Done with winter? How about a straight line to summer?
Qantas is operating direct return services between Sydney and Vancouver. Not just an insightful plan based on Vancouver’s biblical rain showers to wash in 2015, the route benefits ski-mad Aussies wanting to take full advantage of our peak conditions.
The services operated from January 3–22, 2015, departing Sydney on Saturdays and Wednesdays (with same day connections available from the major Australian capital cities), and from Vancouver on Sundays and Thursdays. Passengers on the three-cabin B747 aircraft will find familiar fare: business cabin breakfast features Canadian pancakes with bacon, maple syrup, potato, and corned beef hash, while dinner choices include seared Canadian Steelhead salmon with maple and mustard glaze. Miss Vickie’s potato chips (ideal with Champagne at 30,000 feet) also make an appearance, as do Purdy’s Walnut and Maple cream chocolates (ideal before naptime in your lie-flat bed).
Premium Economy fliers won’t miss home too much from their award-winning international economy seat either: Montreal Smoked beef on rye with mustard, pickles and coleslaw, as well as pecan shortbread biscuits are in store en route.
Of course, meals on Qantas have not been a concern since consulting chef Neil Perry came on board 17 years ago. Qantas’ relationship with the lauded Rockpool chef and Australian culinary mentor commenced with the development of First Class in 1997, and led to a new way of cooking and serving Qantas passengers. Together they changed the inflight dining experience completely. “We actually cook and blanch onboard, we don’t just reheat like other airlines” notes Perry. “We also use sustainable produce where possible, so we have a best practice ethos. Our menus change seasonally and we continue to source the best local ingredients that inspire our regional menus.”
Of course flying Business or First class is always a treat, but it’s worth booking these premium cabins on your return from Sydney just for the lounge experience itself. In the Sydney International First Lounge, for example, passengers have unfettered access to a 48-seat, open-kitchen restaurant with more menus by Neil Perry, and complimentary spa treatments at the serene in-lounge Aurora Spa. The chic, modern and window-clad space offers chair-side waiter service, luxurious individual marble lined shower suites (with personal stereos), and state-of-the-art business facilities, including two private work suites with conference facilities and plasma display screens. (Not that you’ll be working on your summer/winter holiday in January.)
And for those less impulsive travellers now tempted to plan a future trip Down Under, Qantas announced 33 additional non-stop flights between Vancouver and Sydney—13 return services in June and July and 20 from mid-December to late January, 2016. G’Day.
