Noob visiting Australia - need advice!

setspeed

I've not been away on holiday for about 5yrs and I've decided to visit Australia because I have a couple of friends out there. I've never been outside Europe and only been on a plane once to Spain, so never experienced long-haul flight.

I have so many questions and thought I'd pick the brains of the lovely people here

1. I intend on going away for most of September, and I'm quite flexible with my travelling dates. I've been looking at flights and if I book now then I can pay just under £800 return with a single stop in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately I'm not in a position to pay now, the earliest I can do it is the end of July, and preferably not until 18th August when I have some money coming through.
Would I be right in assuming the later I leave it, the higher that price is going to be? Or can I safely leave it until a couple of weeks before I go and still get a decent deal (under a grand)?

2. I'm 6'6" tall. I can't afford business class fare. What's the best way for me to ensure I get a seat with the best legroom?
The only plane I ever went on was for an hour (Ryanair cattle carriage) and it was extremely uncomfortable for me :-/

3. The airline with the decent deals is Cathay Pacific (via Skyscanner). Any specific advice about them? I don't know anything about long-haul flights. Can I expect food, or will I need to pay extra? How much, roughly? Can I take my laptop on the plane to entertain me?

4. When I arrive I want to maybe stay in an hotel for a day or two to get over jet-lag, and then I have a few places I want to go.
Wagga Wagga (where friend no 1 lives) which is a few hrs away by bus from
Canberra (where friend no 2 lives)
Cairns/Port Douglas for some sun and diving on Great Barrier Reef - (how much does that cost btw?)
And then back down south again to Canberra for my remaining time.
Possibly Sydney if I have enough time, but I don't want to plan too much and then spend all my time travelling, or be disappointed if I can't fit it all in.
Is this a realistic plan in 24 days?

5. I will need an hotel in Port Douglas or Cairns for when I'm staying there, and also the Melbourne stay I mentioned earlier.
Any recommendations? I'm not loaded, but I don't want to slum it, especially not in Cairns/Port Douglas something reasonable of UK Travelodge standards would be good.

6. Money. I've seen on here about the Halifax Clarity card being good for no fees, but realisically I doubt I will get any more credit at this current time.
I'm with HSBC bank. Am I best off just withdrawing money there, or doing some here and changing it for dollars beforehand?

I'm sure I'll think of other stuff, and will ask more when I do.

Any input gratefully received

LillythePink

With all airfares, you take your chance - some go up nearer the departure date others go down (we are off to LA next week and booked our flights last Sept - they have gone up by approx£400 so far but may be cheaper if the flight isn't full)

So, you can't guarantee about the price - if you can't pay for it now, then really you can't book it now - unless someone can pay for you and you pay them back??

This then comes to the next part - leg room. Usually you now have to pay for extra room in economy ie emergency exits etc, and most airlines now allow you to choose your seat (we have with Virgin), this means that if you can't book it until nearer the time, then all the best free seats with extra room will probably have gone.

If all seats which provide extra room have gone, then go for an aisle and stick your legs out - that's really your only alternative

Food - is included in the price

Can't speak on Cathay Pacific - I have flown to Oz on BA, Malaysian and Emirites - all have been fine - it just usually depends on where you are flying to and what sort of stopovers/breaks you want

Hotels - just look on the usual sites - there are reviews/prices so just pick one!

As for money - we took some Oz dollars out with us, but apart from that we mostly just got it out of ATM's when we were there (if we needed money) other than that it was a cc.

I know that I haven't answered your questions as such but good luck - just keep monitoring the flight prices - they may go up or down!

Caz3121

setspeed wrote: »

1. I intend on going away for most of September, and I'm quite flexible with my travelling dates. I've been looking at flights and if I book now then I can pay just under £800 return with a single stop in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately I'm not in a position to pay now, the earliest I can do it is the end of July, and preferably not until 18th August when I have some money coming through.
Would I be right in assuming the later I leave it, the higher that price is going to be? Or can I safely leave it until a couple of weeks before I go and still get a decent deal (under a grand)?

Generally fares will increase as time goes on - you may still be able to get a deal but likely not as good as you are seeing now

2. I'm 6'6" tall. I can't afford business class fare. What's the best way for me to ensure I get a seat with the best legroom?
The only plane I ever went on was for an hour (Ryanair cattle carriage) and it was extremely uncomfortable for me :-/

I think you can expect not to be too comfortable on any airline in economy unfortunately but most if not all will be better than Ryanair. Details of seat pitch and width for the different airlines can be found here together with info on good seats and those to avoid
http://www.seatguru.com/
once you have a shortlist of airlines and aircraft type you can compare - it may be better spending a little extra for some extra space - eg although Cathay and Singapore use the same aircraft and both have the same pitch, SQ have wider seats
Some airlines may charge for extra legroom

3. Can I take my laptop on the plane to entertain me?
yes you can but you may not have any power sockets (depending on airline) and there should be inflight entertainment also

some info on flights

dawyldthing

keep an eye out for quantas as when me and my friend went to Asia (and she then went on to Aus) she looked into flights a few days before she flew out and it was the same as what she had paid (just under 900 i think). I always check on travelsupermarket for flights and have never gone too far wrong to be honest. based on rough dates i found them Monday, September 05, 2011 until Wednesday, September 28, 2011 for 755 pounds, but like someone said its hit or miss whether they will change much before you book. Even if you don't get an end seat online you could end up with one regardless as when I came back from Thailand I was supposed to be in the middle and ended up swapping seats further back for one and having a window seat for the other. Food and in flight entertainment is generally included in most of the major airlines, but google the airline to check as they usually have their online flight magazines online (great if your like me and want to see what flims you don't need to see at the cinema)

agrinnall

Regarding paying for it, do you have a credit card with enough available credit? if so can you take advantage of the statement date and payment date so that you book it now but only pay after your money has turned up?

Could you look at flying into Brisbane and out of Melbourne (or the other way round) so that you only have to travel in one direction within Australia rather than going backwards and forwards? It may save you time and money, although you might have to rearrange when you see your friends a bit.

Susan1942

I visit Australia most years and have flown with several Airlines. BA Qantas Emirates and Singapore Airlines.
These days I only fly Singapore Airlines and for me they are the best even though it is a bit more expensive I still consider it worth it. I have stopped over in Singapore using the Airlines package. Excellent hotel rate I stayed at the Ritz free tours free hop on hop off bus and other discounts etc. Years ago we did Qantas and again used the package the Airline offered/
Singapore don't have Premium Economy but BA/Qantas do. I have travelled with BA and the seat pitch is around 38" just like the old World Club. Costs a bit more and for me not really worth a lot as I am 5'1" so seat pitch is not the be all and end all.

You have time but yes seat prices do tend to go up the nearer to the flight date. BUT sometimes you see that Airlines have sales and then you can pick up a bargain.

Just keep an eye out and see what there is. Sign up for email from several Airlines and then offers will be sent to you.

Enjoy it I spent 8 weeks from Nov to late Jan and missed all the terrible snow we had last winter!! Fantastic Country!!

Sue

setspeed

Thanks everyone so far for your replies
Anyone else that can weigh in with some help would be appreciated.
Also, I'm looking for the best website to get cheap internal flights in Oz - any ideas?

Matt2389

Hey, use https://www.kayak.co.uk to search for internal and external flights, seriously good website mate!

setspeed

Matt2389 wrote: »

Hey, use www kayak co uk to search for internal and external flights, seriously good website mate!

Yeah I will, thanks! Can't do it whilst at work though, getting some sort of message about Kayak not supporting Internet Explorer 6, grrrrr. I can't do anything with this work machine either :-/

What's Brisbane like in September? Warm enough to go swimming and snorkelling?
I'd really like to go to Cairns and the reef, but looking at flight prices it's a hell of a lot cheaper to go to someone not quite so far north.

So many choices and decisions....

bondy01

Been 3 times on Singapore Airlines , each time for 3 weeks. First time we found a travel agent in Sydney and they put a package together for 5 days up in Cairns. Have a look on quicksilver-cruises.com for barrier reef costs (It's a must do as is the train to Kurunda and the cable car back to Cairns) We hired a car and drove up to Port Douglas. Have a look on virginblue.com.au for internal flights.

setspeed

bondy01 wrote: »

Been 3 times on Singapore Airlines , each time for 3 weeks. First time we found a travel agent in Sydney and they put a package together for 5 days up in Cairns. Have a look on quicksilver-cruises.com for barrier reef costs (It's a must do as is the train to Kurunda and the cable car back to Cairns) We hired a car and drove up to Port Douglas. Have a look on virginblue.com.au for internal flights.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did that package cost you? I'm looking at paying for two people to go to Cairns, possibly from Canberra but could start from Sydney, but the flights that I found were £600 dollars per person alone, which I don't think I can afford... If there's a possibility of a cheap deal...