Elizabeth_S

Hi - I've posted a couple of times on the Australia/New Zealand board but am sure I'll get a lot of great ideas here as well!

Following is a first cut at our 11 week itinerary for early next year. At this stage I’m really just blocking off chunks of time and will develop them more as time goes by – I’d appreciate input as to the overall sense of the itinerary plus time spent in each place.

I’ve organized the trip in three parts, in this order:

1) Asian destinations – January 10 - 31
2) New Zealand – February
3) Australia - March

The reasons for the order are as follows:

We leave Toronto in early January so I’m trying to maximize the weather in each of the three areas – the Asian destinations are at their coolest earlier in the year; New Zealand is fine in the middle and Australia will hopefully be cooler by March. Also, at this point I think we’ll be using the Star Alliance Circle Pacific Fare and the above itinerary works with its rules (that’s subject to confirmation but I think so).

Details are:

Hong Kong 6 nights
Bangkok 6 nights
Siem Reap 4 nights
Singapore 3 nights

Questions re above – considering side trips from Bangkok – enough time? Singapore is an add on due to the Circle Pacific routing – too many nights?

New Zealand 4 weeks

Following are preliminary thoughts for this period – for the first two weeks we’ll want to be in one place, with a kitchen, so we can relax after the 3 weeks of travel in Asia – still looking at north versus south islands – would like a big enough town for good market shopping and we’ll likely rent a car the second week to do day trips. The next two weeks we’ll likely travel around by car.

Also – I think we’ll fly to Norfolk from Auckland – 4 nights.

Australia 4 weeks

Our list of things to do in Australia (so far) looks like this:

Tasmania one week – maybe fly from NZ to MEL then take the ferry
Sydney 5 nights
Melbourne 5 nights
Great Barrier Reef one week
Unscheduled one week

I’m tempted to leave the Australia portion unscheduled until we’re in New Zealand…..we did that last year in South America – got our sea legs the first 6 weeks and then planned our 4 weeks in Chile. Part of my thinking is the weather – see how it’s shaping up – we’d very much like to dive the GBR but if conditions are poor we can make changes on the fly.

Any comments are appreciated. Thanks!

Kathie

I can comment on your Asia segment.

You've opted for very urban settings. That's fine, if that's what you like. There is plenty to do in each of the cities to keep you occupied. You could do a day trip to Macau while you are in Hong Kong, or a day trip outside of Bangkok, but if you don't your time will still be filled. From Bangkok, I'd suggest not going to Ayuthya, as it will pale in comparison to SIem Reap. You could go to Kanchaburi, if you wanted to. You have four nights in Siem Reap, which does give you three full days, the minimum amount of time considered adequate to see all the major temples. Of course, there are dozens of acccessible temples, and the so-called minor temples are lovely, and you'll often be the only visitor.

I do think you are wise to visit your Asian destinations in January. The weather is merely hot in SE Asia, as opposed to very, very hot.

Is cost a consideration? If so, remember that Hong Kong and Singapore will be the expensive destinations in Asia.

Elizabeth_S

Hi Kathie - thanks for your comments.

I'm interested in your comment that we've opted for urban settings.....I hadn't really thought of it that way - it's our first trip to Asia (hopefully not our last!) so our itinerary may tilt towards the obvious at this point.

But....we usually avoid large urban centres, preferring the road less traveled......perhaps we should consider adding more side trips.....anything you can suggest would be appreciated.

I wish cost wasn't a consideration! We realize the Asia portion will be expensive - we're hoping to use some points for hotels and average down our costs later in the trip!

Thanks again for your comments..

Reeta

Hi Elizabeth,

In relation to your Aussie leg: Not sure what other advice you recieved on that forum but heres my two cents.

Tasmania is gorgeous. Dont miss Cradle Mountain and St Helenas. You are best to hire a car and drive the island over 7 days. If you havent already, do a search for the Tasmanian Tourism Board (not sure of the exact name).. they usually have great packages where you get the car + accommodation as a package...or the cheaper version obviously is to do it yourself. If you have an unscheduled week I would do Perth (might be too far away but its so beautiful) or spend some more time in Sydney (doing a side trip to the Blue Mountains for a few days - not to be missed!! It is an hour west of Syd.)or some extra time exploring the Sunshine Coast of QLD (Caloundra, Noosa etc)

I am assuming you will go to Melb from Tas then to Syd then to GBR?

If you want any more info on stuff to do you can email me at [email protected] I currently live in Adelaide but have lived in Sydney and spend some time in Perth, Melbourne and QLD.

Kathie

Elizabeth, I know you have air routing to consider, so I don't know what is realistic. All of these cities are fascinating, but I think you'll find the countryside fascinating as well.

You might consider cutting Hong Kong entirely or reducing the days to perhaps 3 (I know there is much more to see there), which would enable you to add Luang Prabang, Laos to your itineray. You can fly between LP and SR during high season on Bangkok Air or its subsiderary, Siem Reap Air. If you a flying three legs (or more) on Bangkok Air you'll be able to buy the DIscovery Pass, which is a savings. So you would fly into Bangkok, then on to Siem Reap, then to Luang Prabang, then back to Bangkok. You could even opt to split your Bangkok time for a few days at teh beginning and a few dys at the end. That will reduce your hotel costs as HK is rather expensive. You can find nice accommodations for much less in LP than HG! I'd suggest 4 nights in Luang Prabang.

Let me note that I think you are doing a great job of not breaking up your trip too much by scheduling lots of two or three days stops.

Elizabeth_S

Reeta - thanks for your ideas!

Do you think 7 days in Tas is enough? We've got some wiggle room in our itinerary of 4 weeks in Australia.

Right now I'm kind of assuming we'll come from NZ in early March directly to Tas via Melbourne.....have to wrap my head around the intricacies of the Star Alliance Circle Pacific rules (RULES!!!)

I'm just starting to read about Perth/area and now I think I need to add two weeks to our plans! (if only I had two weeks more money!)......I appreciate the distances in Australia....being Canadian....but need to look at the Star Alliance rules again.....thanks for your comments!

Elizabeth_S

Kathie - thanks for lots of things to investigate

I'm going to have a look at the Discovery Pass now - in addition or instead of the Star Alliance Circle Pacific fare.

So many things to consider! I'm going to be a frequent poster here I know!

Something you said really struck a note with me - in our travels we don't tend to like really big cities.....I think I was kind of focussing on the obvious for the first 3 weeks of our trip ..... to "do" some part of Asia.....but maybe we should just slow down (as we prefer) and get out into the country in a few places.

Thanks again for your comments.

JamesA

Just an opinon but you have a lot of 'city time' in Australia, if you are doing the GBR perhaps heading up from either SYD or MEL and having more days around Queensland might be an idea.

fuzzylogic

Elisabeth - Asia isn't expensive - Hong Kong is!!

May I suggest cutting down the days in HK? Not that six days is too much - you could easily fill the time if you have six months - but you don't. So unless you are planning to go to Macau and stay overnight (and I'm not sure if that is still worth it) cut down on that time, and add to time in BKK. That might give you 8 days in BKK which is more than enough to get out of the city - and go somewhere else in Thailand.

For people that say ... "we usually avoid large urban centres, preferring the road less traveled......" that would have to be the way to go.

I am not talking side trips - I am talking getting out of BKK and going somewhere else. There are many possibilities if you really do mean "the road less travelled".

Elizabeth_S

Thanks again to all for your helpful comments - we'll probably cut back on HK and broaden our horizons beyond large cities in the rest of Asia - I really want to go to Vietnam - any opinions on trading it for BKK (although I'm pretty sure our Star Alliance routing will take us through Bangkok anyway).

And with Australia - also investigating less city time - adding it to GBR or Tasmania or maybe go west? So many choices!

Thanks again.

Kathie

Your Star Alliance routing will take you through Bangkok. Bangkok is an amazing city with so much to see and do! You'll want to spend some time there. VN deserves much more time than a few days on a longer trip like this. You could fly in and "sample" Hanoi, for instance, but that doesn't change your balance of virtually all city time in Asia.

Fuzzy's point was exactly my point: Hong Kong is very expensive, Singapore is rather expensive, your other Asian destinations are really inexpensive. By trading away most/all of your Hong Kong time, you'll be able to get much more variety in your trip.

By the way, Bangkok Air's Discovery pass is in addition to your Star Alliance arrangements. Bangkok Air is a smal "boutique" airline that has Bangkok as it's hub, and flies to a number of interesting destinations such as Siem Reap and Luang Prabang.

JamesA

Air Asia now fly from Bangkok to Hanoi ( budget airline ) with cheap fares, also there are deals between bangkok and hanoi with Air France and Lufthansa so it's quite a competative route.
If you head north of Sydney there are places like Coffs Harbour which is great, Gold Coast is busy but north of brisbane places like Noosa are 'excellent', there are a lot of places to stop and stay all along that coast.

althom1122

I agree with Kathie's earlier comment about cutting/shortening Hong Kong and adding Luang Prabang. It's such a gem and would be a real change of pace from the cities. Vietnam's on my list, too, so I can't blame you for wanting to add that, but Luang Prabang is worth considering!
Karen