Twelve floors of Daiso.
Farking TWELVE!
And one checkout.. on L1…
Mrs B’s been in the queue for the last 10 minutes…
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I know MEL airport gets a bad rap from many posters, no doubt justified in many cases.
However, credit where credit is due. Last week we touched down in the early AM rather than late PM and got through in just under 40 minutes. While timing may have been a factor there did seem to be changes that streamlined the process. eg. the number of staff on hand to direct people where to go.
The choke point still remains the machines to get the yellow exit ticket. There’s still not enough of them and they’re still lined up in a corridor that is quickly overwhelmed. Ideally, they should be lined up horizontally a bit further down (where the duty free is) to maximise the number of machines and the space for orderly queues to form. For obvious reasons I doubt airport management would find that an appealing solution.
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I find the choke point to be baggage & customs. Usually whiz thru immigration to come to a screaming halt at the luggage carousel.
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Unfortunately all the lemmings that don’t know the layout at MEL stop at the first bank of machines and clog the corridor. They don’t realise there is a stack more machines up near the e-gates so if you just head straight there you can beat the rush.
We actually broke our record last week at MEL. Vietnam Airlines flight was about 15 minutes early and we were the first 2 off and arrivals was deserted so through immigration in about 8 minutes and then bags were out about 10 minutes later (ours were in the first half a dozen) Had goods to declare but old mate asked a few questions and waved us through so we were up checking in at Virgin under 25 minutes after disembarking. I had left a gap of about 6hrs to the domestic flight just in case but Virgin check in allowed us fly forward and next flight was under an hour so added bonus
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I flew through customs and passport checks coming back from South America recently.
Helps when the dogs are out checking the carousel. Customs bloke just waved me through.
The e passport stuff is great too at immigration.
I still felt like dirt though. I hate long distance flying and jet lag.
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It is pretty good on arrivals.
Last week I arrived from NZ. Between stepping off the plane and getting into a car, it took me six minutes. It was Cup Eve admittedly.
It can be hit & miss. My last few times both of these have been reasonably quick.
Honestly you shouldn’t need to know the layout of the airport. All machines should be in front of you, like they are at (say) Changi.
Most countries don’t have the extra requirements like us do you can just go straight to the e-gates or immigration
How good is Bali Airport these days ! Last time it was just so automated and rapid through immigration and bags were ready quickly. I remember the good old days when you had to sling $50 to some tout who would get you through immigration in a flash. Must be many unemployed tourist touts in Bali now.
Yep. 7.30am this morning… whizzed through customs, then came to the usual shuddering halt at the baggage claim and the utter disorganised chaos of the Customs queues.
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Yeah it’s great. It took me 15 minutes from leaving the plane to walking out of the airport last time I went through.
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And yet bizarrely there are some that still want to do the VOA rubbish or haven’t done their customs declaration.
Just weird
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The worst thing when coming back via Tulla or any other Australian airport is hearing the accent everywhere.
Really brings it front of mind that the holiday is over…
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It was weird when I went through as I was looking for someone to check passport, visa and take some money to hurry it up. Mrs Fox just walked through and I was left looking like an idiot.
System works better than most places I have been. Same with the online visa. We are off there again next year for an extended visit. We are not staying at major tourist places, staying at Lovina in the north for the Artist retreat, Munduk in the mountains for Qigong and Candidasa for African Drumming.
I am doing lots of sitting looking at water and drinking beer.
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Has anyone done any travelling on the Karakoram Highway and/or K2 region?
I did it in 1978 when it fully opened, but that was so long ago that it would not be relevant to today. Back then you had to travel in a motor vehicle, no bikes of any type were allowed and it was too dangerous to walk. Absolute spectacular with high mountains, deep valleys and some big rivers.
You need permits from Pakistan and China, and I was told there were bandits and other excitement, but none bothered me. Is it still open all the way ?
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From what I’ve read, it is only the Pakistan side that is accessible to tourists. I’m looking at doing an organised tour that stays in Pakistan and goes as close as possible to K2 utilising the K highway.
Similar to Mr Fox it’s been a loooooong time since I’ve been in that neck of the woods so nothing would be relevant to what it’s like today. Would love to go back one day but not sure it will happen
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Very dangerous place these days.