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JOYCE’S CHOICE
Travelling lately at night time on a really late and delayed Virgin Australia arrival from Melbourne, I encountered a number of baggage handlers on the shuttle bus to parking who might have defined one motive baggage is an issue. All used to work for Qantas and misplaced their jobs. All had been re-employed by [the aviation services company] Swissport after a interval with out work, though some obtained Jobkeeper. That they had nothing good to say in regards to the disloyalty and misplaced advantages and extra. Has Alan Joyce plucked his golden goose?
Paul Gerrard, Kellyville, NSW
HARD SELL
If Qantas needs to enhance its recreation it ought to cease flogging wine, insurance coverage, well being care and heaven is aware of what else and simply give attention to the enterprise of air journey.
John Swanton, Coogee, NSW
LETTER OF THE WEEK
GONE IN 60 SECONDS
Sue Williams’ article “the artwork of outwitting con artists” (Traveller, July 9) was a superb reminder of the difficulties that may be confronted by Australian travellers abroad. As my spouse and I had been boarding a prepare from Lisbon to Porto, Portugal, I used to be struggling to carry two heavy circumstances onto the prepare when a person provided to assist me. A minute later, the prepare moved away and I stowed the circumstances on a rack and we discovered our seats. It was then that I observed my pockets had gone. I assumed I should have dropped on the ground of the prepare however finally realised I might been robbed. The conductor’s assistant mentioned she’d seen two suspicious males operating away because the prepare departed. By the point the prepare had reached Porto some hours later, the robbers had used my bank card and money card with a substantial amount of money additionally misplaced that was within the pockets. We went to the vacationer police in Porto the subsequent morning however it was a waste of time. Robbing vacationers at railway stations is an everyday occasion and our journey insurance coverage firm refused to just accept my declare on the idea I wasn’t sufficiently vigilant. A lesson realized.
John Aarons, Brighton East, VIC
TOMB WARRIOR
I disagree with the selection in your information to Buenos Aires of Recoleta because the one cemetery to go to there. To go to the tomb of Evita, sure, however if you wish to pay homage to Carlos Gardel, the “king of tango”, you will need to go to the La Chacarita cemetery. A prepare or a bus journey from downtown Buenos Aires takes 30 to 40 minutes. It then takes 10 or so minutes to seek out the tomb and statue of the nice man. Once we had been there somebody had positioned a carnation on his go well with and a lit cigarette in his hand. It was nicely definitely worth the time to pay tribute.
Robert Pallister, Punchbowl, NSW
OVERNIGHT SUCCESS
Relating to Ray Ward’s feedback (Traveller Letters, July 9) about his keep at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport Hilton, we had been confronted with the identical downside of an early morning flight and we selected to remain in Fiumicino city itself. We had been collected by a free shuttle from the airport station to go to our lodging. Fiumicino is a city seemingly devoid of architectural benefit however with no scarcity of cafes and eating places. We spent a day strolling via the city, alongside the waterfront and the city canals the place fishermen had been promoting their catch. Later we had pizza at a small cafe earlier than returning to our lodging. Subsequent morning we had been taken by the shuttle again to the airport in time for check-in. It was an attention-grabbing and fairly totally different manner of spending our final night time in Italy and price lower than half the airport resort.
Daybreak Lumley, Fitzroy, VIC
I am sorry that Ray Ward was disillusioned with the airport resort in Fiumicino. Our expertise, admittedly not as current, was fairly the reverse. Environment friendly and handy, our keep there was precisely what we wanted for a departure the subsequent day.
Graham Hannaford, Ainslie, ACT
My spouse and I lately returned from our third self-drive tour of Italy, this time principally within the south-west. Like Ray Ward, we, too, had a morning flight from Rome airport (Rome-Doha-Melbourne) and as standard we selected to remain on the Finest Western, Rome. The resort is well accessible from the airport with a shuttle bus service even for the earliest of flights. The resort itself is clear and fashionable, the workers are pleasant and useful and the restaurant has nice meals and wine at very cheap charges.
Brad Downs, Bairnsdale, Vic
My solely keep in an airport resort was fantastic. Our flight from Johannesburg was delayed in a single day, and we had been transported at midnight to the Southern Solar Airport Lodge. The eating room was saved open for us and the subsequent day, we had been handled to a smorgasbord of South African delicacies at breakfast, tea and lunch. The prepare direct to Sandton Metropolis buying centre was an added bonus for last-minute buying.
Rhoda Silber, Manly, NSW
SINGLE MINDED
Properly performed, Lee Tulloch, for mentioning ageism and wrongly held assumptions within the journey trade about older travellers (Traveller, July 9). Spare a thought additionally for single older travellers. Journey articles and promoting place a heavy emphasis on {couples}, but among the many over 50s there are many cashed-up singles who would admire recognition that they exist and have explicit lodging wants. Articles, promoting and pictures virtually invariably promote king beds and “romantic getaways”. Older singles normally solely want a double mattress at most, and singles travelling collectively admire twin rooms the place the beds aren’t so shut collectively that they might as nicely be doubles.
Liz Edwards, Orange, NSW
TIP OF THE WEEK
CAUGHT MAPPING
We’re in the midst of a ten week journey to Norway and Iceland. An app known as Maps.me has remodeled our journey. It’s a free app, whereby you may obtain totally different nations and use it offline. It has detailed data together with lodges, ATMs, petrol stations, vacationer websites and grocery shops. The app supplies driving, strolling and different transport route choices and estimated instances. It has helped us hike to the best mountains within the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway with most mountain climbing routes and parking spots marked and the flexibility to trace your progress. A traveller’s should.
Jenni Davidson, Balmain, NSW
GREETER GOOD
Ute Junker, in her story on free sights and experiences all over the world (Traveller, July 10), presumably hasn’t heard of the Worldwide Greeter Affiliation (internationalgreeter.org). Guests to 130 locations (together with Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane right here in Australia) can meet a neighborhood Greeter for a free strolling tour to discover the greeter’s dwelling metropolis. They are going to uncover spots identified solely to locals and get an inside perspective from somebody who lives there. It is an excellent introduction to town you are visiting with out the expense.
Joanne Karcz, Dangar Island, NSW
PUT THE “FREE” IN FREEDOM
One other improbable free expertise so as to add to the checklist is Boston’s Freedom Path. This self-guided stroll takes you thru the highest 16 historic websites in Boston. There are organised excursions for a small payment however it’s simple to stroll and there’s data at every website to learn. There are additionally wheelchair accessible routes. The web site (thefreedomtrail.org) has many sources that can assist you put together your go to. I lived in Boston for eight years and this was my go-to exercise for visiting family and friends and was at all times an enormous hit.
Kay Hartman, Willoughby, NSW
BALI LOW
I lately flew to Bali for a hoped-for enjoyable break however Bali airport was a shemozzle of queues and chaos. First there’s a lengthy queue to point out your vaccination certificates. Then Australians have to queue once more to pay $US35 for a visa – an impost lately reinstated by the Indonesian authorities – with a mass of queues for immigration. My recommendation is to remain calm as a result of, whereas the method took virtually two hours, I additionally nonetheless needed to look forward to my bag earlier than dealing with the fourth queue to undergo customs. It is such a pity as a result of the Balinese folks want our help a lot for the time being and are being let down by their airport.
Simon Benedict, Docklands, Vic
RED HOT
I lately returned from a visit to Alice Springs the place I had booked a automotive to rent 12 months in the past. The day earlier than I used to be on account of choose up the automotive, I obtained an electronic mail confirming my reserving. Upon nearer inspection, I fortuitously observed that the fees had elevated by 50 per cent. After a telephone name, changes had been made in order that the unique cost was honoured. Even with that modification to the automotive rent payment, it proved to be an costly journey to go to the Purple Centre however the magnificence and magic of it was compelling. I am unable to wait to return.
Jane Buckingham, Apollo Bay, Vic
CONDITIONS APPLY
We employed a automotive in Italy lately via the aggregator rentalcars.com. When renting, the choose up was clearly Rome and the drop off Naples. Watch out as a result of deep in all of the phrases and situations there was a clause saying the automotive firm used (Locauto) can successfully cost you what they like as a drop off payment, though we thought that this was lined off by nominating choose up and drop off. My bank card was finally charged a further €100 or so.
Vince Vozzo, Blairgowrie, Vic
GRATUITIES ADVICE
Certainly one of your current Traveller articles talked about Australians not understanding the US “tip tradition”. By the use of clarification when travelling within the States, it is essential to bear in mind that service workers, similar to waiters and baristas, in contrast to right here in Australia, do not obtain a good wage. Individuals doing the identical jobs obtain such a paltry wage that they’re completely depending on the tipping generosity of patrons.
John B. Quinn, Avoca, Vic
WRITE TO US AND WIN
The Letter of the Week author wins Hardie Grant journey books price greater than $100. For July, that features Vantastic by Kate Ulman; Nice World Wonders by Michael Turtle; and Final Weekends Australia by Emma Shaw.
See hardiegrant.com
The Tip of the Week author wins a set of three nice Lonely Planet journey books, together with Final Australia Journey Record, The Journey E-book and Armchair Explorer.
HOW TO WRITE TO US
We give choice to letters of 100 phrases or fewer and so they could also be edited for area, authorized or different causes. Please use full sentences, do not use textspeak and do not embrace attachments. E-mail us at travellerletters@traveller.com.au and, importantly, embrace your title, deal with and telephone quantity.
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