A short road trip to Sydney and Canberra on MAS economy

[isaac]

Hi guys, back for my second TR!

Was contemplating whether to do this TR or not as Sydney is a very popular destination especially for Singaporeans.

anyway...

I decided to to do this TR as 1.) im flying on MAS which is not a common carrier featured on sqtalk (for obvious reasons) 2.) my friends and I were very budget conscious this trip and I barely spent A$500 in 16 days- even after losing A$40 in the star casino which might interest other budget conscious travellers (not a common species on SQT evidently )

Background to this trip:

-I study in England but 2 of my closest buddies from secondary school and JC are studying in Macquarie Uni and ANU- had not seen them for about a year and this trip was mainly to hang out with them like old times

-When I booked this trip in March or so, MAS was by far the cheapest at S$820, followed by Qantas at S$860 and SQ at S$900. (scoot had not released fares at the time)

-Wanting to quickly confirm dates, I booked MAS immediately

-This was a bad choice because Scoot released it's fares just 10 days later at something like S$500-ish for 20KG baggage and food onboard.


MAS was an interesting experience though. Definitely not as good as SQ even on economy where little separates these carriers, however, there were a few very very good points which I think would make me fly MAS again should it be cheaper than SQ.

this TR will continue in 10 days time- the pictures are being uploaded as I type and I am flying off to Kuching in a couple of days time which would make for another TR

[isaac]

Leaving Singapore



MAS takes off from T2- my itinerary would be SIN-KUL, KUL-SYD

It got off to a bad start at the airport, I totally forgot that Australia requires a visa for visitors- I had to stand like an idiot at the check in counter fiddling with my iphone trying to apply for the A$20 visa there and then.

However, after getting my online visa settled, I requested for an emex seat and surprisingly the lady at the counter gave it to me! This was about 2h30 before takeoff to KUL and about 4h30 before the KUL-SYD leg, perhaps I was very early and my request was granted Later learnt that she gave me the crap emex seat but it was alright in the end...

SIN-KUL



This was a cute multi coloured single aisle plane- i think it was a A320.

Service was as good as a 1h flight could be... peanuts and juice were served along with malaysian newspapers. After I finished reading the Star, the steward asked if I was done with it and took it back....

arrived at KLIA and went into the plaza premium lounge with my PP... had to take the aerobus to the lounge and back to my boarding gate to SYD

KUL-SYD


the B747 that would be serving us to SYD today


Now, I was kind of irritated when I got to my seat on the B747...



I am a tall person...but not very tall. I am barely 1.83m tall and the emex seat I had didnt have ANY extra legroom at all because of the emex blocking it. However, the 3 emex seats did not have anyone in the middle hence I was able to stretch out sideways to the middle seat.

IFE was the small screen type.

major flaw in the IFE: despite having quite a selection of movies and shows, one had to scroll from channel 1 through 99 to find the show that one wanted, and the in flight magazine had no indication which show was on which channel.

I gave up and listened to music and tried to sleep the whole flight.



food wise was alright- except they didnt have a menu and the steward would just ask "chicken or fish for you?"

The chicken breast fillet was surprisingly good though.

There was also no snacks to be had in the middle of the flight- I guess not as this was a relatively short 7h30 flight.

However, the stewardess was very sharp and she asked if I'd like my empty water bottle to be filled with water. This happened both legs KUL-SYD. impressive

The flight was incident free- no crying babies!

Sydney airport runway with air NZ in the background




Sydney airport

[isaac]

one of the reasons why we spent so little was because my friend had already bought a car. ACT registered toyota corolla 1.8L for only A$10,000. thats about 10x cheaper than in Singapore

Petrol was also relatively cheap, it was A$1.35-ish for a litre of octane 95 compared with S$2 in singapore.

First destination was to Eastwood in North Sydney, a huge chinese enclave where my other friend stayed close to (in Marsfield/North Ryde)

[SQflyergirl]

Nice - I think I'll pop down to SYD one is these days

[SINFJ]

Thanks Isaac for the TR. Any reviews on the IFE selections? Wanted to check that out as will be doing KUL - BNE along with some friends based out of KUL. Thanks

[jammed]

rare read on MH into SYD, thanks for that issac as a Canberra resident, looking fwd to see how visitors view the city, er, town

[isaac]

continuation...

went to all the usual touristy spots...


had all you can eat BBQ ribs at tony roma's for A$25ish



zoo



albino wallaroo



blue mountains national park



lots of fog the day we went up


chinatown

[isaac]

up to that day it had already been almost 6 days in sydney and we'd only went into the Sydney city proper for half a day due to the parking prices. (something like A$7 an hour).

however, as we'd heard from friends that the star casino at pyrmont had FREE parking for members, not to mention a FREE buffet and A$20 bet, who were we as singaporeans to say no to that offer?

the buffet at the garden buffet was surprisingly good, the selection was big and the quality was above average for a buffet. that type of buffet in singapore would be at least S$35.

with tthe free parking offer, we started going into town alot more often.


free buffet




three monkeys pub



fish market



sashimi

[isaac]

now, as i'd only been to australia once before this- when the A$ was at parity to the S$ and not the US$, I had assumed that prices in australia would have been about the same as I was used to in the UK...boy was I wrong.

Australia is so much more expensive than the UK in so many ways...food, groceries, sightseeing prices etc. think the only thing i found cheaper in oz was the petrol.

anyway, we were about to leave SYD for CBR and stopped over in Cabramatta, a vietnamese enclave for lunch.



cabramatta




it was about A$11 each, dirt cheap for oz standards, the chicken was awesome too!

[isaac]

Canberra

canberra is...shall we say. a sleepy area. the jams in peak hour is like 6pm traffic at upper thomson road. shops close early, people go home early etc.




australian parliament





it's really an interesting contrast to sydney. anyway, we were just walking around town most of the time and cooking food for each other to eat and chilling out in one of the ANU hostels where my friend stays.

[isaac]

back to sydney and singapore...

my friend left from CBR airport to Perth where his gf is at, and my sydney friend and I took a coach back to Sydney.

spent the day in town at paddy's markets and eating near chinatown before taking a bus back to Marsfield.



Sydney bus







Macquarie university


the day I left for Singapore, we again took a bus to town and then to the casino. (the casino has free left baggage service for members )

had lunch in town and went back to the casino. having about A$60 left, decided to try my luck at blackjack and promptly lost two hands. needing A$14 for my sydney airport shuttle, i left

The shuttle bus gave me a huge scare. I booked it for 5.45pm and at 5.45pm when I reached the hotel entrance, the concierge asked if I had booked a shuttle and he said the driver had arrived at 5.25pm and left. I was surprised, but thankfully as I'd booked way in advance of my 9.40pm flight, anticipating something like this, I called another company and they promptly sent one at about 6.15pm.

the shuttle bus was terrible, the driver drove like a maniac and it was one of those beat up old toyota hiace's. Still, it was cheaper than the rip off airport train at A$15.40 and much more convenient from the star casino.

Arrived and checked in with MAS. Asked again for an emex seat and was granted again!



this time, i could stretch out fully.

I could see why MAS was losing money with this flight. With SYD-SIN being such a high yielding flight for SIA, MAS barely had 50% load on Y for this SYD-KUL flight and when I walked through J and F to disembark in KUL, most of the seats were untouched.

the food SYD-KUL was quite bad. they also used plastic cutlery.



sitting near the galley, I could also hear the MAS stewards and stewardesses chatting loudly in Malay amongst themselves. Not a problem for me as I had my earphones on but i'd imagine it'll be difficult for a light sleeper who was trying to sleep.



all in all, a good trip and a reasonable airline which I'd fly again should it be cheaper than SIA. however, SIA's product is still superior even in economy-where little separates most carriers.

[LOWJHG]

You were here in Canberra you should've told me!!! Anw I'm studying at ANU too so we could've met for drinks!

[RCTP]

great TR!

Anyway, I dont think MAS uses A320.

[jammed]

concur with your impressions on Canberra the local population complain about the 6pm crawl in Northbourne Avenue; they should sample our CTE at 8pm . But CBR is not just Parliament and Lake Griffin - if one ventures beyond Civic there are some better eats (note, I said 'better' not 'great') in Belconnen, Turner and Woden, as far as I am concerned of course

[isaac]

Thanks Isaac for the TR. Any reviews on the IFE selections? Wanted to check that out as will be doing KUL - BNE along with some friends based out of KUL. Thanks

the IFE is really poor, it's not AVOD afaik and even though they do have quite a selection (still incomparable to SQ's) you have to manually scroll from channel 1 through 99 and figure out which channel is which show.

You were here in Canberra you should've told me!!! Anw I'm studying at ANU too so we could've met for drinks!

haha, not a common destination to visit, isn't it? ANU is really nice! you guys have a lake at your doorstep. my city campus in contrast is so ugly in comparison.

great TR!

Anyway, I dont think MAS uses A320.

thank you! sorry! I assumed it was an A320. Probably was a B737.

concur with your impressions on Canberra the local population complain about the 6pm crawl in Northbourne Avenue; they should sample our CTE at 8pm . But CBR is not just Parliament and Lake Griffin - if one ventures beyond Civic there are some better eats (note, I said 'better' not 'great') in Belconnen, Turner and Woden, as far as I am concerned of course

yup! but then again, it contributes to why Australia by far has a higher standard of living than Singapore doesn't it? I'd really love to work in Australia after graduation...unfortunately they've tightened their immigration policies... Enjoy your time in Canberra! it's quite the picturesque town/city...especially closer to the embassies