Hi, all.

I'm planning a grand Hong Kong/Melbourne/Sydney trip in July 2014 to attend a conference. In hoping to book with a One World Explorer Award, I could get another leg in at no cost to either:

Bali (although may not be able to get from there to Australia on AA partner)
Toyko
Kuala Lampur (though would come at extra expense for my having to purchase MEL/SYD ticket)

The hitch is I could probably only do an overnight in one of these places. Is it worth trying to make it work (and if so which one) or should I just scrap that idea and go straight SFO/HKG/MEL?

Thanks!

bump

Personally I'd just go for SFO/HKG/MEL. How many nights do you have in Hong Kong?

Hopefully 4, which I am planning will also include a long day trip or maybe overnight in Macau.

If it were me then I'd give up the extra stopover night and add it to Hong Kong or use it for a night on Macau. It would not be hard to chew up five nights in HKG.

I agree with Stormbird, there is plenty to see in HK. If you are tired of what it has to offer, take a trip out to the New Territories or a ferry out to one of the islands such as Lamma Island, for a change of pace. That will easily take a day of your itinerary.

Lavandula

Good to know!

What do people think of staying at the Marriott Sky Harbor hotel there, at least for a night? is that example of a way to see a very different part of the city?

I wouldn't stay there - I really only ever stay on Kowloon preferably on Nathan Road.

Was planning on Marriott Courtyard by the ferry area

Which would you rather spend an extra day in: Sydney or Hong Kong? Right now, I'm thinking of 4 full days/three nights in Sydney and 5 days/4 nights in Hong Kong/Macau, but I'm wondering if I should reverse the two.

joe, it so happens that we have 3 nights in HK on our way out [which because of flight times is nearly 4 days] and 5 nights [4 days] in Sydney.

that's not really what we planned for, more how it worked out.

if you are like me, when it comes to flight times and dates, you may find that you don't have [so much of] a choice.