Europe, with an Arctic cruise, a Balkan tour and bits of France and Malta

[tgh]

I thought was a bit "prepper syndrome-ish" when it comes to packing, but you gazump me...

 

[RooFlyer]

VA1323, dep HBA 12:50 arr MEL 1:05, a few mins early.

1A. Nice, wi-fi enabled flight. Hauling out of HBA. See you in a month.



Two salad-ish choices for lunch on the short flight. I chose the pasta with added chicken on top. Very nice.



First time I’ve been on VA with a checked bag in ages and they had the bag tracking thing. So at least I knew the bag had arrived in Melbourne and sure enough, it came out as one of the first bags.

Then an approx 500 m walk down to the Novotel.

I refuse to use check-in tablets so I waited for an agent to be ready. Just took a few extra minutes. I don’t think anyone else was interested in using the tablets either..



No upgrade and when I walked into my room, it was hot as Hades. A sunny afternoon in Melbourne but the window facing the west just means it’s a radiator. Aircon is absolutely useless. It’s one of those simplified ones where all you can actually adjust is the minimum temperature. Fans are automatic, the mode selector is on automatic and reaching up to feel the fan strength it was almost non-existent.

In spite of the heat it had a nice car park view but afraid that wasn’t good enough to save the room.







Got it changed and I’m now on the top floor on the other side of the hotel.




Accor platinum welcome amenity was a big bottle of water and a chokky creation which was nicely done.