They have 3 excellent airlines
China Airlines, EVA and Starlux
The first 2 have direct routes from Australia but all 3 are very good IMO
Taipei also has many of the other big airlines from other countries such as Cathay, Emirates, Thai, Singapore etc
Was seeing to connect to Tokyo. Had enough of Cathay and JAL and Q are just stupidly priced.
So from Australia to Taiwan to Japan?
Yup and back unfortunately.
So Australia to Japan return via any country or you want to go through Taiwan?
You fly Business class too donāt you?
I do fly business class. I looking for the next best option after direct. Havenāt been to Taiwan so thought it was interesting. Flying business yes.
Best iāve found so far is 24/12 to 05/02 for about $5k pp with China Air
Ace has given you far more detail than I can provide.
We went to Taipei in Mar-Apr 24 and flew via HK using Cathay (for the long hauls) and China Airlines (for the HKG ā TPE legs). Wasnāt the cheapest option, but was the combo which suited us best. China Airlines dicked us around a bit on the flight back (seat reallocations etc.) but nothing too dramatic.
Probably doesnāt help for the flight paths you wantā¦
I find the China Airlines aircraft especially the A350ās excellent to sleep in and comfortable. One of the better business seats going. Staff try hard but not as polished as the top tier airlines but nonetheless do a great job. I donāt mind the food and beverages. We donāt use China Airlines if going direct to Taiwan as the flight arrives in Taipei at 5:00am which makes it a hassle but if going elsewhere the transits are usually about 3-4hrs and then on the way back we stay for a few days as the timings are great.
Arrived in Bucharest Romania yesterday afternoon, Mon 29th.
First leg of the flight to Dubai was about as comfortable as you could reasonably expect long haul to be. The second leg was on Fly Dubai, the Emirates LCC subsidiary. While not bad, I was glad it was only 4.5 hours. Limited entertainment options (mostly requiring extra payment) made it seem twice as long. We did score a half decent meal which was unexpected.
Tomorrow morning (Wed) weāre being picked up for a 10 day private tour of the regions to, among other things, pay homage to Vlad and his castle in Transylvania. Then returning to Bucharest to join a Danube river cruise upstream to Vienna.
From our observations walking around today and from the trip in from the airport Bucharest has some serious traffic issues. Certainly glad Iām not driving.
We hired a car to drive around Romania last time but kept it at the hotel in Bucharest and just used PT, taxis or walked. Definitely not on my highlight reel of places to drive
Does it still have masses of stray dogs everywhere? It was occasionally quite intimidating walking around at night when youād come across a pack of them.
Oh, and stay away from their main beer (Ursu)ā¦ nasty stuff, uncomfortably bitter.
Just arrived back in Melbourne last night after 4 weeks in Europe (Malta, France, Menorca and Germany ) and 5 days in Hanoi. Involved several flights, but the worst experience of the entire trip was arriving back at Tullamarine. I know we have special circumstances being an island continent and all that, but way you get herded around like cattle and told to stand in queues that barely move. I felt sympathy for tourists coming to Australia for the first time. They just need a better system and more staff. Landed 10:30 left the airport at 12:20 am.
I agree. The typical MEL experience is to whizz thru immigration, then come to a screaming halt at the luggage carousels with snaking queues for customs. I dread it.
I was not impressed with immigration coming in back in August. For years Iāve been unable to use the fast gates with my Aussie passport because Iāve had little kids with me. This time no kids, but I see theyāve changed it so every nationality with a chip in their passport can use the same fast track terminals, as well as kids over 7 or something. So a flight just arrived before mine and those terminals were all 10 deep with international arrivals not understanding how to use them. Then the one Iām lined up at breaks down just before I hit the front of the line. FFS, why donāt they have an Australia/NZ priority lane anymore?
Havenāt seen any evidence of stray dogs.
City is still a bit rough around the edges. Very much a work in progress. Lots of construction sites and uneven surfaces. And as I mentioned in the previous post horrible traffic.
I tried that beer last night. Iām by no means a big beer drinker but I didnāt find it the least bit bitter.
It wouldnāt be MEL if at least 2 of the terminals werenāt working!
Generally we try to avoid coming back via SYD and MEL when we come back from Vietnam next month we are coming back via MEL 
Last time back through ADL it was 26 minutes from getting out of my seat and disembarking until I was driving out of the airport
It may have been the heatstroke I copped while thereā¦ knocked me sideways for a few days, and all my faculties were completely messed up. Even when recovered, Iām not sure I was completely recovered.
Do they still have the little green kiosks dotted around the place where you can get public transport tickets? These were one of the few places in Europe where Iāve genuinely not been able to overcome a language barrier (it was 15 years ago and well before the Google Translate age). They were almost always manned by elderly ladies who didnāt speak any English whatsoever, and we just couldnāt get our point across with charades, drawings or anything. We were rescued on several occasions by passers-by who could understand what we needed and could have the necessary conversations in Romanian.
Didnāt see any of your ladies selling tickets. Like most bigger cities these days PT tickets are travel cards/passes, available from vending machines and at metro stations. I gather you can also use a credit/debit card for contactless payment, at least on the metro.
Plenty of English around, so no issues there.
Only been international flight at Adelaide once. Half hour out of Melbourne, fog bound, divert to Adelaide and stay on the plane for a few hours until the fog lifted. Nightmare.
