Sydney to Europe - Need help/advice

mikedenoob on 20/07/2015 - 22:42
Last edited 20/07/2015 - 23:06 by 1 other user

Hi all
the wife and i are planning our european trip
Travel period between 1/4/2016 to 19/5/2016
duration is 4-5 weeks
destinations- France, Italy, England, (maybes Germany, Spain)

i did some weather research it starts to get warmer in May in most of the countries.
can anyone help with Ticket prices, ive seen $1258 to Paris return for the period to Paris via Vietnam on Air Vietnam.
is that usually the price? dont really want to fly or go Vietnam as i want to stay a couple of days on the stop over but due to language barrier i would rather go Vietnam on another occasion with my Vietnamese friends

Any help on ticket price or countries to visit would be great

Travel

Comments

  • Davo1111 on 20/07/2015 - 23:14

    https://matrix.itasoftware.com shows prices being around the $1500-1800 range. So it sounds like a deal.

    dont really want to fly or go Vietnam as i want to stay a couple of days on the stop over but due to language barrier i would rather go Vietnam on another occasion with my Vietnamese friends

    so don't stay over in vietnam? just pass through?

    countries to visit would be great

    Well i thought paris was shit, closly followed by italy but each to their own.

    Amsterdam was great, Budapest was great

  • Randxyz123 on 20/07/2015 - 23:52

    I saw flights for $1,660 with Etihad via Abu Dhabi which is a interesting place to visit for a few days, you can also go via Singapore for a similar price.

    Don't fly in and out of Heathrow because they change a $250 surcharge.

    $1258 sounds good. Almost too good to be true.

    Make sure you don't have a 15 hour stop over in Vietnam.

    • Donaldhump on 21/07/2015 - 00:43

      i got stuck in bangladesh airport for 36 hours and no visa… they wouldnt let me leave airport, coz i might not come back.. was disgusting

      • Randxyz123 on 21/07/2015 - 00:52

        Wtf did you do for 36 hours? In a poor country's airport? I'd have contacted whoever you were flying with and asked to be put on a earlier flight. Also why the hell wouldn't you come back? You had a outgoing ticket? Stupid…

        You don't need a visa for Abu Dhabi though

        • Donaldhump on 21/07/2015 - 01:01
          +3

          flew one way from Nepal to kl on an emergency flight, stopped in Bangladesh for supposed 4 hour layover, sat at desk along with 200 Nepalese men who couldn't speak English and followed me everywhere cos they were confused too, and had barely left high school.

          i got no info on where the hell my flight was until about 8 hours later and they said would be next day due to mechanical issues…i asked if could get a hotel in Dhaka and they said no… i am a risk and might not come back… like id want to stay here, i like buying clothes from Kmart, not making them..

          airline was GMG airlines probably bust by now. i basically slept on concrete floor ate junk and had a coke every hour and darted up to pass the time..

          all i remember was tonnes of spit and rubbish all over the floors.

          can i say i have been to Bangladesh, i sure as hell aint for a holiday

    • Luminary on 21/07/2015 - 09:50

      Is that $250 an airline surcharge or airport?

      • Randxyz123 on 21/07/2015 - 10:36

        Airport charge.

        • Luminary on 21/07/2015 - 11:19

          Oh wow. I had no idea. So it would be more worth training back to, say, Paris and flying out from there?

        • Randxyz123 on 21/07/2015 - 11:56

          @taniiah: Probably is. Then you can grab a cab to CDG from Gare Du Nord.

          Double check with the airline though

    • mikedenoob on 21/07/2015 - 11:18

      yea its a long stop over for vietnam i think from memory one was 6 years other was 13hrs

  • Donaldhump on 21/07/2015 - 00:38
    +1

    https://booking.skiddoo.com.au/flight/SYD/CDG/2016-04-01/201…

    korean airlines $1500. I would avoid any country requiring a visa, even if you are just transiting, they can be pain in the bum

    korea is cool, and they speak english better than australians. (and type better than me).

    id plan you trip so you fly in and out of diff cities, cuts out one flight.

    can fly into gatwick airport in london, from france or italy and maybe cheaper then LHR. dont fly to stansted costs tonnes to get from there to city.

    • mikedenoob on 21/07/2015 - 11:19

      yeah i was thinking about doing the multi city ticket so i dont have to double back at the end of the trip

  • Donaldhump on 21/07/2015 - 00:47

    i also quite liked germany, good beer and a meat diet, everything functions..

    once went to nice in france which was good…rome,paris,barcelona ok i guess…

    czech republic is nice and so is croatia..

    austria boring as hell.

    england, goto newcastle great city

    • mikedenoob on 21/07/2015 - 15:24

      thanks for the info
      yeah ive heard that czech and croatia is nice but wasnt too sure how their standard of english is
      will look into it

      • Donaldhump on 21/07/2015 - 16:17

        id honestly use vietnam airlines and cruise into frankfurt or paris and go from there… that airline is cheap as

        i found even the most eastern european countries have decent english… albania was only place i got stuck… but u can fumble ur way around.

        i had more issues in japan than anywhere in europe…

  • xabiso on 21/07/2015 - 06:02

    For a rather long and complicated trip like yours, maybe you can try www.flightfox.com. You will get personalised advise but I think you need to complete the bookings yourself.

  • uder on 21/07/2015 - 10:55

    I got a good deal on Cathay flights this year. $1497 return. Sydney-London, Milan-Sydney.

    • sagrules on 21/07/2015 - 11:07

      When are you flying?

      • uder on 21/07/2015 - 13:52

        September

        • sagrules on 21/07/2015 - 17:08

          This might be a silly question but did you book two separate flights (unlinked) as your last destination is different from your first.

        • uder on 21/07/2015 - 17:12

          @sagrules:
          Nope. Cathay's website can handle multi city bookings quite easily.

  • sagrules on 21/07/2015 - 11:07

    Any deals for September this year for around 2-3 weeks?

  • akastyl13 on 21/07/2015 - 11:41

    Hi,

    Last year I did SYD-HCMC-CDG(Paris) with Vietnam Airlines with 7hours layover in HCMC and then 13hrs on the return.
    We applied for the visa and went into the city with my gf and did a scooter tour which was excellent and great for 2.5hours and then back to the airport for the next flight.
    We then slept for 10hrs out of the 12-13hours flight to CDG. Best layover ever.
    On the return tho, we were completely jet lag and slept at the airport and only went out for food.

    $1260 is very very cheap for a return flight to Europe. I will say go for it. I paid $1450 last year in Summer time.
    Also, flights will probably be split between Air France and Vietnam Airlines.

    Make sure you do not have to change airport from HoChiMinhCity to Hanoi as it sometimes happen on Vietnam Airlines flight and people do not notice until they actually land in HCMC. Make sure arrival/departure is from same airport in Vietnam.

    EDIT: Note that it is way cheaper I think to land in EU and then use train or EU flights to travel between countries.
    Use companies like Ryanair or Easyjet to find cheap flights.

    • mikedenoob on 21/07/2015 - 15:23

      thanks for that
      a few days ago it was 1150$ but i was against the airline and the stop over
      i might just book and see if any of my mates will come with on the vietnam leg of my trip
      im still looking for a better ticket option

  • Donaldhump on 21/07/2015 - 12:27

    i have no idea why vietnam airlines is suddenly cheap, always thought they were dear…. id go with them, free day in veitnam.

  • try2bhelpful on 21/07/2015 - 17:18
    +1

    Checkout all the conditions of the flight including the total fly time/stop over etc. It is a long time to be flying in a mobile slum (which is economy in every airline). Personally we've flown with a few airlines over the years, but mainly Qantas. The familiar can be nice and it is worth checking as I've seen flights to Europe for October around the $1600 mark.

    Frankly I love France as a destination. Paris has such great Museums and it is hard to beat French food. Look into getting a Carte De Musee, it let's you jump the ticket buying queues, (but not the metal detector queues). Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower at dusk and watch the lights come up over Paris, do similar from the top of Notre Dame. Go to Versailles, hire a car and then drive around the Loire valley, etc. I loved Italy as well; again hire a car and drive around Tuscan villages and onto Florence, Lake Como, etc. If you don't want to drive the trains are terrific. There are so many really good places in Europe it is hard to pick, but my favourites are France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. Most of the time when we travel we go in September/October. The weather is usually still warm and people have gone back after the August holidays so accommodation tends to be easier to get. Have a great time.

    • sagrules on 23/07/2015 - 11:01

      can you be more specific on dates as I'm concerned those countries you mentioned might be too cold by October

      • try2bhelpful on 23/07/2015 - 17:05

        We have been in all the countries I mentioned during the September/October period and we had no issues with temperature, you just need to layer clothes to regulate but you don't need bulky jackets. You might want to edge towards more September than October but the weather was generally very pleasant and I prefer it slightly cooler than warmer as, once you are down to the T-Shirt, there isn't any further to go. Maybe look at doing the "colder" countries earlier and the "warmer" countries later, if you are concerned. Even in September we had "hot" days where we had to strip down; particularly in Rome and Pompeii. The other trick is to take clothes that are easy to wash and quick to dry; look at places like Katmandu, etc for clothes (especially those on special). Although we had warm weather in the place we rented near Florence the humidity was so high it took 3 days for our jeans to dry. Best of luck with the trip.

  • Peck on 23/07/2015 - 16:22

    It won't fit your dates, but I just got an email from Emirates that might help others:- "Catch our special fares for spring 2016
    Fly into one European city and out of another with ease. Book by 14 August 2015, Outbound travel period from 1 to 17 March 2016." http://www.emirates.com/au/english/offers/2519466/get-carrie…

  • Luminary on 23/07/2015 - 17:54

    I would love to travel for that price. Sadly I can only go during December and prices are all close to $2k. :(

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