Schoolies in Melbourne/Sydney? (1 Viewer)

[PorkkChop]

Hey everyone

I was meant to go away for schoolies to Soldiers Point with a few girlfriends but long story short, one bad thing after another happened and everything fell apart. My friends were really bummed but one of them managed to organize a trip with some of her other friends.

Now that I've finished school I've gotten a job and have a reasonable amount of money in the bank. I was thinking today that maybe me and my best friend could organize a week holiday in Melbourne in early-mid January.

I have a lot of family there so we wouldn't have to pay for accommodation but the problem is getting from Sydney (where I live) to Melbourne and back. Neither of us have our license's so unless we can find someone else to come with us we need another option.

I don't have a passport yet but if tickets are cheap we could fly down. The other option was bus/train. I caught a train once to Melbourne and because of the heat it kept getting stuck on the tracks so we had to get on a bus. Can anyone give me advice on these?

Another option is to stay in the city (Sydney) for a night or two, but we're both 17 (i.e, would they let us book/stay in a hotel?), or we could book a hotel in Melbourne. This would be ideal but what's the price range per night? Is there a nice place that's reasonably priced? It would just be like a one bedroom, one bathroom room.

Thankss

 

[meilz92]

um. catch a plane maybe? i think you pretty much answered your own question hey.


seriously... you can fly to melbourne for as low as $50 each (carry on bags only tho). depending on when you do it, your return trip might cost a lil bit more (eg $80) if its close to christmas time. do a jetstar/virgin blue search on their websites for your dates. and you dont need a passport to travel throughout australia. just for overseas flights.

personally, i would rather book a hotel than stay with family, because id have more freedom, but yeah you might have trouble booking one. just try searching for hotels, read their terms and conditions. if it doesnt say anything about the age of the booker, give em a call and try to book a room for your dates. if they give you shit about your age, just say you read their terms and conditions thouroughly and it did not specify a minimum age for a booker. you should be able to find something reasonably priced, if its not during the school holidays... the further from christmas, the cheaper. flights are also more expensive during school holidays (which i believe start on the 18th of dec?)

dont do train or bus wtf. what an awful ride that would be, with the heat and all.


websites you will need:
flights
www.virginblue.com.au
www.jetstar.com.au

accomodation
www.wotif.com.au
www.stayz.com.au

EDIT: i just saw the line that said you wanted to book it for early-mid january. most likely you wont be able to find a hotel in early january, as most people would already have booked it for the new year. if i were you, id do mid-late january, even early february. hotels might even be slightly cheaper around that time, same with flights. flights/hotels in early january will be quite expensive. from mid january, 4 star hotel rooms in the melbourne CBD are around $150 a night. In sydney CBD, 4 star hotels in mid january average around $180... but if you want to stay in sydney, i suggest getting a room in manly or something... for example, in mid january the 4 star Novotel Manly Pacific is $165 a night, more on weekends though.

Surprisingly, flights in mid january to melbourne are cheaper than mid december. You can pay $50 there and $50 back, and get carry on baggage PLUS 20kg check in luggage. (thats with jet star). it must be because mid january is a long time away... so if you choose to go to melbourne, book the tickets quick before they skyrocket in price.

 

[jkdsfsio3458963]

Melbourne is in Australia if you hadn't realized, why would you need a passport

 

[Jasmiineee]

Most hotels require a credit card etc to be put in with the room so if something is to happen they still get they money you should have payed, but you can still pay in cash and what not, its what i did when i went up to sydney with friends for the night, friends parents let us use their card as a guarantor thing, but it might be different between hotels.