Melbourne Arrival - Know Before You Go

Pre-Cruise in Melbourne

As we arrived in Melbourne on Valentine's Day 2020 the sun was just rising.  We were able to watch from the comfort of our seats since our Quantas jet had an exterior camera.  It was  around 10 AM when we landed.   We were in row 87 so it took awhile to deplane.

Passport control Passport control can get busy, so make sure you allow enough time if you are arriving the same day as your cruise (which we strongly advise against).

Incoming passenger card 

On your flight, you’ll receive an incoming passenger card to fill out with your personal details and flight information. You’ll need this for your arrival into Australia. Note that you must use either black or blue pen. 

SmartGate  

Certain travelers can use the arrivals SmartGate. Simply place your passport into the scanning device for your information to be processed. You can then step into the SmartGate and look into the camera so that your face can be matched with your passport. When successfully processed, the gate will open. If you are unsuccessful or require special assistance, there will be officers to help manually process your passport. More information.  

We stopped to use the restrooms and headed to Passport Control.  We didn't get landing cards on the plane, because they ran out, but we were able to use the SmartGate so it didn't take too long to get to baggage claim.

Luggage was starting to come off the conveyor belt by the time we arrived at baggage claim.  There are free trolleys there for you to use.

It's a good thing, since you can see from the picture here that we next got into a very very long line to head to the final checkpoint to clear customs.   In fact, it wound its way through most of the baggage claim area.

Customs and biosecurity

Once you have your bags, the last step before you can exit the airport is passing through customs and biosecurity. Note that you do not need your passport at this point.

SmartGate and incoming passenger card 

Present your SmartGate ticket and incoming passenger card to one of the officers so you can pass through Customs and Border Protection and the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service.

Declaring goods – Remember to declare any necessary items at this point. This includes things like animal or plant goods. More information here.

Leaving the airport  (we opted for Taxi)

Consider how you’re going to leave the airport. There are transportation options to suit all budgets.

Taxi – A taxi to Melbourne City takes approximately 35 minutes and costs around $55–65, though times and fares can vary. Taxis can be caught on the ground floor outside T1, and between T2 and T3. 

SkyBus – The SkyBus operates three services 24/7 to Melbourne City, St Kilda or Frankston. To the city, this journey takes 30–45 minutes. There is a SkyBus booth to assist with tickets and related services on the ground level of T2.

Public transport – Public buses arrive and depart from Melbourne Airport near the At Terminal T4

Car hire – There’s a great selection of rental car companies available at Melbourne Airport. You'll find them located across the forecourt from T2.

Our pre-cruise stay was at Crowne Plaza Melbourne in the Central Business District.  It was 15 minutes away from the airport and 15 minutes away from the cruise terminal.  

We'll talk more about our first day in Melbourne in another post.  For more images, see our Shutterfly Photo Page.
Hopefully, you've followed us live on our social media channels as well.  Don't worry if you didn't, as our anchor post will tie everything together for you.  Just click the image (left) to our diary post.

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Take advantage of these resources to assist in you in planning your dream vacations.  Of course, we are always available to answer any questions you might have about travel and the industry.

Where is Chris - Exploring by Trolley

In some destinations, public transportation still uses trolleys with overhead wires, which can be seen throughout the city center. Can you guess which part of the world Chris is exploring?

Explore the various modes of transportation with your kids. They may have never seen a trolley car before. These are slowly disappearing across the globe but they were an integral part of early public transportation.
#KeepTheKidsEngaged

We hope you are enjoying this series of  "Where is Chris" posts.  We'd love your feedback on our social media.

Where is Chris?

Where is Chris?

Here is today's post: See if you can guess where I am. 

As promised, we've updated yesterday's post, Where is Chris - Near Bike Path, with the answer to the puzzle.  Revisit that post and just scroll over the image to reveal the answer.  You can also click on the link below the picture to read more.    

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If you can't wait for tomorrow for the answer, you can take my quiz in my Instagram story.

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Heading to the Gardens

click images to enlarge

Stopping at Changi Airport

After our swim we walked over to Terminal 2 in Changi Airport.  The airport is a virtual city with multiple levels of services offered to transiting passengers.  Our first stop was at a travel kiosk where we inquired about Hop on Hop Off Bus tickets.   There were several options and we weren't sure how their prices compared with what we were seeing online.  There are actually several different tour operators to select from.

They also advertised Gardens by the Bay admission tickets.  We walked away at first, but then decided to make that our destination for the day.  Purchasing tickets at the airport meant we'd not have to wait in line when we got there and we'd save a few dollars on the admission price.   They accepted credit cards which meant we could conserve our cash for places that didn't accept credit cards.

Lunch at Food Court

We started wandering around Terminal 3 and Terminal 2 almost in a daze.  It was overwhelming at first, with so many dining options to choose from.   Finally we noticed that Basement lever 2 had a food court.  So we took the escalator down and started to explore the various options. 

We both decided to order  chicken dumplings.  When we got the order, we realized that we could have ordered just one plate, but since we didn't know when we'd be eating again, too much food was better than not enough.  There were several tables nearby, so we found a place to sit and ate our lunch.  Looking around, we didn't see anyone drinking beverages with their meals.  Since we had our water bottles with us, we decided to just have that with our lunch.

MRT to Gardens

As with most mass transit systems, it is necessary for each passenger to have their own travel card.  We looked around the airport and found a long line waiting to purchase cards.  There were signs indicating that Singapore Tourist Passes were sold there.  Those offer unlimited train and bus transit for 24 hour period.

Since our plans had changed, we started to think that we probably didn't need an unlimited travel card. I stayed in line while my husband went to the transit booth to talk to someone about the best option for us to purchase.   The standard travel cards are sold in machines, but you need to have coins and small denomination bills.  He got change and then headed to purchase the tickets.  They were S$ 4.70 for the round trip  each which was cheaper than S$ 20  each for the Tourist Pass.

Tip:  If you are staying multiple days and planning to visit several locations in Singapore, then the Tourist Pass would be your best option.  Otherwise, purchase a Standard Travel Card for each trip.

We'd looked at the MRT website before heading to the airport, so we had an idea about how to get to Gardens by the Bay. Singapore's system is very similar to London or Washington DC systems.  The routes intersect making it possible to get anywhere on the system regardless of your origination point.  Changi Airport is on the East West (Green) line.

Getting on the train at the airport is confusing; we weren't quite sure if we were on the right train.  We must have looked puzzled, because a gentleman asked where we were going, and told us we would have to change trains in a couple stops because our train terminated at Tanah Merah.  We waited a few minutes there and were back on a Green Line train to our next stop.  The closest station to the Gardens is Baymont, which is on the Circle (Yellow) line. We would need to transfer to the Circle Line at Paya Lebar.

Once we got to Baymont, there were signs directing us to the Gardens by the Bay.   It was quite a walk before we got to the exit.  Once outside, we found that we were very close to the Gardens shuttle bus.  We purchased shuttle tickets for S$ 6 each and were on our way to the entrance.

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Related Album:

Singapore MRT

Additional photos can be found on our Southeast Asia Shutterfly page

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Zurich Boat Tour

Round Trip Lake Zurich

Our final destination was Bürkliplatz, a dock and the starting spot for tours on Lake Zurich. Once again we were able to take advantage of the transportation benefit of the ZürichCARD for a 30 minute round tip boat ride on Lake Zurich.

We only had a short wait before the boat arrived. We decided to sit outside to get a good view of the lake and surroundings.

When the Weather is Hot ...

Head for the Water

Zurich is acity of water par excellence, where bathing is a cult. Everyone finds a place to cool down with a summer swim in the river or lake.   We saw many people enjoying the various outdoor pools during our boat trip.   

Some of those same water spots turn to nightclubs when the sun goes down.   (click on images to enlarge).


Back to the Hotel

After taking a few photos of  the statue of Ganymede and Zeus (represented as an eagle) at Bürkliplatz, on the shore of Zürichsee (Lake Zürich), we headed back to our hotel.  This time we decided to take the S-Bahn S7 train back to Movenpick Hotel.   Both the tram and train tracks are about two blocks from the hotel.   The train was much faster than the tram since there were fewer stops.   

Since it was after 7:30 PM, it was now time to call it a day.  We'd been on the go since landing around 7:15 AM.   When traveling overseas, it is a good idea to stay active and then go to bed in the evening so that you start to get accustomed to the time change.   

^{Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page:} 

Zurich - Boat Trip

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People Mover from Cruise Terminal

Getting Around

Venice

from Cruise Terminal

People Mover between Tronchetto, the Marittima cruise terminal, and the Piazzale Roma in Venice, Italy.

Riding Venice's People Mover is easy: There's only one route, and the fare is €1,30(regardless of where you board or get off).


Affordable Transfer to Venice

Once we had disembarked the ship, it was a short walk along the cruise terminal to the People Mover. We purchased our tickets from the automatic vending machine(it was only €1 when we sailed). As you can see from the sign above, it was only a short wait for the next boarding.

The actual ride only takes a few minutes once the train arrives. The only challenging part of the trip was handling our luggage over the bridge once we arrived in Venice. Not to worry, there's always a good looking Italian gentleman willing to help a lady in distress.

We had checked the train schedule and found that there was an early train which would get us into Rome mid-afternoon.  It is about a 3.5 to 4 hour train ride. Once we arrived in Venice, we made our way to the station purchased our tickets, and waited for departure time.

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

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