Was 2021 - Now 2022 - Long Haul to Aus and NZ - Here we go again!
 

As the title says, a sense of deja-vu a few days (nights!) ago with being wide awake at midnight trying to snag the two coveted Heathrow-Sydney BA Club World seats using Avios.

Having been "practicing" for a few weeks doing dummy bookings, and finding the BA website so slow that the seats had already been taken, this time it was route one - calling the BA USA office.

An extremely helpful agent managed to reserve the seats for me on the stroke of midnight, so DW was extremely happy. If it had been economy seats, I think I would have quietly slipped out of the house for a few days...

Yesterday, whilst looking for accommodation for a break in the UK (having had our plans for travelling at the end of March and early April scuppered), I was flicking through accommodation in Sydney when I came across a decent price for a one bed apartment right on the waterside at Darling Harbour that was fully refundable up to a couple of days before we travelled... oops, book button pressed.

And with our cruise having been rebooked to 18th Feb 2022, all that now remains is to secure our return flights - we are planning to fly Sydney-Tokyo the day after our cruise docks, 24 hours in Tokyo, then another daytime flight back from Tokyo to Manchester via Heathrow, plus a hotel for Tokyo.

Fingers crossed, we'll get there next year ;)

And the final pieces of the travel jigsaw are in place. We've booked, again using Avios, to return from Sydney to Tokyo (JAL Premium Economy) on the Friday after our cruise returns, 40 hours in the city, then daytime Tokyo-Heathrow-Manchester (BA Club World as requested/insisted on by DW) flights on the Sunday, hopefully reducing (avoiding!) jet-lag and the effects of travelling through the night.

Again, I made the bookings via the BA USA phone number, the downside being having to stay awake until midnight! Have to say that making all three bookings, the agents were excellent with their help, and would thoroughly recommend this way to book Avios redemptions for popular routes.

Fingers crossed that we will be able to get entry visas for both Aus and NZ next February...