What have you been buying?
Stuff! Capitalism!
I am thinking about a trip to Samoa, maybe spending a couple of weeks. Does anyone have any useful tips? Is it worthwhile driving around the island?
Cheers!
I hope youāre rightā¦ Iām on a few watch-lists for various MEL <-> HK fares, which send me a notification when the flight prices have changed. Every notification Iāve received so far has been an increase (most recently, a $400 (!!) increase as of this morningā¦)
When are you looking at travelling?
Ground handling shortage at HKG so Qantas have pulled their MEL-HKG flights until the end of June but could end up being longer. Those with existing tickets are being re-routed through SYD and any new booking will be via SYD. With those flights removed from inventory others will see their price increased
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Early November. Far from locked in though.
Iāve been to HKG 4 times and love it. Early time Iāve gone previously (b/w 2007 and 2019) itās cost between 3000 and 3800 for a weekās accommodation and flights. Right now, Iād be looking at 5500 for the same package which isā¦ unattractive.
I donāt know what class you are after but direct flights between Australia and HKG are quite expensive due to limited capacity. Far better off going through another port. Scoot have been selling MEL-SIN-HKG starting from under $600 return and then you can add bags etc or even go Scoot Biz for around $1600 return which is still cheaper than Economy on Cathay or Qantas.
Philippine Airlines and Singapore airlines have fares to HKG for under $1k in economy too.
Might be worth a stopover in Singapore to save a few bucks
Brand new Samsonite bag handle is damaged after one flight home. Should I contact Cathay or Samsonite for warranty claim?
Airlines will generally come to the party but some photographic evidence straight away and report it to the baggage counter is usually the best way. If not most airlines will give you up to 7 days to report it but there are exceptions
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Didnāt see it till I got home though. Basically on the handle the stitching has pulled out so handle half hanging.
Just on the final leg home of a family road trip over to South Australia. Kids have had a great time, loved Kangaroo Island, Adelaide Hills and Naracoorte caves, but @aceman, as the mayor of SA:
- your tap water is sewerage,
- your roads are atrocious,
- your Coles are laid out all wrong (the eggs were in the aisle next to the pasta - wtf?).
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from that report, I take it you didnāt try the Adelaide beer.
Donāt take the Princes Highway home then.
Water - check
Roads - check
-Our tap water is great!
Itās the best Covid vaccine available.
If the tap water doesnāt kill you then you can survive anything.
-Our roads are a disgrace and comes from years of neglect by government.
-Coles, I have no idea as I havenāt been in one for years. Everything done online
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The Feds love pouring road dollars into QLD and NSW at the expense of the other states
Too late, already gone past your place, staying the might in Warnambool tonight and then swing by the parentsā place in Barwon Heads tomorrow to pick up the dog and then home by tomorrow night. And yes, the roads down this way are pretty bad but they have nothing on the SA shitshow.
With entry to the USA do you need to provide any evidence of vaccination?
If so how?
Yes. Vaccination certificate will be required for check in.
I donāt know about other airlines, but on United you upload as part of the online checkin process, and the documents are checked and approved before you can continue the check in.
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Hi Albert
Samoa is a nice place but the roads are very, very bad and you need to get a Samoan drivers licence to drive there. Aussie licence or US licence does not cut it. And they have roadblocks all over the place and you need to show both the Samoan and Aussie licence.
Now Samoan Police are nice friendly people, but very large and very strict, probably their Protestant Religion ahowing through. It is much easier and actually cheaper to get a local driver take you around to the various places. Get place to dive.
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My youngest brother was over there just before Covid and said the hire company gives you the Samoan Temporary drivers license on the spot for a small fee and yes you will need to produce both if the wallopers pull you over. He said driving wasnāt too bad during the day apart from stray animals but he said get off the road between dawn and dusk as itās just too risky. Samoans did drive on the opposite road up until about 10 years ago and out in the rural areas he said it was common for some to still drive on the right 
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