Australia Singapore Malaysia

Airfare Surfing the net, sifting through websites to compare airfares is an exhilarating experience for us. We laid our hands on an economical deal on an Air India* flight from Chennai to Singapore and Emirates* flight from Singapore to Sydney and Malaysian Airlines* Singapore-Kuala Lumpur. The three legs were booked about six months in advance and we got a fair refundable deal well within our budget. All the three flights viz. Chennai-Singapore by Air India, Singapore-Sydney by Emirates and Singapore-Kuala Lumpur by Malaysian airlines were return trips which saved some money. All the tickets were booked 4-6 months in advance.

Singapore-Kuala Lumpur There are quite a few ways to travel between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. There are trains, taxis, Self driven cars, buses and flights. After some research, based on factors of time and effort, we chose to travel by a non-returnable airfare on Malaysian Airlines. It was a bit expensive when compared to other means of transportation but certainly most convenient. Landing from Sydney, travel to KL by road or rail means travelling to a railway station or a designated bus stand with all the luggage and then a trip of 05-07 hours. The journey by bus involves manually transferring luggage at Border to shift from one bus to another (this information is not publicized freely). The train stations are remotely located and involve multiple transfers to reach a destination (Kuala Lumpur).

Time is Premium. Time during travel on a vacation needs to be managed well to get the most out of what is available. The flight connections, local times of arrival at foreign destinations have to be planned and synchronized so that more can be covered in the available time. Preferably, a flight that arrives in forenoon hours should be chosen so that you can settle down during daytime. With this background we booked the flights such that arrival is at forenoon in Sydney.

FLIGHT Punctuality. We had booked a Chennai-Singapore Air India Flight followed by a Singapore-Sydney Emirates Flight, connection on the same day at Changi Airport, Singapore. The AI flight was scheduled to land at 1725 Singapore Local Time and Emirates Flight was scheduled to depart at 2200 Singapore Time. For International Flights check in is 03 hrs prior departure. However this combination was a cause for concern.

Change in Schedule. After having previously booked our flight, out of providence we thought about the connection schedules and did some research about the punctuality of the AI Flight. We discovered that the AI flight had a consistent record of arriving late at Changi by 02-03 hrs. We spun into action and advanced the date of AI flight by one day and stayed an extra night at Singapore to catch the Emirates flight on the next day.

To confirm our fears, and for assuring happiness, the AI flight on the D day arrived at Singapore 03 hours late and we were saved missing an important flight and ruining our holiday.

Singapore Stop Over. The extra day at Singapore was certainly not in vain. We arrived late in the night at Singapore. Hired an Uber to a hotel nearby and rested for the night. The next day we went to the Jurong Bird Park during the forenoon, by a bus. At Singapore while using a bus or MRTS (metro), from point to point, one destination and back a single return ticket is adequate. There are MRTS passes (valid for buses also) are available in various time denominations but they are economical over a longer duration of stay.

ARRIVAL Sydney. After the Jurong Bird Park visit, we checked out and headed to the airport for our flight to Sydney. After a pleasant 06 hrs flight on an Airbus 380 (our maiden flight on this gigantic aircraft),we landed in Melbourne from where another connecting Qantas flight took us to Sydney.

The convenience of facilities at Sydney was very enticing. I had pre-booked a car, from India, for my self-driving trip. So after collecting our luggage we went to Budget Car rental and picked up our vehicle, Toyota corolla hatch back. Australians drive on the left side of the road like Indians and that too with mostly automatic transmission. The traffic is scanty and thus driving in Australia is very simple.

Stay at Friends. Friends, especially the goofy school ones, are the most endearing characters of one’s life. I had one such close friend staying in Sydney. We had planned to stay for two nights at my friends residence in Sydney. The drive to his home was pleasant. After navigating through the city we hit the countryside and reached his home. We had a heartwarming meet after twenty long years.

From my friend’s home, on the next day, we drove to Blue Mountains – an area where the mountains appear Blue. Its a mountain range to the West and SW of Sydney.

Mobile Data. Having landed up from India, habituated to Jio schemes, the price of data in Australia hit me like a blast on my face. 20 AUD for 2 GB was super expensive by Indian standards. For worth that amount, an years subscription can be bought in India with 1 GB/day. Mobile Data is extremely essential on road trips mainly for navigation and everything associated with it so I had to buy as much data as was required. Another word of caution is to turn off “roaming” on the mobile phone, which turned out to a huge data drain until I realized and turned it “off”.

Currency. On the face of it, Australia appears to be an expensive country. In reality its unlike the USA and Europe where the cost of living is very high. Down under cost of petrol was 70 Rupees/Litre, the conversions of food items were similar to that in India. Out of the three countries that we were visiting Australia was relatively economical when compared to Singapore (owing to the expensive SENTOSA and other children’s parks).

Sydney to Eden. The coastal route from Sydney to Melbourne is a scenic one which includes the renowned Great Ocean Road. There are a number of beautiful destinations enroute, to chose from which, is a challenging job, balancing time vs coverage. Every place is abound with natural beauty. Green pastures, Roads hugging edges of cliffs overlooking the ocean, tree lined natural streams.

Plan vs Execution Whilst planning my stopovers, I had catered for 5-6 hour drives everyday. However, in view of stoppages to visit off road destinations and food, the drives ended up as 8-10 hours ones. Though enjoyable, it was taxing for us and the major drawback was “not enough time to soak up each place”. A lesson learnt was either to have more time to cover more destinations or you will end up mostly on the road.

My route: Sydney – Stanwell Tops – Kiama – Hyams Beach – Bateman’s Bay – Tilba Tilba – Eden

Stay at Eden Nemo Hotel: On airbnb, we had booked into a hotel run by a Chinese family. It was a motel which was recently renovated and served delicious Chinese fare for dinner. The temperature outside was around 10 deg C and pleasant and the warm hotel was a delight.

Eden – Cape Woolamai – Next morning we set on our next segment of the drive. Another 6 hr converted to 8 hours drive. We had stopovers at many locations which were beautiful. We had mini stopovers at Phillip Island, (famous for Melbourne Grand Prix). The drive from here on was in the beautiful state of Victoria. Lush green pastures, wooded drive ways, coastal road skirting the Indian Ocean, Tasman Sea to be specific.

Cape Woolamai Stay– I had grossly underestimated the distances and my driving speeds. A non-stop drive was what the Google maps might have suggested; it took us much longer than that considering our stopovers for seeing places, refresh breaks and fuelling. After visiting the Phillip Island grand pix circuit and penguin farm we stopped by a Grocery to replenish for the night.

Cape Woolamai Airbnb

Cape Woolamai – Apollo Bay: We drove from Cape Woolamai to Appollo Bay where we has booked a hostel. The stay at this hostel was again very interesting. The temperatures in Victoria were around 10 deg C. Cold by tropical Indian measure. We cooked some food, bought earlier from a supermarket, in a community kitchen. Post dinner we longed at the fireplace flanked by multi-national tourists. There was a family from Denmark (working in Aus), a young adult Japanese solo traveler, a group of multinational girls on tourism or work (couldn’t say) and a French couple on their honeymoon. Though we were not part of any conversation it was a lively atmosphere just observing people. There was no animosity or politics or arguments. Just fun and relaxation.

12 Apostles. Though called 12 apostles, there are more than 12 formations of eroded earth which gigantic monoliths on a long coastline. From the visitor center, the base of the 12 Apostles coastline is a 3 km walk and climb down steep staircase to reach the base of the apostles. Its a wonder of the nature which humbles you as to how tiny we are against the nature.

Melbourne Stay. After completing the visit to 12 Apostles we headed back to another accommodation in Melbourne town. We stayed with an old man, professor in the Melbourne university. It was a pleasant stay in a completely wooden house which had a lovely kitchen, where we were allowed to cook.

Melbourne – Sydney. Since our coastal drive was completed on the way South, we chose to drive on the Highway direct from Melbourne to Sydney. A distance of over 1000 km which we covered in 09 hrs. We had stopovers, once every two hours for coffee and snacks. Once we took a break at a wayside picnic spot where we met an group of aged Australian friends. We had a lively chat over sandwiches before resuming on our journey. The drive with scarce traffic and with cruise control engaged for most of the part was a pleasing and untiring one

Another Dear Friend. In the evening, we arrived at another close friend. This was a classmate and thick friend of my wife. We were greeted by a lovely family with a backyard BBQ, warmth and some drinks. We caught up on old times.

Car Return and Pick up. From our previous experience in Europe, especially Paris we were under the impression that Sydney would naturally have a good public transport system only to our dismay. I had booked my car so as to return it once I reached Sydney. However, owing to the poor PTS it turned out to be a poor plan. We returned the car at the airport. Thereafter rode a shared cab, carrying tourists from Airport to the Downtown and rented another car from there. During the downtown visit we visited the Opera House and Harbour bridge.

Bondi Beach One of the top beaches of the world. Bondi was a memorable trip. We booked a tourist hostel quite close to the beach and stayed there for one night and returned the car at the airport for departure to Malaysia.

Sydney – Malaysia. The next leg was a long connecting flight from Sydney to Singapore (Emirates) and Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysian). It was a cumulative flight of 02 hours. The Malaysian airlines flight was scheduled for noon but since we arrived early, we requested for an early flight. The airlines happily obliged without extra cost. At KL it was GRAB a taxi, followed by airbnb. Kuala Lumpur is a paradise for Airbnb users. There are luxurious fully furnished rooms with all basic amenities for as low as Rs 2000/- night.

Petronas Towers. The towers made famous by Don and Entrapment are actually a business house. We spent a long time getting the perfect shot. For tourists the local buses in KL are free. We used them to take a number of trips across the city to various destinations

Jolon Alor: Gastronomical paradise. An otherwise empty street which magically gets crowded in the evening with glutton tourists looking to devour the amazing food sold here. It is a pan Asian fare served with beer and other hard liquor.

Singapore. The last destination of our trip was Singapore. Singapore a small metropolis city nation with modern conveniences and places to spend money. Amongst the three countries, that we covered on this trip Singapore was the most expensive. We spent three hectic days in Singapore covering Sentosa, Merlion, Little India, Night Safari, Universal Studio. One day was totally dedicated to Universal Studio. The other days to other places like Orchard Street, Little India, Merlion Park.

Stay at Singapore – There is perhaps no limit to how much one can spend on accommodation at Singapore. From luxurious hotel chains to basic bed and breakfast the options are diverse. We chose a budget hotel because the entire day from 10 AM to 10-11 PM were spent outside venturing into various places. This is something people may consider while choosing accommodation. Time spent in room vs venturing outside. Another plus is that whilst staying in a hotel in Singapore the tourists are offered a 10% discount per head on various facilities.

The return trip is always saddening and after a great trip we boarded the Air India flight to Chennai.