Australia to Europe with the least flying?

[Aus Traveller]

SPacificbound - it is possible to fly to Europe from Australia with MAX flying time per sector of 5 hrs.

A friend with DVT can only fly for up to 5 hours & wants to return to UK for a holiday. For him I found the following flights worked -

Brisbane to Darwin - Darwin to Singapore - Singapore to Colombo - Colombo to Dubai - Dubai to Istanbul - Istanbul to London. The total airfares were not much more than the direct flights.

In your case you can get to Darwin by train & go by train from Istanbul.

Cunard & P&O UK have ships leaving Australia in February & March for UK, sometimes via US west coast.

This year Arcadia boards Sydney on 1st March for Southampton via far east & San Francisco.

That is a very helpful post.:)

[SeaDog-46]

SPacificbound

 

Checked the info I gave earlier.

 

Darwin to Singapore - direct.

Jetstar [Qantas budget carrier] A$169 4hr.30m.

Silk Air [sIA budget carrier] A$366. 4hr. 45m.

 

Singapore - stay a week -

 

Colombo - Dubai - Istanbul. All with Emirates.

EK349 to Colombo - 3hr.40

EK651 to Dubai - 4hr.35m

EK123 to Istanbul - 5hrs. Total about US$720

 

There are other routes - ex via KL & other Gulf cities but involve more stops.

[lyndarra]

Do you like train travel? Cruise to Tokyo, then fly to Beiging. From there you take the Trans Siberian railway to Moscow or even Leningrad. There are various trains and levels of accommodation and it takes about two weeks.

[SPacificbound]

SPacificbound

 

Checked the info I gave earlier.

 

Darwin to Singapore - direct.

Jetstar [Qantas budget carrier] A$169 4hr.30m.

Silk Air [sIA budget carrier] A$366. 4hr. 45m.

 

Singapore - stay a week -

 

Colombo - Dubai - Istanbul. All with Emirates.

EK349 to Colombo - 3hr.40

EK651 to Dubai - 4hr.35m

EK123 to Istanbul - 5hrs. Total about US$720

 

There are other routes - ex via KL & other Gulf cities but involve more stops.

 

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your help solving my puzzle! :D

 

Happy New Year! :)

[Bodogbodog]

they can knock themselves out, I see you've already given it up as a lost cause as well.

 

I think the end result shows what I was suggesting

I never said I would be the one making the suggestions but I did have a lot of confidence that members of the community would have some workable options

It would be interesting to see how an Internet search or most travel agents would go identifying the suggested itinerary to minimise flight times of the legs

[SPacificbound]

I think the end result shows what I was suggesting

I never said I would be the one making the suggestions but I did have a lot of confidence that members of the community would have some workable options

It would be interesting to see how an Internet search or most travel agents would go identifying the suggested itinerary to minimise flight times of the legs

 

Thank you for the encouragement, you knew what I was going for! :)

 

SeaDog-46, thank you so much for figuring it out for me!! :D

[Adidas4fun]

I think the end result shows what I was suggesting

I never said I would be the one making the suggestions but I did have a lot of confidence that members of the community would have some workable options

It would be interesting to see how an Internet search or most travel agents would go identifying the suggested itinerary to minimise flight times of the legs

 

If thats all it takes the community must have terrible travel agents.

 

And none of what has been posted is secret, its all there on the net.

 

Sheesh, you can lead a horse to water...

[reedy8]

The problem is that ships visit Australia at that time of year (Summer) rather than leave it.

 

If time is not much of an object, the world cruises will be leaving Australia from around Feb as mentioned to Europe.

 

If time is an issue but money less so, then the only cruise based opportunities I can think of would be a cruise to say Bali around that time - but it will likely be a segment so would probably need to pay full trip fare.

 

Once in Bali, it's a much shorter flight to the Asian hubs and can then link up with the many other options there.

I know this is a very late reply, but Ive just seen your post. I now loathe flying, I get very anxious, (my bottle of rescue remedy gets a hammering) so I worked out 'how to get to Europe' with the least flying, but is a bit extreme.

Cruise Perth to Singapore (I'm in the west) bus over the boarder to KL, train from KL to Bangkok. Flight Bangkok to Hong Kong, its under 3 hours (You can get from Bangkok to China without flying but its very messy and includes buses) train to Shanghai, bullet type train to Beijing. Trans Siberian express to Moscow. train Moscow to Berlin. And there you are!

If you like adventure, it could be fun. The other option is to search passages on cargo ships, they have to travel all year round.

Edited July 7, 2016 by reedy8
update

[lyndarra]

ATM. Sea Princess May 2017 Sydney - Dover AUD8499 (about USD6,000) Sydney - New York AUD14449 (USD10,000).

[LC1950]

Thinking off the top of my head here and I'm by no means an experienced traveller but I understand one can obtain passage on a cargo ship from time to time? That might be a solution for the OP to get to Europe from Australia.

 

Another idea is maybe if he/she can find a cruise from Australia to, say Singapore then change over to a Singapore to Hong Kong cruise then from HK take a train to Beijing then catch the Trans Siberian Railway through to Russia?

 

LOL Reedy8 you beat me to it.

Edited July 8, 2016 by LC1950

[vozzie]

Problem Solved....

 

http://www.freighterexpeditions.com.au/australia-to-italy-via-suez-canal

[ekka49]

How would one get from Australia to Europe with the least amount of flying?

 

I know it would likely have to be in pieces, but I really have a hard time with long flights.

 

2017 we are cruising Vancouver to Hawaii, then Hawaii to Australia.

 

TIA :)

 

You can go back via the Pacific in November 2017 but not via Europe

Holland America / Ship / Amsterdam / Sydney November 24th 27 days to San Diego 20th December

[trishh]

OK, obviously I did not include enough info. :D

 

I am cruising Vancouver to Hawaii, Hawaii to Sydney in (US) Fall 2017. The cruises that go the opposite direction don't happen until (US) Spring. I would love to be able to get on a ship to go back, but I would have to stay 6 months to wait for the ship. :)

 

I live in the US but I do not want to fly back to the US from Vancouver, Hawaii or Sydney. I want to leave Sydney and go to Europe.

 

For those who have traveled from Australia to Europe, how much of it were you able to do by cruise ship?

 

Flying has become very difficult for me. I won't even fly from the US to Europe anymore, I go by ship. Time is not an issue. Where in Europe doesn't matter. Once I get to Europe I can travel by rail, and when I'm ready to go back I can take a ship from Europe to US.

 

I have searched for this including "cruise timetables" but all I have found out is it is impossible to make the whole journey from Australia to Europe by ship.

 

Adidas4fun and icat2000 you must have thought I was daft. :)

 

lyndarra I agree, I would not want to fly in/out of Dubai.

I cruised from Australia to Europe 8 years ago. We went Sydney to SF, New York to Southhampton. On the way back we cruised from Ireland to New York, and then SF to Sydney.

[SPacificbound]

You can go back via the Pacific in November 2017 but not via Europe

Holland America / Ship / Amsterdam / Sydney November 24th 27 days to San Diego 20th December

 

Thank you for the info! :)

[reedy8]

Thinking off the top of my head here and I'm by no means an experienced traveller but I understand one can obtain passage on a cargo ship from time to time? That might be a solution for the OP to get to Europe from Australia.

 

Another idea is maybe if he/she can find a cruise from Australia to, say Singapore then change over to a Singapore to Hong Kong cruise then from HK take a train to Beijing then catch the Trans Siberian Railway through to Russia?

 

LOL Reedy8 you beat me to it.

Thanks LC1950, Cruise Singapore to Hong Kong, thats even better!! Lots of them around.

[reedy8]

Problem Solved....

 

http://www.freighterexpeditions.com.au/australia-to-italy-via-suez-canal

Thank you, Ive saved that link!

[LC1950]

LOL no worries reedy8. Just thinking, the OP is going to have to spend mega $$$$$ to get from Oz to Europe via - well, anything?

 

But remember watching a documentary of the wonderful Joanna Lumley doing the Trans Siberian from China to Moscow a year or 3 ago and thought that that would be a great way to see the various countries. Certainly it wouldn't be an easy way to travel, but holey moley, think of the stories you could tell when you got back home .....

 

..... assuming of course that you actually "got" back home? ;)

[MicCanberra]

Time and money or time vs money or a combination of each. There are always these elements which force us to pick and choose how and where we travel.:D

[vrogers]

Spacificbound, I would suggest you start looking at cruises that may depart from Asia to Europe, as most of the ships visiting Oz as part of a world cruise visit Oz between February and March, ships such as Cunard and PO UK come to mind. But you may be able to pick up a ship from Asia travelling to Europe, check maybe Costa, MSC. I did notice this year Oceania arrived in Oz as part of her world cruise rather later than most. This may give you a starting point as flying to Asia will be a relatively short flight compared to flying direct to Europe from Oz.