Awful food, delayed luggage: Qantas left us unimpressed

Out of puffer

More than 100 bags were left behind on one reader’s flight to Japan with Qantas.Credit: Getty Images

On a recent flight to Japan from Sydney via Qantas, we were less than impressed. We sat on the tarmac in Sydney for over an hour while a “technical issue” was sorted. We were in what felt like old and rickety seats, ate appallingly awful food, only to arrive in Tokyo with at least 100 passengers without their bags. It turned out the bags were never loaded onto the flight. We didn’t get our bags back for over 36 hours, which, in the middle of a Japanese winter and transferring to a ski destination, was more than inconvenient.
Jennie Gouldthorpe, New Town, Tas

Letter of the week: Border insecurity

Bright sunlight of the dry season creates spectacular rainbows.Credit: iStock

They say it’s the journey not the destination with Catherine Marshall’s “Seven Wonders” guide on Victoria Falls (Traveller, February 18) reminding me that it can be both. January 1980: backpacking through South Africa desperate to see the falls. Problem: civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). I arrived at the northern border of South Africa to discover that people were travelling through the war-affected country. The first part of the journey was by an armed convoy of small trucks. “We’ll be travelling at 100 kilometres per hour to Bulawayo and are not stopping for any reason. If you break down you’re on your own.”

At Bulawayo, there was no land transport to Victoria Falls, but there was a commercial flight. The plane took off and corkscrewed upwards for several minutes. I asked the flight attendant why we weren’t going anywhere: “We have to fly high enough, so the rebels’ missiles can’t hit us.” Thanks for telling me. About half-way along the path next to the falls there was a sign: “Past this point you may be shot” (by snipers on the Zambian side). I didn’t try my luck a third time.
Chris O’Rourke, Bathurst, NSW

Plane truth

Traveller readers have reacted to my letter, “Separation anxiety” (Traveller Letters, February 15), asking why either my wife or I didn’t swap with our daughter so that at least one of us was with her. What was edited from my letter (for brevity) is that all three of us were seated well out of sight of each other. Almost comically, we were all at diametrically opposite ends of the cabin and separated by the galley area. And yes, we were all in the same class.
Mark Hardy, Seaforth, NSW

Let’s hang

I couldn’t agree more with your reader Brendan Jones and his dislike of daily room service (Traveller Letters, March 8). I hang the “Do not disturb” sign on the door immediately and do not remove it after a three-day stay. Apart from wasting water, I do not want the bed made as they invariably are tightly tucked in with a doona/duvet, even in the middle of summer. In the bathroom, signs telling us to leave our towels hanging if we wish to retain them are often ignored, and meanwhile I’ve organised the bathroom to suit, sometimes with stuff on the floor when there’s a lack of shelf space.
Lyn Doble, Mosman, NSW

Right towelling

Brendan Jones may be a bit confused about how to protect the environment. Refusing housekeeping while travelling is like getting a Diet Coke with your supersized, double quarter pounder meal. The damage is done by the mode of travel alone (unless, perhaps, he is walking from Sydney to Melbourne). By staying at a hotel, you participate in the hospitality industry which employs thousands of people in jobs for which I am always immensely grateful for as a traveller, especially as one who launders more regularly than holidays.
L. Handelsman, Petersham, NSW

Weir fear

David Whitley’s Hoover Dam article (Traveller, March 10) brought back memories of our 2015 tour of this truly incredible structure. For me, it was the small details. The beautiful tiled corridors, the copper lift doors and the immaculate state of the interior, right down to the enormous turbines. What stays with me, however, is the creeping terror I felt as we descended, hoping the lift wouldn’t fail, leaving us stuck cheek by jowl so far below the earth. It was an experience indeed but not one for the claustrophobic.
Maree Harrison, Nerrina, Vic

Canadian club

The Rideau Canal, Ottawa, turns into the world’s largest skating rink in winter.

I stumbled upon your story on Canada by Ute Junker (Traveller, March 2) and wanted to share my own advice from a Canadian perspective. An alternative to redwood in Canada is Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island. While the trees may be a bit smaller, walking through the forest is amazing. The CN Tower in Toronto is worth a visit. It was the tallest freestanding structure in the world from 1976 until 2009. Thrillseekers can even do the edge walk on the outside of the tower. Another great and unique place is Rideau Canal, going through our nation’s capital, Ottawa, that turns into the world’s largest skating rink in winter. Niagara Falls is a classic, with falls on both sides of the Canada-US border (the Canadian side is better). Mount Thor on Baffin Island in Nunavut may also rate a notable mention with the world’s tallest vertical cliff. Plenty to see and do up here.
Jean-Michel Roy, Ottawa, Canada

Purls of wisdom

In reply to Fiona Pentecost (Traveller Letters, March 8) I have always taken short plastic inexpensive “learning” knitting needles on flights around the world. They have never been confiscated and if they were, I was just going to keep my yarn. I choose a pattern appropriate to the length of needles, baby article, scarf or blanket knitted in strips. Knitting sure fills in a lot of time. My favourite needles are safe in my checked luggage to switch to on arrival.
Carolyn Blyth, Mount Duneed, Vic

Short back and aside

Back in the day when backpacking through Europe, my companion and I found ourselves in Seville, Spain. Of course, I had to have a haircut. My haircut was forgettable, but I now still regale my children with the experience of having once visited a “barber of Seville”.
Paul Booth, Portland, Vic

Tip of the week: True fantasy

Glorious Lake Windermere.Credit: iStock

A few years ago from our beautiful B&B in a picturesque setting just outside Ambleside, England, on a wonderfully sunny day, my wife and I decided to walk to the shore of Lake Windermere. On the way, we passed through woods sheltering masses of flowering bluebells. Reaching the shore, we found the ticket office for the lake ferries and the cashier asked if we wanted the combined ferry-train ticket. We readily agreed. After a glorious journey on the vintage ferry, we were directed to the nearby station where a steam train was waiting to take us on the five-mile (eight-kilometre) journey to the end of the restored line. For me, it was like being in a fantasy land as the train was painted in the exact livery as my Hornby Dublo electric train set given to me by my parents for my 10th birthday which I still have in its box.
Lance Dover, Pretty Beach, NSW

Just in case

Learning from the experience of travel friends, I now book to arrive two nights before a cruise or land tour starts. I heard of one flight that was delayed 24 hours from Hawaii to Sydney, and another that left Dallas, only to be diverted to Hawaii due to a medical emergency, meaning the 40-plus cruisers were delayed as there were no connecting flights to the cruise’s start port. Allow time before and at the end, and keep asking questions about vouchers and accommodation when delayed.
Judith Bond, Campbelltown NSW

Pitch imperfect

It’s been four years since my last visit to Victoria’s Port Fairy Folk Festival after moving to Tasmania and there have been many changes, including a younger cohort finding joy in folk, indie music, dancing, and lots of family -friendly activities for the hundreds of little children. But a word of warning: it was impossible not to notice the huge shift from tenting – until recently pretty well the norm for the festival – to huge caravans, motor homes along with huge vehicles needed to pull them around. It was wall-to-wall vehicles and vans with the odd little tent, like mine, squished in among them. Everyone, please dig out the canvas and the pegs again and get back to basics for all the little children and the sake of the planet.
Piri Davidson, Kettering, Tas

Taking a shelfie

So much to see: The La Trobe Reading Room at the State Library Victoria.Credit: iStock

On a recent long weekend visit to Melbourne my daughter and I visited the historic, vast and multi-purpose State Library of Victoria for the first time. Established in 1854, it is Australia’s oldest public library and one of the first free public libraries in the world. We learnt so much on the history tour conducted by an enthusiastic volunteer, which is complimentary, but you need to book. There was so much to see for every age group, including Ned Kelly’s armour. Delicious food is available onsite at Mr Tulk cafe.
Carol Horton, North Sydney, NSW

Cereal offenders

Ben Groundwater’s story (Traveller, March 7), recommended travellers reduce food waste, which reminded me of the sign I saw at a hotel buffet in Oslo, Norway: “Take what you want but eat what you take.“
Sally Spurr, Lane Cove, NSW

The Letter of the Week writer wins three Hardie Grant travel books. See hardiegrant.com

The Tip of the Week writer wins a set of three Lonely Planet travel books. See shop.lonelyplanet.com