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Melbourne to Sydney via CapitalLink (V/line)
[edit]To get the ball rolling with this travel forum, here's a plan I have for next week for when term wraps up.
Something I've always wanted to do was this coach trip between Melbourne and Canberra, then onwards home to Sydney. The coach only runs twice a week, connecting with V/line's Gippsland Line service at Bairnsdale (V/line is the state-run train and coach operator for Victoria). However, rather annoyingly, the coach only gets into Canberra at 18:05, five minutes after the last coach from Canberra leaves to Sydney, meaning it would be impossible to do this coach route in a day.
The introduction of FlixBus to Australia does change this, however: their timetable is still up and coming, but there now a coach that leaves to Sydney at 18:30, allowing for a 25-minute transfer. They're currently doing introductory sale fares, so I was able to grab a ticket for just A$10.
If the A$10 sale fare wasn't enough, V/line – which is known for having some of the cheapest fares in the world for long-distance rail (it is capped at A$11/day statewide) – is offering a month of free travel on the Gippsland Line as an apology for years of disruption (including some level crossing removals, station upgrades and signalling improvements). As such, all I had to pay was the interstate coach fee (added A$25). This all brings up the cost to A$35, making it possibly one of the cheapest ways to travel on one of the world's busiest air corridors.
I'll keep this thread posted on how this goes and whether I would advise anyone to repeat this journey. //shb (t | c | m) 09:04, 17 November 2025 (UTC)
- Sounds good mate. I'm so psyched for FlixBus in Straya. They helped me get around Europe cheaply and easily. Thanks for sharing. I had no idea about the capital link service! Never taken a V/Line coach before personally, though I ride their trains often. Sgroey (talk) 10:24, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
- I'm so glad they broke the near-monopoly Murrays had between Sydney and Canberra. I travel to Canberra not infrequently and it is significantly cheaper to drive ($35 in fuel + tolls) than it was to take Murrays ($45 on a student fare) or first-class NSW Trainlink ($40 on a student fare – economy is cheaper by $7 but I do not recommend economy on Trainlink at all). //shb (t | c | m) 10:49, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
Faroe Islands in late May
[edit]I plan travel to Tórshavn in Faroe Islands for a conference in late May 2026. I will have some flexibility to stay a few days afterwards to sightsee. I have a few questions for those who've been there:
- How many days should I stay behind?
- What are the recommended places to visit?
- Is it easy to get around by public transit? Or is rental car necessary to get to most sights?
- Is is better to find accommodation in Tórshavn for the entire stay or find accommodations closer to the sights?
OhanaUnitedTalk page 19:10, 18 November 2025 (UTC)
Do you find a travel partner when travelling? How?
[edit]I noted that some people find travel partners and make their travel plan before travelling. Do you guys do this? If you answer yes, how do you find your potential travel partner? How do you plan your travel with your partner? If you answer no, how do you overcome disadvantages of travelling alone?
For finding partners: I am totally unfamiliar with finding travel partners - how to build trust between you two? How to ensure your partners are reliable? And how do you plan? They always say communication is key, but how?
For not finding partners: I think personal safety and moments of loneliness can be overcome by oneself, but I can't imagine how to overcome some issues such as costs and activities - hotels won't give you cheaper prices just because you travel alone, and some restaurants require at least two people to visit their restaurant (that is, they don't allow one person). I can't imagine how solo travellers overcome these. Saimmx (talk) 18:28, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
- Where have you found restaurants that refused to let you enter as a solo diner? I'm 60 years old, and I can't recall that ever happening to me. As a solo diner, I have often told the host I was happy to eat at the bar in restaurants that had bars, but my experience is that the only times I have been turned away are when they were completely full. I guess if there is a long line waiting to get in, it's possible a restaurant might turn away solo diners, but I think it's very unusual.
- My travel partners have been people I knew before the great majority of the time, especially my girlfriend for the last 17 years, but I did meet 3 people by chance in a Hong Kong student travel agency during a trip I took right after I graduated from college, and we decided to take a boat to Shanghai together right after we met each other and then traveled to Hangzhou together before I decided to travel to Suzhou, Wuxi and Beijing by myself. I also spent a day traveling around Paris with a fellow hotel guest, but that was maybe more of a date.
- I did lots of solo travel in Italy and France in between study programs when I was in my 20s, and I had a lot of fun. I also was a solo traveler in different American cities at various times in my life. As a solo traveler, you do everything you want, according to your own schedule, and you get to tell other people about it later. But you're not really alone, unless you're in the deep forest or something, where you probably shouldn't go alone for safety reasons. There are always other people to talk to and interesting experiences to be had if you're open to them.
- Expense is a real issue. When I was a lot younger, I went to youth hostels and similar places. Some were great, some were awful, and I got annoying things like my umbrella and Swiss Army knife stolen at a couple of them (an otherwise great youth hostel on Hong Kong Island and a students' hotel in Beijing). Nowadays, I would normally get one of the cheaper decently-rated AirBnBs or something from a similar website or stay at an Accor (Quality Inn, etc.), Super 8 or America's Best Value hotel/motel if I couldn't find a reasonably priced independent hotel and wasn't able to stay with friends, but some cities are very expensive to stay in: for example, I live in New York and don't have to deal with the extreme accommodation prices here. But an advantage of solo travel is that you don't have to cater to the creature comfort of anyone else, so you can stay wherever you can tolerate. I feel like I really traveled too hard my first time abroad by myself (that first trip to China), and I do have a bit more need for creature comfort today, though I don't need anything beyond a reasonably clean room with an acceptable bed, shower and enough room to put my bags down, but location is also important, especially when you need to depend on public transportation.
- I'm not sure what your life situation is, but for that trip to Hong Kong and China, I mentioned to my roommate that I wanted to take that trip, and he had a friend who also planned to fly to Hong Kong and hook up with her boyfriend, who was teaching English in China, so we arranged to fly out together, hung out somewhat in Hong Kong for 5 days, and then went our separate ways. We were originally supposed to fly back together after 2 1/2 months, I think, but I cut my trip short and flew back after 5 weeks. But anyway, if you're going to school somewhere, you can let people know where you're planning to travel and see whether anyone is interested. But if not, I'd say don't hesitate to go on your own unless it's to a really remote area where there are no people. Ikan Kekek (talk) 21:06, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
- Thanks for your reply, I will carefully read later. But I will answer your question in quick, "Where have you found restaurants that refused to let you enter as a solo diner?"
- My answer is many, although not everywhere. They should not do this, but still: "Solo-unfriendly Michelin restaurants in Taipei" (who refuse solo diner), a netizen complained a hot pot restaurant charges additional fee for solo diner (while other restaurants refuse), a restaurant in Korea expelled a solo traveller who wanted to enjoy meal. An blog article even explains why they did this.
- I don't know if no offer reservations for one in New York is the case. Saimmx (talk) 02:58, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
- OK, that sucks, but still, I really doubt you'll have trouble finding places to eat well. I never did as a solo diner in New York, D.C., Chicago, San Diego, etc., or Paris, Nice, Siena, Florence, Naples, Rome, Budapest, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Bharu, Ipoh... Ikan Kekek (talk) 04:09, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
- I think it helped that I seldom went anyplace where I needed reservations as a solo diner. Ikan Kekek (talk) 06:32, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
- OK, that sucks, but still, I really doubt you'll have trouble finding places to eat well. I never did as a solo diner in New York, D.C., Chicago, San Diego, etc., or Paris, Nice, Siena, Florence, Naples, Rome, Budapest, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Bharu, Ipoh... Ikan Kekek (talk) 04:09, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
- Hi there, my answer is hostels. Stay in hostels and you will meet heaps of people! Discuss travel plans, share experiences, and you will very likely find someone to travel with! I don't know anything about you or your situation, so staying in hostels is not perfect for everyone, but it worked for me! Read reviews and choose a hostel with a communal feeling. It doesn't have to be a "party hostel" which is just code for a hostel with a nightclub which means it is loud and you will have a hard time sleeping! Sgroey (talk) 21:59, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
- I don't know how applicable this is to most people (not that I've looked much into it – I'm ace so have very little actual desire for one, not that I find solo travel to be boring either :)), but I have a close friend who met his travel partner through a Contiki tour. They went on for a few trips together before other things started to happen (and he no longer does regular backpacker travel anymore). //shb (t | c | m) 07:11, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
- Firstly, I felt sorry for your Contiki friend. Maybe there were something hard to them.
- Second, solo travel may not an issue in loneliness/boring context for you, but I wonder how you deal with enonomic issues - like I said, hotels won't give you cheaper prices just because you travel alone. Some plans are cheaper when travellers share. It isn't about personal preference, but about money. Saimmx (talk) 07:39, 20 November 2025 (UTC)
- Oh don't worry too much about my Contiki friend: it's more so he decided to leave full-time backpacking and do an undergrad degree here – that's how we became friends. :)
- As for money, most of the time I end up just copping the losses. It's definitely not ideal for sure, especially since almost every hotel/motel will have double or queen beds as a starter. //shb (t | c | m) 07:59, 20 November 2025 (UTC)