Sydney to Newcastle – Fulfilling a 31-Year Premier League Pilgrimage

[kamchatsky]

Great TR
Lucky you didn’t go yesterday, that would have been a big disappointment

Yes I know. They have not been playing well this season for many reasons. However, I only had a small window to fly to the other side of the world to watch them live, I just had to take what was available and bought hospitality tickets well in advance, as well as planning for flights etc.

Even the best travel planner cannot plan for the perfect game to go. That is that magic of watching live sports. That's also another reason why I flew to watch 2 matches, as I was hoping to watch them to get at least a W in one of the matches.

 

[kamchatsky]

8 January 2026

Dublin, Ireland (Continued)

After late lunch I walked around the Temple Bar area before heading to O'Connell Street district:



When I got to O'Connell Street it was starting to get dark. I did a little bit of shopping here:




After it got dark at around 5pm, I caught the bus back to DUB airport. It took roughly an hour to get back to DUB.


QR46 J DUB-DOH

After arriving at airport at 6pm, I got my luggage back from luggage storage, and proceed to check-in. It was relatively quick process.


I was advised that I will be going to Martello Lounge when I checked-in.

Man, the Martello Lounge was so depressing compared to Pier J at HKG and Al Mourjan lounge at DOH that I tried earlier. The lounge was small, the beef stew with rice was more of a slop for me. I ended up just eating chips and drink Guinness instead.




In many ways I would have preferred to fly from say LHR to get great QR lounges, but there were only flexi QR Avios awards available from LHR to HKG for 150K, rather than 90K from DUB.

Then at 8:40pm, it was time to board this overnight flight to DOH. It was a 787-8 with their Super Diamond seats, and I got seat 1A again. Even though it is open and no doors, I actually don't mind these as they were great for sleeping anyway. I actually don't care too much about doors.



The flight took off at 9:30pm. Since it is only 6.5 hours flight to DOH, and was overnight flight, I had the dinner quickly before going to sleep. I had butter poached lobster as starter, and it was yum. The pan-seared cod fillet was well cooked. I decided to have a plate of fruit as dessert rather than a cheesecake.

All I can say that the food onboard is sooooo much better than what was in the lounge! The cabin crews were great and cheerful.

Post in thread 'Qatar Airways Business & First Class meals'

Jan 16, 2026

8 January 2026: QR46 J DUB-DOH

This is 6.5 hour overnight flight so I only had 1 meal, and just focus on sleeping instead. The Business seat is the older Super Diamond seating (787-8) but I still find it quite good.

Menu:






Starter: Butter Poached Lobster with Walnut Tepanade




Main Course: Pan Seared Cod Filler with Lemon Cream Sauce


Dessert: Fresh Fruit

• kamchatsky

• 

After dinner and a nap, the flight almost arrived at DOH. It landed at DOH at 7:15am. The good news was that the flight arrived at the gate, rather than a bus gate.

 

[kamchatsky]

9 January 2026

QR816 J DOH-HKG

After landing at DOH, I only have 1:40 transit time as my flight to HKG was 8:55am. After clearing security, I took some time to go to the C area (as I arrived in A) and then spent about 10 minutes at Al Mourjan Garden. As it was breakfast time, it is usual standard western breakfast. I decided to have a croissant and a sausage as I wasn't too hungry at that time.



The flight to HKG was a bus gate so I do need to go there a little bit early, as I have never boarded a QR flight from the bus gates before. Ironically Y passengers were loaded to the bus first, with J and F passengers need to wait in the waiting area. Then we were asked to board and we got onto J bus. The seats in J bus are nice but I always thought that F and J should be boarded first, even though I wasn't really fussed about it.



Again, QR uses Qatar Pacific ex-CX 773 (7D3) planes for my flight today. I have 11A again, but this aircraft was different as I could tell that the wear and tear of my 11A seats were less than my QR817 flight, even though the configuration is the same.

Looks like this aircraft type is exclusively used for DOH-HKG route and was not real QR seating. The entertainment system is slightly better than my earlier HKG-DOH flight, but not the same as the real QR planes.

If you want full QR experience I would suggest to avoid HKG-DOH route until the QR change this to their new plane (most likely need to wait until 777X are available, god knows when?)

Having said that, the cabin crew was as great and cheerful as always. Also, the cabin light could actually be turned off for mid-flight sleep, unlike QR817 earlier.



The good news was that there was caviar available on this route, which I had as starter. I have to say, even though caviar is expensive, it is not something that I love and not something that I desired about. It tasted OK but not spectacular.

I also ended up having both the Lobster Sandwich (provided as part of breakfast), and later Chicken Machboos as mains later. The lobster sandwich was OK, the chicken machboos were great.

The soya noodles with seafood wonton were not good though, probably because I am Chinese, so I have higher expectation on Chinese food lol. Maybe I should have lower expectations given this is a non-Chinese airline. I think I will avoid Chinese food for flights from Qatar in the future, and probably stick with middle eastern and western food.

Menu



Main Breakfast: Wok Fried Noodles with Seafood Wontons



Main Course: Lobster Sandwich


All Day Dining: Bread


All Day Dining: Baeri Cavier with Balik style salmon


All-Day Dining: Chicken Machboos


Dessert: Gourmet Ice Cream Selection




The flight was planned for 7 hours 45 minutes, and was scheduled to arrive at 9:40pm. But it actually flew faster and arrived at HKG at 9:10pm.



I cleared the HKG immigration quickly, and then proceed to catch A21 bus to Holiday Inn Hong Kong Golden Mile for next 3 nights as I will meet up with my family the next day.

 

[VPS]

8 January 2026

Dublin, Ireland (Continued)

After late lunch I walked around the Temple Bar area before heading to O'Connell Street district:

View attachment 496688View attachment 496689

When I got to O'Connell Street it was starting to get dark. I did a little bit of shopping here:
View attachment 496690
View attachment 496692
View attachment 496691

After it got dark at around 5pm, I caught the bus back to DUB airport. It took roughly an hour to get back to DUB.


QR46 J DUB-DOH

After arriving at airport at 6pm, I got my luggage back from luggage storage, and proceed to check-in. It was relatively quick process.

View attachment 496693
I was advised that I will be going to Martello Lounge when I checked-in.

Man, the Martello Lounge was so depressing compared to Pier J at HKG and Al Mourjan lounge at DOH that I tried earlier. The lounge was small, the beef stew with rice was more of a slop for me. I ended up just eating chips and drink Guinness instead.
View attachment 496696
View attachment 496715
View attachment 496695

In many ways I would have preferred to fly from say LHR to get great QR lounges, but there were only flexi QR Avios awards available from LHR to HKG for 150K, rather than 90K from DUB.

Then at 8:40pm, it was time to board this overnight flight to DOH. It was a 787-8 with their Super Diamond seats, and I got seat 1A again. Even though it is open and no doors, I actually don't mind these as they were great for sleeping anyway. I actually don't care too much about doors.

View attachment 496697View attachment 496698

The flight took off at 9:30pm. Since it is only 6.5 hours flight to DOH, and was overnight flight, I had the dinner quickly before going to sleep. I had butter poached lobster as starter, and it was yum. The pan-seared cod fillet was well cooked. I decided to have a plate of fruit as dessert rather than a cheesecake.

All I can say that the food onboard is sooooo much better than what was in the lounge! The cabin crews were great and cheerful.

Post in thread 'Qatar Airways Business & First Class meals'

Jan 16, 2026

8 January 2026: QR46 J DUB-DOH

This is 6.5 hour overnight flight so I only had 1 meal, and just focus on sleeping instead. The Business seat is the older Super Diamond seating (787-8) but I still find it quite good.

Menu:






Starter: Butter Poached Lobster with Walnut Tepanade




Main Course: Pan Seared Cod Filler with Lemon Cream Sauce


Dessert: Fresh Fruit

• kamchatsky

• 

After dinner and a nap, the flight almost arrived at DOH. It landed at DOH at 7:15am. The good news was that the flight arrived at the gate, rather than a bus gate.

View attachment 496709

That stew and bread roll look dire. The Guiness and the chips would be OK

I flew Qatar J from Gatwick once and the lounge was the Aspire lounge and it was dire so I avoid LGW like the plague. I know it's probably a bit pretentious but even if I don't use everything it's nice to have good food available if you want.

 

[drron]

What a wonderful side trip for you. Probably luck but it couldn't have been scripted better for the matches you saw.
Reading this I am going to bite the bullet and try to see the Perth Bears play their first game in Perth in 2027. Thinking of also watching the NFL when they come to Sydney later this year.

 

[kamchatsky]

10 - 12 January 2026

In the morning of 10th, I had breakfast at the Australia Dairy Company at Jordan. It is a very famous Hong Kong style Cafe. It was well known for their super quick delivery of great tasting food, but also very bad and rude service, and table sharing to the max. The ham macaroni, scrambled egg and the bread with butter were all delivered within 10 seconds of me ordering the food. The hot HK Milk tea is delivered later after the food was finished, in order to conserve table space as that tiny table was for 4 people eating breakfast.


The second ham macaroni bowl was not mine, but another customer on the same table.


Hot HK Milk Tea after finished the food.


After that, I picked up my family at HK West Kowloon station as they caught the HSR from Guangzhou. We spent the rest of the day catching up.

On 11th, we caught the ferry to Cheung Chau for a day trip. It is an outer island off Hong Kong and is a regular getaway place for locals. We just want to go and relax:






We had lunch at a local open-air stall just off the ferry pier:


Then we did a walk around the island to other side of Cheung Chau:


After the walk, we decided to go to a famous local shop for fishball snacks. The line was long but the queue was moving quickly. The fishball was delicious.


Then we caught the ferry back to Hong Kong.

12 January 2026

QF128 Y HKG-SYD

On the 12th, we did more family stuff before catching the flight home. It was on A330 and we picked the 2 rows of 2 side seats, so we all have either window or aisle access. The seats are the same as the QF29 I caught earlier in the trip, so I did not take any photos.

As for the food, it was as bad as ever. For dinner, the rice was soggy. Therefore, I just ate the chicken and the vegetables.

The mango ice block was nice but was pre-packaged by a third-party company. In many ways, I would just prefer QF to give me all third-party pre-packaged food instead.

After an overnight nap, it was breakfast time. The western breakfast tasted very average. I wanted the Chinese breakfast but it all ran out. The best food in breakfast was muffin and tea. Everything else tasted terrible:

Post in thread 'Qantas international Economy Class meals'

Jan 16, 2026

12 January 2026: QF128 Y HKG-SYD

For dinner, the rice was soggy. So better off just eat the chicken and the veges. The mango ice block was nice. Then again, anything that is pre-packaged by other companies tastes nicer.

The western breakfast tasted very average. I wanted the Chinese breakfast but it all ran out. The best food in breakfast was muffin and tea.

Dinner:



Breakfast:

• kamchatsky

• 

We landed at SYD at 7:40am 13 January. The immigration and customs took about 2 hours as there were so many people coming back to Australia at that time, and the luggage took ages to come out. We got out at 9:40am.

A problem at the end

However, that was NOT the end of the trip. Now I had a problem, which I had never experienced before.

I parked at P7 Parking at SYD International terminal at the start of the trip. After 3 weeks, none of us remembered where we parked our car. This was the first time I forget where I parked, after doing this many times in the past without issues.

It is either I was getting old, or I had such a good time at Newcastle, all those Newcastle memories pushed out the memories of the car location. It is most likely a combination of two.

The worst thing is that P7 and P6 are together. So, it meant a massive amount of floor space for us to find our car.

After 3 hours walking around, finally the staff drove me around each floor before we finally found our car. I did 22500 steps in those 3 hours, and completely exhausted after an overnight Y flight. I felt like Kramer in Jerry Seinfeld.

I mentioned it in the Made Any Travel Mistakes Lately thread. Next time I will definitely take a picture of where I park my car, and maybe throw in an AirTag as suggested by another poster.

 

[kamchatsky]

That stew and bread roll look dire. The Guiness and the chips would be OK

I flew Qatar J from Gatwick once and the lounge was the Aspire lounge and it was dire so I avoid LGW like the plague. I know it's probably a bit pretentious but even if I don't use everything it's nice to have good food available if you want.

I would always try to avoid flying from a port without a good lounge. But in many ways, I did not have a choice here as I was using points for J saver awards, and DUB was the only place in Europe where I can fly 1 flight from NCL to access QR J saver awards at that time.

If I was paying cash, I would definitely try to fly off from LHR instead. I am sure the QR lounge at LHR is amazing.

What a wonderful side trip for you. Probably luck but it couldn't have been scripted better for the matches you saw.
Reading this I am going to bite the bullet and try to see the Perth Bears play their first game in Perth in 2027. Thinking of also watching the NFL when they come to Sydney later this year.

Thank you. I never expected it to be this good.

Definitely worth a trip see the Bears at PER, maybe via SIN on SQ J?

NFL will playing in MEL rather than SYD. SF 49ers vs LA Rams, should have a lot of 49ers fans as they have big following in Australia given their history.

 

[kamchatsky]

Epilogue

Looking back, after a month after the trip, I still couldn’t believe I went all the way to Newcastle in the middle of winter, and finally fulfilled my 31-year dream.

In many ways, this is a side trip of my HK China trip. However, it felt like the other way, given the distance and the cities travelled to get there.

Newcastle was cold, wet, freezing, icy, hard to walk around (due to ice), dark, and short daytime. It was technically the worst time to travel for sightseeing. Also, Newcastle is not exactly a major/popular tourist city either.

However, I had the best time because my experience at St James’ Park was totally amazing, beyond my wildest expectations! No amount of travel planning could guarantee such an amazing outcome!

Whilst it was great to go to Doha, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Durham, Dublin, and got to fly QR Business for the first time, they were all side dishes for me. St James’ Park was always the main course. When I booked my trip, and bought the tickets months in advance, I did not know how the main course would taste like. It could taste bitter with disappointment if they lose. That was always a possibility as they were not playing well this year. That was the gamble I was willing to take, as I was waiting for so long for it, and I finally got a green light from my missus to go (Thank you!).

If you love a sports team that plays on the other side of the world, I highly recommend you make a pilgrimage one day to see them live. I finally experienced it, and it was so worth it.


END Trip Report

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks a lot or the TR. You seem to have absolutely made the best of probably a 'one-off' chance to fulfil a dream.

 

[VPS]

I would always try to avoid flying from a port without a good lounge. But in many ways, I did not have a choice here as I was using points for J saver awards, and DUB was the only place in Europe where I can fly 1 flight from NCL to access QR J saver awards at that time.

If I was paying cash, I would definitely try to fly off from LHR instead. I am sure the QR lounge at LHR is amazing.



Thank you. I never expected it to be this good.

Definitely worth a trip see the Bears at PER, maybe via SIN on SQ J?

NFL will playing in MEL rather than SYD. SF 49ers vs LA Rams, should have a lot of 49ers fans as they have big following in Australia given their history.

I did a lounge crawl at Heathrow once- I'll have to go back and check my notes.

Thanks again for the TR. I love it when things go your way

 

[OATEK]

Great trip @kamchatsky . I know from my own "pilgrimages" to the Emirates in London just how special the atmosphere is at an EPL match. Even better when you notch 3 pints x 2.

 

[BriarFlyer]

We flew on Qatar ex-LHR last year and can confirm that the lounge is excellent as is the whole check-in experience. Heaps of staff who practically meet you at the door and take your luggage and you just waft along behind feeling very DYKWIA.

 

[Justinf]

As a sports nut, I’m loving this.
i’ve done the same just to see a game at White Hart Lane.
In fact we play the Toons tomorrow morning. An easy three points for your mob.
Glad you got see a win against Palace as well.
Ironically the other game I saw was at Wembley where we played for a season while the new stadium was being built and it was against Newcastle United. We won 1-nil thanks to a Sonny goal, but the travelling Toon Army were in full voice,

 

[kamchatsky]

Thanks a lot or the TR. You seem to have absolutely made the best of probably a 'one-off' chance to fulfil a dream.

Thank you. You can say the football God has lined up everything for me!

I did a lounge crawl at Heathrow once- I'll have to go back and check my notes.

Thanks again for the TR. I love it when things go your way

Yes, even with the coughpy DUB lounge I was still very happy with the whole trip. I was already very tried by the time I check-in at DUB due to little sleep the night before, so I wasn't too bothered by it. I will need to visit the lounges at LHR one day.

Great trip @kamchatsky . I know from my own "pilgrimages" to the Emirates in London just how special the atmosphere is at an EPL match. Even better when you notch 3 pints x 2.

Yes, that's also why I loved the EPL. Maybe you need to do another pilgrimage in the next few months, given the Gunners could win the whole thing soon?

We flew on Qatar ex-LHR last year and can confirm that the lounge is excellent as is the whole check-in experience. Heaps of staff who practically meet you at the door and take your luggage and you just waft along behind feeling very DYKWIA.

That's what I thought as well. LHR would always have awesome lounges. I would not be able to handle someone else taking my luggage though.

I even thought about flying off LHR on CX J on points but then I decided against it because of the ex-UK tax. Leaving from DUB was much cheaper.

As a sports nut, I’m loving this.
i’ve done the same just to see a game at White Hart Lane.
In fact we play the Toons tomorrow morning. An easy three points for your mob.
Glad you got see a win against Palace as well.
Ironically the other game I saw was at Wembley where we played for a season while the new stadium was being built and it was against Newcastle United. We won 1-nil thanks to a Sonny goal, but the travelling Toon Army were in full voice,

Thank you for your blessing on this morning's match . The Toon have been playing badly away, so I am glad we got the 3 points this morning.

I love Sonny in EPL outside the Toon, and I was very glad that your Spurs won the Europa League with Aussie Ange, and Son lifting his well-deserved trophy.

 

[Justinf]

Your Doha pics made me jealous.
All I got was this.

 

[kamchatsky]

Your Doha pics made me jealous.
All I got was this.

View attachment 497115

Well at least you have great Polar Night photos. I very much enjoyed your TR and it is something I want to do it in the future!

 

[Justinf]

Part 2: My Solo Premier League Pilgrimage

31 December 2025

After doing more family stuff at Guangzhou, it came a time when I am finally leaving Guangzhou from my family, and start my solo Premier League pilgrimage.

I caught the taxi to Guangzhounan station to catch HSR to Hong Kong, then caught local MTR from Kowloon station to Tung Chung, then local bus to HKG airport.

HSR to Hong Kong
View attachment 493996

QR817 J HKG-DOH

This is the first time I am flying QR. So I was very much looking forward to it.

However, the check-in was a very bizzare experience. The Checkin agent initially refused to issue my boarding pass because my QR ticket issued by AA (award) did not have my middle name, and asked me to call up AA to have the ticket reissued with full passport name. I told her that this is the first time I have ever heard such thing given I have always travelled worldwide with only first name and not my middle name on my ticket. She had to escalate to her supervisor, then the supervisor called up to management, then they issued the boarding pass but warned that I may not get past security check at Zone B as they are very strict about it. She said if Zone B refused then try to go to Zone A. She said that she would also file a report on advising such issues.

When I got to security check at Zone B, the machine flagged for assistance when I scanned my boarding pass. The security guy said that my ticket did not contain my middle name as per my passport. I looked bewildered, but he then escalated to his supervisor advising this, the supervisor had a look at the ticket, passport and then me, and then let me go.

I then went to immigration and there were no issues whatsoever.

But it seems that HKG is now very strict on having full first and second name on your ticket to match the passport. So, I thought I let you all know about this.


View attachment 493997

Lounges at HKG:
The boarding pass printed that I am eligible to Plaza Premium lounge (not PP First). This is different from when I check QR website a few months ago. The checkin staff told me to just go to Pier J instead as the gate is 66. I went to Plaza Premium at Gate 35 and was advised that QR J no longer can use PP First and only standard PP lounge. I had a quick look at standard PP lounge and exited because it was so uninspiring. I went straight to The Bridge J as I have never been there before. I had a look at the Western section and then go back to Chinese food section and had wonton noodles.

The Bridge: View attachment 493998View attachment 493999View attachment 494000View attachment 494002

Then I decided to go to Pier J as I hated the Bridge J that is split into 2 sections. I noticed Pier J also has much more variety of food than The Bridge J.View attachment 494004View attachment 494005View attachment 494006View attachment 494007View attachment 494009View attachment 494010

All the food are very delicious. But I definitely preferred The Pier J than the Bridge. I still cannot believe QR would have arrangement with Priority Pass lounge for their J Passengers, given how poor it is compare to CX lounges.

Then it was time to board my first ever QR flight:

View attachment 494003



Whilst it wasn't a surprise, I was slightly disappointed that this route is (regularly) served by an old ex-CX 773ER. I had 11A, so it was a mini-cabin and it was great. The seat itself was dated but Ok. The amenity kits and pajamas are great.

However, the entertainment unit was slooooooooow and jittery. To make it worse, the cabin crew later advised me that there was an issue where they could not turn down/off cabin light for sleeping. They apologised a few times about this, and mentioned that had problems with ex-CX planes having issues here and there. I wrote a complaint to QR afterwards about this, QR responded to my complaint via standard corporate email with "apologies", but no resolution offered. Not surprised by this. They will just get it fixed and keep using this aircraft until they received new planes (e.g. 777X).

View attachment 494014View attachment 494015View attachment 494016View attachment 494017

However, the cabin crews service were outstanding, the food and drink were outstanding.I loved the Chicken Kabsa. To me the food and beverage is better than SQ J. The menu and the food is below. If you want to see all the pictures you would need to go to the link as I don't want to duplicate posts:

Post in thread 'Qatar Airways Business & First Class meals'

Jan 16, 2026

Finally flew QR for the first time: In Business.

31 December 2025: QR817 HKG-DOH

The plane is Qatar Pacific (ex-CX) 77A with old CX seating. The entertainment system was slow and jittery. The food onboard more than made up for it though.

Menu:









Starter: Salmon


Qatari Mezze:


Chicken Kabsa with Cucumber Raita: Quite tasty. Not sure if it is westernised? I did pick this over the Lobster Thermidor so I hope I made the right choice!



Cherry Tiramisu:


Snacks...

• kamchatsky

• 

After a few hours in the air, and after my meals, it is time to have some sleep. The cabin crew arranged the bed for me as below. I had a good sleep:
View attachment 494020
View attachment 494021

Then it was almost arriving at Doha. It was 10:15pm at night on New Years Eve. It would have been NY Day at HK. So I was celebrating my New Years day in the air, in QR J. View attachment 494022

Growing up I hated never being given a middle name because I was not like the others, but in adulthood I’ve come to enjoy it and your experience at check-in is one of the reasons why.

 

[OATEK]

Yes, that's also why I loved the EPL. Maybe you need to do another pilgrimage in the next few months, given the Gunners could win the whole thing soon?

The last time I was there was the final home game for 2024/25 back in May 2025 when they played Newcastle (1-0 to the coughnal). Sadly I don't think I will get there again until the early part of next season, but would be great if they were by then EPL Champions - we all hope for the best from our teams.