Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Travel Advice - DFW to Adelaide (via Sydney?)

I'm making my first trip ever to Australia for business travel in January. I will be working Mon - Friday Jan 15 - 19th in Adelaide but have some flexibility before and several days flexibility afterwards.

I'm looking for advice on -
Best way to travel (fastest, easiest)
Best Airline (I think AA operates via Cathay Pacific and I hear their service is incredible)
Side / Day trips - Adelaide is on the coast in South Australia, but I've heard there isn't much to see or do.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!
:confused:
thanks

Being from Adelaide, I would have thought the fastest possible routing would be likely to be
DFW -> LAX (on AA) -> SYD (on QF) -> ADL (on QF).

As for side trips, Adelaide has more wine regions within a 1-2 hour drive than you can shake a stick at (the Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills, Southern Vales and Clare Valley regions all being worth visiting). That's probably our big drawcard - but as for the stereotypical "see the wildlife" stuff there are good places nearby in the hills at Cleland and Warrawong.

Also see what's playing at the Festival Centre - there's usually something interesting worth seeing if you're into the arts.

Two thoughts. Drive the Great Ocean Road to MEL. Or, fly down to Tassie. Either one is great, although very different.

Being from Adelaide, I would have thought the fastest possible routing would be likely to be
DFW -> LAX (on AA) -> SYD (on QF) -> ADL (on QF).

As for side trips, Adelaide has more wine regions within a 1-2 hour drive than you can shake a stick at (the Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills, Southern Vales and Clare Valley regions all being worth visiting)...for the stereotypical "see the wildlife" stuff there are good places nearby in the hills at Cleland and Warrawong.


Excellent advice!
Welcome to FlyerTalk horn1993.
January, especially the first half, is very quiet in Sydney, so you may score some excellent accommodation deals, and almost as good mid-late January.
Sydney Festival (http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/) is worth a look in case you'd like to see something interesting on your way to or from ADL, via SYD. There is a mix of high culture and pop events.

Be aware that it will be hot (and likely very humid) but if you're from DFW then you're used to it! ;)

I'm making my first trip ever to Australia for business travel in January. I will be working Mon - Friday Jan 15 - 19th in Adelaide but have some flexibility before and several days flexibility afterwards.

I'm looking for advice on -
Best way to travel (fastest, easiest)
Best Airline (I think AA operates via Cathay Pacific and I hear their service is incredible)
Side / Day trips - Adelaide is on the coast in South Australia, but I've heard there isn't much to see or do.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!
:confused:
thanks

The best airline would be the most direct airline. So either QF, UA or NZ and then connect with either NZ if going via AKL or DJ JQ or QF if via SYD to get to ADL.

If you have a bit of time up your sleeve and your travelling J or F then I would go out of my way to enjoy Cathay who IMO are the best but if in Y then I would be looking for the fastest way to get there and routing via HKG adds a decent amount of time to your journey. Also note that CX only fly 3x weekly to ADL from HKG with the return via MEL.

You said you were flying via SYD are you planning on stopping off in SYD on the way back or just transiting?

Welcome to FT:)

QF also flies AKL-ADL 3 times a week. Seems to connect okay LAX-AKL-ADL but only 30 minute connection (I'm sure is illegal) ADL-AKL-LAX.

so.... I'm flying J - best option to be there Sunday is AA / Quantas (QF???) -- but they routed me through DFW > LAX > Melbourne....

Any thoughts on Melbourne vs. Sydney? It's not like I'll have time to visit on the layover.

The return is when I should have some free time. I plan on have Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and fly out Sunday morning. I could either stay in Adelaide, visit wine country, go to Sydney or ????

I can't route the flight on Cathay Pacific (CX??) to get there in time. My corp. travel (AmericanExpress) said best they could do was DFW > LAX > Hong Kong > ADL arriving Monday AM.... (too late for my business.)

So... would appreciate thoughts on whether Quantas business "is worth it" or should I try heroic measures for CX...

Also would love more suggestions on Friday night / Saturday fun time.

Thanks!

so.... I'm flying J - best option to be there Sunday is AA / Quantas (QF???) -- but they routed me through DFW > LAX > Melbourne....

Any thoughts on Melbourne vs. Sydney? It's not like I'll have time to visit on the layover.

The return is when I should have some free time. I plan on have Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and fly out Sunday morning. I could either stay in Adelaide, visit wine country, go to Sydney or ????

I can't route the flight on Cathay Pacific (CX??) to get there in time. My corp. travel (AmericanExpress) said best they could do was DFW > LAX > Hong Kong > ADL arriving Monday AM.... (too late for my business.)

So... would appreciate thoughts on whether Quantas business "is worth it" or should I try heroic measures for CX...

Also would love more suggestions on Friday night / Saturday fun time.

Thanks!
Qantas J is good (NB there is no U in Qantas;) ) as your in need of time then I would take QF over CX and get there the most direct way.

Sydney V Melbourne (this could become a very long thread:p ), Sydney has more for tourists to do plus has the harbour beaches etc. Melbourne is a more friendly city and the layout of the city is much nicer grid layout wide tree lined avenues in the city centre unlike Sydney's mish mash of narrow streets, I guess it depends what you want to do on your time off, but I would definatley goto Sydney or Melbourne and not stay in Adelaide.

So... would appreciate thoughts on whether Quantas business "is worth it" or should I try heroic measures for CX...



CX is good but not *that* good. AFAIK you will add at least 10 hours to the journey time and unless you're lucky enough to be upgraded to F in CX it's not going to be worth it.

QF J is a pretty decent ride. IMO the food and service is consistently good. The most likely hiccup is a temperamental AVOD system but I believe they're slowly working the bugs out of it.

just my 2c

- Take QF, besides being the fastest way.. it also has daily flights
from US(lax) to syd/mel/bne
- I'd suggest Great Ocean Road too
- SYD will be bit hot and humid around that time... but a nice
place to visit.
- if you think you want to visit a few places in AU, check out the
Aussie AirPass (from Qantas)

I think the OP was asking about SYD vs. MEL in terms of transit ease at the airport and not what the cities are like.

MEL is far better for transit as the international/domestic terminals are actually joined in the same building (something like the SFO arrangement). So it is a 5 min walk. In SYD these terminals are built on opposite sides of the aiport and it is a long bus-ride airside to transit (allow 30 minutes for the bus), or if you need to go landside for some reason it costs money to get to the domestic terminal (either train or taxi). Effectively SYD is 2 separate airports, for international and domestic (something like DTW in the US, but further apart for the terminals).

The downside of flying LAX-MEL is the lounge situation at LAX. The SYD flight departs from T4 which has a very nice lounge, however MEL leaves from the TBIT terminal which has closed all lounges for renovation, and has a temporary J lounge in a converted hangar.

As for seating, the QF J seats are superior to the CX J seats (they are one generation later, and in the airline business the last airline to convert wins). CX is putting in new J seats in 2007, so you are catching the tail end of their seat product cycle, while QF is in mid-cycle. Other service elements on QF are quite nice, almost as good as CX, however CX is better. Going via HKG adds a lot of miles, and a day (but has the advantage of being able to spend a day in HKG and overcoming jet lag there). I often fly LAX-HKG-SYD instead of LAX-SYD just to be able to fly on CX instead of QF (but that is for F, I wouldn't do it for J), and the extra day in HKG is well spent (for me). You would have to leave home a day earlier.

If the drive along the ocean is your cup of tea (rather than doing a weekend in downtown MEL or SYD,) buy your ticket DFW--ADL, return MEL--DFW, & rent a car one-way from downtown Adelaide to MEL Airport!

Consider Kangaroo Island if you are staying in South Australia for several days afterward. I have done the great ocean road, stayed in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney, and I enjoyed Kangaroo Island the best. It's very raw and uncrowded and not 'exciting' the way a big city is but very relaxing and great way to see some Aussie nature and wildlife.

As for a quick side/day/afternoon trip in Adelaide, Glenelg is a short tram ride from downtown and very nice beach to visit.