Down under trip report

It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a trip report on here. I had a couple of family members ask me to start doing it again so I’m going to attempt to do it and stay up to date. Since my last time doing one of these I have taken 3 overseas trips. The first was England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Amsterdam, cruise through Scandinavia, parts of Germany and Estonia, cruise through Greece, then Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Prague where I got sick and then Paris before cutting my trip a month short due to getting sick. I assume I caught something on the Greek cruise as my friend was sick the whole cruise.

Then this year over a 3 month period I did a cruise to Norway, then back to North America for a cruise to Alaska and then back to Europe for a cruise to Iceland. After Iceland I did Poland and finished up in Berlin. I managed to not get sick this time luckily.

This trip I’m headed to New Zealand for a couple of weeks, followed by a couple weeks in Australia, a cruise to Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia followed by ten more days in Australia. I’ll try and update this thread once or twice a week as I go.

Day 1 of my trip didn’t go so well. I took a nap midday before my short flight to catch my 14 hour flight to Auckland. My friend picked me up to give me a ride to the airport but we were still early for my 10 pm flight so we stopped at a casino first so he could do a couple of things. As we were leaving the casino I got a text saying my flight was boarding. I immediately said what the hell and realized I hadn’t changed the time in my calendar from the email I got late November about the time change for my flight. The flight was leaving at 8 pm not 10 pm, I couldn’t believe I messed that up. I got to the airport knowing I had missed my flight but was hoping I could take the 9:45 WestJet flight (at a cost of $871 CAD) and still catch my connection. I got there and called Air Canada and between Andre on the phone and the WestJet workers help we figured out that it was going to be near impossible for me to get from domestic to international in Vancouver in 23 minutes to check my bag for my Auckland flight. While I was getting the bad news I was looking for one way flights for the next day to Auckland when Andre on the phone said he could just rebook me for free for the next day (today). I was thrilled and then I wasn’t. Good news I was rebooked and it wasn’t going to cost me $2000 CAD, the bad news instead of my quick flight to Vancouver followed by a 14 hour direct flight to Auckland I now would have to catch a flight to Vancouver the following day, then an almost 16 hour flight to Sydney and then a connection 4 hours later to Auckland… not fun but it’s my mistake and this was the consequence. Oh well 🤷‍♂️ I was able to call the hotel in Auckland and make sure my room would be available for me a day later and he said that was no issue.

I woke up today and got an email that I could upgrade for $2300 to first class and basically said eff it and decided to do it. It’s only money right? Well turns out that because of the fare I originally booked I’m not eligible to upgrade. I called them, asked at the airport and then asked at the gate once I was in Vancouver and got the same response all 3 times. I can’t believe it’s impossible for me to pay them 2 grand extra lol. I’m currently sitting at the gate a hour before takeoff and there are still 2 first class seats available that they won’t sell me. So basically Air Canada would rather fly with those seats empty than take my money?!?

I’m not looking forward to this flight as I can never sleep on planes. I have done a couple of 12 hour flights but never 16 hours so good luck to me I guess. It’s going to be miserable!

Until next time…

I recently had 8am flights booked that gave reasonable 90 minute layover until I got ‘that email’ informing me first flight is now 5:50am so that became unreasonable 3.5 hour layover.

(But at least we knew it and didn’t miss flights…)

So still no significant other Mrs. PG?

Plus you owe us highlights from those other two trips….

I might be going to japan on cruise in a few months
Then i got to decide whether to fly coach or business class back to the middle of USA if direct flight.
If there's a connecting flight, then coach since i can buy lounge access for $50 while waiting for my connecting flight.

If the cost to fly business class is $2k+ more, then i'm probably sticking to coach.

Quote: 100xOdds

I might be going to japan on cruise in a few months
Then i got to decide whether to fly coach or business class back to the middle of USA if direct flight.
If there's a connecting flight, then coach since i can buy lounge access for $50 while waiting for my connecting flight.

If the cost to fly business class is $2k+ more, then i'm probably sticking to coach.
link to original post

This is a ‘me’ problem, but I just can’t see paying an extra $2k for one flight. I’ve sat in Business/First a few times, and thought it was ‘worth’ a little more than coach, but not a multiple!

How about flying coach then using the $2k for THIRTY one hour massages? (My spa has a sale if you pay upfront for 10 it’s only $550!…. Then add tip of course)

Quote: SOOPOO

I recently had 8am flights booked that gave reasonable 90 minute layover until I got ‘that email’ informing me first flight is now 5:50am so that became unreasonable 3.5 hour layover.

(But at least we knew it and didn’t miss flights…)

So still no significant other Mrs. PG?

Plus you owe us highlights from those other two trips….
link to original post

No I’m not seeing anyone right now. I actually have been so busy I don’t think I’ve been on a date since late November.

Quote: SOOPOO

Quote: 100xOdds

I might be going to japan on cruise in a few months
Then i got to decide whether to fly coach or business class back to the middle of USA if direct flight.
If there's a connecting flight, then coach since i can buy lounge access for $50 while waiting for my connecting flight.

If the cost to fly business class is $2k+ more, then i'm probably sticking to coach.
link to original post

This is a ‘me’ problem, but I just can’t see paying an extra $2k for one flight. I’ve sat in Business/First a few times, and thought it was ‘worth’ a little more than coach, but not a multiple!

How about flying coach then using the $2k for THIRTY one hour massages? (My spa has a sale if you pay upfront for 10 it’s only $550!…. Then add tip of course)
link to original post

It’s not normally something that I would have done either but for a 16 hour flight I think it would have been worth it. Also what’s the point of being able to afford things like that if you never spend any money?

Quote: PokerGrinder

Quote: SOOPOO

Quote: 100xOdds

I might be going to japan on cruise in a few months
Then i got to decide whether to fly coach or business class back to the middle of USA if direct flight.
If there's a connecting flight, then coach since i can buy lounge access for $50 while waiting for my connecting flight.

If the cost to fly business class is $2k+ more, then i'm probably sticking to coach.
link to original post

This is a ‘me’ problem, but I just can’t see paying an extra $2k for one flight. I’ve sat in Business/First a few times, and thought it was ‘worth’ a little more than coach, but not a multiple!

How about flying coach then using the $2k for THIRTY one hour massages? (My spa has a sale if you pay upfront for 10 it’s only $550!…. Then add tip of course)
link to original post

It’s not normally something that I would have done either but for a 16 hour flight I think it would have been worth it. Also what’s the point of being able to afford things like that if you never spend any money?
link to original post

For me, it's value of the $ i'm spending.

ie: My next car will have magnetic shocks. Those shocks lift the tire off the ground when sensors detect a pothole so i don't even feel it. (obviously this doesnt work if multiple pot holes in a cluster)

You value spending $2k extra for 16hrs comfort? :o

I hope this is the low point of the trip and it's all upward trajectory tales from here!

Welllllll this didn’t happen lol. I was super busy for the last month. I actually haven’t been on the forum for almost a week as it’s blocked on the cruise ship being a gambling website. I have however been taking notes each day and while I probably won’t take the many hours to write out a long report I will do a highlights report when I get home March 10. Sorry that I haven’t provided the content that I said that I would.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Welllllll this didn’t happen lol. I was super busy for the last month. I actually haven’t been on the forum for almost a week as it’s blocked on the cruise ship being a gambling website. I have however been taking notes each day and while I probably won’t take the many hours to write out a long report I will do a highlights report when I get home March 10. Sorry that I haven’t provided the content that I said that I would.
link to original post

Which cruise line blocks gambling websites?

Carnival