moa999
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2003
- Posts
- 11,975
In the past two weeks I have done more domestic business travel than I ever have in a short time.
I wasn't going to write a trip report and as a result this is written post the event, unlike my DONE 4 report. I also had photos of the Sheraton Perth Executive rooms and the Intercontinental Melbourne Rialto but unfortunately lost my camera at the Australian Open.
SYD-PER-ADL-MEL-SYD-DRW-BNE-SYD
SYD-PER J 767 25 J, Old fabrics
Had OLCI'd the night before and gotten a 2x2x2 config. Checking back the morning of departure had shifted to a 1x2x2 so scored 3A, then a few hours uograded again to 1A. Got to the J lounge expecting only a quick drink having seen the plane at the gate, but plane delayed – Awaiting Crew from Melb, so plane from Bris but majority of crew from Melb (go figure)... On board the Captain apologises by saying crew plane was delayed waiting Intl passenger from a connecting flight (plane from Melb on arrivals was showing over 100 min late).
Not a fan of the fried dim sum in the J lounge.
Very uneventful flight.and caught up half of our half hour delay.
SHERATON PERTH – EXECUTIVE FLOOR
Made it to the Sheraton in good time, flashed the SPG Gold card and asked nicely for one of the new floor rooms, not realising all the floors (4-7 from memory) are Executive floor, so nice upgrade and a free brekkie. These new rooms are in a floor that used to be offices (front St.Georges Terrace) and have a floorplan that is much larger than the rest of the hotel. Serviced by a special elevator off the side of the main elevator.
Awesome room. Light wood, plasma built into the wall opposite the bed. Modern and nice but a bit staid. Bathroom is really awesome and huge with a separate shower with infinity roof head, as well as a bath. Glass window separates the bed from bedroom so you can see the TV from the bath and listen via the piped sound system.
Impressive Executive Lounge and decent breakfast. Two computers in the Exec lounge, as well as the three in the lobby, all with printers.
PER–ADL 737-800
Again OLCId the previous night, pre-allocated 6A, shifted to 4B instead – it might be the middle seat but at over 6ft I will take that seat anyday.
Got Gate 8 at Perth airport – It means you walk out of Gate 4, turn left along the tarmac under a covered path and walk about 500m to your plane. Thankfully appears to be some expansion at Perth Dom.
HYATT ADELAIDE
Hotel rooms definitely showing their age.
No free general use Internet terminals (a big bug bear for me versus Sheratons)
Instead had to be a $15 30min card and get the concierge to let me into the Business Centre at 11pm so I can print my forwarded email messages. Only 5 pages in the printer so I scrounge the shelves and find some more.
Skipped breakfast after going for a run.
ADL-MEL 737-400
OLCId and secured 4F in the convertible section which is a good seat. Did not realise how short this leg was. Adelaide QP is very impressive – loads of space and lots of computers.
INTERCONTINENTAL MELBOURNE RIALTO
Due to Aus Open our regular corp rates were not available and the best I could get was a $400 non-cancellable room at the Stamford. Remembered seeing an ad for the recently opened Intercontinental (opened mid-Dec) in the Old Rialto buidling (next to Rialto Towers) and a former Le Meridien. Got a last minute rate for just over $300.
Very impressive Hotel!
Restaurant and Bar on the ground floor of a laneway between the two wings of the hotel. Funky blue lighting on the insides of brick walls. Rooms are awesome – mix of dark tones and white with some funky lamps and desk. TV is on a fake wall in between locked doors leading out to a juliet balcony which overlooks the atrium / laneway (ie tv is at 90 deg to bed). Only thing that took me a while to work out was the balcony curtains are operated by an electronic switch on the opposite side of the bed – not obvious at all.
Bathroom are a bit small with just a shower – no bath and thankfully not a combo (which I hate)
Unfortunately did not get to try the coughtail bar as I was rushing to the tennis to see Venus bow out.
MEL – SYD 767 25J, 2A
Got approval to go J as had to read a report on the plane for a meeting at the Airport Meeting Rooms when I landed. Was on a oddly numbered 1xx_ flight that left on the quarter hour (assume extra planes for Aus Day weekend, travel on the Fri previous) but got to the airport earlier and ****ed to an earlier flight.
SYD – DRW 737-800, 4F
Back to the back, well the front of the back for this almost Perrth distance flight. Service similar to Perth, but not being a CityFlyer service, no free booze despite the length– frankly given the Flex fare found this pretty poor. Ridicuously packed flight, no more than 4 or 5 seats spare.
DARWIN HOLIDAY INN
Nice location, avefrage property – defintely showing its age. Apparently the Holiday Inn Esplanade next door is much nicer. On the upside Restaurant opens for breakfast at 3am which means it is possible to eat before going to the airport for early morning flights.
DRW – BNE A320, 15K
Apart from the restrictive Jetstar hand luggage rules – only one piece and no more than 10kg, which meant my documents had to be shifted from my domestic rollaboard to my garment bag which got checked in.
Surprisingly the Qantas Club was open at 5am and adjacent to my Jetstar gate, although I didn't need to eat anymore and my January crusade against coffee and coke was continuing.
STAMFORD BRISBANE
First time staying here. Got a great high-floor room overlooking the river with views out to the Storey Bridge and in easy walking distance to the Eagle Street riverfront restaurants. Room had recently been renovated. From what I could tell the renovations consisted of putting an LCD in the big TV cabinet chest, putting a small cheap and nasty unknown beand in the bathroom and a new bedspread. Unfortunately I hadn't been catching up on AFF so missed the Mill Hill drinks night.
BNE – SYD 767, Bulkhead exit
Travelling with my boss went to the Business lounge to ask to move our flights forward. There was a flight leaving immediately but we wanted the following one so we could grab some food and a beer. No problem – offered an exit row which we accepted but turned out to be the bulkhead exit, which I would not really describe as a bonus.
I wasn't going to write a trip report and as a result this is written post the event, unlike my DONE 4 report. I also had photos of the Sheraton Perth Executive rooms and the Intercontinental Melbourne Rialto but unfortunately lost my camera at the Australian Open.
SYD-PER-ADL-MEL-SYD-DRW-BNE-SYD
SYD-PER J 767 25 J, Old fabrics
Had OLCI'd the night before and gotten a 2x2x2 config. Checking back the morning of departure had shifted to a 1x2x2 so scored 3A, then a few hours uograded again to 1A. Got to the J lounge expecting only a quick drink having seen the plane at the gate, but plane delayed – Awaiting Crew from Melb, so plane from Bris but majority of crew from Melb (go figure)... On board the Captain apologises by saying crew plane was delayed waiting Intl passenger from a connecting flight (plane from Melb on arrivals was showing over 100 min late).
Not a fan of the fried dim sum in the J lounge.
Very uneventful flight.and caught up half of our half hour delay.
SHERATON PERTH – EXECUTIVE FLOOR
Made it to the Sheraton in good time, flashed the SPG Gold card and asked nicely for one of the new floor rooms, not realising all the floors (4-7 from memory) are Executive floor, so nice upgrade and a free brekkie. These new rooms are in a floor that used to be offices (front St.Georges Terrace) and have a floorplan that is much larger than the rest of the hotel. Serviced by a special elevator off the side of the main elevator.
Awesome room. Light wood, plasma built into the wall opposite the bed. Modern and nice but a bit staid. Bathroom is really awesome and huge with a separate shower with infinity roof head, as well as a bath. Glass window separates the bed from bedroom so you can see the TV from the bath and listen via the piped sound system.
Impressive Executive Lounge and decent breakfast. Two computers in the Exec lounge, as well as the three in the lobby, all with printers.
PER–ADL 737-800
Again OLCId the previous night, pre-allocated 6A, shifted to 4B instead – it might be the middle seat but at over 6ft I will take that seat anyday.
Got Gate 8 at Perth airport – It means you walk out of Gate 4, turn left along the tarmac under a covered path and walk about 500m to your plane. Thankfully appears to be some expansion at Perth Dom.
HYATT ADELAIDE
Hotel rooms definitely showing their age.
No free general use Internet terminals (a big bug bear for me versus Sheratons)
Instead had to be a $15 30min card and get the concierge to let me into the Business Centre at 11pm so I can print my forwarded email messages. Only 5 pages in the printer so I scrounge the shelves and find some more.
Skipped breakfast after going for a run.
ADL-MEL 737-400
OLCId and secured 4F in the convertible section which is a good seat. Did not realise how short this leg was. Adelaide QP is very impressive – loads of space and lots of computers.
INTERCONTINENTAL MELBOURNE RIALTO
Due to Aus Open our regular corp rates were not available and the best I could get was a $400 non-cancellable room at the Stamford. Remembered seeing an ad for the recently opened Intercontinental (opened mid-Dec) in the Old Rialto buidling (next to Rialto Towers) and a former Le Meridien. Got a last minute rate for just over $300.
Very impressive Hotel!
Restaurant and Bar on the ground floor of a laneway between the two wings of the hotel. Funky blue lighting on the insides of brick walls. Rooms are awesome – mix of dark tones and white with some funky lamps and desk. TV is on a fake wall in between locked doors leading out to a juliet balcony which overlooks the atrium / laneway (ie tv is at 90 deg to bed). Only thing that took me a while to work out was the balcony curtains are operated by an electronic switch on the opposite side of the bed – not obvious at all.
Bathroom are a bit small with just a shower – no bath and thankfully not a combo (which I hate)
Unfortunately did not get to try the coughtail bar as I was rushing to the tennis to see Venus bow out.
MEL – SYD 767 25J, 2A
Got approval to go J as had to read a report on the plane for a meeting at the Airport Meeting Rooms when I landed. Was on a oddly numbered 1xx_ flight that left on the quarter hour (assume extra planes for Aus Day weekend, travel on the Fri previous) but got to the airport earlier and ****ed to an earlier flight.
SYD – DRW 737-800, 4F
Back to the back, well the front of the back for this almost Perrth distance flight. Service similar to Perth, but not being a CityFlyer service, no free booze despite the length– frankly given the Flex fare found this pretty poor. Ridicuously packed flight, no more than 4 or 5 seats spare.
DARWIN HOLIDAY INN
Nice location, avefrage property – defintely showing its age. Apparently the Holiday Inn Esplanade next door is much nicer. On the upside Restaurant opens for breakfast at 3am which means it is possible to eat before going to the airport for early morning flights.
DRW – BNE A320, 15K
Apart from the restrictive Jetstar hand luggage rules – only one piece and no more than 10kg, which meant my documents had to be shifted from my domestic rollaboard to my garment bag which got checked in.
Surprisingly the Qantas Club was open at 5am and adjacent to my Jetstar gate, although I didn't need to eat anymore and my January crusade against coffee and coke was continuing.
STAMFORD BRISBANE
First time staying here. Got a great high-floor room overlooking the river with views out to the Storey Bridge and in easy walking distance to the Eagle Street riverfront restaurants. Room had recently been renovated. From what I could tell the renovations consisted of putting an LCD in the big TV cabinet chest, putting a small cheap and nasty unknown beand in the bathroom and a new bedspread. Unfortunately I hadn't been catching up on AFF so missed the Mill Hill drinks night.
BNE – SYD 767, Bulkhead exit
Travelling with my boss went to the Business lounge to ask to move our flights forward. There was a flight leaving immediately but we wanted the following one so we could grab some food and a beer. No problem – offered an exit row which we accepted but turned out to be the bulkhead exit, which I would not really describe as a bonus.
