Waking to an alarm clock on New Years Day is not my idea of a good time. We had to check out at 10am though so we soldiered on. Outside was another gloomy day with spitting rain so we swung by Jez and Emily's to find them just getting back after staying over where we were the night before. Jez was very kind to cook us up some brekkie and after a chat that took us into the afternoon we decided it was time to go. We headed further north to a beach town called Noosa which looked like with better weather could be gorgeous. We found a nice enough place to stay and headed for a walk on the beach. Walking through the spitting rain was OK, we watched kids playing in the ocean and building sand castles as well as the surfers braving the rain for some nice swells. As we walked along the boardwalk though we could see an even darker cloud coming right for us and huddled under a tree just in time for it to tip down. Luckily we had our raincoats on (sounds like the Oregon beach) because as the tree got saturated it was raining just as hard under there. 
It finally let up and we tired ourselves out walking down the main street of very nice restaurants and clothing boutiques. We then drove up the road looking for a nice drive along the coast but as there are so many inland waterways we couldn't really find that. Instead we found a supermarket and gathered dinner and the next days breakfast. Back to our digs we relaxed, watched some TV, read the paper, caught up on our news, and decided that since the weather was so pants we'd head down to Brisbane a day early and see if we could get on an earlier flight.
The next day, the 2nd, we were up early, packed and off to the airport. We dropped our car off at Avis and I must say that they were very good to deal with the whole way though including pro-rating our rental fee when the car was returned early. We then went to the Virgin Blue desk in the airport to try and move our Sat flight and fly that day as there was availability on all flights that day. They said yes we sure could for a fee of $240Australian. What! We only paid $200Oz in the first place! Could we fly standby? No Virgin Blue don't do that. So they'd rather have a flight go part empty on Wed that change us and have the chance to sell a ticket on a busy Sat after New Year. I don't get it??? OK we'll go into Brisbane and make the most of it. The problem is the best of Brisbane is it's proximity to the Sunshine Coast where we were and the Gold Coast to the south, neither of which are any fun in the rain. So we spent the next 3 uneventful rainy days mostly in the Queensland state library using the free internet, which must be said is very nice.
Saturday the 5th, off to the airport for our 11am flight. Checked in, through security, on our way. Or so we thought. While flipping through magazines had a look up at the board to see if our gate was posted yet. The gate wasn't posted but... wait for it... the flight was cancelled. What a pain, oh well the next flight is at 12, lets go to the service counter. "Hello our flight is canceled", "Yes it is i'll book you on the next flight, here we go I have you booked on the 4pm and here's $6 each to get something to eat while you wait", "Hold on 4pm??? Can we go standby instead?", "No Virgin Blue don't do standby", "Well to me it doesn't look like Virgin Blue do much at all do they (steam leaking from ears), and 6$ for 6.5 hours in the airport??? (WTF???) Have you seen the prices of sandwiches here lady? They're all over $7?", "I'm very sorry sir if you have any further complaint can I ask you to take it up with the Customer Service desk in arrivals", "Thank you very little I sure will, and what's your name?" Stomp Stomp Stomp Stomp. Above story to Customer Service Agent, "I'm very sorry sir she should have given you $12 for food each and given you a credit voucher for your next flight on Virgin Blue within the next 12 months", "Well thank you for the food vouchers but we don't live here and won't be back in the next year to use the flight credit, can we use it on Virgin Atlantic?", "No we're a different company", "No you're not it's still owned by the virgin Group", "Sorry but Virgin Blue don't do that", "Well to me it doesn't look like Virgin Blue do much at all do they, thank you very little" (Less steam from ears). 2 things have come out of these two conversations 1) Never fly Virgin or Virgin Blue 2) We have $114 in Virgin Blue vouchers for sale. Luckily there was cricket on for me to watch while we waited though I heard the following over the tannoy which irritated me even more. "Virgin Blue are oversold on our 12o'clock flight to Sydney and would like to offer a free flight to someone who bumps themselves onto the 2pm flight." Why weren't we offered the 2pm flight! Bastards!
5pm, flight up, flight down, free taxi to Sydney hostel, nice weather, beer in mouth, no steam in ears.
It finally let up and we tired ourselves out walking down the main street of very nice restaurants and clothing boutiques. We then drove up the road looking for a nice drive along the coast but as there are so many inland waterways we couldn't really find that. Instead we found a supermarket and gathered dinner and the next days breakfast. Back to our digs we relaxed, watched some TV, read the paper, caught up on our news, and decided that since the weather was so pants we'd head down to Brisbane a day early and see if we could get on an earlier flight.The next day, the 2nd, we were up early, packed and off to the airport. We dropped our car off at Avis and I must say that they were very good to deal with the whole way though including pro-rating our rental fee when the car was returned early. We then went to the Virgin Blue desk in the airport to try and move our Sat flight and fly that day as there was availability on all flights that day. They said yes we sure could for a fee of $240Australian. What! We only paid $200Oz in the first place! Could we fly standby? No Virgin Blue don't do that. So they'd rather have a flight go part empty on Wed that change us and have the chance to sell a ticket on a busy Sat after New Year. I don't get it??? OK we'll go into Brisbane and make the most of it. The problem is the best of Brisbane is it's proximity to the Sunshine Coast where we were and the Gold Coast to the south, neither of which are any fun in the rain. So we spent the next 3 uneventful rainy days mostly in the Queensland state library using the free internet, which must be said is very nice.
Saturday the 5th, off to the airport for our 11am flight. Checked in, through security, on our way. Or so we thought. While flipping through magazines had a look up at the board to see if our gate was posted yet. The gate wasn't posted but... wait for it... the flight was cancelled. What a pain, oh well the next flight is at 12, lets go to the service counter. "Hello our flight is canceled", "Yes it is i'll book you on the next flight, here we go I have you booked on the 4pm and here's $6 each to get something to eat while you wait", "Hold on 4pm??? Can we go standby instead?", "No Virgin Blue don't do standby", "Well to me it doesn't look like Virgin Blue do much at all do they (steam leaking from ears), and 6$ for 6.5 hours in the airport??? (WTF???) Have you seen the prices of sandwiches here lady? They're all over $7?", "I'm very sorry sir if you have any further complaint can I ask you to take it up with the Customer Service desk in arrivals", "Thank you very little I sure will, and what's your name?" Stomp Stomp Stomp Stomp. Above story to Customer Service Agent, "I'm very sorry sir she should have given you $12 for food each and given you a credit voucher for your next flight on Virgin Blue within the next 12 months", "Well thank you for the food vouchers but we don't live here and won't be back in the next year to use the flight credit, can we use it on Virgin Atlantic?", "No we're a different company", "No you're not it's still owned by the virgin Group", "Sorry but Virgin Blue don't do that", "Well to me it doesn't look like Virgin Blue do much at all do they, thank you very little" (Less steam from ears). 2 things have come out of these two conversations 1) Never fly Virgin or Virgin Blue 2) We have $114 in Virgin Blue vouchers for sale. Luckily there was cricket on for me to watch while we waited though I heard the following over the tannoy which irritated me even more. "Virgin Blue are oversold on our 12o'clock flight to Sydney and would like to offer a free flight to someone who bumps themselves onto the 2pm flight." Why weren't we offered the 2pm flight! Bastards!
5pm, flight up, flight down, free taxi to Sydney hostel, nice weather, beer in mouth, no steam in ears.
1 comment:
"Sorry but Virgin Blue don't do that", hence the name.
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