As a AAA Aussie Specialist travel agent, I know that interest in the beautiful continent of Australia is often tempered with the idea that travel there is a challenge.  “Oh I don’t know, it’s such a long flight!” is often one of the first things people say when I suggest that they consider a trip down to Australia.  When I hear this, I have visions of bopping the hesitators on the forehead like they do in those V-8 commercials. But what I do is help our members overcome their doubts with real information.   Because honestly, any place that has a native culture that’s well over 40,000 years old is definitely worth checking out ~ and definitely worth the time it takes to get there!  Ultimately, I always follow their concern with the same response… “Believe me, it is sooooo worth it!” 

So, here’s what I tell them: Yes, the flight from Los Angeles to Sydney is about 14 ½ hours, and there’s no way of getting around that, but Australia’s home-grown airline, QANTAS,  has some of the best service  in the entire industry, and they really know how to make your trip as comfortable as possible.  To start, there’s your choice of seating… economy, premium economy, business, and first class.  With that, while there may be quite a jump in pricing between their economy and first class airfares, their new premium economy class fares may offer you a good go-between solution if you don’t want to sacrifice too many dollars for a comfy seat.  And be assured that when you do arrive into Sydney, and you’ve checked into your room any “flight fatigue” will definitely diminish after a good night’s sleep.  Another helpful hint that always seems to do a world of good is to make sure that you keep yourself awake and don’t nap as soon as you check into your room.  You’ll be on perpetual home-town time that way, and you’ll never get in synch with the local clock.   Then for the trip home just be sure to schedule in a day or two off, if you can, before returning to work or other duties so that you can get back on track without any obligations to get in the way.  After a few days you’ll be back in the swing of things and undoubtedly, the memories of the time spent in Australia will be far greater than those spent on the plane!   

Recently, as I do on many occasions, I assisted a member with some travel information to a destination other than Australia (I know! People actually like to travel to places other than Australia ~ what?!!). As they were leaving, they brought up traveling to Australia sometime (that happens a lot at my desk... perhaps it’s all the posters?).  Anyway, they expressed an interest in going there, but then immediately followed their desire with the question, “but you probably need a lot of time and money to make that kind of trip, hey?”  Well...guess what, not really.

When you break it down, you could actually do a pretty decent trip in 10 days time if that’s all you have. Sure, more time is always preferred, but it definitely shouldn’t dissuade you if you can’t swing a full two weeks and you’ve always wanted to go there.  Most of the hot spots in Australia are actually right along the eastern coastline, which makes getting from one place to the next really pretty easy, and therefore certainly doable within a week’s time or so. 

And don’t be fooled by the somewhat “high” cost of an airline ticket to get you there either. People are mistakenly under the assumption that traveling to Australia has got to be so much more expensive than traveling to Europe based on the cost of the airline ticket alone.  However, have you seen the cost of airfare to Europe these days? There’s not much price difference between the two at all anymore. And what’s better is, once you’re in Australia the exchange rate actually works in our favor, unlike the euro (yikes!).  So things like accommodations, food, and sightseeing are all similar in price to what you’d pay here in the States, if not cheaper.

So when it’s about travel to Australia, the question should be “When do you want to go?”