Surfers Paradise Hilton hotel evacuated as fireball appears to fall from roof - ABC News
1 Like
I havenât been to the goldy for 15 years but my god have skyscrapers popped up at surfers and Broadbeach.
1 Like
They sure have.
I was in Hawaii recently, and it hasnât changed nearly as much in the last 30 years as the Gold Coast has.
For the better or the worst?
Probably worse, Gold Coast felt more modern to me, Hawaii looked a bit old fashioned by comparison.
definitely the worst. i live in the west of Brisbane where its an hour to surfers and Iâve been going for 25 years. the north end, especially around surfersâ paradise is just a tacky tourist trap now. we go south to tallebugera where you can actully relax, or go north to the sunshine coast and use the inlaws holiday unit at coolumn
1 Like
1 Like
âWe are gradually getting rid of these annoying paper cards,â Johnson said.
âThere has been a trial underway here at Brisbane Airport for the past five months with a handful of New Zealand flights.
âIt has gone so well, today they roll it out to all international arrivals on Qantas flights coming into Brisbane Airport, saving 20 million paper copies ⌠a year, saving a lot of patience from passengers having to beg flight attendants for pens or getting the tray table down again at the last minute.
Sydney and Melbourne airports to follow.
3 Likes
2 Likes
Any decent backup or contingency would have at least 20% operating. What a shambles. That whole country is a shambles at the moment actually.
1 Like
Was reading that QANTAS flights from Perth and Singapore were affected and were diverted to Paris! Customers then put on buses to London.
What a nightmare of a trip that would have been (about 450 km from Paris to London via the Chunnel).
Diversions are awful, my flight back to SYD (from USA) last week was diverted to Auckland and it was a 6 hour wait there before the leg to SYD (plane needed to refuel due to strong head winds).
4 Likes
2 Likes
Iâve found itâs much easier to get into the US if you go via Hawaii, they donât question your motives there at all hardly⌠Most unlike the near interrogation âtell us your life storyâ I got at San Francisco last year.
1 Like
I had one of those in 2023. The bloke appeared confounded by the concept of transiting through.
Iâd really like to go to the US sometime but my wife has a fear of pretty much being shot as soon as getting off the plane so sheâs going to take some convincing but the other thing is all of this interrogation stuff. I just want to go and check things out - I donât want to have a full plan and itinerary, I just want to see what a long haul plane trip is like, go to another country thatâs like ours but different and then see what I decide to do when I get there. I get the feeling that wonât really pass the tests though.
Itâs much easier if you are travelling as family/couple.. the interrogation only really seems to happen to solo males or maybe males travelling together.
And the other thing, the USA is sooo expensive for food and drinks these days.. about 60% more than Oz when you factor in exchange rates, taxes and tips. Itâs a bit cheaper in the smaller cities.
3 Likes
I didnât get questioned much. I was travelling with my partner and was just asked when we are leaving and where we are going.
As for the getting shot. New York has very strict gun laws. They are not allowed outside your house. And there is signs about them not being allowed in public. I didnât feel unsafe while being in any of the places I was in. And as long as you stay away from schools you should be fine.
Radiohead is bang on about prices. Every meal we ate was around $150au between us and that didnt include a tip.
3 Likes
Las Vegas was good value prior Covid. I say good value in that you could get a decent hotel for under $200 (we often got 5 star for $150), car hire cheapest across the country, and food was priced good. Now itâs as expensive as NYC. We like to hang around in NYC for a good 2 weeks in the summer, probably cost us 10k in hotels now. Might need to go in the snow season instead in which you can still get some good deals.
The other half will probably want a Hawaii trip in the coming years again, too scared to look how expensive itâs got but, already was well before Covid.
Where is good value in travel these days? Seems like Bali and Thailand are still somewhat decent in pricing.
Iâve been building up that QFF points balance so any future trips the pricey hotel pricing can somewhat be offset by the reward flights.
Here in Australia is looking pretty good to me now! Compared to Europe and US anyway.