2021 Travel Plans

[JohnM]

Just locked in this using my deposit-on-hold from the Indonesian Spice Islands voyage of January that was cancelled:

Abrolhos Islands and the Coral Coast | Departs Fremantle & Broome | 12 Nights

Explore Western Australia’s wild and largely untouched coast, with its contrasting coastal palette of rich red sands and turquoise sea.

www.coralexpeditions.com

I'm keeping travel to within WA as much as possible again this year. Hopefully the current debacle in the south-west doesn't escalate to excluding flying PER-BME in October to commence the voyage.

 

[tgh]

I am a fan of Coral Expeditions , but do not like their non refund policy at all.
The only was they will get another booking from me will be just before sailing

 

[Toula92122]

I can't be the only one that is starting to feel desperate enough to want to get on a plane and just go anywhere overseas. I did a Darwin trip in January and have a FNQ booked for April but in reality all I want is to be planning a trip overseas. If they dropped the hotel quarantine requirement I would be gone in a heartbeat somewhere.

 

[straitman]

Currently we have a few things booked with nearly all of it being with credits. I.e., minimal new outlay and fully refundable. I fully expect that a lot of this will change but it’s important to have dreams.

We plan to head to Hobart for a few days sometime in the next few weeks.

Mid to late April we ‘plan’ to head off by road with a few days in the Nelson Bay area then in turn a week of timeshare at Coffs Harbour, Tweed Heads and then the Gold Coast for an Air Force pilots course reunion.

Mid May from the Gold Coast a trip to Fiji for 4 weeks of timeshare and then a 1-week island cruise around Fiji.

Mid October we have a cruise booked from Singapore to Brisbane.

Early December another cruise from Sydney to Sydney around New Zealand.

March 2022 a cruise from Sydney to Brisbane around Papua New Guinea.

June 2022 off to Fiji again for 3-4 weeks timeshare.

As expected this trip is in tatters.

It's a bit early to cancel the Fiji part of the trip however it seems the decision has been taken from us. Last night I accidentally discovered that VA has cancelled the flights to/from NAN. Now to chase them for credits. (again)
FJ still has flights available at just below $1000 each way which is about 3 X the normal price so that's not going to happen. I can't even look at QF as their site crashes whilst looking it up.

I'll keep trying until we actually get somewhere however it is getting rather frustrating and tiring.

 

[Major]

Well, the plan was to go to Venice and Avignon. Neither will be happening in 21. I have a booking at a van park in Qld, but I'm still betting about 50:50 on whether they'll be allowing zombies to enter the state by May.

Zombies are now welcome. Please come up and join us

 

[Vic]

Just work trips for me. Feb Sydney meeting turned into zoom... so moved the flights to April for that meeting. We have a site visit planned for april - so hope that doesn't turn into zoom.

Been zooming to europe, but that mob want a face to face sit down in November in Canada... So we'll see.

Otherwise, we have Hamiliton tickets in Sydney, and maybe sunny Queensland for a major birthday.

Work has me at about 2nd or 3rd priority for the vaccine... So I give it 50/50 to actually travel.

 

[PerthPaul]

I was originally booked PER-SIN-LHR rtn for March April last year and obviously had to cancel. So I have bitten the bullet and booked PER-LHR-PER from early November to early December 2021 with my fingers well and truly crossed that it goes ahead. There is a little flexibility built in there, (thanks QF) but this will be a very different trip to my last long distance trip. I now only have one leg, wheelchair reliant and I’m going economy. So I hope the Dreamliner is what it says and that the level of support from the cabin staff it’s usual good standard.

 

[JohnM]

Yesterday I received an email from Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions advising that the Indian Pacific is resuming tomorrow.

I have a deposit on hold for a cancelled SYD-PER ride back in October 2020.

Bit the bullet and booked leaving SYD on 1 December. Snared a QF award seat in J on an A332 on 30 November to get me to SYD.

Tunnel; light...

 

[PerthPaul]

Yesterday I received an email from Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions advising that the Indian Pacific is resuming tomorrow.

I have a deposit on hold for a cancelled SYD-PER ride back in October 2020.

Bit the bullet and booked leaving SYD on 1 December. Snared a QF award seat in J on an A332 on 30 November to get me to SYD.

Tunnel; light...

Definitely a step in the right direction....good luck

 

[jase05]

Pretty regular work trips currently both interstate and intrastate but Hobart for a week at Easter and flights booked for 14 games of AFL/NRL in Melbourne and Sydney so far

 

[daft009]

No more talk of the Singapore bubble or the Pacific islands bubble by the Govt

Would love a Fiji trip this year

 

[straitman]

No more talk of the Singapore bubble or the Pacific islands bubble by the Govt

Would love a Fiji trip this year

Fiji wants tourists but cannot afford to risk having any COVID introduced into the country as their health system could not handle it. That is why they haven’t allowed anyone in yet.
We have just cancelled our May-June trip and rebooked for November though I am not overly optimistic at this stage.

 

[Seat0B]

I was originally booked PER-SIN-LHR rtn for March April last year and obviously had to cancel. So I have bitten the bullet and booked PER-LHR-PER from early November to early December 2021 with my fingers well and truly crossed that it goes ahead. There is a little flexibility built in there, (thanks QF) but this will be a very different trip to my last long distance trip. I now only have one leg, wheelchair reliant and I’m going economy. So I hope the Dreamliner is what it says and that the level of support from the cabin staff it’s usual good standard.

Hi @PerthPaul and welcome to posting on AFF.

I have done a fair bit of travel on crutches, and my adult daughter also unfortunately broke her ankle (playing competitive frisbee ) before a planned family ski trip to Japan in 2018 but went anyway. So I can say from my experience that Qantas are very good at supporting people who need a bit of an extra hand eg carrying cabin bags, early boarding etc. It's worth calling them and letting them know about your needs in advance. Also worth asking if you can have an extra leg room seat - you won't qualify for an emergency exit row with a mobility disability, but there are other seats that are a bit better in terms of leg room than just random seat selection. You may have to pay, but even if the seats are already allocated to others, they might 'bump' that person and refund their money and give you the seat on the basis of need, if you ask - a bit like how they allocate the seats with baby bassinets to whoever books them, but then bump if an actual parent with an infant needs the bassinet. Also the curb to gate to curb wheelchair assistance gets you whisked through immigration and security (departure) and immigration and customs (arrival) much faster and avoiding lots of long lines - even if you are last off the plane, you will still be faster through various clearances in my experience. I expect you've done it before, but do allow extra time to pass through security, as I am sure you will get fairly thoroughly checked out by the security staff, and that can take a while. I hope you have a good experience, and I really really hope the trip goes ahead.

 

[PerthPaul]

Hi @PerthPaul and welcome to posting on AFF.

I have done a fair bit of travel on crutches, and my adult daughter also unfortunately broke her ankle (playing competitive frisbee ) before a planned family ski trip to Japan in 2018 but went anyway. So I can say from my experience that Qantas are very good at supporting people who need a bit of an extra hand eg carrying cabin bags, early boarding etc. It's worth calling them and letting them know about your needs in advance. Also worth asking if you can have an extra leg room seat - you won't qualify for an emergency exit row with a mobility disability, but there are other seats that are a bit better in terms of leg room than just random seat selection. You may have to pay, but even if the seats are already allocated to others, they might 'bump' that person and refund their money and give you the seat on the basis of need, if you ask - a bit like how they allocate the seats with baby bassinets to whoever books them, but then bump if an actual parent with an infant needs the bassinet. Also the curb to gate to curb wheelchair assistance gets you whisked through immigration and security (departure) and immigration and customs (arrival) much faster and avoiding lots of long lines - even if you are last off the plane, you will still be faster through various clearances in my experience. I expect you've done it before, but do allow extra time to pass through security, as I am sure you will get fairly thoroughly checked out by the security staff, and that can take a while. I hope you have a good experience, and I really really hope the trip goes ahead.

Thanks for that. It’s a great help. As I’m travelling alone I’ve had to book an aisle seat near the disabled loo simply for convenience. That I’m not looking forward to...Neither am I looking forward to PER-LHR direct but direct means less to go wrong with no stops.........touch wood

 

[Drakecula]

Probably not a lot of travel this year for us. I'm planning on using most of my saved up leave for when we move mid next-year. But I do have a little list of things to do. If I can find somewhere to stay I'd like to surprise MrD with a trip to Temora for the warbirds show. I have never been to the Dubbo zoo. Little trips like that.

That warbirds show got cancelled. There is one in Geelong later this year that we'd like to go to, we'll see I guess. Though we are going to Hobart to visit my friend for Easter, so yay for that!

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

HI Perth Paul.
After a ski accident, when I thought I was 18 again, a couple of years ago and breaking numerous parts of my tired old body I required disabled assistance on several flights.
I found airlines to offer exceptional service. Wheelchairs, luggage assistance, priority at customs, imigration and Etc.
On a couple off flights I was wheeled across the tarmac and loaded onto a special
Lifting device (a sort of fork lift ) and entered through a door on the opposite side to the passenger entry.
It seems that the Airlines are not allowed to question as to why you need disabled assistance - I guess the privacy rules apply. This is causing problems as some passengers see the advantage of wheel chairs and make the most of it. On a flight from Singapore they had 20 requests for chairs on arrival in Australia !

 

[Flashback]

I can't be the only one that is starting to feel desperate enough to want to get on a plane and just go anywhere overseas. I did a Darwin trip in January and have a FNQ booked for April but in reality all I want is to be planning a trip overseas. If they dropped the hotel quarantine requirement I would be gone in a heartbeat somewhere.

I know the feeling. Even domestic isn't really an option here (UK).

I am more likely to be flying for work before personal though, as the COVID test tax runs in at £400 or so for a return trip. Whack that up by another £1750 if the country is on the red list and has hotel quarantine on return. Portugal is about to be removed from the red list though, from what I hear. France may end up on it soon.....

In any case, the first step is completed for my work flying, my passport has travelled nearly 13,000 miles (so 13,000 more than I have!) and now has the relevant visas in it. We weren't able to source them in the UK, so had to think outside the box. It worked.

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

Obviously cancelled International trips booked for this year but to feed our addiction have had several interstate trips squeesed in around lock outs wondering
if we would end up in quarantine.

Don't think there will be much opportunity for overseas for the rest of this year even though Qantas are looking at October, but have booked for January next year
to the Italian Alps and am considering booking month by month until we run out of points.

The idea is if we can't go in Jan we will go in Feb, if we can't go in Feb we will go in March. after March who knows - but somewhere with snow and skiing.

The difficulty will arise when we have applied all of our points to bookings and need to cancel unavailable flights to release points for a further booking. Instead of booking up to 12 months ahead we will be looking at a few months ahead.

It is my expectation that once the world opens up demand will be huge.

But we live in hope !


.

 

[Flashback]

Obviously cancelled International trips booked for this year but to feed our addiction have had several interstate trips squeesed in around lock outs wondering
if we would end up in quarantine.

Don't think there will be much opportunity for overseas for the rest of this year even though Qantas are looking at October, but have booked for January next year
to the Italian Alps and am considering booking month by month until we run out of points.

The idea is if we can't go in Jan we will go in Feb, if we can't go in Feb we will go in March. after March who knows - but somewhere with snow and skiing.

The difficulty will arise when we have applied all of our points to bookings and need to cancel unavailable flights to release points for a further booking. Instead of booking up to 12 months ahead we will be looking at a few months ahead.

It is my expectation that once the world opens up demand will be huge.

But we live in hope !


.

The Alps will be pretty cold in January!

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

The Alps will be pretty cold in January!

Cab be Flashback but the bigger problem the unreliability of snow (except this year when they had huge amounts and no skiers ). But we must take the grand children so we have to go in their school holidays if possible.