Brisbane-London return on Qantas (LONG report)

Ok - so people are always asking for feedback and experiences with various

airlines and various ways of travelling so I figured I'd give a bit of a write up

while its all fresh in my mind, apologies if this is deadly dull - but thats the

reality of long haul travel. Anyone NOT familiar with long flights and curious as

to how it all goes on might get something useful out of this:

We bought our return tickets (BNE-SIN-LHR-SIN-BNE) for a total of $4600 for the 4

of us back in February when Qantas announced their 'kids fly free' promotion. The

price was too good to pass up on and despite not being a qantas 'fanboi' - it

seemed worth a go (and of course earning a shedload of QFF miles never hurts).

===============

BRISBANE

===============

Travelling with a 3yr old and a 5yr old was never going to be fun as such - but

we were prepared as we could be and were well rested on the morning of our

departure. We jumped in our taxi at 10:30 in the morning and made our way to the

airport. The queue for check in (2 hours before departure) was minimal and we

soon found ourselves at the weigh in. Much to my surprise the qantas clerk told

me our 27Kg bag was too heavy and shouldnt be allowed under the 'new' terms of

luggage allowances. She agreed to let it go on this occassion but warned us to

pack into seperate bags on future occassions. We had 1x27Kg bag and 1x15kg bag to

check in between 4 of us, which after reviewing every single piece of

documentation I have published by Qantas on the topic doesnt seem to breech the

32kg 'single piece' limit, or the 23kg per passenger limit. Obviously the poor

woman was confused - but since she 'let us go' anyway it wasnt really a problem.

==================

BNE-SIN QF51

==================

After grabbing a bite to eat to pass the time we soon found ourselves boarding

the A330 to Singapore and managed to get all our stuff (carry on bags for all 4

of us AND a stroller for use in Singapore) into overhead lockers without any

problems. Our seats were 2 sets of window pairs, which was good for us as keeping

the girls apart helps minimise fighting and over-excited play between them.

We took off on time at 2pm all feeling reasonably fresh and soon settled into our

flight routines. Our 5yr old daughter scribbled in the kids activity book given

to her by the crew for an hour or so before eating dinner (adult meals - we dont

ask for kid meals as they are totaly rubbish) and settling down to watch an

endless stream of Dora the explorer, Thomas the tank engine and a few movies like

Madagascar, Bolt and Wall-E.

I reached for my newly purchased $200 noise cancelling headphones and thought I'd

give them a go. Slipping them on my head they felt comfortable enough and

flicking the active switch was like closing a car window at speed - the engine

roar just gently softened to a dull hum - FANTASTIC!!!! I plugged into the

entertainment and really enjoyed watching a couple of movies with a listenable

soundtrack! - My only problem was the interuptions from my daughter saying "Dad -

I dont want to watch this anymore!" and forcing me to lean over and change her

viewing...

Meanwhile my wife and youngest just behind us were similarly engaged in movie

watching - albeit both struggling with the crappy airline headphones which dont

fit a 3yr old very well and dont actually enable you to hear much of the

soundtrack of anything anyway!

Eventually after another decent meal (with a surprisingly ok shiraz to drink) we

decended down to Singapore for our 3.5hr transit stop. Being at the back of the

plane we were of course amongst the last to disembark. We'd been on the plane for

8 hours?(ish) and were all very tired.

=================

SINGAPORE

=================

We put our youngest into the stroller and had a brief look around the familiar

surroundings of Singapore airport. If you havent been to Singapore - its a

strangely serene place for an airport. The carpetted surrounding help keep the

peace and louges with quiet sleeping passengers, or those glued to TVs watching

sports or news are scattered around. 3.5 hours sounds like a long time to transit

- but it isnt. By the time we were off the plane and travellatored to the middle

of the terminal we'd already used an hour. A quick stop for the kids to change

and brush teeth and we really only had an hour more to kill before the gate

opened for us to board again. Wife and kids hunkered down in the corner of a

lounge and I went on a duty-free expedition. There are lots of the usual high-

priced duty free shops in Singapore for those into perfume, jewelry and designer

named stuff - but my interest lay in the liquids! So I wandered to the drink

section and marvelled at the staff to custmer ratio. It seemed every 10ft of

shelf space had its own sales assitant keen to persuade you to part with your

money. Once I indicated that yes I WAS looking for a bottle of single malt I was

offered a tasting so warmed my chops nicely on a 12yr old, 18yr old and 30yr old

something or other before doing the economically responsible thing and buying the

cheapest!

Soon enough we made our way to the gate - still having had no sleep and found

ourselves back on board the 747 taking us to London. This time we had a row of 4

so the girls were able to fight each other and giggle whilst pre-flight stuff was

done and other passengers boarded. At this point we took the decision to drug

them. "Painstop" - a cocktail of antihistamine, analgesic and other good things

was reluctantly consumed, but to our relief by the time we had taxi'd to the end

of the runway they were fast asleep (exhausted as they'd been up for FAR too many

hours and very excited too).

================

SIN-LHR QF9

================

I slipped on the noise cancelling headphones again and grinned as the engine

noise once again just disolved into nothingness and left me absorbed in movies

for a while. After eating another good evening meal the cabin lights were

switched off and I finally drifted off to sleep for a bit. I woke up 4 hours

later, cramped and uncomfortable and after disappointingly checking our progress

and seeing we were only over Afghanistan with a LONG way still to go - I got up

for a walk. Of course there isnt far to walk on a plane, but I went to the back

and used the toilet (more to pass time than anything else) - and then hit up the

galley for a gin and tonic and a stretch. Most passengers were asleep and the

flight was peaceful, so I sat back down and settled into another movie. The girls

all woke up somewhere over the Caspian Sea and clearly boredum was going to take

its toll. Once again Dora and the Pixar selections managed to just about keep the

littlies occupied for a couple more hours until breakfast was served and everyone

on board started their pre-landing 'faff about' routines of queuing up for

toilets, brushing teeth and re-locating shoes stowed away in overhead lockers.

We landed at Heathrow a little late at around 5:45am and after a long taxi and an

almost unbarable wait for those in front of us to get out we finally stepped off

the plane into the cool but grubby surroundings of T4.

=============

LONDON

=============

The joy of arriving in London is always the complete lack of Australian red-tape!

We (being 75% UK passport holders) strolled right up to a vacant passport officer

who had a cursory glance at my wifes Australian passport before waving us

through. We had 10 minutes waiting for our bags to get onto the carousel and then

the stroll past the ever-vacant customs benches before emerging into the terminal

to meet my dad.

Finally getting home at shortly after 7am we were all clearly dazed and confused.

Should we sleep? Should we try and stay awake? We had another breakfast (when in

doubt eating always seems good for the soul) - after all our first breakfast was

at 3:30am and had somehow managed to stay conscious and chatting until lunchtime.

By this stage the girls were dropping off falling asleep on their feet so we all

crashed into bed for a few hours rest and slept instantly.

At 4pm our pre-arranged alarm call managed with great dificulty to raise us from

the dead and our fuddled brains struggled to get back into gear. A brief shower

and freshen up did wonders for our revivals and we lasted the rest of the day

before flaking out again around 10pm... a satisfactory result!

Over the next 2 days we still woke up a little early (6-7am) but essentially had

no devasting ill-effects of jetlag.

================

RETURN JOURNEY

================

Once again starting our day well rested we got Heathrow at 7:30pm 2.5hrs before

departure. The queue for check in was long in the grubby, crowded unpleasantness

of T4 and the security checks thorough and officious (although this time the QF

staff said nothing about our so called 'heavy' 27kg bag). Why we have to have

shoes x-rayed at Heathrow and not anywhere else in the world is just bizarre...

would a shoe-bomber not be able to work out a way to bypass Heathrow and go

someplace else?

Anyway - boarding time was soon upon us and once again we waited at the gate to

be shepparded into our confinement for the long trip back.

===============

LHR-SIN QF10

===============

All of us slept for about 7 hours of the 13. Once again I LOVED the noise

cancelling headphones - best $200 I ever spent!! Kids seemed to get into the

swing of long-haul travel and didnt play up too much at all.

===============

SINGAPORE

===============

After our 3 hour transit stop (again long enough to stretch legs, brush teeth,

glance at overpriced designer gear and then make your way back to the gate). The

light at the end of the travellign tunnel was there... final flight...

===============

SIN-BNE QF52

===============

A couple more hours sleep all round and a last chance to watch some of the more

interesting movies on offer - or the brainless entertainment drivel on offer when

I didnt want to think or commit to 2 hours viewing (the threat of falling asleep

is ever present and missing out on sleep just because your in the middle of a

movie would be silly!)

With 2 hours to go we had our last airline meal and I settled in for the long

task of filling in the Australian arrival paperwork (and for 4 people thats a

LOT of paperwork!).

Before we knew it we'd landed at 7am on a sunday morning and were home at last.

===============

BRISBANE

===============

We got home and felt numb.... Once again the doubt about the appropriateness of

sleep hit us and we decided to occupy ourselves with the business of unpacking,

doing laundry, and other menial tasks. We managed to hang on until lunchtime and

after quick easy McFeed all retired to the much enjoyed comfort of our own beds.

3 hours later and our alarm struggled to bring us back to consciousness again.

The girls were almost unwakable, but we managed to get them up and kept ourselves

busy for the rest of the day before retiring slightly early - exhausted again.

Monday morning we all woke up at 5am.... I went to work at 7am feeling fine, hit

a wall briefly at 10:30am but recovered after a drink and went home again at

3:30pm to find the rest of the family asleep having just crashed. The briefest of

naps seemed to revive us all and we managed again to last until a reasonable

hour.

This morning we once again all woke up early at about 5:30am and although I'm

awake I *am* struggling to get into the swing of 'work mode' (hence writing this

rather long distraction!). I'm hoping that tonight will see us approach normality

and that by tomorrow perhaps my brain may start operating fully!!!

Edited to add: Wednesday morning now and girls woke up at 3:30am... They woke us up and then *they* managed to go back to sleep. I may have had some broken sleep since then but now 8:am at work and I feel worse today than I did yesterday - Jetlag REALLY sucks!!!!!!

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CONCLUSION:

=============

Qantas as a carrier were fine. Food was all edible, service efficient and

effective (even if not particularly servile and sycophantic) and the planes

operated on time. Yes I was cramped - but at 6'3" thats a given in ANY economy

cabin. Would I chose to fly with them again? If the price is right YES. I remain

ambivalent about variations in airline quality and my experiences of Qantas, BA,

JAL, Thai, Tarom, Avianca, AeroPeru and many others leave me fairly confident

that choice of airline should be made using factors that are important like

convenient timetabling and affordable prices!

??? The only advice I really have for anyone travelling a long way is sleep when

you can in the air and if you can afford noise cancelling headphones do it - you

wont regret it!!

Excellent post, thank you so much for taking time out to write that,definately worth it, you have a great sense of humour.

Cal x

LOL travelling with kids you need a good sense of humour IMHO! I so agree about those noise cancelling headphones - pure gold! I'm surprised you didnt buy a set for the rest of the family for the trip back!

Great post as ever from you !!! I too love those headphones because I dont have to listen to the endless questions of "Are we there yet ?........

we are heading for Brisbane in 7 days and flying with quantas so a very useful post though thankfully not travelling with small children so slightly less stress for us. We have a 4 hours stopover in Singapore and was hoping to fit in a swim, will we have the time?. How strict are they on the baggage allowance, i've pared it down as much as possible be still worried we will be overweight.

i could of done with a set of those noise cancelling headphones when we travelled here first time on a plane no stopover newcastle to london london to singapore then singapore to brisbane 6 children oh my god think thats the biggest draw back to visiting uk

never again i tell myself .

thank you for a fantastic post thoroughly interesting and entertaining

lesleyx

we are heading for Brisbane in 7 days and flying with quantas ... We have a 4 hours stopover in Singapore and was hoping to fit in a swim, will we have the time?. How strict are they on the baggage allowance, i've pared it down as much as possible be still worried we will be overweight.

If you're determined to have a swim you *could* fit it in - it would be refereshing and certainly family members who've visited me have enjoyed the expereience and said it made the ongoign journey much more bearable. It might mean you spend less time perusing the shopping but thats not necessarily any great loss.

As far as baggage goes - it seems to be down to the discretion of the person checking you in. We've never had a problem, even on occassions being slightly over limit but I'd imagine that if you were significantly over there's more chance in them getting ****ty about it.

Good luck with the trip. :smile:

Thanks for that entertaining account, it is such an exhausting journey, I also have found Qantas great, down to earth (and non sycophantic as you put it) friendly, the food/wines very good. Have flown with them quite a few times, and other airlines, they come in the top 3 for me. Did the trip with two teenagers, hard enough, with young children don't know how I'd go !!

I totally agree about the Noise Canceling headphones. They are an absolute 'must' for long distance travel. Worth their weight in gold. Get the ones that enclose the whole ear, OK they are big and bulky but much more effective than the small ones. Check the specification and go for the ones with the highest dB reduction you can find. They will be the more expensive but performance is everything.

thanks for that Dadagain,

i'm not fussed about shopping, wont have the money to spare anyway lol. so think the swim would be well worth it. Talking of money, what would you advise to get for singapore we were thinking of about £30 just to get us a coffee/tea and a sandwich plus the swim of course.

how far is where you live to the Mater Hospital?

sorry for all the questions, getting really excited now and just a teeeeeeny bit panicky

lynne

... Talking of money, what would you advise to get for singapore we were thinking of about £30 just to get us a coffee/tea and a sandwich plus the swim of course.

My advice would be take NO money for Singapore. The entire airport is a multi-currency international world so even if you dont have a credit card (which is what we use for any purchase in any airport transit lounge) - you can pay for stuff in AU$ or GBP whichever you have to hand. Of course the exchange rate wont be the best, but better to pay a few cents over the odds for something than have $10 left over of a currency you dont want to hold.

...how far is where you live to the Mater Hospital?

My wife is a midwife at the Mater, its a 15min drive. That is of course for off-peak nursing shift start times (06:45, 14:30, 18:45, 23:00). If you were try and drive there for an 8am start it'd probably take 45minutes. If you tried taking the bus it'd be just under an hour (no direct bus from our place to Mater).

Feel free to ask more questions via PM if you like, I'm happy to help in any way I can

Hey Lynne

Im with you all the way " watching you like a hawk" hehehe good luck only couple of days now......let me know where you end up living. Oh and of course how the flight was !

thanks Nicky

will let you know how it all goes. just off to yet another farewell bash, i'll be glad to get on the plane for a rest lol, and so will my liver. Off to my sons tomorrow and preparing myself for lots more tears, then airport Sunday. Might be a bit cheeky and ask for an upgrade. what are my chances do you think !!!!!

see ya soon,

if i dont get a chance to post again I'll do so as soon as we get internet set up.

take care all and hang on in there, it will all come good eventually

lynne

You go for that upgrade girl !!! Looking forward to speaking when you are on the other side !!!!

thanks Nicky

will let you know how it all goes. just off to yet another farewell bash, i'll be glad to get on the plane for a rest lol, and so will my liver. Off to my sons tomorrow and preparing myself for lots more tears, then airport Sunday. Might be a bit cheeky and ask for an upgrade. what are my chances do you think !!!!!

 

see ya soon,

if i dont get a chance to post again I'll do so as soon as we get internet set up.

take care all and hang on in there, it will all come good eventually

 

lynne

Hi Lynne

Just been offered a post in icu a the Mater and am a little apprehensive about taking it mainly due to the unknown. OH and myself giving up good secure jobs, three children settled in school etc. Was wondering if you`ve settled into work and life and made the right decision. I`ve been looking at the Gap and Manly, they both look very nice.Any information on The Mater, what are they like to work for, wages, shifts, development etc and nearby suburbs to live would be very much appreciated.

Regards

Kerrie

Hi Kerrie

congratulations on getting the job. I have settled in really well after a bit of a shakey start, but only in as much as I thought as I was going to a childrens hospital it would be a much more child friendly ward and its not. I love the work though and even though there are some things that are done differently and there are times when I get a bit frustrated I'm still glad I came. The lifestyle here and the weather more than makes up for it. The hospital, at least my part of it is old and due to close in 4 years when the new Queensland Childrens Hospital opens, however my sister is a mid wife here and its very clean, bright and modern. Our ICU is huge and state of the art (though I've only been on a tour there and not worked in it). I cant comment on the adult side as I've never been there.

We live in Belmont which is a small suburb about 20 mins from the Mater, we like it, it has a great feel to it and there are schools close by but we dont have children here so dont know what they are like. There are parks nearby one of which has a lake and canoe/cycle trail, very pretty. My sister lives in Manly and that is very pretty, might be a bit quiet for the kids though.

I've found the hospital good to work for, they have a pretty thorough induction programme, again i can only comment on my area but they are always have in house training and I've found them to be very supportive. I have had to redo cometencies which sometimes can be a bit frustrating as it's stuff I've been doing for years, like respiratroy obs, pain management, cannula care etc but they have to know you can do it I suppose. Salary wise, it depends on how long you have been qualified, everyone starts on Level 1 which is basic but once they have verified your experience then you go up to the equivelant level up to 7 which is the hightest. I sent my verification off before we left the UK and went straight in at level 7 which is $64.000 per year basic + shift allowance. I'm earning almost twice what I was in the uk. You get paid fortnightly too whcih makes life easier and you can also salary package a certain amount which saves on tax, still cant get my head around how it works but its worth doing. You also get 2 days paid study leave a year (I think) it may be more, not too sure on that one.

My hubby isnt working yet and we live very comfortably on just my salary, mind you we dont have children to provide for, but saying that I work with an english girl who is still on basic salary, works part time, has kids and still enjoys a great lifestyle.

deciding to come here is a huge step and only you can decide that. My thoughts are that life is way too short for regrets and if you dont try you will never know. We took the attitude that if it doesnt work out we can always go back, but again, like I said we dont have kids to consider, but if they like and outdoor lifestyle you cant beat Queensland. Its a really beautiful place.

We have a website which has a lot of phots on if you want to take a look. www.sheppardsdownunder.webs.com

good luck with whatever you decide to do and please feel free to ask anything.

Lynne

Just curious... Do these noise cancelling headphones cancel out the wife's nagging?

Hi Lynne

Thanks for your speedy reply. Had a look at your pics, they`re beautiful. Great information which was much needed for a decision to be made. I had message on telephone on Tuesday offering me a position with a promise of details in email which I have yet to receive, so waiting on that before making final decisions.

Kerrie

Hi. Just noticed your post! I am a childrens nurse (14yrs experience in A&E/HDU/general wards) hoping to relocate to The Gold Coast hinterland (Tamborine area) with my partner and 4 children. I have struggled to find any fellow paed nurses to date on the site. I would be really grateful if you could offer me any advice at all! So far I have been looking at the Gold Coast Hospital as this would be a reasonable commute form Tamborine but do not know if I would be likely to be sponsored for this hospital. I am hoping to attend the Manchester Expo on the 10th Oct and would be really interested in your experience of what they can offer at these events. Look forward to hearing from you.

:jiggy:

Hi Kerrie

We have a website which has a lot of phots on if you want to take a look. www.sheppardsdownunder.webs.com

 

Hi

Have just looked at your photos and they are great.

Am too a paed nurse and have an interview next month with Mater. Very excited and keeping fingers crossed!

Myself, hubby (Mark), Zack, Aaron and dog all hope to get to Oz sometime next year, all dependant on visa times etc.

Have been looking at suburbs within commuting distance of Mater and wondered if you could recommend any, or advise any def nono's!!!! Boys aged 12 and 10 and love to be outdoors.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Sheila.

Great post. It's interesting to hear about the noise cancelling headphones - my hubby travels a lot and i reckon that might be an excellent Xmas prezzie idea!!!

Love

Rudi

x

Great post. It's interesting to hear about the noise cancelling headphones - my hubby travels a lot and i reckon that might be an excellent Xmas prezzie idea!!!

 

Love

 

Rudi

x

These are the ones I use-very good value IMO.

RP-HC150 Closed Type Noise Cancelling Headphones [RP-HC150] - Panasonic Australia

These were mine:

Jabra C820s Headphone reviews - CNET Reviews

Hi

Just been offered job at The Mater and have been looking at The Gap as an area to live. Any information on the area would be appreciated. Children aged 13, 15 and 16 so looking for good high school. Also what is the equivelent to GCSEs and A`levels out there. How far is the communte to The Mater from the Gap.

Thanks

Hi DadAgain. Just a quick question about the flight. We are flying out Mon with Singapore (1 way at last) and having a 3 hr stopover at Singapore. I assumed that when you got back on it was same plane and seats etc, just been refueled and new crew.