Best way to travel to Oz, in terms of places to stop etc

lazlo

Going to Australia in April next year. Rather than flying my ass off for 25 hours straight I was thinking of spending a few days at a two maybe even three locations along the way. Whats the best way to go about this, are their operators that will cater for this or is it something wherein I'll have to find my locations and then find the best flights in order to do it?

Kaneda_

Im planning on going in March and have a similar idea to you.Thailand looks like a good place to stop over for a few weeks but i havent researched prices or anything just yet.

lazlo

Yeah from what I can see. Bangkok; Singapore; Kuala Lumpur are all options. If anyone can suggest any others I'd appreciate it.

Wompa1

lazlo wrote: »

Yeah from what I can see. Bangkok; Singapore; Kuala Lumpur are all options. If anyone can suggest any others I'd appreciate it.

Just booked myself for a flight next week. I'm going Dublin-Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi-Sydney...I'm in a rush because I'm going for a few weeks as part of my job but it seems the quickest, most direct way

CrackisWhack

I'm going in a few weeks, and am stopping off in Beijing for a week, It cost an extra €250 on the flights

ClareVisitor

I went to Japan on the way to Australia. Amazing place.

zweton

ClareVisitor wrote: »

I went to Japan on the way to Australia. Amazing place.

what part of Japan? would love to do this stop also.

CrackisWhack

Japan is amazing, although very, very expensive.

6ix

lazlo wrote: »

Yeah from what I can see. Bangkok; Singapore; Kuala Lumpur are all options. If anyone can suggest any others I'd appreciate it.

It's good to stop off, definitely. Just make sure to visit other places in those countries aswell. Going to three Asian cities won't really offer you a varied trip. E.g Thai islands, Northern Thailand or any of the other countries in the region.

jackbhoy

CrackisWhack wrote: »

Japan is amazing, although very, very expensive.

I don't think Japan is that expensive, maybe compared to other Asian countries it is but not when you compare it to similar developed countries.

If you stay in ryokan guesthouses, eat in normal local restaurants and get a rail pass to cover intercity travel its actually pretty cheap. I travelled around there for a month and spent way less than I have in comparable trips in Europe/States/Oz.
It's like anywhere else, avoid the tourist traps and eat/drink/travel like locals and you can do it on cheap.

I would highly recommend it in anycase, one of my favorite places and can't wait to go back myself.

CrackisWhack

Maybe I was going to the wrong places!


I had accommodation free of charge, but a pint of beer was ~€10, food was quite cheap, I got a return Shinkansen ticket Tokyo - Kyoto and that was €250, I found the Tokyo subway quite pricey, I cant remember the amount of times I had to top up the metrocard.

Bannasidhe

I went LA - spent 5 days there - to Sydney and came back Brisbane - London via Tokyo - stay there cut short due to a typhoon.

sonic.trip

Bali wins hands down. a cheap 2week stop there before hitting expensive oz!

mightyreds

we stopped in thailand and vietnam and cambodia really nice places. koh samui in thailand is real nice bangkok is good on the khoa sahn road full moon partys a load of crap though. vietnam is deadly ho chi minh was relly nice visited the cu chi tunnels and halong bay in hanoi and we were in phnom penh in cambodia nice place too visited the genocide museum and the killing fields these countrys are also very cheap i got 3 large bottles of saigon beer, these were litre bottles, for a euro in saigon and in thailand samsoung whiskey was just 30cent.

dearg lady

CrackisWhack wrote: »

Maybe I was going to the wrong places!


I had accommodation free of charge, but a pint of beer was ~€10, food was quite cheap, I got a return Shinkansen ticket Tokyo - Kyoto and that was €250, I found the Tokyo subway quite pricey, I cant remember the amount of times I had to top up the metrocard.

good god, you were going to the wrong places! I find alcohol much cheaper then here, but that was back in 2008, I'm goin again soon, and I know the exchange rate is rubbish, so I expect to pay, on avaerage, a third more for everything.

Our rail pass cost us €250 for 2 weeks, paying per journey is very expensive.

mightyreds

sonic.trip wrote: »

Bali wins hands down. a cheap 2week stop there before hitting expensive oz!

actually alot of people recommended bali for the cheap stop over only thing for us we flew into singapore and the flights out were just too expensive. but oz you'll get a shock how expensive it is right there sonic..

sonic.trip

mightyreds wrote: »

actually alot of people recommended bali for the cheap stop over only thing for us we flew into singapore and the flights out were just too expensive. but oz you'll get a shock how expensive it is right there sonic..

I went 3 years ago and can say it was the best holiday I've been on. I spent 2 weeks there and probably spent no more than 1000 euro on living, eating and drinking like kings everyday. I also bought stuff, posted it home, done 2 bungi jumps and paid the guy we rented surfboards off to drive us around the island in his jeep for a day. We were also able to bargain for our hotel room in a 4star hotel!!

The people there are the nicest people you will probably ever meet. The hotel staff always invited us to drink with them when coming in from a night out, they would all say hi by my name everyday when passing through! Must go back soon actually!

jackbhoy

CrackisWhack wrote: »

Maybe I was going to the wrong places!


I had accommodation free of charge, but a pint of beer was ~€10, food was quite cheap, I got a return Shinkansen ticket Tokyo - Kyoto and that was €250, I found the Tokyo subway quite pricey, I cant remember the amount of times I had to top up the metrocard.

Yeah, individual train tickets are very expensive, a rail pass pays for itself after couple of of long trips. Our railpass covered trips to Tokyo-Yokohama-Kyoto-Osaka-Hiroshima-Nagasaki and few smaller places like Lake Kawagachi and Mt. Fuji, which meant it was brilliant value. Think you can get a cheap tourist pass for subway too but can't really remember, it was a few years ago.

going2aus

is aus really as expensive as you guys are saying !!!!!!! im heading over in January ,,,, thinking of stopping in thailand ,,,im going alone is bangkok a safe palce ??????

Maire2009

We stopped in Hong Kong on the way over and I thought it was amazing.

Just wanted to break up the trip and see a bit of the world while over that far, and decided on HK because it was a mix between east and west. The locals are very polite, and you will get around really easily because English is widely spoken there.

Stayed in a 3star hotel, was €120 for 3 nights (I think) for a harbour view room, we got upgraded on arrival. The main island itself is always hazy with the smog but is amazing by night.

If you do go there, get about on the metro there. Taxis are a fair price but are confusing because certain colours only serve certain areas. Getting off the main island is a must, go shopping at the crazy cheap markets, and the Big Buddha is HIGHLY recommended.

Eating is very cheap if you stay away from the main street. 3 of us went into a local restaurant and paid just €5 each for a massive meal. Lovely.

I've heard of others that didn't like HK, but they probably never left the main island. The other islands are lovely, and are so clean.

shellybelly08

Hey there not sure if anyone can help.. but were going to the isalnds on our way to Oz.. hittin Phuket and Phi Phi first.. then on to the east islands.. Koh Phangan and then Samui then back to Bangkok.. From my own research we will need to fly from phuket to koh samui then boat it to Koh Phangan ... is this the only way ??

hussey

If you don't mind long journeys you can boat/bus it

Phuket -> boat to mainland (sorry forgot names) -> long bus to east coast -> boat to Koi samui

I looked into this was a 10hr journey i think -

irishmover

shellybelly08 wrote: »

Hey there not sure if anyone can help.. but were going to the isalnds on our way to Oz.. hittin Phuket and Phi Phi first.. then on to the east islands.. Koh Phangan and then Samui then back to Bangkok.. From my own research we will need to fly from phuket to koh samui then boat it to Koh Phangan ... is this the only way ??

When are you going? Thailand and particularly Bangkok is being hit hard with floods atm so make sure you keep an eye out for that if you're going anytime soon.

shellybelly08

Hey thanks for that..

Heading in 5 weeks not doing anywhere northern so hoping to avoid the floods..

Thanks il look into the boat and price the flights aswell