2021 Travel Plans

[straitman]

2021. I'd like to be able to go to Albury without sitting for an hour or two at a road block....

I'd like to be able to visit Albury or have people from Albury be able to visit us.

 

[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.

 

[Matt_01]

I was not sure to post this here or in the trip planning forum, mods please move if required. We have now booked to NZ for the Sep/ Oct school holidays (moved from Jul) and the plan continues to evolve. The north Island trip has been cut back as we agreed that AKL, Hobbiton (on MrsM bucket list) and a couple of days WLG is all we need as we have been to the north island a number of times.

We are more interested in the south island so we will fly WLG-ZQN, from there we would like to go to Milford Sound and the glacier area's. Can this type of trip be done in a day if chartering a helicopter. This may sound ridiculous however after looking at some of the tours there seems to be a minimum number of pax required for the small fixed wings or choppers to take flight. Some of the choppers are smaller requiring only x2 PAX to take flight. We will be x3 PAX and I suspect it may end up being cheaper to charter a chopper for the day rather than separate tours. I would be interested to know if others have done anything similar.

 

[straitman]

I was not sure to post this here or in the trip planning forum, mods please move if required. We have now booked to NZ for the Sep/ Oct school holidays (moved from Jul) and the plan continues to evolve. The north Island trip has been cut back as we agreed that AKL, Hobbiton (on MrsM bucket list) and a couple of days WLG is all we need as we have been to the north island a number of times.

We are more interested in the south island so we will fly WLG-ZQN, from there we would like to go to Milford Sound and the glacier area's. Can this type of trip be done in a day if chartering a helicopter. This may sound ridiculous however after looking at some of the tours there seems to be a minimum number of pax required for the small fixed wings or choppers to take flight. Some of the choppers are smaller requiring only x2 PAX to take flight. We will be x3 PAX and I suspect it may end up being cheaper to charter a chopper for the day rather than separate tours. I would be interested to know if others have done anything similar.

Matt,
I would contact Helicopters New Zealand in Nelson. No idea of the prices but I believe they are the best option for what you want.
HNZ provided our copilots when I was Chief Pilot at Esso in Bass Strait. They have always been very good to deal with.

 

[wandering_fred]

Early March DRW for the territory age swim championships to support grand-daughter.
August/September (maybe) ASP -
Open invitation from friend in Sri Lanka to come when I am permitted exit from OZ, a reasonable transit option and entry into SL. We are both aging in the meanwhile. No international and SG will default to LTS (thanks to anticipated QF support in March)
Oh to again be wandering
Fred

 

[Mtchrs]

I’m being very optimistic and booked J on CI to Taipei in Dec. This the first leg and from there I’m thinking either South Korea/ Japan or Thailand. Using points only at this stage, QF and some Avios that will expire soon.
Let’s see how the vaccination program and bubbles go, but it’s nice to have something to look forward to.

 

[jb747]

I'd like to be able to visit Albury or have people from Albury be able to visit us.

You can’t go to Albury. Well, actually you can, but you can’t get back. Someone from Bairnsdale (just up the road from you) can....

But, your friends in Albury CAN visit you, as long as they haven’t been out of the “bubble” to the north (which gets them to roughly abeam Wagga).

 

[straitman]

You can’t go to Albury. Well, actually you can, but you can’t get back. Someone from Bairnsdale (just up the road from you) can....

But, your friends in Albury CAN visit you, as long as they haven’t been out of the “bubble” to the north (which gets them to roughly abeam Wagga).

... and it's all changed again!

 

[kpc]

No plans so far...maybe Margaret River if the WA government opens its borders. Darwin and Kakadu mid year perhaps and trips to Adelaide and Tasmania. I don't expect to be going OS in 2021 ....so have more money and time to fix the house

As a Sydneysider, I'm currently banned from going to any of these destinations....and with sudden state border closures and retrospective quarantine, I doubt i will get to any of these places this year.

 

[OATEK]

Booked to HBA early June, with a confirmed booking for a car, so maybe there will be one when we land.

Desperate to fly to UK late November, to spend time with daughter/granddaughter next Christmas seeing as we were banned this year..

Lufthansa have finally come through on a booking I was meant to take last March and then the border closed. It was non-refundable, but they have offered to rebook. So I have confirmed flights LHR-BER-LHR in December! Of course still a big gap to fill and don't expect we will take them even if we get to London in time, but it was fun sorting it out on the phone for 45 minutes - just like the old days.

 

[mrsterryn]

Ok trip to London has been booked (all points ) husband and myself just for two weeks in London .
End of Nov /Dec
Just for fun hopefully we get there but if not it was fun working out flights and things again. It has been quite a while between the infamous drinks

 

[AIRwin]

NTime:

Northern Territory national parks Litchfield and Nitmiluk to charge fees for tourists - ABC News

amp.abc.net.au

 

[JWILLS]

As requested and apologies on the much delayed opening due to you know what, let's talk about 2021 and the aspirational travel plans we may all have.

For the LadyC household, I'm hoping we will start 2021 in a State other than Victoria, probably either Queensland or Western Australia if we are ever allowed entry. The only other main holiday I am considering at this stage is for Europe in December 2021. Hoping to visiting the Christmas Markets in Vienna, some time in London and see the New Year begin in Iceland.

Depending upon the state of play in the world, we would also love some villa time in Bali during 2021 but realistically more likely to be some local short trips (Tassie, Uluru, Sydney).

So what travel plans do my fellow AFFers have for 2021?

I have leant one think with this virus not to book with certain large travel Agents in trying to get refunds - not answer phone, put one on hold , somehow get disconnect, blaming the other party then taking their commission etc.
I had one booking made direct with an airline and was offered full refund or travel credit. Friends booked same flight with a travel agent and still waiting. Similar case with hotel book with a major hotel, Cancelled booking and full refund - no commission.

 

[drron]

That's why you need a good TA with the right connections.
We have a holiday booked for April in WA.We let our TA book the major part rather than online and I am glad we did.If we had booked ourselves there is a no refund policy.Booking through our TA she insisted on a refund or reschedule if it couldn't go ahead.

I'm thinking that as the WA election is on 13/3 there is a chance it will go ahead.

 

[freebo]

Brendan Murphy was on ABC this morning and he said he didn't expect borders to reopen in 2021

 

[desafinado74]

Brendan Murphy was on ABC this morning and he said he didn't expect borders to reopen in 2021

This country is run by moronic pollies and non elected officials such as Murphy. If it was up to Murphy, we will never re open the international borders.

 

[rcn]

Plan for 2021:

- Domestic joy flight, SYD-ADL-ASP-DRW on a classic reward.
During the stopover in ASP, charter a chopper, take photos of all the aircraft in storage.

- Ski trip to NZ coming winter might be possible, otherwise it'll be Thredbo.

Else, stay home, save money.

 

[blackcat20]

We've locked in a Port Douglas/Palm Cove trip for August. Hopefully the border wars have settled by then.

 

[Seat0B]

We've locked in a Port Douglas/Palm Cove trip for August. Hopefully the border wars have settled by then.

The Australia Day lamb ad was so on the money about the border wars - you can see it here if you missed it.

 

[Seat0B]

I just booked QF award flights to Qld in March to celebrate my father-in-law's 90th birthday. I was enticed by the fuss free refund policy for award flights. I was sort of compelled by family obligation, even though I really have a hate on Qld at the moment for their callous exclusionary behaviour last year. It actually feels nice to have a booking on my profile after so long of nothing.