We chose to maximise travel comfort by flying business class, which means a stopover each way in Sydney, and admission to 2 business lounges in each direction. We were grateful for the extra comfort, but were surprised that the QLink Sydney-Maroochydore trip in a smaller aircraft had better designed seats than the 737 on the Melbourne flight.
Because risk of cancellation was high, domestic insurance was taken out with a seniors friendly company. We also hired a car from Budget, now a subsidiary of Avis. Cheaper nominal rate, but like all cheap travel, profit recovery is on ancillaries. The car has included cover with an excess of $4060 for most damage, but no cover for single car accident or underbody damage. Excess reduction to $600 costs $30 per day , and to nil costs $40 per day, still no cover at all for single car crash or underbody. There is a group trading asVroom-Vroom that offers insurance for all the uncovered items, at about $18 per day. Our domestic travel policy has a $2000 cover for car damage, so we decided to bet on driver skill and luck, and self insure for the $2060 remainder single car risk. Next, Budget offered to fill our tank from assumed empty for $1.13 per litre; we decided to accept, but I think Budget will win here too: the car estimated it already had enough fuel for 575 km (included in basic hire charge). Over 14 days we may strive to cover so much road territory. Hiring a car is a serious business management undertaking.
Our Airbnb flat is ideal for us. Close (150m) to Sunshine beach and the National Park, i.e., far from the madding crowd of Hastings St, appointed for all we want in bedroom, lounge, kitchen, laundry etc by the friendly owner who even provided first breakfast makings . View from the balcony where we can eat lunch or have an evening drink:
Ah,car hire ---- no easy answers, I think!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear that AirBnB has "delivered"!