December travel to Dubai and somewhere else...

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  anna10 on 06/09/2013 - 11:03

  +1

  Lucy, Dubai in Dec would be great. Yes, north gets cold due to their winter. At that time the only places to be warm would be the equator and south of. You could go to Istanbul a lovely friendly city would be also be cold but not so miserable as most of the EU. IST is quite safe for a person (woman) travelling alone. It has fascinating architecture and food etc. I am travelling alone to IST in 3 weeks. IST in Dec would be 5-10C. TTripAdvisor IST forums are useful.

  As far as cheap goes, nowhere really fits that bill if you are having to pay everything yourself for accommodation etc for 2-3 weeks post Dubai visit. Greece would be cheapish esp if you get out of Athens.

  You will need to be a little adventurous, … EU is also not guaranteed to be safe

  Best of luck.

  • 

    Lucyinthesky on 06/09/2013 - 23:36

    Anna
    Thanks for the advice ! Please tell me how Istanbul is :-)

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  anna10 on 06/09/2013 - 11:10

  PS, a round the world ticket is often cheaper and would open up a lot more options for you. Think of anyone you know that you could go visit eg the hotter states in winter, in the US say in California, Florida, Texas, Las Vegas.

  Have a look at the prev forums on here to see ways of saving money on buying a tkt.

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  newsense on 06/09/2013 - 11:38

  check fares for Singapore airlines, etihad, thai airways, malaysian, royal brunei. They all fly to dubai.

  otherwise try to get to colombo(srilanka) using Airasia or Scoot. From Colombo catch flydubai(budget airline owned by Emirates) to Dubai.

  Have a good trip.

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  bbqwer on 06/09/2013 - 12:17

  I'm fully recommend Garuda airlines. 2 years ago sydney - jakarta - dubai - amsterdam ( I paid $1800 return december ).

  but now, they no longer stopover at Dubai ( its Abu Dhabi now )

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  bbqwer on 06/09/2013 - 12:19

  On this date December ( 20/12-5/1/14) is very expensive. you wont get any discount price from any airline.

  14 december might get you Shoulder season, instead of peak.

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  jqlilian on 06/09/2013 - 15:29

  If you want to consider stopping in Asia, this seems like a pretty good deal to Dubai via KL flying Malaysia Airlines.

  Note: you would need to leave on or before Dec 7th

  • 

    Lucyinthesky on 06/09/2013 - 23:38

    Yes ! Does look like a fantastic deal ! But my friend is not getting to Dubai till the 20/12 , so I would need to find stuff to do from the 7/12-20/12 . Bummer

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  itx on 06/09/2013 - 15:42

  +3

  Are you still planning to travel for the full period (1/12/13-5/1/14)?

  Either way, a Singapore holiday could work out really well for you. For example:

  Melbourne to Singapore Return
  - Departing 3-5 December
  - Returning 1-4 January
  - Ranges from $820 to $950 (multiple airlines possible - Vietnam Airlines via Ho Chi Minh, British Airways via Sydney, Virgin via Sydney, Emirates direct, Qantas direct, Singapore Airlines direct, Royal Brunei via Bandar Seri Begawan)

  Singapore to Dubai Return
  - Departing 18-20 December
  - Returning 1-3 January
  - Available for $425 on Malaysian Airlines via Kuala Lumpur, or $480 on Singapore Airlines direct.

  Total cost: around $1300 - not the cheapest, but not terrible either.

  A 2+ week holiday in Singapore is hard to fill, so you might like to take a couple of side trips. The LCCs can fly you to most of Asia fairly cheaply.

  Also, because this requires two tickets, I wouldn't recommend connecting between different airlines on the same day.

  • 

    Lucyinthesky on 06/09/2013 - 23:43

    Omg ITX ! That is a great idea to travel through to Singapore ! Maybe I could fly Vietnam Airways and stop in Ho Chi Minh for a few days . I shall look into the flights . The only question I have is how do I go about booking the Singapore -Dubai tickets ? Just through the Singapore airlines website ? Do I need to pay in Singapore currency ?

    • 

      itx on 07/09/2013 - 11:16

      I just had a look at the fare rules for Vietnam Airlines and stopping over increases the price by a lot unfortunately (by around $300). In that case, what I would recommend is:

      Melbourne to Singapore for AU$839
      - Depart 1-5 December, flying direct to Singapore on Emirates
      - Return 3 January, flying via Sydney on Qantas

      Singapore to Dubai for AU$423
      - Depart 19 December, flying via Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia
      - Return 1-2 January, flying via Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia

      Note: If you fly out from Dubai on 2 Jan, you won't reach Singapore until the morning on 3 January!

      I would say they're way more comfortable and reliable than Vietnam Airlines anyway.

      All of the airlines are also Qantas partners so you can throw your QFF number into the bookings. That said, the Malaysia Airlines flights are in a "you're a cheapo so we won't give you points" booking class.

      I got the prices above from Expedia Australia so they should be bookable in Australian dollars with an aussie credit card.

      If you're a true ozbargainer, you can also go through one of the cashback sites such as Qwibble to reach Expedia. My experience with these cashback sites for flight bookings is mixed, but it doesn't hurt to try?

      As for side trips in Asia, I would recommend looking at Jetstar, Air Asia, Tiger, etc. Most of these flights don't have to be booked as a return, so you can do a Singapore-B, B-C, C-Singapore type of routing (each as a one way). Expedia usually displays LCC flights in its search results too.

      EDIT: Looks like the Singapore Airlines flights are gone :(

      Also, if you have a 28 degrees card, consider booking the Dubai flights in USD through a US travel agent. Orbitz, for example, has the Malaysia Airlines flights from SIN to DXB for USD363

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  anna10 on 16/09/2013 - 08:24

  Lucy, what did you end up doing? Sorry, didn't see your q re IST. Anyway, I and 'millions' of others are off there in a week or so.

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  Lucyinthesky on 22/09/2013 - 16:25

  Thankyou for everyones input! Anna10 and itx , you guys will not believe what I think I will end up doing . The singapore idea is probably not going to work as the friend that was suppose to meet in singapore ditched me again due to work/family commitments and I am sick and tired of planning my trip then having to scrap everything because my travel buddy cant make it. So here is my new plan, Im going to fly from Melbourne to Beijing ( as I have relatives there) then Beijing to Dubai and return stopping back in Beijing. I got a quote from a travel agent flying China airline for around $2000. what do you guys think? the other option I have is to fly Cathay from Melbourne to Beijing then buy a return flight from Beijing to Dubai when Im in China?

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    OutOfComplaintForms on 24/09/2013 - 01:02

    I don't agree with anna10. Dubai is an amazing city, and it's certainly not a city that can be explored in 3 days (compared to Singapore, per say). Be aware that if you're flying CX (Cathay), you can get a stopover in HKG, and the same thing applies with Taipei and China Airlines. Do either of those cities interest you?

    If you decide to go with CI (China Airlines), flights from TPE to DXB can be had for $550< with China Eastern (but this does involve an addition stop at Shanghai and/or Kunming).
    If you decide to go with flying from PEK, flights can be had for $720< with China Southern (and a mix of Economy and Premium economy- on the CAN-DXB route)

    Is there anything wrong with CA (Air China)? I've found SYD-PEK-DXB-PEK-SYD for $1500<

    Also, please be aware that China Airlines (hub, Taipei) and Air China (hub, Beijing) are different airlines (I'm not sure if you've confused them).

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  anna10 on 22/09/2013 - 17:57

  I loved Beijing, but that was before the Olympics. There are some great things to see there. Take a warm down jacket In Dec, Dubai will be perfect but I don't think you need long there. I have 3 nights and will just focus on the old parts. Beijing you may never get back to so concentrate on that, whereas DXB is on the way to lots of other places you may go one day. I'll be there shortly via Tokyo and Kyoto.

  $2000 sounds good and it is lucky you have a relo to stay w'. If you had a choice, I'd say return via Singapore or HKG or BKK just for a bit of variety if possible under the fare, otherwise, you can go sus out things in Beijing and have the advantage when you go back via there.

  Remember the golden rule - pack very light as you will need a lot less than you think and you won't have to drag it all around the world and then you can buy things on the trip.

  I suspect that buying in China is cheaper, but am not sure on that.

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  anna10 on 22/09/2013 - 18:33

  If you join Qantas frequent flyer program via the Woolworths Every Day Rewards Card (instantaneous membership) at Woolworths, and it's free … and you fly Cathay (quoting your new QF FF number) which is a very nice airline, you get some frequent flyer points. Try to do the booking yourself on the internet if you can, it's more under yr control than say a Flight Centre which is not cheap.

  Can you ask the relo in PEK to test out the price of the fare PEK - DXB - PEK and convert to Aussie $$?

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  anna10 on 24/09/2013 - 07:56

  pushniacki , you misunderstood as I did not say that 3 days in DXB is all that anyone needs, just that it is all I'm doing on this trip. The point is that how long a person spends in any place is up to them and their research and interests, budget and time available etc.

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    OutOfComplaintForms on 24/09/2013 - 17:15

    Agreed. But I was commenting on your advice for the OP to focus on Beijing, and the fact that she 'doesn't need long' in Dubai. IMO, Dubai has equally, or many more, tourist(y) sites than Beijing. Also, Beijing only has a 72 hours visa-free policy, which would require the OP to obtain the (often annoying) visa to visit China if he/she decides to stay longer.

    Of course, he/she may have a Chinese passport, relatives, or other reasons that may make Beijing a nice pit stop. But generally, IMO, time in Dubai > Beijing. China is certainly cheap…but the pollution there has always made me sick. :/

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  RockyRaccoon on 24/09/2013 - 11:03

  Lucy

  You might want to consider this type of option based on itx's fares above.

  Do the same trip as suggested, but instead of spending time in Singapore, catch a Jetstar flight to Beijing (or Vietnam) then fly back to Singapore then on to dubai.

  One thing in Asia sometimes using different carriers you can save a lot. We flew Scoot to Singapore then jetstar to Vietnam and saved over flying Vietnam airlines, enough to pay for all the hotels in Singapore and Vietnam as well.

  So think outside the square as others have indicated. Its a bummer though having friends drop out of flight arrangements.

  Getting in and out of Oz at this time will be the biggest price challenge, after that since you are not up against the Australian school holiday travelers (except maybe the week of Christmas), the fares wont be as in big demand. in Asia