Sydney

[v8lante]

Hi all...we are planning a 3 week trip to Sydney (March) just need some advice on flights ie direct or stopover (where) Etc and which airline would you recommend? Never flown this far before so a bit unsure Thanks in advance!

[audidoody]

There are dozens of straigh-through options, But I'd recommend a stopover. It will take a day away from your stay on Oz but at least you'll feel human when you arrive and won't have to sped a day sleeping to recover, specially if you have to fly Economy. Having done London-Sydney a couple of times my preference is Virgin Premium Economy all the way with a night stop in Hong Kong leaving for Sydney next evening. Second preference would be Singapore Airlines with a night in Singapore.

[schmalex]

I spent a couple of years fortnightly commuting to Sydney, so know the routes pretty well!!

My typical schedule would be:

I would always prefer to fly with Qantas (I had a BA loyalty card, so would would book the BA flight number and make sure it was Qantas metal). Typically, I would book QF-2 for a Wednesday departure, which is generally an A380, transiting through Singapore (if you're a smoker, there are loads of lounges there, right at the top of the jetway, which is handy!).

You get to Singa with about a 2 hour layover (enough time to pop up to Harry's bar in T1 and have beer). There is also a lounge just across the corridor which costs about ~£10 to get breakfast and a shower.

The onward flight to Sydney gets you in at about 0630 Friday morning local time, so by the time you have faffed about getting your luggage and picking up the hire car, you are out of the airport by about 0800, getting you into the CBD for about 0900 if the traffic's not too bad.

I would then go and check into the hotel, have a monster breakfast and then go down to see Rocky at the gym in the Marriott on Circular Quay and organise a massage and sauna. Once all that's out of the way, it would be lunchtime, so I'd go for a bit of a mooch around town, back to the hotel for a quick kip and then go out for a few beers on the Friday night. 9 / 10 times, come Saturday morning, I felt absolutely fine. In fact, I always feel a hell of lot more rough when I fly to the US than Aus.

I'd always come back from Auckland and transit through Melbourne and then HK or Bangkok, which was a horrible trip - 37 hours door to door wasn't pleasnt!

My top tips for really long haul travelling are:

• Invest in a decent pair of bose noise cancelling headphones, with the right jacks to use in the seats
• Don't drink alcohol on the plane
• Drink loads of OJ / water
• If you can, try to grab a shower at Singa
• Adjust your watch to Aussie time the moment you get on the plane.

It can be done in a oner. Personally, I prefer doing it in one, as it just gets the flight out of the way.

[v8lante]

Thanks very much.....really helpful!

[Cheib]

I agree just do it in as close to one hit as possible. Get one of the flights for Singapore that leave London at 10pm or so....have dinner, watch a film and you still have plenty of time for a 6 or 7 or hour hour kip. Two hour layover in Singapore then you have a six or seven hour flight to Sydney...it's really not that bad. As above....stay off the booze (maybe a glass of wine with dinner), stay hydrated etc

Personally I think flying to the West Coast of the US is worse as you are basically awake the whole 11 or 12 hours.

[audidoody]

Just avoid flying West via LA. The US doesn't understand the concept of 'passengers in transit' and make you clear immigration and customs even if you are catching a connecting flight. Apart from which LAX is a sh*t hole of the first order

[Mattt]

schmalex said:

My top tips for really long haul travelling are:

• Invest in a decent pair of bose noise cancelling headphones, with the right jacks to use in the seats
• Don't drink alcohol on the plane
• Drink loads of OJ / water
• If you can, try to grab a shower at Singa
• Adjust your watch to Aussie time the moment you get on the plane.

It can be done in a oner. Personally, I prefer doing it in one, as it just gets the flight out of the way.

I agree, I'm back and forth between Oz/UK fairly regularly - and just following the above makes a massive difference.

I generally try and plan a sleep strategy, based on the timezone of the destination - and the Bose QC15s make it much easier to sleep with the noise/activity around you.

I also try and go for a bit of a walk/stand by the door at least once on a flight - it's easy to get a numb ass by the last leg of the journey!!

[LooneyTunes]

Mattt said:

I generally try and plan a sleep strategy, based on the timezone of the destination

I always found this the single biggest factor in not feeling crap at the destination. The airlines don't always make it easy though as they seem obsessed with keeping people on departure timezone.

Personally I'd choose the route with the shortest total travelling time. 5-9 hr waits at airports are a particular PITA.

[Kudos]

schmalex said:

I spent a couple of years fortnightly commuting to Sydney, so know the routes pretty well!!

Can I ask why?

[schmalex]

Kudos said:

schmalex said:

I spent a couple of years fortnightly commuting to Sydney, so know the routes pretty well!!

Can I ask why?

I worked for a small company in the UK, responsible for sales to clients in Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia Pac. It just so happened that I started doing a lot of business with Aus Govt in Canberra (horrible place!), R.A Navy in Sydney & NZ SAS in Auckland, so had to spend a lot of time over that way. Family didn't want to move, so I commuted there.

[Kudos]

schmalex said:

I worked for a small company in the UK, responsible for sales to clients in Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia Pac. It just so happened that I started doing a lot of business with Aus Govt in Canberra (horrible place!), R.A Navy in Sydney & NZ SAS in Auckland, so had to spend a lot of time over that way. Family didn't want to move, so I commuted there.

Wow...and I thought my commute from belfast to London was bad enough...