Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hong Kong, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, with connections on to Bali. The best journey times
are around 24 hours (crossing the Pacific in one hop), although considerably more than this is
not unusual; slower journeys touch down midway, perhaps in Honolulu and/or Guam, while
some schedules involve overnighting en route. From the
east coast
, airlines take a north-
ern trajectory “over the top”; for example, New York-Tokyo is typically fourteen hours' fly-
ing time, New York-Bangkok is seventeen hours. Typically you'll be looking at a
fare
of
US$1000-plus in low season and US$1700 or more in high season from either starting point.
Round-the-world
or
Circle Asia
multi-stop
tickets
put together by consolidators can cost
little more than the return prices quoted above. Another possibility, which could also work
out cheaper, is Cathay Pacific's “
All Asia Pass
”, which typically offers extremely good value
for flights from North America to Hong Kong with stops in all or some of 23 cities over 21
days.
To
Lombok
the route is generally from Denpasar on a local airline, or via a stopover like
Singapore.
Flights from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa
Scores of flights operate every day
from Australia to Bali
, with the best deals on low-
cost carriers such as Jetstar and Air Asia; Garuda also flies major routes. Return fares
from Western Australia and the Northern Territory, including Perth (4hr), Port Headland
(2hr 10min) and Darwin (2hr 30min), start at around Aus$250 including tax, or about
Aus$500-600 in high season. Flights from Sydney (5hr 30min), Melbourne (6hr), Adelaide
(5hr), Brisbane (6hr) and Townsville (5hr 30min) start at Aus$450-550.
There are no nonstop flights
from New Zealand
to Bali, but Pacific Blue offers good deals
and fast connection times via Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne. This can be done in twelve
hours from Auckland or eleven hours from Christchurch, with through-fares starting from
around NZ$800 inclusive in low season, NZ$1200 in high season. Alternatively, shop around
for the cheapest Sydney flight then change onto one of the budget airlines listed above.
At the time of writing the only city in either country with direct flights to
Lombok
was Perth
(with Jetstar, who have flights as low as Aus$250 in the low season). Alternatively, travel via
Bali.
There are no nonstop flights
from South Africa
to Bali or Lombok but there are reasonably
fast connections on to Denpasar with Malaysia Airlines via Kuala Lumpur, Singapore Air-
lines via Singapore and Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong; minimum travel time is sixteen hours.
Choose Singapore Airlines for flights to Lombok via Singapore. Return fares on all routes
start from ZAR7500.
