prinret

Two senior ladies are doing some long-range planning for a very long flight from Toronto, Canada to Perth, Australia prior to boarding a cruise.

Past experience tells me to break up the flight with a two, three or four night stay along the way. Jet lag is always a problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions about the best way to do this? Last time I stayed in Honolulu on the way home. Are there other places that might be suitable as a stopover?

Budget is always a consideration, but so is safety and convenience.

lavandula

I have relatives who lived in Toronto (we are in Sydney) and whenever people went to visit they usually did a stopover in Honolulu. When they brought back their 2 yr old daughter they had stops in LA, Honolulu and Fiji (which I think was just for the heck of it). I think Honolulu just makes it manageable, the others are icing on the cake.

Lavandula

Melnq8

I fly from Perth to Colorado twice a year. I find it easier to do all in one go, with an overnight stay in Singapore on either side of the flight to/from Perth. This has more to do with flight connections than anything, but by the time I reach Singapore on the return, it feels wonderful just to lie down.

I suffer from jetlag something awful, but I have much more trouble with jetlag on the way TO the US, not so much on the return.

I'm not familiar with flights from Canada. What is your routing?

peterSale

Stop in Sydney perhaps, or one of the Pacific Islands such as the Cook Islands or Samoa. Both are lovely and safe.

Have you considered flying to Sydney and then taking the train to Perth? It takes a few days and you get to see the countryside and reduce jetlag. It can be expensive but is considered a great experience. I haven't taken the train, but others rave about it.

Susan7

Honolulu is a favoured stop over. Another possibility, JAL sometimes offer a free overnight stay in Tokyo.

prinret

Thank you, all, for your suggestions.

Our routing or carrier has not been determined as yet. Most flights from Toronto go through Vancouver or Los Angeles before heading across the Pacific - about a five to six hours flight to either destination. Our routing would be partly dependent on where we decide to stop over, either on the way to Perth and/or on the return.

Last time we stopped in Los Angeles on the way to Australia but we would like to go further this time. We stopped in Honolulu and again in Los Angeles on the return flight.

I like the suggestion of taking the train from Sydney to Perth. We spent a wonderful week in Sydney (Potts Point) two years ago and we will be returning to Sydney at the end of our trip.

In my preliminary investigations, it seems that many of the flights to Perth stop in Sydney. Am I correct?

Your input has been helpful. Thank you.

Melnq8

From the west coast of the US, yes. Although you can also fly Air NZ from LAX to Auckland and then on to Perth. How about a short stay in NZ? You'll almost be there by then though, as it's only another six hours or so to Perth from Auckland.

prinret

Auckland is a good suggestion as well, Melnq8. I spent some time in New Zealand two years ago and absolutely loved the scenery and especially the people.

I did a little research on the train trip and the reviews seem to be mixed but will continue to consider this as a possiblity. People seemed to think a three-day train trip was too long, but coming from Canada, we are used to five-day trips across the country.

Thank you, Fodorites, for your suggestions. They are all very helpful.

mobilemc

My wife and I did this same trip in April, traveling from Seattle to Perth to visit friends for a week. We then boarded RCL's Rhapsody from Perth to Sydney. We decided to fly straight through rather than stopping along the way. Stopping created too many extra hassles - transportation from/to the airport, nights in hotels, etc, and didn't really solve the jetlag problem. We flew Seattle to LA, Qantas direct to Sydney, then Qantas domestic to Perth. We took Ambien on the long leg to Sydney and were perky enough when we arrived in Perth to tour a bit and go out for dinner with our friends. We actually recovered very quickly and used the same approach when we returned to Seattle. We also used this approach when we flew to Hong Kong 2 years ago - also worked for us that trip.

prinret

Thanks for your comments, mobilemc. Did you do the northern route from Perth to Sydney?

mobilemc

Prinret, The Rhapsody took 18 days to make the southern route from Perth. After leaving Perth, we stopped in Bunbury, Albany, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart (TAS), NZ (Fyordland National Park, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington), finishing in Sydney. We continued on our own for 3 more weeks on the east coast of AU. A fabulous trip!

prinret

Mobilemc, it sounds like a wonderful trip. We did a similar trip but in the reverse a couple of years ago, then continued on through the South Pacific to Honolulu. In all, we were onboard for a month and thoroughly enjoyed it - even the terrible forties across the Tasman Sea.

It was so enjoyable we wanted to go back so are doing the northern route around Australia with a group of friends.

mobilemc

Prinret, we were very fortunate on both the weather and sea conditions - calm all the way across the Bight and to/from NZ. Your upcoming trip sounds great - it's always more fun to make these journies with friends. We're joining friends on a cruise from Istanbul to Cape Town in November, then HK to Sydney the following year that routes through New Guinea and along the northern coast of AU.

B__C

We are taking the same cruise! We live in Calgary and will go via Vancouver and then stopover in Sydney for a couple of days. We will then fly to Perth with Virgin Blue airlines. We have been planning this for quite some time now. We are then booked in Fremantle for a couple of nights prior to the cruise. This will give us a bit of time to adjust and maybe find some clothes suitable for the weather there!

MaryD2

Unless you are flying specifically with Qantas or Air Canada via the South Pacific here are some suggestions for you: 1/ Fly Air Pacific ( Fiji Airlines partly owned by Qantas) and stay over in Fiji en route.
2/ Get a return flight from somewhere in Asia to Toronto and stop over in Asia then get Air Asia ( www.airasia.com) and fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Perth
3/ Do the same as 2 but fly Jetstar to Perth from a number of cities in Asia. Check out www.jetstar.com.au.
You probably already know this but Hong Kong is very interesting and mid range in cost, Kuala Lumpur is also interesting and very cheap and Singapore is expensive ... the above is for accommodation and food.
If you have the time you might want to sign up for cheap deals on some of the available airlines flying into Australia as they tend to bring out some very good deals sometimes. I have flown on Cathay Pacific across to Canada from HK and that was very good of course.

prinret

Thanks for your replies and suggestions. I have just booked apartment/hotel for a week in Sydney for the end of the cruise. We stayed in the same place a couple of years ago and truly enjoyed the city.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a hotel in Perth that is good value, safe and clean? Is staying in Fremantle an option? We want at least a couple of days to explore this part of Australia before embarking on the cruise.

Melnq8

Yes, staying in Freo is an option. A couple of accommodation sites that might help:

http://www.fremantlewa.com.au/
http://www.stayz.com.au/accommodatio...erth/fremantle

Depending on what you want to see and do, staying in the Perth CBD is also an option. Lots of serviced apartments to choose from, but rates tend to be high here. You can reach the CBD from Freo in about 30 minutes via train.

http://www.accommodationperth.com.au/

And then there's always wotif...www.wotif.com.