Of Islands and Gulfs (golfs!)

[Scarlett]

Over the Xmas/NY period I’m off to visit Flinders Island, then the bigger main island of Tasmania. Then it’s time for international travel to the Gulf Region.

I figured a trip report might be useful as I’m travelling to and through some lesser visited locations.

The trip looks like this:


When I break it out into the actual flights and journeys, it is:

CBR-MEL (VA Y)
MEB-FLS (SH Y)
Hire car on Flinders
FLS-LST (SH Y)
One-way hire from north to south over a couple of days
Xmas with my parents
HBA-MEL-SYD (VA Y - overnight SYD)
SYD-MNL (PR J - overnight MNL)
MNL-RUH-MED (PR/SV J)
One way hire car through KAEC and Jeddah
JED-DOH-KWI (QR Y)
KWI-BAH (GF Y)
Car service over the causeway
DMM-RUH-MNL (SV/PR J)
Long daytime transit
MNL-SYD (PR J)
SYD-CBR (VA Y)

- 34,019 KMs planned air travel.
- Two new countries (KSA and Bahrain), taking me to 96 visited.
- 11 planned games of golf (three new countries (KSA, Kuwait and Bahrain) taking me to 91 countries golfed in out of 196). I’ll also have played every single golf club & course* in Tassie, which stands at about 78 at the moment as a couple have closed.

So, Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all and I’m going to get travelling.

*we can debate the merits of the Marra Wanna course on Cape Barren Island at a later date.

 

[Scarlett]

The main ticket for this trip was Australia to Saudi return, in J, sold by PR. It cost AUD3235, with about $500 of that being taxes and fees.

Base fare: AUD 2693.00
Taxes:
AUD 70.00AU
AUD 88.70WY
AUD 29.80LI
AUD 6.60E3
AUD 42.30IO
AUD 4.70IO
AUD 6.30T2
Carrier Imposed Fees:
AUD 170.00YQ
AUD 40.40YR
AUD 84.00YR
Total Amount: AUD 3235.80

The fare was valid to a couple of cities in KSA and allowed me to open jaw using two of them: into Medinah and out of Dammam. The exit point for the ticket was chosen due to the proximity to Bahrain.

For the week or so prior to the international ticket, I booked domestic flights to spend Xmas with my parents in Tassie, plus I have wanted to get to Flinders Island for about ten years. I had also wanted to go and play golf on the new Bougle Run short course at the Barnbougle golf club near Bridport. So it was just a case of finding the best order to visit islands.

Getting to FLS is limited to generally one flight every day or so from either Melbourne (Essendon Fields) MEB, or from LST, with Sharp Airlines. Due to the monopoly on the routes and the use of small commuter aircraft, fares are not cheap: $330 from MEB and $240 from LST. The flights are about an hour long. The other issue with them is you get 21KGs of baggage and that includes the carry on. Due to the international travel I had a suitcase, golf clubs and backpack, so had to pay excess baggage on both flights.

Internal to the Gulf region I looked at multiple options, including the LCCs Flynas and FlyDubai, as well as Kuwait Airways and the main ME3. Chose QR as my QF status covers my golf bag travelling for free and then Gulf Air as they carry some sport equipment for free.

VA filled in all the other gaps and, with other travels, should see me retain WP which I like for EconX seating and of course the extra luggage allowance.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Lots of planning there @Scarlett, am on board and your folks would have been chuffed to see you for Christmas - happy travels ️

 

[Scarlett]

Travel commenced, as it usually does, from CBR. Unfortunately at too early o’clock.

No one was in the VA priority lane, but the main queue was long! 30 mins saved and it was up to the VA lounge for a couple of lattes and some breakfast. It’s a nice lounge and rarely gets too crowded.



Most early VA flights are around 0630, but QF have some that depart around 0600. Today that included the first ex-Horizon Air Dash-8 I’ve seen, as it pushed back in front of the lounges.



VA252 CBR-MEL
B737-800 VH-YQR
On time

Before long the MEL flight was called and I settled into my preferred EconX window seat. Full aircraft. Interestingly we pushed back whilst the Saab to SYD was boarding beside us. In the past I’ve been held inside/undercover when there have been other aircraft movements near the path out to the Link Airways aircraft.



On taxi we passed the QFLink hangars and a newly arrived A220 was being checked over. This was VH-X4J after a delivery flight which lasted a couple of days.







In less than a hour the dry and yellowed grasses of the capital region were replaced by a much greener southern Victoria, even with some showers around.



Uneventful and pretty much standard VA B738 hop. I did head into the lounge at MEL on arrival and got some more coffee in my keep cup and then headed down to collect luggage for the transfer to Essendon.

 

[Major]

My first interstate flight was SYD-MEB about 1965

 

[jase05]

Definitely following along with this as have visited Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain a couple times and have more visits on the horizon so always up for new ideas or thoughts on places visited