2023 Travel Plans

[Flashback]

Now booked - points flights . Also visiting Gagauzia and Transnistria.

Could be interested in tagging along.... my current consulting gigs are remote and when I have to go to site I fly from where I am, so thinking about meandering around the last parts of Europe I haven't hit yet....

 

[mrsterryn]

I can tell I am really excited about the Nov trip to UK. Planning the Harry Potter tour will have been at least five years since the last visit. Now trying to see if Rydges Airport ever has deals
Anyone have updated trips for this year ?

 

[bPeteb]

2023 plans completed although we still might slip something into Oct or Nov

Cairns/Palm Cove six nights that goes over NYE into 2023
60th birthday cruise in March, four nights on Quantum of the Seas
Winton/Longreach three nights over Easter
Magnetic Island May long weekend two nights
Colectomy May one month off work
Bali July nine nights Ubud three, Nusa Dua six
Intrepid Kimberley Overland (Broome return) 19 nights early September
Virgin Voyages six night cruise over Dec 25 from Melbourne on the brand new Resiliant Lady

Now for 2024

 

[kookaburra75]

MrsK and I have locked in our annual "Week Away from Canberra in Winter" week. We picked the LE Taumeasina Island Resort at Samoa, as we haven't been to Samoa before. Locked in return Qantas Bus Class seats to Auckland and back on points - first time on a 787. Overnight in Auckland, and then AirNZ to get to Samoa and back. And then overnight again in Auckland before heading home the next day. The only downside, is I will have dropped off Plat back to Gold, so we won't be able to use the 1st Class Lounge in Sydney - or more to the point, MrsK won't be able to experience the lounge.

We have a trip in March to Rutherglen, for the Tastes of Rutherglen festival. Now to plan something for later in the year

We've just organised our next trip away, to fill in, later in the year.

As per our long established tradition of having a combined birthday trip (our birthdays are 9 days apart in Oct), we are returning to Palm Cove and Port Douglas in Queensland. We're bringing up my parents from Hervey Bay to join us at The Reef House at Palm Cove - I've got them in J so they can relax on the leg from Brisbane at least. 2022 was a bit of a tough year for my family, so having some time away with them will be a nice break.

Now for 2024 planning.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

1st trip of the year (and last of 2022) was 24 days in Japan (Sapporo, Niseko, Hakuba, Tokyo) and Singapore...
Fresh off the back of that I convinced my dad that Hawaii is overpriced and booked a surf trip to Miyazaki prefecture in Japan. Got a great deal on SQ J fares to Fukuoka and very excited to see a different side of Japanese counter culture having spent a considerable amount of time snowboarding over there.

Then a random multi city qantas search led me to find Cathay PY and Qantas J return tickets in November so finally getting to visit Hong Kong after it being on my destination list for probably the last 10 years.

Other than that there is probably 50 or so work trips throughout Aus with a fine balancing act between VA and QF to try and retain platinum for both. Feels good to be on the other side of the last 3 years mayhem!

 

[Muppet501st]

Gallipoli for ANZAC day. Booked thru TripADeal. Never booked an all inclusive tour before, so a first for us. Especially with not knowing what airline we’d be flying on. Booked back in May this year, we just received our flight details, SQ, BNE-SIN-IST. Booked in cheap Y fare, so had to pay to select any seats, so stumped up for exit rows.

And thanks to QF for releasing a couple more seats, will have our first ever Winter Christmas,
BNE-LAX in J, have return LAX-MEL in Y+ so hopefully something direct in J opens up.

 

[mel-world]

One major and a couple of smaller trips planned - harder to budget now that we are retired.

Have burned all our SQ miles for 2 x F seats to Europe, May to July, including the Outer Hebrides, the Austrian Tirol, Italy and our first Viking Cruise from Athens to Venice. Happy that we can now use a Senior Eurail Pass throughout the UK and on the Eurostar as well as in Europe - we love the trains. Expecting a major hit on my credit card.

We will take a trip to Byron Bay to see my family and then a 10-day Coral Expeditions SA Islands cruise in December - we have delayed this for 3 years running so it is a pre-COVID booking they have been happy to keep extending for us at the same price. A good chance to meander through the Riverlands on the way over and stock up on some McLaren Vale and Coonawarra wine on the way back to Melbourne.

 

[JohnK]

I wanted 3 trips to Thailand this year but think current airfare pricing has just about killed it.

BNE//SYD-SIN-BKK//CNX-SIN-BNE next month with 3 days in SYD for daughter to spend with grand parents and then a few days in Pattaya before heading to Chiang Mai. Cost in my opinion is not cheap. $360 + $4000 + $250 for flights BKK-CNX.

Checked June school holidays and airfares close to $6000 return without internal Thailand flights.

Then checked September school holidays and flights close to $5000 return without internal Thailand flights.

Then back to drawing board and it makes sense to check end of year school holidays. Again almost $6000 return.

Then I found this gem for the 3 of us together

- SYD-BKK one way 75,600 QFF points + $420
- BKK-CNX one-way $200
- CNX-BKK one-way $200
- BKK-DPS one-way $600
- DPS-BNE one-way $1100

I think that's brilliant improvisation. 75,600 (useless) QFF points + $2520. I'm not sure how long those award seats will last so had better book now. I can cancel for 6000 QFF points per person so not a huge problem.

Perseverance pays. Sometimes.

 

[OZDUCK]

We were hoping to to wander around France - south of Paris - later this year. Flying out of Perth to Paris, or thereabouts, the cheapest J class (Not Batik Air or the like) flights I have been able to see lately have been on Air Mauritius. The flights would be on A330Neo and A350's and the experience looks perfectly ok on some short reviews that I have seen on-line. Has anyone here flown on them? The current alternative would be to get to SIN or KL in something like ScootPlus and then flying on someone like Oman Air to Paris.

 

[Flashback]

We were hoping to to wander around France - south of Paris - later this year. Flying out of Perth to Paris, or thereabouts, the cheapest J class (Not Batik Air or the like) flights I have been able to see lately have been on Air Mauritius. The flights would be on A330Neo and A350's and the experience looks perfectly ok on some short reviews that I have seen on-line. Has anyone here flown on them? The current alternative would be to get to SIN or KL in something like ScootPlus and then flying on someone like Oman Air to Paris.

I would fly them again without any concern whatsoever, for both Air Mauritius and Oman Air. Solid products.

 

[OZDUCK]

I would fly them again without any concern whatsoever, for both Air Mauritius and Oman Air. Solid products.

Thanks for the reply. Now to decide if we want a few days in Singapore or Mauritius.

 

[Flashback]

Thanks for the reply. Now to decide if we want a few days in Singapore or Mauritius.

Mauritius for sure.

 

[ALH]

February: Lord Howe for 4 nights
March: Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Istanbul for 3.5 weeks
May: Hobart 3 nights
June: Malaysia 2 weeks
October / November: Rwanda / Tanzania for 2.5 weeks

Trying to find more leave to squeeze more trips in.

I’m so happy you are finally getting to Rwanda. The gorillas were a fantastic experience for me (even in a wheelchair & stretcher)

I head off to Turkey next week to meet my cousins. Turkey, Egypt and Jordan. It’s been a long wait for this trip.

Then I’m off to Norfolk Island with Mr ALH in Oct. We had a weekend there last week and it’s pretty nice. Quick flight from BNE.

 

[OATEK]

UK and France booked for 6 weeks late March to early May. France involves Paris and the Normandy area.

Planning for Dec 23/Jan 24 well under way - to have Christmas with eldest daughter's family in London.

UK and France starts very soon.

The Dec/Jan trip is starting to take shape. have SYD-SIN-SYD legs sorted (in PE/Z) and now its SIN-UK-SIN and side trips to pursue.

 

[OZDUCK]

Mauritius for sure.

My wife has family history in Singapore and we haven't been back since 2019 but a Mauritius stopover for a couple of days does look enticing.

 

[Flashback]

My wife has family history in Singapore and we haven't been back since 2019 but a Mauritius stopover for a couple of days does look enticing.

What kind of prices are you seeing for PER-MRU-CDG? I'm not seeing anything remotely palatable...... (compared to the options of out SIN/KUL).

 

[OZDUCK]

What kind of prices are you seeing for PER-MRU-CDG? I'm not seeing anything remotely palatable...... (compared to the options of out SIN/KUL).

Yes not very palatable. Just under twice the price compared to Oman Air who can be booked from around $8,700 for two. But of course that does not include the cost of getting to Asia. I have seen prices around $15,000 for two via Mauritius but that is still a lot less than many other airlines. For example Finnair, using QF out of Perth, starts from $20,000 in September. SQ is from $23,500 up and QR begins at $22,000. CX seems to be possible for around $15,000 as well but with 15 hour plus stopovers and only 3 flights a week. I am very doubtful about using them at the moment.

I am hoping, probably vainly, for reasonable prices to appear otherwise this trip may never happen.

 

[Flashback]

Yes not very palatable. Just under twice the price compared to Oman Air who can be booked from around $8,700 for two. But of course that does not include the cost of getting to Asia. I have seen prices around $15,000 for two via Mauritius but that is still a lot less than many other airlines. For example Finnair, using QF out of Perth, starts from $20,000 in September. SQ is from $23,500 up and QR begins at $22,000. CX seems to be possible for around $15,000 as well but with 15 hour plus stopovers and only 3 flights a week. I am very doubtful about using them at the moment.

I am hoping, probably vainly, for reasonable prices to appear otherwise this trip may never happen.

Ah, I thought you had found something. Noted then!

I've been looking in the October to December period for my folks and the best I can piece together at the moment is $3,500 per person for Y up to KUL and then J from there. MH into KUL direct, Oman Air and Lufthansa flying into LUX. MUC was available for not too much more.

The $2,100 return I got for my folks KUL-CDG return on Oman Air for travel in September last year was a steal.

 

[Seat0B]

Feeling at a loss having just arrived back from an excellent trip to Japan and now not having any travel plans at all for the rest of 2023. I must think about some options and then jump on them if there are sales, award seat releases or DSC offers sometime in the remainder of the year.

 

[Flashback]

Last minute trip, nipping over to Ireland for just over a week to do some hiking.