Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with melbourne and travel

Keeping Busy

sycophant — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:35:07 -0800

Keep us busy in Melbourne. What to do for a few days in Victoria's Capital? My wife and I are visiting Melbourne for four days in about a week. We've got a few things planned (art exhibit at National Gallery, dinner on one night, optimistically in the audience for Rove) but basically have three days free.

We were last there for a little under a week about three years ago, and did some of the most obviously touristy thing then, but are looking for some more inspiration this time around.

We're planning to visit Bridge Road, and maybe the museum, but that's about all we've got on our minds for sure this time around. We're staying in the CBD and probably planning to stick relatively central, but we're not afraid of a wee train or tram journey for something interesting.

Bonus points for a few great ideas in close proximity. And, I suspect, Mrs. Sycophant would be interested in other bargain shopping opertunities beyond Bridge Road and DFO.

Sydney and Melbourne with a baby?

k8t — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:36:34 -0800

Sydney and Melbourne with a 10-month-old in September. Any suggestions? We're taking advantage of the cheap travel to AU from the US and taking our little family on a trip to Sydney and Melbourne. I haven't been in 15 years, SO has never been. 4 days in each city. (Hotel in Sydney: Menzies Hotel and hotel in Melbourne: Swanston Hotel Melbourne Grand Mercure to give you a sense of location.)

Any baby-friendly suggestions for activities and dining? Thankfully the baby is good natured and is pretty tolerant of museums and the like.

SO is into nature and photography. I like food, funky markets and interesting cultural stuff (ethnic neighborhoods, for example). Baby is into playgrounds.

We have a bunch of travel books and sites, but personal recommendations are great.
TIA!

Ordering a return ticket Melbourne to Los Angeles with V Australia; can I travel to LA and cancel the return flight for a refund?

Eastgate — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:31:51 -0800

I'm going to be flying one way from Melbourne, Australia to Los Angeles with V Australia. It's cheaper to book a return ticket than a one way ticket. Can I cancel the return flight and get a refund? I'm looking at going via Premium Economy with V Australia and getting a "Premium Deal" ticket from Melbourne to Los Angeles (approx. $923) and selecting a "Premium Flexi" ticket for the return journey (approx. $2500). After arriving in LA, I would want to cancel the return ticket. Is it possible to do this and get a full refund of the $2500 for the return ticket? Has anyone had experience doing this kind of thing before?

Going with a return ticket option was much cheaper than going with one way. I had considered selecting a "Premium Deal" ticket for the return, but I read that there was a $550 cancellation fee, which is why I'm asking about the "Premium Flexi" instead.

Help me get the cheapest flights to New York from Australia

crossoverman — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:37:20 -0800

TravelFilter: Will the current cheap flights between Australia and New York remain into 2010? And what times of the year are considered off-peak travel to NYC? Flights to New York from Australia have become really cheap this year (AUD1000-1500) as opposed to normal (AUD2500). This is due to the market opening up: instead of only United and Qantas servicing direct routes, Virgin Australian and Delta are flying direct to the US as well.

I am tentatively planning a trip to NYC in May 2010. (Gives me a full 12 months to save.) It looks like prices will shoot back up to the AUD2500 next year (according to airline websites right now), though most airlines are only listing prices through March 2010 anyway.

Are these prices likely to stay as low as they are currently? With the economic crisis, I suspect this might help to keep prices down AND if I wait six months I'm likely not to be stung by premium rates being offered to people willing to book 12 months in advance. But I'm not really sure how long-haul overseas flight prices fluctuate, if at all.

And is May a good time of the year to visit NYC? I'm flexible to travel between April-June 2010 - don't want to go in the depths of winter or the heat of summer. Is May considered off-peak? (I'll be traveling to other parts of the US, but NYC is my main port of call - everything else can fall in line behind that.)

I don't need suggestions of what to see and do in the city - that list is already LONG - just advice on when is the best time to stay and when the best time is to book the holiday. Thanks.

Where to go in Australia and for how long?

smackfu — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 06:12:22 -0800

I'm visiting Australia for 10 days / 9 nights, flying in and out of Sydney. How would you divide your time amongst the various cities? 3 nights each in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane?

How can I book a sane vacation?

mhz — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:41:25 -0800

What's the safest/best way to book airline tickets? Hey…

I'm planning on flying from New York to Melbourne. I don't have a credit card. What is the best way to make sure my trip is hassle-free?

I've flown many times in the past and have never had a problem with lost baggage. But I figure I'll get screwed sometime, and with the multiple connections (and chances for things to go wrong) I'm seriously debating the extra $60 or so that the booking website charges for insurance. So as far as insurance is concerned:

- Is it worth it?

- What do these things usually cover? I'm landing in Australia a day before my friend's wedding – what exactly happens if Gaffubid my stuff gets lost?

- Is it possible to get a third-party insurer after booking my tickets, with a better cost/benefit ratio? If yes, please provide a link.

- Is there a credit card that helps? I vaguely recall something about AmEx guaranteeing something – does it only work for the cardholder? How about someone in the cardholder's household? How about a companion? If so, does the companion ticket need to have been bought together? Are there any other credit cards that would offer this?

- I'm going to start and end in Melbourne, but I will be in Sydney and possibly other cities as well. Is there a better traveler's insurance which will cover all flights and incidentals during my trip?

slightly offtopic
- I will probably be flying Virgin Blue (MEL-SYD-MEL), and I can't seem to figure out from their website if there's a 1 bag limit (using the super cheap fares) or not. I know there's an $8 charge – I just don't know if I can take two bags.

I've flown between the US and Australia multiple times, so I think I've got everything covered, but if there's anything else that may help…

If it helps at all as far as getting insurance things are concerned, I'm 22, male, US and Australian citizen.

Thank you very much

Killing Time in Melbourne.

Effigy2000 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:36:19 -0800

My partner and I are going to Melbourne in August to see Wicked. We're only there for one night, but while we're there we have a few hours to kill before the show and about an hour or two in the morning before we fly back home to Brisbane. What should we do/see while we're there? We'll be arriving in Melbourne on a Friday, checking into our hotel (located in the CBD) at about 2pm, and the show starts at 8pm. What do Melbournian MeFites suggest we do in the 5 hours or so that we have before we need to get ready for our night out?

The next day, Saturday, we will probably check out around 10am but our plane doesn't leave until about 1pm. We'll need to be at the airport by about midday, so we only have about two hours to kill on a Saturday morning. Suggestions for what to do in the CBD on what I assume will be a cold Melbourne Saturday morning would also be appreciated!

Can you help me and my family plan a roadtrip in Australia?

Kattullus — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:51:33 -0800

My family and I will be in Australia from March 14th, 2008 to the 26th. We'll be staying in Sydney for most of the trip (friends' apartment) but we also want to take a leisurely road trip to Melbourne. Do you have any recommendations what to do in Sydney, Melbourne and during the roadtrip? We were thinking that we'd rent a car, spend two days on the drive to Melbourne, stay a couple more in the city and then fly back to Sydney. What route should we take? Where should we stop for the night? What should we see on the way? Where should we stay in Melbourne? What should we do while we're there? Is there anything especially awesome happening in Melbourne during the period we're in Australia?

If you know of something cool that's happening in Sydney while we're in Australia, please let me know, as we haven't decided when we'd be going to Melbourne. Generally, if you know about something superawesome that's not well known please share the info.

As to what we like, we're fairly artsy, cultury, natury type people. Museums, concerts, national parks, theater and such are up our alley but if it's cool and fun in general we'll probably like it. My parents are 50, my sister is 21 years old and I'm 26. You can give suggestions applicable to all of us or something my sister and I would like and my parents would be less likely to and vice versa. My parents have been to Sydney before, so they know what to expect.

Also, we were considering going on another excursion while we were there, possibly Uluru or The Great Barrier Reef, but we're concerned we'd be too pooped from the 24+ hour travel. How feasible would another major outing be given the jet lag we'd experience traveling to Australia from Iceland (my family) and Boston (myself)?

Don't let me miss the boomerang exhibition!

antifuse — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:02:00 -0800

Help me not miss anything on my "once in a lifetime" trip through southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand! Ok... in just under a month, my new fiancee and I are leaving for a 6 week trip - we're moving back to Canada from Ireland and decided to take the long way home. Here's my itinerary:

Shanghai: 04/24-04/28
Siem Reap/Angkor Wat: 04/29-05/01 (Taking the bus there from Phnom Penh, and flying back)
Phnom Penh: 05/01 noon-05/03 noon
Phuket area: 05/03-05/11 (with roughly 4-5 days on Ko Phi Phi, and the rest travelling around the area)
Singapore: 05/11 noon-05/12 evening
Melbourne: 05/13 v.early-05/18 mid-morning
Sydney: 05/18-05/22 mid-morning
Townsville up to Cairns: 05/22-05/27(midnight) (Cairns because we are flying Cairns->Auckland->Queenstown)
Queenstown: 05/28-06/02 afternoon
Wellington: 06/02-06/05 evening
Los Angeles: 06/05 2pm-10pm

Now, here's my question. Given my itinerary, is there anything in my given destinations that is ABSOLUTELY not to be missed? We've already got some set things planned... obviously Angkor Wat, visiting the beach from The Beach when we're on Ko Phi Phi, Phillip Island when we're in Melbourne, some sort of boat tour on the barrier reef, the Franz Josef Glacier when we're in Queenstown, but I want to make sure I don't get home from this amazing trip, only to have somebody say "OMG, you didn't visit the flying trapeze museum in Shanghai? It is AMAZING!"

Some background for the types of things we're looking for: amazing museums, architecture, interaction with locals (moreso in Asia than Aus/NZ), beautiful natural areas with interesting wildlife (more like zoos than jungle hikes, though)

Things we're not interested in: jungle hikes (fiancee is afraid of snakes... deathly afraid... so much so that we're not allowed to go to Fraser Island)

I know that this is going to be a jam packed trip (we tried to arrange travel to give as much time in the places we're most interested in), but I'd hate to miss something absolutely amazing just because we were rushing, ya know?

Also, any tips for the trip in general would be well received, but I'm more interested in sights. And yes, we're already well sorted with our vaccinations/disease prevention plan. I feel like a pincushion!

Unauthorized Piano-Playing in Melbourne

Tlogmer — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 22:24:59 -0800

Unauthorized piano-playing [+] I'm in a strange foreign city (Melbourne) and I have an overwhelming urge to play piano. Didn't bring a keyboard with, though. If I go into a department store or a mall or something, just sit down at the huge-ass grand piano and start playing, what's the worst that could happen?

6 Weeks in Melbourne

costas — Thu, 11 Nov 2004 02:37:26 -0800

AustraliaFilter: I am heading down under to Melbourne for 6 weeks (including Xmas and New Year's). Any suggestions for places to go, things to do? (slightly more inside). I'll be there on business, so only have evenings, weekends and the occasional holiday --I am also thinking of hitting Sydney for New Year's weekend.

Also, I am going to need to phone back to Europe and the US on a regular basis; any good tips on cheap phone rates or ISP access?