Early-retirement wannabe

Triumph13

atush wrote: »

I wont be flying long haul in economy anymore. PE is the lowest i will go. Have begun upgrding to Business ocasionally lately. As you get older, the increased comfort and better state you arrive in makes a huge difference to me. Esp I usually drive 2 hours after arrival.

Once the kids are off our hands, we plan a different approach to avoiding long haul economy by simply breaking up the journey with a 'mini break' or two along the way. Business class is nice, but on a trip to Australia I think I'd rather go economy and split it with a few days relaxing in Bali.

atush

Its a long wayvto bali, at leadt for me. If i had to go economy I too would split a journey to oz with at least 2 stops

kidmugsy

Triumph13 wrote: »

on a trip to Australia I think I'd rather go economy and split it with a few days relaxing in Bali.

We once broke a flight to Australia in California, to visit friends. I suppose that nowadays it might be wise to avoid the US whenever possible. Certainly a Kiwi friend always travels to London via Singapore these days.

shinytop

I suppose that nowadays it might be wise to avoid the US whenever possible.

Why avoid the USA?

EdSwippet

shinytop wrote: »

Why avoid the USA?

No sterile transit. Cumbersome and lengthy security procedures. Unreasonably intrusive search process, including digital data and racial profiling. Basically, any US transit is a guaranteed PITA when compared to almost any other transit you might make. More in this article:

Avoiding travel through the United States

MallyGirl

kidmugsy wrote: »

We once broke a flight to Australia in California, to visit friends. I suppose that nowadays it might be wise to avoid the US whenever possible. Certainly a Kiwi friend always travels to London via Singapore these days.

I have broken journeys to New Zealand at Chicago&LA (booked very late) and at Hong Kong out/Bangkok back. Never going via the US for that journey again.
We went Club to Vancouver this summer - I called it a 'trip of a lifetime' at the time but it actually showed us what we had been missing and I'd rather work another 6 months, if it came to it, to be able to do a few more of these.
Being tall and with dodgy knees I value the extra space immensely

TBC15

shinytop wrote: »

Why avoid the USA?

The current halfwit red necks running the show.

Edit Bit unfair I’ve always found the USAs minimum wage customs/immigration officials most discourteous.

ffacoffipawb

michaels wrote: »

When working out costs purchase price is about 10k more than the equivalent petrol/diesel but you will save 75% on fuel cost and more on zero tax and minimal servicing requirement.

Not sure that EVs have zero VED since April 2017? Minimum of £130 for all new cars now I think.

Edit : looks like i was thinking about hybrids!

Dont forget the £310 extra tax for cars listed at over £40k but the Kia and Hyundai dont fall into that category.

agent69

atush wrote: »

As you get older, the increased comfort and better state you arrive in makes a huge difference to me.

I especially like the shorter queue for the toilets

agent69

atush wrote: »

If i had to go economy I too would split a journey to oz with at least 2 stops

The are several problems with splitting the trip:

1. The prices will go up, as stopovers are normally chargeable
2. You will limit who you can fly with (if you want to stop in Bangkok then you really have to fly with Thai)
3. You have to find somewhere to stop (if you are flying to Aus there aren't a lot of stopping options other that SE Asia).