I have always toyed with the idea of frolicking in a foreign land during the festive season. But all I could was to dream about it since the boy couldn’t take time off from work commitment. So imagine my utter delight when I won a pair of StarClass air tickets on Jetstar’s inaugural flight to Melbourne! The boy wouldn’t say no to free business class tickets right?
Weeks before departure, I gave myself every excuse to go on shopping sprees to prepare for the trip while B took care of all the itinerary planning. Everyone was telling me how perfect sundresses, jeweled sandals and sunnies would be for the summery weather in Aussieland. With the 30kg baggage allowance that came with the StarClass ticket, worries of overweight baggage were banished.
On D-day, we reached the airport early and were greeted by the adorable kangaroo mascot and Jetstar goodie bags at the checked-in counter. *kudos to Angelika and Sueanne from Haystac for the fabulous job done!* We wandered around for a bit before bidding goodbye to the sunny island.
I’m a loyal SQ flyer and the thought of flying 7 hours on a low cost carrier never came across my mind until Jetstar launched its StarClass seats. I was impressed by the wide leather seats and amenity packs provided. That bade goodbye to neck pains and discomfort during the long flight. The 38-inches pitch also meant that B who is 1.8m tall had sufficient leg space. Champagne was also served while waiting for the plane to disembark.
The inaugural flight departed with no delay and the dedicated flight attendants served us our first meal onboard within 30 minutes after take-off. I was never a fan of inflight meals. Even meals served onboard SQ flights never impressed me. Hence, I was pleasantly surprised when my taste buds danced in delight when I tasted Jetstar’s inflight meals. We were given a choice of either beef with baked potatoes, chicken with yellow rice or vegetarian pasta. I had the beef whilst B settled for the chicken. We were also treated to unlimited requests of chocolates, dried fruits and nuts, cheese and crackers, fresh fruits, juices and alcoholic beverages. After we could stuff ourselves with food no more, the flight attendant came round to distribute the video-on-demand units. The selection of movies, television serials and music videos were all up-to-date.
As the night falls, many drifted off to sleep. 2 hours before we arrived at our destination, breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon and mash potatoes were served along with juices and yogurt. Nothing beats a hearty breakfast!
The verdict was that the service and inflight entertainment were almost comparable to that of SQ’s economy class. The luxurious leather seats were comparable to that of SQ’s business class. Jetstar StarClass certainly lived up to its name.
We landed in Aussieland at 7am (AEST), cleared the customs, collected our baggage and headed straight to the tourist information counter to seek for transportation advice. Thank goodness we didn’t hop on the airport shuttle bus the moment we arrived. We had made reservations for a 5 night stay at Quest on Bourke. A trip to the bus-stop blocks away from our apartment would have set us back AUD20 each. We opted for the convenience of door-to-door minibus service at just AUD35 each for a return ticket. As we were waiting for the minibus to arrive, we flipped through brochures and were recommended to purchase a day tour to The Great Ocean Road at just AUD161 per person. It was quite a bargain considering we were given a discounted rate of 10% if we purchase at the airport.
Bumped into Selena and her husband at the airport and we chatted for a bit before boarding the minibus to our apartment. As we arrived way before the checked-in hour, the customer service officer was exceptionally sweet to allow us leave our baggage with her as we roamed the streets for a few hours.
Everyone who told me that Melbourne was spotting summery weather ought to be whacked. It was darn cold! Throughout our entire stay in the city, the temperature fell between 9 and 19 degree Celsius. It was definitely no where near summery.
Our first stop had to be Federation Square. It houses all information you’ll need to make your stay in Melbourne an enjoyable one. We covered almost the whole of Bourke Street, popped by Chinatown and took pictures of the bustling Flinders Street. I’ll let the pictures below do the rest of the talking.
We went back to our lovely apartment in mid-day, unpacked, showered and took a nap before heading out to explore the nightlife of Melbourne. I absolutely love our apartment. We paid a mere AUD115 per night under Jetstar’s staff rate and got a room with complete kitchen facilities, a huge bathroom, a spacious bedroom and a neat living room. The view wasn’t spectacular but we couldn’t care less. Security was pretty tight so we’ve got nothing to worry about.
It wasn’t my first trip to Aussieland hence I was well-accustomed to shops calling it a day at 6pm (AEST). We retired to the apartment by 10pm and spend the rest of the night telly-surfing. Conclusion: Aussies don’t watch telly.
