Free membership in Qantas Frequent Flyer programme
June 18th, 2009 by Tim Uden
Qantas normally charge a one-off AUD $82.50 fee for Australians who join their frequent flyer programme. However membership is free for a limited time if you have a Woolworths Everyday Rewards card (like an Aussie version of the Nectar card) .
The deal is that from June 22, Everyday Rewards cardholders can earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points when they shop at Safeway and Woolworths supermarkets in Australia (except in Tasmania). To coincide with the introduction of earning frequent flyer points when you buy your groceries, Everyday Rewards members can sign up online for a free Qantas frequent flyer membership through the Everyday Rewards website.
This is only really applicable to Australian residents, but there is no reason you couldn’t sign up for the programme if you’re travelling around Australia.
Qantas in part of the OneWorld alliance, which also includes American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LAN, Japan Airlines, Malév and Royal Jordanian. This means that you can join any of the member airlines frequent flyer programmes to earn points on any other airlines. In other words, even without the Everyday Rewards promotion, you can simply choose a OneWorld airline that has a free-to-join frequent flyer programme.
I’ve known a few frequent Qantas flyers who had previously joined American Airlines Advantage programme, simply because it was a free alternative to Qantas’ overpriced programme. These people had never flown AA but just wanted to earn points on Qantas, BA and LAN. With the current promotion, these people are now signing up for the Qantas programme.
If you live in Australia, you will simply earn more points with Qantas’ own programme, likewise Brits will earn more points with British Airways and Americans will earn more points with American Airlines.
Although you can earn a lot of points with long haul flights, most points are earned from other things like rental cars, hotels and, now, the weekly grocery shop. This means that you will almost always earn more points if your frequent flyer programme is with a local airline that has more options for earning points without leaving the ground.
I’ve given up by American Airlines Advantage and Air New Zealand Airpoints programmes and now stick with my two local airline programmes: Qantas Frequent Flyer and Virgin Blue’s Velocity Rewards.
Australia’s cheapest airport transfers
May 28th, 2009 by Tim Uden
The Lifehacker blog recently ran a post comparing public transport options between Australian airports and their respective city centres. The conclusion made Adelaide and Perth the winners with airport buses costing no more than a regular suburban bus fare in those cities.
The Lifehacker survey only covered the major airports and even left out the Gold Coast, which in my opinion is a relatively major airport, especially now that AirAsia has cheap flights to KL from there. As for public transport to Coolangatta (Gold Coast) Airport, you could pay $21 for the airport shuttle bus, but what’s the point when it’s just a simple case of walking a couple of minutes from the terminal to the Gold Coast Highway and hopping on local bus route 700. The fare from the airport to the centre of Surfers Paradise is just AUD $4.30.
That puts the Gold Coast in the same league as Adelaide and Perth, but are there any cheaper Australian airport transfers? Well there’s Broome Airport, it’s just a five minute walk to the town centre.
BUG guidebooks on the Book Depository’s bestseller list
May 21st, 2009 by Tim Uden
Today I was checking how the BUG guides were doing on various online bookshops and found that both guides are on the Book Depository’s travel bestseller list.
BUG New Zealand was at number four when I took this screenshot, although earlier today I saw it at number three…
and BUG Australia is at number 19.
I’ve been a fan of the Book Depository ever since I bought some books from them last year. I bought a hardback copy of the Oxford Style Manual, which my local Borders store was selling for over AUD $120. The Book Depository had it for under £18 with free worldwide delivery. I ordered it on a Friday evening and it arrived the next Tuesday; and I live in Australia which is the other side of the world to the Book Depository’s Gloucester warehouse. I was very impressed and will certainly order more books from them.
If you live in the UK, then amazon.co.uk is often – but not always – a better deal; but if you live abroad, then the Book Depository is well worth checking out and in many cases it is your cheapest option. Books in the UK are cheaper than in Australia and a lot cheaper than New Zealand bookshops and if you live in North America – where BUG guidebooks aren’t available – then the Book Depository is the most logical choice if you want to buy a BUG guidebook.
Australia’s top 10 small hostels
April 22nd, 2009 by Tim Uden
The latest BUG Australia guidebook reviews over 600 hostels throughout Australia.
Australia’s hostels range from small intimate places to large modern multi-storey hostels with hundreds of beds. The large hostels like Beaches of Broome, Gilligan’s Backpackers in Cairns plus Sydney Central YHA and Wake Up! in Sydney are world class with hundreds of beds plus top notch facilities that include resort-style swimming pools.
When I asked the authors working on the travel guide, their favourites were invariably the smaller hostels where the managers remember your name and provide a warmer welcome and a more personal service, all while keeping the hostel clean.
Based on the guidebook author’s recommendations I have compiled a list of Australia’s top 10 small hostels.
Most of Australia’s top 10 small hostels – all with less than 60 beds – are unique hostels with lots of charm, but some are known for the top-quality fittings and others for the friendly hospitable staff.
Australia’s top 10 small hostels are:
- Bellingen YHA (Bellingen, NSW)
- Black Cockatoo (Nannup, WA)
- Eco-Beach YHA (Apollo Bay, VIC)
- Eumeralla Backpackers (Yambuk, VIC)
- Grampians Eco YHA (Halls Gap, VIC)
- Lakeside Manor YHA (Robe, SA)
- Number 14 (Katoomba, NSW)
- Olembia (Melbourne, VIC)
- On the Wallaby (Yungaburra, QLD)
- Tim’s Place (Halls Gap, VIC)
All these hostels are reviewed on the BUG website and also in the fourth edition of BUG Australia, which is now available in bookshops in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
You can also buy the book online from amazon.co.uk, Waterstones (with free delivery in the UK) or the Book Depository (which has free worldwide shipping).
Cheaper flights to Australia from the US West Coast
March 15th, 2009 by Tim Uden
In previous posts I’ve mentioned the high prices for trans-Pacific airfares - typically the 14-hour flight between Sydney and LA costs considerably more than the much longer 24-hour flight between Sydney and London. These high prices are due to the cosy triopoly between Air New Zealand, Qantas and United; however the USA-Australia route is becoming more competitive with Delta and V Australia starting trans-Pacific flights.
We’re starting to see some results of this competition already with lower prices from US West Coast to Australia and New Zealand, however these are just promotional fares so you’ll need to act fast to get a cheap flight.
Qantas have cut their prices by up to 60% with return flights from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney going for USD $598 and return flights from New York for $798. This special deal is only on sale from today until Friday 20 March.
V Australia also has cheap fares from Los Angeles to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. V Australia’s promotional fares are USD $655. This special fare is valid for travel between 1 March and 15 June and is only on sale until midnight tomorrow night (16 March 2009).
Air New Zealand also has a two country deal with flights from the US West Coast to both Australia and New Zealand for USD $798. This fare is good for travel between 1 May and 21 September.
The above fares are inclusive of fuel surcharge but don’t include taxes and fees, which add another USD $150-250 to the total fare.
If you’re going to take advantage of these special fares to Australia or New Zealand, you can buy a copy of the BUG Australia or BUG New Zealand guidebook from the Book Depository. The Book Depository has both titles in stock and offers free worldwide delivery, including to Canada and the United States.
AirAsia’s Stansted–KL flights make cheap long-haul travel easier
March 12th, 2009 by Tim Uden
Today AirAsia has started its London Stansted–Kuala Lumpur flights. This means that you can now fly from the UK to Australia on low cost airlines with only one stop en route.
In a previous post I mentioned how you can piece together relatively short hops on low cost carriers to make your own round-the-world trip. Before AirAsia started their Stansted-Kuala Lumpur flights, you would have had to make five separate flights on Tiger Airways, Air Arabia and easyJet to fly between Australia and the UK on budget airlines. Now it’s a straightforward journey on a single airline with one stop in Malaysia.
AirAsia’s regular one-way fares are around £179 between London Stansted and Kuala Lumpur but specials (like their promotional launch fares on sale last November) on this route go as low as £99 one way.
From Kuala Lumpur AirAsia has cheap onward flights to Australia and throughout South East Asia. Prices advertised on their website today include bargains such as Kuala Lumpur–Perth for £18 and Kuala Lumpur–Melbourne for £39; and those fares include taxes and fees.
Update on UK availability of BUG guidebooks
February 25th, 2009 by Tim Uden
BUG’s two latest guidebooks (BUG Australia – 4th edition and BUG New Zealand – 3rd edition) finally started making their way into UK bookstores at the end of January.
They have been available in the UK for almost a month now so virtually all bookstores should have the guides in stock, but amazon.co.uk is still showing both books as being unavailable. Our UK distributors have been in touch with Amazon so hopefully this should be resolved shortly.
In the meantime if you want to buy these books online, you can try either the Book Depository or Waterstones. These two online bookstores have both titles in stock. Waterstones has free UK delivery and the Book Depository goes one better with free international shipping.
The following links will take you to the books’ pages on these two sites:
BUG Australia – The Book Depository
BUG Australia – Waterstones
BUG New Zealand – The Book Depository
BUG New Zealand – Waterstones
The Secret Life of Us
September 17th, 2008 by Tim Uden
I recently finished reading The Secret Life of Backpackers by Barry Divola. It’s a great read if you’re planning a trip to Australia and an interesting insight into backpacking culture.
Barry is an Australian journalist who had previously written an article about backpackers after spending a week in a hostel at Bondi Beach. This time Barry opts for a longer month-long trip up Australia’s east coast and the book follows his travels along the heavily beaten backpacker trail between Sydney and Cairns and includes Byron Bay, Hervey Bay, Fraser Island, Airlie Beach and Whitsunday Islands.
Although the book does profile these destinations, the real focus is on the backpacking sub-culture. However there are some interesting destination profiles and Barry’s sceptical view of the flaky new age side of Byron Bay is a great read.
A lot of the book focuses on party hostels and there is a good overview of backpackers’ hostels including Noah’s and Surfside in Bondi Beach, Cape Byron Hostel in Byron Bay, Koala’s in Hervey Bay, Magnum’s in Airlie Beach and Gilligan’s in Cairns. If you do stick to this style of hostel on Australia’s east coast there is a good chance that your trip will be similar to Barry’s and you will spend a lot of your time drinking in backpackers’ bars like Cheeky Monkey’s in Bryon Bay, Magnums in Airlie Beach and PJ O’Briens or the Woolshed in Cairns or just drinking cask wine at your hostel but I can’t guarantee that you’ll make a bong from an apple or have as much sex as the book portrays.
It is important, however, not to pigeonhole all backpackers. We are all unique and backpacking culture is different in destinations off the beaten backpackers’ trail and smaller hostels have a different atmosphere to the party hostels profiled in the book. Your travel experience will probably be a lot different if you stay in smaller hostels and travel away from the beaten Sydney-Cairns route.
Do big hostels need a bar to create a good atmosphere?
August 13th, 2008 by Tim Uden
I recently read a post on the forums at hostelmanagement.com (a great site if you want the inside scoop on hostelling from the hostel manager’s perspective) that says that a large hostel without a bar is a large boring hostel and the kitchen/common room scene only really works in small hostels.
This made me think about hostels – both big and small – that I have stayed at and what makes them tick. Are small hostels always better and does a big hostel need a bar to not be boring.
I hadn’t really considered that before although it makes sense. However on reflection I don’t really think it is the bar that gives the hostel atmosphere, but the decor of the common areas. It just happens that most hostels pay more attention to the interior design of a bar because it is a revenue producing area.
I’ve been to a lot of large boring hostels, but there are also plenty of big hostels without bars that manage a good atmosphere. The good big hostels without bars pay more attention to design and have the common areas in warm colours, with interesting furnishings and some art to give it a cosy feel. Even a big hostel can have a warm atmosphere if the right attention is paid to design.
Being big doesn’t mean being charmless and impersonal and being part of a big chain shouldn’t mean that either. A lot of big hostels buy the cheapest furniture to fill their vast common areas and they end up looking as cosy as a hospital cafeteria. Those that put thought – and a little money – into their business have a better atmosphere.
As a non-hostel example, let’s compare multi-store chains like Burger King and Starbucks. One feels cold and plastic and the other is warm and inviting in comparison. They are both chains with thousands of almost identical outlets; the difference is that one has darker warmer colours, dimmed lighting and comfortable seating and the other has bright colours and cold and plastic furnishings.
Sure Starbucks doesn’t have the atmosphere of a small independent cafe, but it is a lot better than if might have been with a different interior design.
If good design can make even a big corporate outlet feel welcoming and that means that design can transform any retail or hospitality business and that includes hostels.
Now back to the question of whether a bar improves a hostel. Well it comes down to how the bar is incorporated into the hostel and how it is run.
Wake Up! (Sydney, Australia) has a bar, but it doesn’t really add any atmosphere to the hostel because it is downstairs away from the main ground floor common area. Likewise the bar at Nomads Capital (Wellington, New Zealand) doesn’t add to the hostel’s atmosphere because it isn’t in the hostel, you have to go next door for the bar.
However a bar is a more central feature of Nomads Industry (Melbourne, Australia) as it incorporates the main ground floor common area, making it a top choice of Melbourne’s flashpackers’ hostels. On a smaller scale, Kimberley Klub (Broome, Australia) wouldn’t be the same without its poolside bar.
For a bar to improve the hostel’s atmosphere; it has to be integrated with the common area and it has to have the right atmosphere so guests who don’t want to drink will feel comfortable hanging out there as well.
A bar can detract from the atmosphere if it is poorly run. For instance Globetrotters Inn in London and Edinburgh have bars but they just feel depressing and you have to pay for everything at the bar and elsewhere in the hostel using a prepaid smart card. It just shows that the management don’t trust their staff with money and the lack of trust creates an unwelcoming and uncomfortable atmosphere.
Big hostels can’t rely on the owner’s personality so they have to try harder to create the right atmosphere, but it can be done. However having a bar is not always the answer.
The Tipping Point
July 22nd, 2008 by Tim Uden
For travellers not used to the custom, tipping is one of those strange American customs that can make you feel totally uncomfortable.
For starters you are bribing someone for simply doing their job and the question of how to tip is just as difficult as how much. Many people find the concept of paying a bribe somewhat sleazy and the action of leaving extra money feels a bit dishonest.
In most parts of the world you won’t cause too much offence if you simply pay the amount advertised on the menu, but if you’re travelling in the United States or Canada then tipping is almost unavoidable especially if you plan on eating out.
For years the standard tip has been an additional 15% in restaurants and $1 per drink in bars – that’s right, in North America you are expected to tip in bars as well – however North American attitudes to tipping are based largely on guilt and most people now regard 15% as the bare minimum with 20% becoming the new standard.
In bars in the United States it is common to tip an extra dollar per drink. An extra dollar is excessive, but when everyone else does it you have to do it too, unless not tipping is an advertised policy.
During happy hour, an extra dollar can be 50%. Even 15% is often way more than the profit margin of the guy who owns the bar, yet the bar staff have invested nothing in the business other than their own time.
Some – mostly American – travel guides have huge sections devoted to tipping. Apparently if you stay in fancy hotels you are expected to tip virtually everyone from the guy who opens the door for you to the person who cleans your room. Based on this, I certainly wouldn’t want to stay in a nice hotel in the States.
Fortunately hostels are tip-free zones. The average backpacker comes from a country where tipping isn’t an entrenched custom and the low budget emphasis means that it would certainly be unusual if a guest started throwing their money away. This means that a bar in a hostel should also be tip-free. If it isn’t, then the hostel deserves every bad review they get.
A standard argument is that tipping is necessary because the staff get paid so poorly. I have been told that some get paid as little as $2.15 hour.
$2.15 is not much, but you can afford to pay a little more if you charge more for the drinks. The customer pays the same but they don’t feel like they need to bribe the staff just so they do their job. The whole process of tipping is really intimidating for many travellers and for this reason a hostel bar is often popular with travellers as a hostel is one place where travellers feel they don’t need to tip. Many travellers would prefer to drink in a hostel bar over a regular bar for this reason alone.
Wages are just another cost of doing business and paying staff is the business owner’s responsibility, not the customers’.
I have had low paying jobs like stacking shelves in supermarkets, packing CDs in a warehouse near Heathrow, clearing tables in a bar in Auckland and carrying customers’ groceries to their cars in Melbourne and I have never been tipped nor expected a tip. In fact I probably would have felt uncomfortable if someone tried to tip me.
The American attitude toward tipping seems to be motivated by guilt and the desire to appear generous in front of your friends. In America it is considered bad form to give a bad tip even though the service may be appalling.
It is one thing to tip in Canada and the US, where it is an accepted custom; however it is quite another thing when North Americans insist on tipping when they travel abroad. I, and I am sure that I am not alone here, do not appreciate it when this custom is introduced to other countries.
Most people I know don’t regularly tip, but in Australia it is starting to catch on especially in trendy inner-city neighbourhoods. My local fish and chip shop in San Remo (1½ hours south-east of Melbourne) lost my business the moment they put a tip jar on the counter. Now I drive an extra few minutes to White Salt in Cape Woolamai on Phillip Island, where I have discovered the fish is so much better. My local fish and chip shop lost a regular customer through the selfish act of soliciting a bribe and I’ll never return now that I have found somewhere better.
I don’t know about you, but I think that a fish and chip shop is not the sort of place where you should tip anyway. Even in America I doubt most people would tip in a greasy take-away with no table service.
When I travel in the US I find I can avoid tipping by staying in hostels, frequenting fast food places or food courts in shopping centres and buying most other food and drinks from supermarkets. However sometimes it is nice to go to a bar or linger in a cafe, especially if there is a free Wi-Fi connection and in these cases you are entering tipping territory. It puts the customer in an uneasy situation and making the customer feel uncomfortable is certainly not good customer service.
Fortunately a handful of restaurants in the US are bucking the trend. The Linkery in San Diego is one that I will make the effort of visiting next time I’m in California.
I sometimes like to eat out and I like to be in a comfortable environment where I feel welcome and relaxed and am treated well regardless of how much money I have. If I am paying full price for my meal – and eating out is an occasional treat – then why should I feel that I need to pay a bribe just so the restaurant staff do their job. Really is my meal worth more simply because a waitress draws a smiley face on the bill?
Tipping doesn’t play a big part in increasing customer service particularly when tips are given regardless of service (see “Tip Levels and Service: An Update, Extension and Reconciliation” by Michael Lynn of Cornell University, 2003, and “Incentives and Service Quality in the Restaurant Industry: The Tipping – Service Puzzle”, by Ofer H. Azar of Ben-Gurion University, 2007). If anything tipping only decreases the customer’s guilt.
I wouldn’t pay an extra 15-20% to a used car dealer so why do the same in a restaurant or bar? Restaurants should just raise the prices by 20% (so they can pay higher wages) and then add the tax to the price (advertising prices exclusive of tax is another annoying thing about America that would be outlawed by deceptive advertising laws elsewhere in the world) and then let customers pay the advertised price.
