Saturday 14 May 2016

Deathstar v2

Just a quick one - because we didn't take piccies and nothing worse than a big block of text.

So after swearing we'd never do Jetstar again, we did it.

This time, we went from OOL (Gold Coast Airport) to Narita.  So an hour's journey in the car.  We did this from Shearwater to Launceston, so not a major issue except getting up early to drive.

Jetstar bloke at the OOL counter was really nice.  We checked in online and went to the counter to grab our final tickets.  Lovely bloke moved our family of 6 down toward the front of the plane and was just really nice and efficient and quick.  He also suggested we use up our baggage allowance (we took basically 2 empty suitcases for our touristy crap  I mean, holiday treasures and had some space to spare).

We also paid for food beforehand, entertainment beforehand.  We travelled 787-9 (Dreamliner) in the LCC configuration.
Sitting in the overpriced food court of OOL

The thing with Jetstar - if we had the time available, there was a super special we could have flown for an extra $400 in total (so like $70 per family member) on a full cost carrier to HKG, had extra foot room and proper meals and flown on an A330.

So yeah, it was cheap, but LCC needn't be the only cheapie available.

I also found the food too variable, service too variable, the noise on the much-touted Dreamliner too variable.  The thing with full service is that there is a level of consistency (even if it's consistently average) that's oft-missed.

The food on the plane to Narita - pretty passable.  The offerings on the return leg - I didn't touch and as a result, we grabbed some Lawson's Sandwiches, Onigiri and drinks and ate before bedtime kicked in.

Service in OOL aiport - pretty decent, as was the service to Tokyo.  The return service - very matter of fact and minimal, not at all friendly.  I've had this in HKG Jetstar and Singapore.  It seems that the service model varies from airport to airport.

The Dreamliner - pretty quiet and I was raving about it once we'd flown to Tokyo.  On the return trip - it was wheezing a high pitched squeal that was worse than the plane noise on an A330.  Again, a variable that I didn't want to deal with.

Narita Terminal 3 (the LCC terminal) has a decent enough food court, decent directions and it is easy to get a bus to Tokyo central.  More on that in another post.

Monday 18 April 2016

Japan on Jetstar with 4 kids and a pregnant mum

I broke my promise to myself.  I swore to myself (and likely at myself, too) that I'd never, ever, ever do Jetstar overseas or even domestically for more than 2 hours.

Never.

Ever.

Ever.

Like, don't even mention it.

Then an amazing thing happened.  Jetstar got the B787-9.  Then charged effectively $430 return per adult ticket including food and entertainment.  And there's no stopover.

That meant we waited 6-9 months less for our next holiday (and it turned out, that someone is pregnant (oops!), so lucky we didn't buy anything for later on), and it were dead cheap.  And our 11 year old is full fare in 7 months, so even better.

So 8 days before we go, we're getting excited.

Bags are packed (see the links about capsuling - Mrs Brisket has managed to get 3 children's clothes into one carry on - fantastic for hauling a small army of tired children through an airport.  Nothing worse than trying to get children saying "I'm tired, I can't keep up, this suitcase is too heavy to pull......." - a sure fire way to get a frazzled parent who's been cooped up in a giant tin tube for 9-10 hours, just that bit more frazzled.  Less suitcases, means less frazzle.

Bought money - normally not my thing.  Using the ATM overseas is far better as you get the wholesale rate plus commission of around 4% (and ATM fee).  But there has been a ¥5 per $AUD fluctuation, so I grabbed it high as insurance (and played off some currency exchangers against each other), and basically got it at a little less than wholesale rate and no commission.

Another tip - pay $5 and American Express (in selected Australia Post shops) will buy back notes up to their exchanged amount (¥82000 for us) at the wholesale rate.  That is between 10-15% better.  You have 6 months, so you could even time it for a currency drop and make a few bucks.

If not, I got a good rate, and Murphy's Law says the exchange rate will improve, so good for me.

Sorry about the lack of photos - I'll go nuts in a week time.  

7 days rushing aorund in Tokyo with a busted knee awaiting surgery, 4 children and mum pregnant - what could possibly go wrong?