Round the world in 28 days

[ffhound]

Hi all

I just returned from an amazing trip round the world using 140,000 Qantas points. First I'd like to thanks everyone on the boards for all the help in making it possible.

I had always wanted to go to Europe and had spent 12 years studying French and Dutch. Last year I decided to set myself a goal to garner the necessary points to go to Europe. I applied for six credit cards and the Bankwest debit card and accrued around 250,000 Qantas and Velocity points.

I have also been making a vidcast (Amateurogic) with some friends in the US and this year was to be the 10th anniversary of the show. Every year my friends would head off to an Amateur radio festival in Huntsville and shoot an episode there. I soon realised that for just a few extra points I could use the Qantas 140,000 point round the world award and visit the US as well. I knew next to nothing about Huntsville but thought it would be interesting to visit. As it turned out the easiest itinerary was to fly in via Dallas and then to Washington DC to catch a BA flight to London.

So the final itinerary became

Melbourne- Sydney-Dallas- Huntsville-Washington DC - London. and then Amsterdam to Hong Kong to Melbourne. London to Amsterdam (surface sector) was done using the Eurostar and Thalys trains and that part of the itinarary was London - Ashford- Brussels to Amsterdam with a side trip to Bruges.

After planning and booking my trip I started looking at tourist attractions on the route I was taking. This is the final list of all the attractions I was able to see on the journey. Take note at how meny of the world's top museums and art galleries feature in the list.

- Deally Plaza
- Huntsville Hamfest
- Huntsville Air & Space Museum
- Washington Mall (cycling in the Mall was fun)
- Lincoln Memorial
- Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (wow)
- Hyde Park, London (I cycled here - lots of fun)
- British Museum
- Tower of London & Crown Jewels
- Green Park and I saw the outside of Buckingham Palace
- Fish & Chips at a pub in Bayswater
- The Tube ("Mind the Gap")
- Arc de Triomphe
- Eiffel Tower
- Seine River Cruise
- La Defence
- Montmartre & Sacre Coeur
- Avenue des Champs-Élysées
- Musée d'Orsay
- Louvre Museum
- Les Invalides & Napoleon's tomb
- Palace de Versailles
- Paris Metro
- Egham Agricultural Show
- A local apple farm in Ashford
- Brussels Town Hall
- Grote Markt
- Mannekin Pis
- Atomium
- Space exhibition that was on at the time near the Atomium
- Kinderdyke (I cycled there as well)
- Rotterdam harbour boat ride
- Amsterdam canal cruise (I got to drive the boat!)
- Heineken Brewery tour
- Netherlands v Iceland Euro qualifier at Amsterdam Arena
- Vondelpark
- Rijksmuseum
- Van Gogh Museum and Sunflower Maze currently outside museum
- Disneyland Hong Kong
- The Peak & funicular railway at night time
- Star Ferry


Favourite memories - meeting my friends in the US, the fabulous food and coffee in Paris, the wonky buildings in Amsterdam, driving a canal boat in Amsterdam, cycling in Kinderdyke, meeting my relatives in Ashford, the lovely Canals of Bruges, the delicious waffle I had at a cafe in Bruges (yum), climbing the steps of the Eiffel Tower, the view from the Peak in Hong Kong, having my photo taken with Minnie Mouse at Disneyland Hong Kong, arriving home

Not so favourite memories - getting shortchanged by a food vendor in Brussels, slipping and injuring my coxus at Sacre Coeur, seeing that many of the neon signs in Nathan Road, Hong Kong have now disappeared, the tourist prices in Amsterdam, an uncomfortable money belt

All in all a great trip - pictures to follow.

cheers Peter

 

[ffhound]

Sacre Coeur, Paris, France




Outside the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands



A waffle I was served in a Bruges cafe - it was awesome


Brussels Town Hall lit up at night


Napoleon's Tomb

 

[ffhound]

White Cliffs of Dover

Paris from the Arc de Triomphe


Me driving a canal boat in Amsterdam

The mouse and I

 

[ffhound]

Deally Plaza



Space Shuttle at the Huntsville Air & Space Museum


Huntsville Hamfest


Apollo 11 capsule, Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, Washington DC





Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

 

[ffhound]

Elgin Marbles

Fish (actually Scampi) and Chips in London


Cycling in Hyde Park


Eiffel Tower

Netherlands v Iceland at Amsterdam Arena

 

[ffhound]

Kinderdyke, The Netherlands


The view from the Peak at night, Hong Kong

 

[ffhound]

I should add that I have just been approved for the current AMEX promotion which will now give me an additional 110,000 Velocity points so that has my next trip to Europe covered!

 

[ffhound]

Also

Learning from the trip

1. Find a better solution to passport security than my money belt
2. Try where possible to stay at Ibis hotels, particularly Ibis Styles hotels (they are great)
3. Great hotel bargains are to be had at Goseek.com (better than Trivago)
4. Overseas travel is essentially the search for a decent coffee. Thank goodness for Starbucks in the US.
5. The Air and Space museums in Huntsville and Washington DC are amazing
6. The museums and art galleries in Europe are ok but a little overrated
7. Paris is great for food and coffee and there is so much to see and do
8. The reputation of the the American tourist as insensitive and loud mouthed is a myth. All the Americans I ran into were friendly and well mannered.
9. Take plenty of extra cash to Amsterdam
10. The reputation of Parisians as aloof and unfriendly is also a myth. I found them very helpful and nice, but maybe that is because I speak some French.
11. The national dish of Belgium is
12. Belgian waffles are AWESOME
13. When you ask for a coffee in Amsterdam it will often be made using a small Douwe Egberts machine. This should be outlawed immediately.
14. If in Amsterdam go see a Boom Chicago (American comedy troupe residing in Amsterdam) show. These guys are hilarious.

 

[coriander]

Great TR and photos, thanks for sharing.

However, I struggle with "decent coffee"and "Starbucks" in the same sentence :shock:.

Surely an oxymoron..... especially as you are a Melbournite

 

[ffhound]

When there is no good coffee available at all at least Starbucks gives one a caffeine fix. Point taken though. Some credit must be given though in that they have free wifi.

Great TR and photos, thanks for sharing.

However, I struggle with "decent coffee"and "Starbucks" in the same sentence :shock:.

Surely an oxymoron..... especially as you are a Melbournite

 

[JohnM]

A jam-packed and interesting itinerary. Point 9 is a little cryptic; would you care to elaborate :shock:.

Also

Learning from the trip

1. Find a better solution to passport security than my money belt
2. Try where possible to stay at Ibis hotels, particularly Ibis Styles hotels (they are great)
3. Great hotel bargains are to be had at Goseek.com (better than Trivago)
4. Overseas travel is essentially the search for a decent coffee. Thank goodness for Starbucks in the US.
5. The Air and Space museums in Huntsville and Washington DC are amazing
6. The museums and art galleries in Europe are ok but a little overrated
7. Paris is great for food and coffee and there is so much to see and do
8. The reputation of the the American tourist as insensitive and loud mouthed is a myth. All the Americans I ran into were friendly and well mannered.
9. Take plenty of extra cash to Amsterdam
10. The reputation of Parisians as aloof and unfriendly is also a myth. I found them very helpful and nice, but maybe that is because I speak some French.
11. The national dish of Belgium is
12. Belgian waffles are AWESOME
13. When you ask for a coffee in Amsterdam it will often be made using a small Douwe Egberts machine. This should be outlawed immediately.
14. If in Amsterdam go see a Boom Chicago (American comedy troupe residing in Amsterdam) show. These guys are hilarious.

 

[ffhound]

A jam-packed and interesting itinerary. Point 9 is a little cryptic; would you care to elaborate :shock:.

Happy to.

Amsterdam seemed to me to be a bit more expensive than the the other European capitals. I'm not sure if that really is the case but I went through more cash whilst I was there (and I didn't go anywhere near a coffee shop or the red light district).

Speaking of coffee, Amsterdam is ironical. So many coffee shops and so little decently made coffee. Now I know why my Dutchie friends emigrated to Melbourne.

 

[Mattg]

Great stuff. Just goes to show how useful 140,000 Qantas points can be when you know what to do with them.

 

[ffhound]

Climbing the Eiffel Tower at night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5XhRryFs0o

 

[LadyC]

Nice little TR. Thanks for posting. i have also found starbucks a welcome relief at times (mexico is one that comes to mind)

 

[love_the_life]

Thanks for the TR. It's always good to travel vicariously!

 

[ffhound]

Thanks for the TR. It's always good to travel vicariously!

If you want the full experience go to my Facebook page (Peter Berrett). I have made all of the 1,000+ photos public so no need to friend me.

cheers Peter

 

[Buzzard]

Very inspiring thread. Thanks for posting.

 

[ffhound]

By the way I still had 70,000 Velocity points left over from all those credit cards I ordered.


I took advantage of the current Amex offer and have just received my Amex platinum card so that's another 110,000 points plus a free return domestic ticket (effective cost $349 for the annual fee). With 180,000 points I should be able to do another round the world trip or at least a return trip to Europe! The best news is that whilst the Qantas RTW ticket cost me $A840 in taxes and fuel surcharges, any ticket I redeem using Velocity points will cost far less as Virgin don't charge fuel surcharges.

If you are interested in the Amex offer which I believe expires mid October, check out the thread in the Credit card deals section.

 

[ALH]

Great read. Thank you