Last month I booked a spontaneous one night trip to Milan. I was really excited as I have never been to Italy before and have always wanted to. We flew with Ryan air on Saturday mid-morning. The flight was just over 2 hours. Once we had arrived I assumed we would take a taxi straight to the hotel, until I realised it would cost €150! We went to the transport counter at the airport and found out we could take a bus to the city centre for €5 each. What a bargain considering it was a 50 minute bus journey.
After an 11 hour flight, we were very excited to touch down in South Africa. We took an Uber to our accommodation which was located near the Victoria and Alfred waterfront. We stayed in an air bnb which had floor to ceiling windows over looking the harbour. There was also 24 hour sercurity at the accommodation which was a great comfort. As it was about 10pm when we arrived we decided to have an early night ready for our adventures over the next 10 days.
As we had changed our plans and were arriving in New York a few days later than we had originally planned, we had completely forgotten to book our transfer. After asking around at the airport the best option seemed to be the NYC Airporter bus. I must say it wasn’t the nicest or comfiest bus I have been on but it did the job for about $18 per person each way. However, it only had 3 drop off points which meant that we had to walk about 5 streets to our hotel. Next time I would definitely look in to an airport shuttle that drops you off directly at the hotel as lugging a 20kg case through Times Square is not ideal.
Vegas was actually a spontaneous last minute decision. We booked a flight from LA which took about 45 minutes for later that night later that night. It’s amazing landing at night because you can see the Vegas Strip all lit up, it makes such a good first impression. A taxi to the strip takes about 10 minutes and costs about $10.
After arriving at LAX airport we took the shuttle to Avis car hire centre where we picked up our car for the week! The process was really straight forward and our car was ready as soon as we got there which was earlier than we had booked for. Our accommodation wasn’t ready until 4pm (another air bnb) so we took a road trip to the beach. Oh and the whole other side of the road and left side driving is scarier than I thought, so I decided to be a passenger for the week 😬.
To get to Brisbane we decided to get a bus from Gold Coast which took about 1 hour 30 minutes. The bus company was called Premier Motor Service and the tickets cost 16 AUD each. Our accommodation was once again very central so we walked from the bus station to the apartment. During our stay we mainly walked and used uber if needed. We also used Uber to get to the airport at the end of our stay as there was hardly anything in the price between the fare and the price of the air rail.
Once again, we stayed in an air bnb apartment. Before we arrived I contacted the host of the air bnb apartment to check what is the best way to get there. She said to get the public bus from the airport and then the tram to Cypress Avenue. To me, this sounded complicated mainly because I am a public transport phobic… but it was so straight forward. On the way we passed through Mermaid Beach and Broadway beach. The beach just goes on for miles, I have never seen anything like it. Whilst in Surfer’s paradise everything we needed was in walking distance.
When planning our trip to Sydney, we decided to use air bnb for a variety of reasons. Firstly we wanted to experience the Australian lifestyle and what better way than living in a locals home in the centre of it all. Secondly, we wanted to have an apartment with cooking facilities and finally air bnb offers quality accommodation at affordable prices. Our studio apartment was located in Potts Point, east of the central business district. We met the host to check in and she provided us with a guidebook to the flat and local amenities. She also allowed us to check in early which was much appreciated after a 9 hour flight. The flat was a renovated studio in a an old building. It was beautifuly decorated with a quirky edge. The street it was located on was really quite peculiar, if we took a left out of the building there was fine dining restaurants with a chilled atmosphere, and if we took a right… it felt like you had stepped on to the strip in Magaluf full of backpackers.
The taxi system at the airport is one of the best I have seen. They separate you in to three cues depending on the size of the taxi needed, you then print a ticket which indicates which lane your taxi is at.
