AmyHuang
A closer look at stop over destinations
You know the saying: "Getting there is half the fun". I have a habit of choose a several different airlines to fly with everytime I travel because all of them have a different stop over destination, and to me, that's a little added bonus for my journeys.
1. Australia to Europe
There are many ways of getting from Australia to Europe (and vice versa). Most of us go through Asia, with Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Thai Airways being some of the major players in this route market. Each of these airlines goes through their own countries respectively so if you do choose to stop over, you'd be having a mini holiday in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, or Bangkok which is all very great, but so boring.
So what other options can you choose? Choose to fly with an European based airline and you'd be surprised of the very many other options. Even better, since an European airline not only require a fuel stop somewhere before Australia and Europe, they also fly through their own countries first before flying to your destination - it's potentially another stop over you are allowed to have!
Airlines such as SAS, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss Air, Air France and FinnAir all has fares departing Australia. Between Australia and Europe, these airlines have connection points at different areas such as Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, and even Johannesburg (for Lufthansa fliers). Airlines such as Lufthansa and Swiss Air also give you an option to fly to Europe via North America!
Do you know what that means? Say you need to go to London. You'll need to fly from Australia to say... Singapore, then from Singapore to Frankfurt (Lufthansa European hub) and then from Frankfurt to London. Then if you choose to, fly back from London (stopping over at Frankfurt again) to Vancouver or Los Angeles, before coming back home.
THAT - is technically a mini round the world flight, for the cost of a single return ticket. The only down side is you won't be able to change dates and routing as easily (sometimes not at all) as a normal round the world ticket. Or, fly back via Johannesburg and have a short trip in Africa... that's a half round the world ticket. Pretty good huh?
Some new airline options has popped up lately to provide even better options. How about fly to Europe via the exotic Indian Ocean island of Reunion with Air Austral or via Mauritius with Air Mauritius? Or explore another Middle East location other than Dubai by flying Qatar Airways flying via Doha? Or what about going the other way, fly LAN to Europe via Santiago or Buenos Aires?
2. Australia to North America
Not as many choices here, with so many direct flight options. But if you do wish to have a stop over, there are still ways to use your journey as part of your trip.
China Airlines, run by Taiwan, flies to Vancouver or Los Angeles via Taipei. It's a different stop over destination and is still relatively undiscovered by the western mass tourism. Unlike mainland China, Australians and New Zealand passport holders do not require a visa to visit Taiwan for stays up to 30 days.
Tropical Island escape- fly to North America with Hawaiian Airlines who stops in Honolulu, or Air Pacific who stops in Fiji. Why not?
Air New Zealand flies to North America (or some Asian countries) via Auckland.
Japan Airlines flies via Tokyo. Haven't we always wanted to visit Japan?
Korean Air and Asiana flies to North America via Seoul, the capital of South Korea. There has been a surge of tourism campaign for Korea, and it looks fascinating!
Air China flies via Shanghai or Beijing. However as there is a visa requirement for China and you are likely to be paying a bit for the application, it's not exactly worth the stop over, unless you were planning to spend a bit of time in China in the first place.
There is so much of the world to explore, and if you can add just one more destination to your trip, and you've got the time - why not?
1. Australia to Europe
There are many ways of getting from Australia to Europe (and vice versa). Most of us go through Asia, with Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Thai Airways being some of the major players in this route market. Each of these airlines goes through their own countries respectively so if you do choose to stop over, you'd be having a mini holiday in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, or Bangkok which is all very great, but so boring.
So what other options can you choose? Choose to fly with an European based airline and you'd be surprised of the very many other options. Even better, since an European airline not only require a fuel stop somewhere before Australia and Europe, they also fly through their own countries first before flying to your destination - it's potentially another stop over you are allowed to have!
Airlines such as SAS, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss Air, Air France and FinnAir all has fares departing Australia. Between Australia and Europe, these airlines have connection points at different areas such as Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, and even Johannesburg (for Lufthansa fliers). Airlines such as Lufthansa and Swiss Air also give you an option to fly to Europe via North America!
Do you know what that means? Say you need to go to London. You'll need to fly from Australia to say... Singapore, then from Singapore to Frankfurt (Lufthansa European hub) and then from Frankfurt to London. Then if you choose to, fly back from London (stopping over at Frankfurt again) to Vancouver or Los Angeles, before coming back home.
THAT - is technically a mini round the world flight, for the cost of a single return ticket. The only down side is you won't be able to change dates and routing as easily (sometimes not at all) as a normal round the world ticket. Or, fly back via Johannesburg and have a short trip in Africa... that's a half round the world ticket. Pretty good huh?
Some new airline options has popped up lately to provide even better options. How about fly to Europe via the exotic Indian Ocean island of Reunion with Air Austral or via Mauritius with Air Mauritius? Or explore another Middle East location other than Dubai by flying Qatar Airways flying via Doha? Or what about going the other way, fly LAN to Europe via Santiago or Buenos Aires?
2. Australia to North America
Not as many choices here, with so many direct flight options. But if you do wish to have a stop over, there are still ways to use your journey as part of your trip.
China Airlines, run by Taiwan, flies to Vancouver or Los Angeles via Taipei. It's a different stop over destination and is still relatively undiscovered by the western mass tourism. Unlike mainland China, Australians and New Zealand passport holders do not require a visa to visit Taiwan for stays up to 30 days.
Tropical Island escape- fly to North America with Hawaiian Airlines who stops in Honolulu, or Air Pacific who stops in Fiji. Why not?
Air New Zealand flies to North America (or some Asian countries) via Auckland.
Japan Airlines flies via Tokyo. Haven't we always wanted to visit Japan?
Korean Air and Asiana flies to North America via Seoul, the capital of South Korea. There has been a surge of tourism campaign for Korea, and it looks fascinating!
Air China flies via Shanghai or Beijing. However as there is a visa requirement for China and you are likely to be paying a bit for the application, it's not exactly worth the stop over, unless you were planning to spend a bit of time in China in the first place.
Stop over an Asian city and do some shopping on the way home. C'mon, you know you deserve it!
There is so much of the world to explore, and if you can add just one more destination to your trip, and you've got the time - why not?
