sjharte
Dec 8, 00, 3:08 am
I have let you have laborious details of my trip out to Sydney on Gulf Air.
My trip to Oz has been brilliant and, as I was only in the country for two weeks, all too short. If you have been over to Oz yet - do so next holiday - you wont regret it.
Anyway, back to the trip report.
The second half of my trip was spent on a wonderful 5 day outback tour (run by a sheep farmer and his familly) through rural New South Wales. See http://www.outbacktours.com.au.
I ended up in Byron Bay and having spending the night there (and feeling like the oldest person on the planet) I had to get back to Sydney in time for my Friday night flight home (which I'm about to take now, having just checked in).
As one way fares on traditional airlines are usualy extortionate, I booked a one way flight on Impulse Airlines (http://www.impulseairlines.com.au) from Brisbane (3 hours from Byron Bay) to Sydney. I booked online and could have got a fare for as low as 99 AUS$ but for when I wanted to go the fare was 145AUS$ which I thought was still good.
My trip up to Brisbane from Byron was very comfprtable (videos shown on the bus) and a steal at only 25AUS$.
From the little I saw of it Brisbane looks hideous and I wouldn't bother spending time there again.
The airport is functional but unexciting.
Impulse Airlines are a low ares airlines in the model of Easyjet in the UK. Like Easyjet they do not issues tickets although you are allocated a seat at checkin.
Unlike Easyjet, they do not have a hideous colour scheme (why do low fare airlines do this?) and instead had a white livery with Australian stars on the tail (not unlike Ansett without the "A"). The cabin staff wore functional white and blue trimed uniforms.
The plane was a B717-200 - which I have never flown in B4. The seating was 2-3 and a lot less cramped than Easyjet. I has a window seat 9A.
The flight time was around 1hr 30 mins and we took off and landed on time.
The inflight service was (as with Easyjet) basic although tea and coffee were free and top ups offered by a very friendly and efficient crew. As I don't drink tea or coffee I paid 1AUS$ for a coke.
As this is my only Ozzie domestic flight I can't say how it compares with the servcie of Qantas and Ansett although it seemed simliar to the short hop domestic service in North America.
We landed at Sydney's "Express Terminal" rather then the Ansett or Qantas or Ansett domestic terminals. It was little more than a cabin but it did mean that everything was down quickly and I had my luggae within 10 mins of landing.
I then had to find out how to get then the International terminal (which was nowhere explained) but I eventually found myself on a bus which cost me 3AUS$ to get there.
All in all a greta flight and I would recommend Impulse anytime - especially for single journies between the East Coast cities.
There is also Virin Blue (http://www.virginblue.com.au) on teh route operating on a similar basis but when I tried to book they were slightly more expensive with not so good flight times.
Hope that this is of interest.
Stephen
My trip to Oz has been brilliant and, as I was only in the country for two weeks, all too short. If you have been over to Oz yet - do so next holiday - you wont regret it.
Anyway, back to the trip report.
The second half of my trip was spent on a wonderful 5 day outback tour (run by a sheep farmer and his familly) through rural New South Wales. See http://www.outbacktours.com.au.
I ended up in Byron Bay and having spending the night there (and feeling like the oldest person on the planet) I had to get back to Sydney in time for my Friday night flight home (which I'm about to take now, having just checked in).
As one way fares on traditional airlines are usualy extortionate, I booked a one way flight on Impulse Airlines (http://www.impulseairlines.com.au) from Brisbane (3 hours from Byron Bay) to Sydney. I booked online and could have got a fare for as low as 99 AUS$ but for when I wanted to go the fare was 145AUS$ which I thought was still good.
My trip up to Brisbane from Byron was very comfprtable (videos shown on the bus) and a steal at only 25AUS$.
From the little I saw of it Brisbane looks hideous and I wouldn't bother spending time there again.
The airport is functional but unexciting.
Impulse Airlines are a low ares airlines in the model of Easyjet in the UK. Like Easyjet they do not issues tickets although you are allocated a seat at checkin.
Unlike Easyjet, they do not have a hideous colour scheme (why do low fare airlines do this?) and instead had a white livery with Australian stars on the tail (not unlike Ansett without the "A"). The cabin staff wore functional white and blue trimed uniforms.
The plane was a B717-200 - which I have never flown in B4. The seating was 2-3 and a lot less cramped than Easyjet. I has a window seat 9A.
The flight time was around 1hr 30 mins and we took off and landed on time.
The inflight service was (as with Easyjet) basic although tea and coffee were free and top ups offered by a very friendly and efficient crew. As I don't drink tea or coffee I paid 1AUS$ for a coke.
As this is my only Ozzie domestic flight I can't say how it compares with the servcie of Qantas and Ansett although it seemed simliar to the short hop domestic service in North America.
We landed at Sydney's "Express Terminal" rather then the Ansett or Qantas or Ansett domestic terminals. It was little more than a cabin but it did mean that everything was down quickly and I had my luggae within 10 mins of landing.
I then had to find out how to get then the International terminal (which was nowhere explained) but I eventually found myself on a bus which cost me 3AUS$ to get there.
All in all a greta flight and I would recommend Impulse anytime - especially for single journies between the East Coast cities.
There is also Virin Blue (http://www.virginblue.com.au) on teh route operating on a similar basis but when I tried to book they were slightly more expensive with not so good flight times.
Hope that this is of interest.
Stephen