Hey all!
Thinking of going to Peru. Never done South America. Any dos and dont’s? Anything in particular I need to know about the type of travel insurance I need?
Do you know if you suffer from altitude sickness?
If yes or you don’t know, definitely don’t fly straight to Cusco (3400m). Go to Lima (sea level) and work your way up.
If you want to trek the Inca Trail, note there are limited numbers allowed and so you likely need to book early.
If doing more in the general area (and given how clunky it is to fly Australia-Sth America, that makes sense) I greatly recommend the bus trip between La Paz, Bolivia and Arica, Chile. Insane views over greatly varying landscapes (see the first post in the photos thread).
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If you intend doing a trek, particularly the Inca trail, book it early. Worth noting there are other great treks which get you to Machu Picchu. We did the Lares Valley trek which is higher than the Inca and glad we did because it was much quieter and absolutely incredible. Also unless you’ve already encountered high altitude take into account you’ll need a few days to acclimatise somewhere. The High altitude pills work for some people, but not everyone. My Better Half was super fit but got really sick and was stuck in our Cusco hotel room for nearly a week. Fortunately never needed a helicopter to lift her out of the trek but someone we know had that experience. Pretty common I’ve heard and has been scammed a bit by the locals. Make sure your insurance covers it just in case.
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Also, check in advance that any oxygen cylinders supplied aren’t empty.
The demand for South America has led to loadings ramping up and hopefully by mid next year they will be back to pre Covid levels.
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Just a question for you @Aceman I am planning an August trip to the UK & want to fly premium economy on Emirates. They are commencing flights from Melbourne to London on 1 February 2023. Any idea when they will start locking in prices for PE as atm you can only get prices for economy or business?
Emirates can be funny with some of their loadings and often won’t start selling seats until they have it 100% locked in that the class will be available. I believe they have had a couple of delays with their retrofitting so perhaps they are behind schedule and if so you will need to go via SYD.
Any reason why you have chosen Emirates PE?
It’s still quite expensive for what it is and quite a long trip confined upright when other airlines are selling business class cheaper than PE on Emirates.
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Care to name those airlines? I usually assume that PE is double economy prices & business is double PE or 4 times economy ? Had not considered business at all cause I thought too expensive.
Can fly out of Bris, Syd or Melb if that matters & am trying to only do the one stop. The Singapore & Lufthansa combo normally means 2 stops on the way, & I have heard that you don’t always get PE on those airlines even if you’ve paid for it.
Well Emirates will probably slug you $5-6k on PE and someone like Japan Airlines will charge you $3-4k on PE. Japan airlines consistently gets praise for its product and is a 1 stop option with the added bonus that JAL gives lounge access to PE passengers.
Yes if you do only want 1 stop then that makes your Business class options slim as most will require 2 stops but it’s worth doing for a flatbed on long haul. Vietnam Airlines often has sales for business class of around $6k for 1 stop ex Melbourne and from time to time others do to.
Personally I find $5-6k in PE pretty poor value as you get a more comfortable seat and slightly upgraded food quality but not much else and I still value a bed as most important for long haul.
Australian travellers get slugged with what I call the “airline tax” and as such you are always better off making your way to a SEA port and picking up a business fare for $3k return
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Thanks for all your input folks! I should have been more specific with my intentions. I only intend to go to Peru and nowhere near mountains. My plan was going to Iquitos from Lima and into the Amazon to do ayahuasca ceremonies.
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You must consider Australia to be VERY flat, given the highest point in Peru is ~4.5km higher than Mt Kosciuszko.
EDIT: OK, you said “and”, not “which is”.
Emirates is quoting $4k return on PE ex Syd, as they are already loaded, whereas Mel has not commenced yet. But it would be safe to assume price would be on par for both cities. Added bonus is one stop , only one hour stopover, so arrive with total travel time less than 24 hours. 2 stops often blows out total travel time closer to 30 hours which is a farking killer.
It’s a toss up atm as I like to book flights nice & early rather than waiting for specials that may or may not appear in time
I would absolutely double check that price. Emirates are notorious for putting in very fine print that Premium economy is only partially available for the trip which means you could be in economy for one or both legs. PE is still only available on a small portion of the fleet and I believe only the night EK413 flight is equipped with PE out of SYD. Emirates are normally charging $6k for PE so I’d be shocked if it’s $4k but if it is that’s good.
1 hour stopover is too short. 2.5 - 3 hours is prob the sweet spot to allow for any delays, getting your bags from one plane to another…
Emirates are probably the most drilled and reliable airline as far as transits go but yes they have delays like everyone and even though MCT is legally 60 minutes in Dubai it’s still cutting it too fine for me. What Emirates are remarkably good at is holding up flights for incoming connecting flights and they will wait for you if it’s only a short delay.
If you’re flying internationally with different carriers is it better to allow around 5+ hours to allow for international check in, delays etc?
If you are flying on one PNR you are fine
If you are flying on seperate PNR’s I wouldn’t risk anything under 4hrs
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PNR?
Passenger name record, it’s the 6 digit/letters booking code. If it’s all one the one booking you are protected by delays.
If you have seperate bookings the airlines can and will wipe their hands of it and you will be stuck claiming it on your insurance if the airline won’t play ball
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