puffing Billy steam train, Royal Botanic Gardens, National Gallery of Victoria (both main building and the Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square), Phillip Island and of course the Great Ocean Road.

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And heaps of shopping.

Itā€™s generally regarded as the shopping capital of AustralIa.

Went there with a friend the other weekend and was pleasantly pleased. Apparently its very similar to Kangaroo Island (SA) but easier to access. Definitely worth the visit but you need a full day.

We considered Jetstar out of OOL but it would be a hassle and Iā€™ve never flown with a budget carrier before. Iā€™ve heard Jetstar can be particularly nasty with their cancellations.

Thereā€™s nothing really wrong with Jetstar.

Itā€™s to QANTAS what VW is to Audi - run by the same company, just not dressed up as nice, but cheaper.

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Iā€™ve had a few flights with Jetstar before, and Iā€™ve never had any issues with them at all.

Iā€™m super jealous of how incredibly cheap Japan flights are ex QLD, if they were that cheap over on this side of the country Iā€™d find myself visiting at least twice a year.

For someone like me the full service carrier would be the exception rather than the rule, so it kind of surprises me that there are people out there who have never flown with budget carriers before. Iā€™ve only ever flown Qantas once, domestic economy from Sydney to Melbourne. Was pretty nice.

Unfortunately my size really makes flying difficult, even though I absolutely LOVE flying. I donā€™t want to be that guy on the plane who crushes the person next to me, so I have to buy two seats and thatā€™s just a big hassle and hit to the hip pocket.

After a bit of a weight loss success in 2016 where I lost 80kg, I flew from Sydney to Melbourne one way (friend was picking up a car there) with Qantas, which was the first time Iā€™d flown since I was 13 years old in 2008, and that was great.

But now Iā€™m back to being a fat cunt and so I need to buy 2 seats whenever I fly. I flew from Sydney to the Gold Coast late last year on Jetstar, bought 2 seats and everything. It cost me around $440 total, and it took at least an hour on the phone trying to sort out the ā€˜two seatā€™ thing because the seats couldnā€™t be booked online. So that was annoying.

Iā€™ll be having a gastric sleeve procedure done in 3 and a half weeks, which should mean that Iā€™ll be able to get down to a weight where I can fly comfortably in a single seat by the end of the year, so Iā€™m planning a trip at the end of the year with my friends. One of my fellow travellers wants to be in the US before Christmas so they can look around at all the Christmassy things over there.

It looks like the cheapest options by far are the Asian airlines, which would involve a short 2 to 3 hour stop. These all seem to hover around $1500-2000 return, whereas Qantas and other American airlines are around $2500ish return. As (relatively) cash-strapped uni students, weā€™d rather have an extra $1000 in our pockets to spend over in the states.

The ones weā€™re looking at are China Southern at $1500 each return and Korean Air at $1600 each return respectively. Has anyone had any experience with these airlines? If so, were they OK to fly on?

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Iā€™ve flown to Europe twice in the past two years but havenā€™t been to Sydney or Melbourne, or any domestic flight for that matter, in ten years. When I head to Sydney later this year or next Iā€™ll take Jetstar.