mad_atta

Great report, JVPhoto! Glad you're enjoying Sydney. Not sure if you're still here, but today would have been stunning at the beach!

JVPhoto

Virgin Australia Y SYD-BNE



Check out time at the Adina is 10am (which seems pretty early to me) but maybe it is so that they have enough time to turn the apartments in the event someone leaves all the dishes dirty and things like that...check in is at 2pm though which is nice.
I was going to use an Uber so it could just go straight to my CC but I remembered taxis have no problems with cards here and there was one sitting right outside. The trip going the same route and relative speed (no waiting in traffic) was about $5-7 cheaper than coming from the airport.



I haven't flown with no status or premium cabin since these last intra-AU flights in Dec'13 so I was ready for a few things like having to pay extra weight for my bag, no quicker access security line, regular boarding and what I was worried most about was my carry on. I'm now using the small Rimowa Topas Pilot for my camera bag/carry on. It's not any larger than what others carry, the proportions are a little funky but it is about 12kg loaded and certainly not the listed 7kg carry on.

There was a short line at the bag drop but I got waived over to the purple premium section as it has 3 desks and no one in line. I hiked my bag up on the scale and without missing a beat she said, I'll waive the fee today (it was 25.3kg) but in the future remember it is 23kg. I said thanks and then tried to laugh it off saying I was also in Japan where it was a bit colder so I had a totally schizo bag and had to pack some winter stuff as well.
Security was a breeze.
With enough time I went to the Tap House just out and to the left of security. I wanted the pepper & salt squid but it was battered not grilled. I ordered the pumpkin seasonal salad and then after 3-4 min came over and told they were out of it so ended up with some cous cous, chorizo, peppers, potatoes "warm" salad that I picked at. Remembering my last trip I went down by the gates (40s) and had a glass of wine and watched the planes come and go.
The inbound plane pulled up at 12:20, boarding for us was at 12:30 and they turned it pretty quick I think we boarded like 5 min late.



Now something a little worse than UA. So a straight shoot into the doorway was the purple Velocity Plat/Gold & Biz line and then the red carpet did an L shape for general boarding. The guy came on and said VPG/B to board from Zone 1...at least 50 people all went over...wow was this a UA hub to hub elite heavy G1 type thing? Nope, I then saw later as people got on they just all went over there.
So after maybe 1 min of boarding that group he then said general boarding would commence so I was the 4th person in that line and boarded much quicker than the remaining 35 people or so in the purple lane.



When I flew this last time I don't remember getting actual food. Maybe snack mix, but this time everyone got an egg salad sandwich. It make me think of the episode of The Office where Michael, Andy & Oscar go to Winnipeg on a business trip.

Oscar: [to Michael] I made egg salad sandwiches. Do you want one?

Michael Scott: Could you have picked something stinkier to bring on a plane? My God, Oscar, really. Do you have a bag of baby poop in there, too, to share with everybody? No, I'll be ordering my own food. Thank you very much. [turns to talk to flight attendant] Hi, um, I'd like to see a menu, please.

Flight Attendant: Oh, I'm sorry. There are no meals on flights less than two hours.

Michael Scott: Oh, ok. [looks back at Oscar regretfully]



1:01 flight time to Brisbane, landed on time, quick taxi and people were able to move it off the plane pretty fast. No extra ordinary wait for my bag and then made my way to the Hertz area in the car park to get the car.
I didn't get a Carfirmation or anything in email or the app once I landed. I made the resv for 2pm, we got off at about 1:15 and then I figured by the time I got my bags maybe at 1:30 they would send it.
As I got to the Hertz area I looked for the displays with name/stall # but didn't see it and in the window I saw a sign next to a monitor turned off that mentioned due to security concerns they were not leaving keys in the cars at the location and sorry to inconvenience Gold members.
One agent was helping a few people I went and stood under the Gold sign, she asked "Gold?" I said..."President's Circle" (thanks gifted from United 1K status) and she said "Ohp!" and kinda hopped to it. Didn't have me in the box with 4 papers and asked for more info and then said that she didn't prep it yet I was a little early (about 1:45/50) at this point.
I had rented the basic economy car which was going to be a Toyota Yaris, she asked if I would like a free upgrade to a Camary or a _____. (Couldn't understand).
I mentioned I had no idea what the second one was and she pulled out a laminated sheet and showed me and it was a Toyota Kuga in the mid-size SUV range so I went ahead and took that because I thought I may be hauling a few friends and things while in town. Also if I went down to Gold Coast or around any areas to shoot it's easy to have something where I can lay out equipment and things in the back.



Easy enough on my way. Took a few minutes for the Hertz Never Lost to get the GPS signal while I was just following CITY signs. Well, never lost but one little hiccup at one part instead of taking off the freeway I kept going and then ended up having to cut through a residential area for a bit which added what I think was maybe 10 min on my time to Kangaroo Point.

goodo

Loving this trip report! Welcome to Aussieland

Any chance of telling us what your instagram account is to see more pics?

goodo

LH4116

Must say that Virgin Australia didn't look half bad, and neither did I know that they actually offered something to eat for free. I had always thought of them as a "no frills" low cost carrier, at least that's what they used to be. You could actually have applied for a status match to Etihad Guest Gold so that you get some benefits on VA. But I doubt it would have been worth the hassle for a 1hr flight.

How do you find driving in Australia? Must be pretty weird to have the steering wheel on the right side, if you're used to having it on the left like the rest of the world

JVPhoto

I'm happy to pvt message my IG info.

I think Virgin just bought Tiger which is (along with Jetstar [owned by Qantas]) like the South West, Frontier real no frills thing. But yes, I was surprised too given my last flight with them.
It's fine, I spent a month here before driving. I drove around Cape Town for 2 weeks and I've driven in the Caymans (at least I think that was the "opposite side" one) as well.

BNEFlyer

Always enjoy reading a trip report about Australia, so see the point of view of non-Australians Especially Brisbane!

You had a Ford Kuga (as opposed to a Toyota Kluger). Four wheel drives (SUV's) are really popular in Australia now.

And a note about check in/out times. The usual check in time in Australia is 2pm and check out is 11am or 10am at some places. Occasionally if you arrive early you can get in earlier and if you ask nicely you'll get a late check out till maybe 12pm.

JVPhoto

Brisbane & The Docks on Goodwin







I had spent 5 days in Brisbane last year so this trip it's my longest stint while in Australia. Mostly because there's a group of friends here that I wanted to visit, a few people I was planning to work with and also a former co-worker who is up in Sunshine.

Last time I stayed in the CBD at The Oaks on Felix. This time, I didn't plan on doing any sightseeing, had a better idea of what's around and decided for something on Kangaroo Point. The Docks on Goodwin (on Expedia) had all positive reviews, the photos looked great. Location seemed good in that even with having a car to go elsewhere I could also walk to the Valley across the bridge. I like the location, it's quiet, a few little eats around. I'm not really sure if I would give this place 4.5 stars as it is listed...maybe when it was built and decorated in the 90s?
The price was right, it's spacious, the pool is decent. Free wifi/parking. Washer/dryer, plenty of cooking utensils etc. But, it's just very dated in terms of furniture and decor. I thought they were serviced apartments but there has been no sign of house keeping. Not that I expected them to clean but at least fresh towels whereas I washed them myself in here. At the Oaks they came in and would make the bed, change the towels and also load and run the dishwasher. I'm by no means feeble minded but it took me until the 3rd night to figure out how to actually get the AC to work and kick out cold air.



Around the corner near TSB Hotel there is Mitoki which is "modern Japanese tapas" and it was pretty good. They bring an iPad to your table with the menu and you order from the kitchen on that. Had some soup, sake, yakitori, nigiri and was tempted to order more but wanted to cut back a bit.



The Story Bridge Hotel has what seems to be like 4 or so spots to eat. A breakfast cafe, a steak house, the beer garten and some other dining bar/lounge.
I went for breakfast to get more avo mash but this one was really not good. The bread sucked and even with the lemon there was no bite to it.



Lunch in the beer garten was a bit tastier with an Asian chicken club and steak sandwich.





My friend made her way down from Sunshine and we were out and about for a bit.



Did brekkie at Pearl Cafe near The Gabba which was really good. No low fat milk here! I had a smoked salmon omelet that was pretty bleh but the French toast is where it is at, apparently they change it up seasonly or every now and then. This time it had almonds, poached pears and some sort of whipped cream.



A few errands to run we were in the CBD at Sanitarium Kitchen which if you ask me is just a wretched name. I understand the history of it as being a foods company from the 1800s...but still.
In any event, the all veg menu was really good. If I were working around there I know I would be a regular.



Trade off one friend for my tradie pal just done with some landscaping so after 2 years I could finally shoot him.



Bit on my own one night walked across the bridge to the Valley to get some food and find a drink or six.



Walked around Brunswick Street Mall and other places just to see what I would pop into and just one street over in "Chinatown" went to PhoB which had friendly people working, good prices and the food was tasty.



I love ginger beer as much as I do green tea and was happy to have come across this one there. It's much crisper and not as sweet as most. It's only 3.8% alcohol but is all natural and preservative free.



Only a bit of melancholy walking across the bridge.



Snacks in order for some kicking back by the pool.



Did some nice running around Kangaroo Pt to work off the beers and food. Did the stairs twice to get the blood flowing.



My other form of working out.



The weather went crazy (video)

A drive over to South Bank to get some food. Walked around but started to rain so didn't take too long to decide. Was going to go to The Beach Club and then Indian but decided on Asado the Argentinian BBQ.







I thought it would be more expensive but whole meal came out to $55AUD so with my strong USD it was a pretty good meal.

On my previous trip I went out to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary to see the koalas and kangaroos which is something I would recommend doing if you are in Brisbane. The other thing I would recommend doing is driving down and staying in Byron Bay which is much more exciting.

goodo

Loved Sanitarium in Brisbane, my old head office used to be right next to there.

goodo

JVPhoto

Qantas Y BNE-MEL


Flight was at 2, check out was at 10 so headed to Hamilton to say goodbye to a friend and watch a little bit of storage wars before I headed to the airport.



It started raining and coming down. Not as windy or like yesterday but a pretty good downpour. I stopped by the BNE service station to get fuel for the car and even with the rain coming down I could hear the planes coming and going so seemed like things would be okay.

Car drop off was easy. My last trip I only flew in to BNE and out of MEL so this was my first time flying out of BNE and in to MEL. I OLCI so I went to tag my bag. I knew it was 25kg from the VA check in. I thought when I printed the tag it would have asked if it was oversized then and I could have paid the $30 AUD. So took it to the bag drop, it scanned the tag and weighed in then printed out the heavy bag tag to attach. The reader kept saying it couldn't see it and finally said to get assistance. Even with the QF lady helping it took two more times, then it was off to the sales counter to pay.



I had bout 90 min before my flight so I wandered around the terminal for a bit. Saw the QF retro livery which was actually the 1pm flight to MEL.



My gate (18) was over passed the Qantas regional prop plane section and only thing there was one newstand kiosk and a sandwich/wine bar.



I'd go where he's taking me.



Walked around a bit more and came across quite the state of the art departure/arrivals displays at BNE: No VHS glitch filter (video)

Like the Virgin flight the boarding didn't really make sense. They announced J/Elite to go through the left lane and at the same time people went into the Y lane and the one GA would just scan anyone in and people seemed to just be alternating. No row number slots were enforced either.



Last time I flew on one of the A330s with the big leather J seats. This time all cabins were cloth, IFE was drop down, much brown and the cabin smelled like egg salad sandwich (was I on my Virgin flight??).

I was originally in the back half but at OLCI I moved up to the front few Y seats so I got my tea pretty quick and was offered cheese and crackers or a cookie.



Service was fine, they even came through another time with small water bottles. I will say the only interesting thing was that the FA made me put my lap top in the overhead bin during take off. I had it on the seat next to me as we were starting to taxi and as she came by I took it (Mac Air) and put it in the seat back pocket. She said laptops couldn't go there and had to be put above. I'm not sure why. The woman next to me had a water bottle and 3" thick hardback book in hers. The lady across had her iPad in hers with a folding keyboard case that was thicker than my Air.

Bags came off pretty quick, mine was actually like the first few. No priority tag but maybe because it was heavy?
Quick walk over to Hertz and the economy size Yaris (or similar) I had reserved and with President's Circle it had my stall # on the board and I had been upgraded to a Corolla.



No one asked me about tolls like at BNE or where there are EasyPass type things in the cars. I went online to the Citylink.com.au site but I'm not sure if I should figure out the registration # and put that in and pay the toll or if Hertz will just bill me after the fact (hopefully no additional surcharge). A little more searching and I found this Hertz Toll Day Pass where it says you can opt out, but I'm hoping you are automatically opted in?

JVPhoto

Melbourne & Art Series: The Blackman





Just a quick 3 nights in Melbourne. My trip to Australia before I was in the area for about 10 days. I then was staying with my best friend at his parents' house in Mt. Eliza down on the Mornington Peninsula. With that most of the the stuff we did was wine tasting, hanging out on the peninsula, going to Sorento, etc. We did do 2 nights and 3 days in the city last time. With that I had little people to see and things to do here but it was where I was able to catch the MEL-LAX non-stop Dreamliner.





Looking around at hotels online I came across The Art Series group to which there are a few. Each one has the decor and things inspired by a particular artist. I stayed at The (Charles) Blackman which sits fort of on the convergence of South Melbourne, South Yara and St. Kilda up next to Albert Lake & Park.



Pretty standard check in coming in the early evening. Only one desk agent and the man before me seemed to ask her countless simple questions. Finally I was up and in the room which was a balcony studio. I forgot until walking in that it also had a small kitchenette with toaster oven, stop top, normal size fridge and sink.











Wifi was 9.95/day. Underground parking is $25/day. There is a coffee shop, baker open during the day and then an Italian wine bar at night. Beds were really soft, minibar had a good selection and prices weren't THAT bad. The wine was a bit overpriced at $25/bottle but easy to fix by going to a bottle shop and picking up something for $10. There's a fitness center on site which I used, no pull but you are allowed to go to one of the sister hotels which is about 2km away and use that if you would like.

Ventured out on Sunday night to The Emerson Hotel on Commercial Road near Chapel St which is the see and be scene gay boy night. Went about to suss out some food but didn't find so much in the evening to took a stop on the corner at Noodle World to get something to go. All of the stuff is laid out and then maid fresh, I got some really delicious fried rice to eat while I walked back (and some sips of my wine in a paper bag). That was until I almost dropped it getting scared by seeing 2 guys flying a drone in the middle of the night.





Melbourne has lots of good eats. My friends know better than I but I went around for some things on my own. I was happy with my choices, some I had been to before.



Killing some time walking around Brunswick St. in Fitzroy I wanted to get a juice at Vegie Bar. I ended up having a full lunch there with some "raw tacos" which were really good. The staff were all friendly and great and I'm sure if The Cranberries or Slater Kinney were playing an impromptu park concert they would all be the first to bolt over.



Walking around St. Kilda one night I stopped by Rococo to get some food. It had opened doors out to the street and seemed lively. Once I sat down someone must have pumped sewage near the street because something waft in.



Service was done without a smile. It took about 25 min from ordering to get the bruschetta (which was very good) and then 2 min after that came the white garlic pizza (SO GOOD). If the food had sucked I would have been more upset about the "tip" already being included in the price I paid.





Back around St. Kilda the next night I didn't feel like going far and was going to meet someone at The Epsy but that fell through and still went anyways and then I went next door to Ichi Ni for some Japanese food.

The server steered me away from a sake he said was more like limoncello to this great sparking unfiltered.



Pretty hungry I was ready to dig in. The potatoe salad with wasabi at first seemed bland until I started digging. The yakitori were really good. The sushi was pretty standard but enjoyable. Would for sure go back.







Deadman Espresso in South Melbourne had the best avocado mash toast of any of the ones I had before. I was excited to go back but sad when I saw it was no longer on the menu.



They had green veg pancakes with smoked salmon, edamame salad, poached egg and greens that seemed intriguing so I went for that.



Happy I did! One of the more interesting and satisfying dishes I have had.



Parking took 10-12 min that morning and when I went back I paid closer attention to where I parked. Seems like it might have been Melbourne's Sin Street. The first place had a "no refunds" sign and a mirrored entrance window, next was "Topes Treasures" and furthest was the Melbourne Coliseum which had the tag line below it "Arena of Goddesses & Pleasure".



I originally was going to wake up at 6:15 to leave the hotel by 7am to fuel the car, drop it off and make my way through. I ended up waking up on my own about 5:30 and stayed up until then and just got up and ready and finished packing leaving instead at 6:30. Some traffic closer to the airport put me in at about 45 min (including getting fuel). Dropped it off quick and got to the UA counters just as they started to open at 7:20. More to come once I get off the plane and have some time in LA.

stevie

Great TR, very interesting, thanks for posting. I long to go back to Northern Thailand, and will do some day.

JVPhoto

A fun (live) little tidbit from the flight:

An FTer follows me on Instagram...he commented that his sister, neice & BiL were on the flight.
Ends up in sitting right next to his sister in the 2-2-2 middle! So I also passed along the good news from him their TCON got upgraded to J.

JVPhoto

United BusinessFirst MEL-LAX 787-9 Dreamliner

The flight is at 10:15am (I think one day a week it runs in the afternoon around 2pm) so I was planning on getting up and leaving the hotel by 7am to give me to to get fuel, drop off the car, etc.
I ended up waking 30 min before my alarm so I just got got up did my business and left around 6:30am. Took me about 45 min to drive, fuel, drop the car off and get to the UA counters right at 7:15 when they were just starting to take passengers.



There's a Y line, a *G & UA Silver/Gold line and then a BF/Plat/1K/GS one. Check in was quick and easy and given a Express card and a quick run down on where to go and find the lounge.



There was hardly anyone in security and a handful of people in the other lines at passport control. Both took maybe 2.5 min but the most time taken was quickly filling out the departure card.



I was pretty impressed with the lounge. Not so much the look and feel (very dated, like a mid-range hotel in the mid-90s) but the food and staff were not what I expected. As I checked in the woman at the desk gave me a friendly welcome and info about the lounge. There was a nice young girl cleaning up plates and bottles and then an older woman bringing out food with a smile and mentioning that she makes the jam at home.





You can tell the food is done by someone who loves it. Everything had sort of a small luxury B&B home crafted feel to it. Antipasti, fruit, museli, toast, salmon, cheese, toasted ham & cheese croissant and a few other things made for a good breakfast.





I was gathering my stuff at 9:40 for the 9:45 boarding time just as the agent made an announcement to head to the gate. Wasn't too far but took a few min to get to Gate 14 and about 10 people in G1 lined up, 3 in G2 and no one else was up. About 2 min later they started boarding. No real good views of the plane from this gate.



I went for the mini cabin since I figured it would be closer to the exit door at LAX and to get the bulkhead larger footwell since when I was picking seats the middle 2-2 in row 1 were already taken.
Boarding the FAs were pretty friendly, giving out drinks, menus, etc. One family of 3 teens and a Mom were doing to seating shuffle and couldn't figure out the seats listed on their BPs. I think they initially all wanted to sit across from each other but the two older teens you could tell were happy to have Mom on the other side of the aisle further back. I was ready for them to ask me to move as they were across from me but I would not be giving up my footwell on this trip.



I saw this on my IFE handset and got nervous it wouldn't work. Luckily the buttons were fine and the screen was well, I just couldn't use the touch display on the handset.



We pushed back pretty much on time, everything looked good and take off was one of those where it felt like pilot was already starting to gun it as we were turning from the taxi way onto the runway.









Salmon was good and the sauce a change of pace.


Nice leafy greens.


Well this is convenient. I had a House of Mandela s.blanc that was good and I've had on past UA flights.


Rice was cooked fine, fish a little over cooked but sauce had good flavor and veg was nice.


The brie, blue & cheddar were all really good.


Boooooring & tired sundae.


I went into the gallery with 7 hours left to get a snack, was told to wait 30 min and the relief crew would put them out. The fruit was fresh, I didn't like the chips. Sandwiches were okay but a ilttle bland. Also some TimTams and cookies out.

Eggs were overdone. Greens and ham below were good. Sauce wasn't bad. Fruit all fresh and sweet. The yogurt was really good. It was pretty rushed as they started bringing out the trays with 1:01 left in flight time.


I think I slept for maybe 4 hours or so, I really didn't pay much attention when I got up. I tried sleeping a bit more through the flight even with another screwdriver but wasn't too successful.



Even with the earplugs you could hear the baby in the first row of Y+ crying for 75% of the flight. I couldn't imagine being in the other rows closer to it.
One funny bit was that I actually ended up sitting RIGHT NEXT to a fellow FT'ers sister and her husband and daughter across the aisle from them. After seeing on Instagram I was on the flight and some back and forth (I bought WiFi which was $16.99 and worked for all of the flight except for about an hour or so 3 hours into the flight) we came to the conclusion that I was next to her. Passed along the message that their p.s. upgrades cleared to JFK.



I didn't mind the now window shades. Light didn't bother me, I liked being able to still see out of the windows a bit even just walking up and down the aisles.



We flew right through the Big Island, I was a little nervous because I don't remember my 747 flights going that close to Hawaii and I thought "oh crap, are we actually heading to HNL for a stop??" We just kept on trucking.

Little glitch in the map through I would take those extra miles.


I won't go into more details but in the UA DYKWIA thread I posted about one pax who followed around FAs complaining about various things for most of the last 4 hours of the flight...so that provided some entertainment as I was pretty bored with some of the IFE.

Landed and didn't have to taxi too much as we were getting off at TBIT and not T7. Global Entry was a breeze, there were lots of other automated kiosks. SYD & MEL were on the same baggage claim and once I got down there took about 12-15 min for bags. The lines were pretty long through customs but the GE one had one lady in front of me struggling to carry her purse and trolley bag. I mentioned she should maybe pull out the handle of the bag it would be easy to maneuver...

Waited about 10 min for the Hertz bus to show up.
I used the Hertz "Manager's Special" for kicks where you get a pretty cheap rate but don't know the car you get until you showed up. Well that was a Toyota Corolla with 25k miles and a pungent odor that I was able to air out driving to WeHo with the windows down.

Madone59

So is that area intended to be a bar/ storage area or was it makeshift? I know in row 1 of F on some LH aircraft, and others, there is a bar, See HERE, but this just looks like tacky (IMHO) and if it is makeshift then start ducking in case of turbulence because bottles will be flying.

Thanks for the great TR JVPhoto!

JVPhoto

In the front BF cabin that area is a bit lower and they have booze and the snacks there. In this one they just had it out while they were doing meal service. The snack cart was set up on a trolley in front of the door.
I didn't mind it during dinner but I wouldn't have liked the snack basket to be set there all flight and people hovering around me. After I got up to use the lav I topped myself off.

Sometimes on the ps flights they'll also set up the snacks on the ledge in Row 5 A/B since its a half wall.