Letter of the week: Fare games

For those who think the Sydney Airport taxi scams are over, I have to disappoint you (but you may have a giggle at the same time). After arriving in Sydney from Brisbane recently, we got into a taxi. Greetings and a little small talk followed, which distracted me from my one job: keeping an eye on the meter because I’ve been scammed so many times at Sydney Airport. Alas, even though there was little traffic exiting the airport, and we had a clear run, before we’d even left the airport, the meter had reached $21. And, get this, after already ripping us off, when we reached our apartment in Erskineville, the driver said, “Is it OK if I add $6 for the airport toll?” I said, “No, it isn’t.” He replied with an “I’ve been busted” tone in his voice “Oh, OK”.Andrew Orr, Erskineville, NSW

Reminder of non-reminder

I’ve had Qantas frequent flyer membership for 43 years and Qantas Club membership for 41 years. This week I entered the Qantas Club only to be turned away as my membership had expired. I mentioned that I had received no notification that renewal was due, only to be told that Qantas no longer sends reminders. It is up to members to monitor the Qantas app to establish when membership renewal is due. To renew, I now have to pay the joining fee in addition to the annual fee, which would make my payment $943. Clearly, I will not rejoin and Qantas has lost a long-term loyal member. I’m disgusted with Qantas and their lack of service or care for their customers.*Christine Dunstan, Berry, NSW *

Bitter pill

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While my 11.5-hour, non-stop Qantas flight from Johannesburg to Sydney was uneventful, my personal drama started in the domestic Qantas Terminal when I realised that I had left my much-loved, five-year-old Samsung tablet on the plane to Sydney. I reported this to the Qantas ground-crew, who gave me an email address to send my flight information, including the date, flight and seat number, and a description of the tablet. In the ensuing period I discovered that I couldn’t contact Qantas’ lost property team by phone. All other airlines seem to have this facility, as does Qantas in some destinations – just not in Sydney, its headquarters. Sadly, I have not been reunited with my tablet.

Contrast this with the previous occasion I left my tablet on a Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore. This led to Singapore Airlines contacting me before I realised that I had lost my tablet, and the tablet being flown from Singapore to Melbourne on the next available flight.Roy Browne, Templestowe, Vic

Starting from scratch

When I returned a rental car to Tirana Airport in Albania, a man in the returns yard did the vehicle inspection. Ridiculously, without referring to the photos taken by his own staff at the time of pick-up, he said the hubcaps were scratched (the car had 318,000 kilometres on the clock). This was immediately dismissed by two means: my photos showed the scratches to be pre-existent, and the scratches were underneath the cable ties with which the hubcaps were secured. Moral: take more photos than you think you need. Curiously, the car returns man was unconcerned that there had been five warning lights showing on the dash, including low oil, since the time I had driven out of the gate.Kevin Hunt, Kenthurst, NSW

**Not sustainable **

The International Air Transport Association’s plan to reach net zero by 2050 relies on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for about 65 per cent of the reduction needed. At present, SAFs provide less than 1 per cent of demand. And it costs two to five times as much as standard jet fuel. Previous investors such as Shell have already abandoned their plans. As demand for fuel in general increases, suitable feedstocks will make SAFs even more prohibitively expensive. To worsen it, the significant non-carbon impact of flying on global warming is not acknowledged or addressed by net zero carbon strategies. Flying using combustion will always produce warming pollution thanks to contrails and the like. Nor do eye masks and socks made from recycled plastic bottles make flying sustainable. Sorry. They just don’t.Lesley Walker, Northcote, Vic

Play it again

Your editor Anthony Dennis ends his “From the editors” note in the print edition on August 1 (regarding the story on emerging destinations) with the words “... helping to spread visitor numbers more evenly across our over-touristed world. Please reconsider.” Considering raging fires in Europe and Canada, and the river Rhine’s low level creating economic chaos, your words are more than urgent to battle climate change. Years ago Traveller had a cover story on low-impact tourism on the carbon footprint. The credibility of Traveller would get a boost for a rerun on that subject.Martin Hengeveld, Research, Vic

Well-travelled Traveller** **

I recently visited South Africa and took a page from Traveller that detailed what to do in Cape Town, including Robben Island. During our tour of the island, our guide identified himself as a former prisoner, with his name having been mentioned in the article. After finishing the tour, I introduced myself to him, thanked him for his commentary and showed him the article. To say the least, he was beside himself with pride, especially after I gave it to him. He was generous enough to pose for a photo with me. Those standing by were also intrigued, with many taking photos of the article. Congratulations, Traveller.*Bryan Davis, Terrigal, NSW *

Flat chat

Lee Tulloch’s column about interactions with strangers on her travels reminded me of some of the most memorable experiences I’ve enjoyed while travelling both alone and with my husband. A couple of standout odd but fun experiences were stopping in the middle of nowhere and picking berries with an elderly grandad and his two grandsons in British Columbia, Canada. We chatted for ages and solved the problems of the world while the boys did most of the berry picking for us. On the same road trip I was looking to see if the pine mushroom (matsutake) season had begun at Cranberry Crossing near Kitwanga, which is also in BC’s north. Mushroom pickers from all over the world congregate in early autumn to make a lot of money selling their daily foraged mushrooms. I was in luck, and was kindly invited to stay and join in. It’s another experience I remember fondly just because I was brave enough to have a chat.Marg Huxley, Murwillumbah, NSW* *

Room for improvement

It’s time that hotels stopped charging guests for the delivery of room service meals. Meals are delivered by staff who are already being paid to be on duty, so why try to rip guests off with this trumped-up extra charge?Chris Sinclair, West Pennant Hills, NSW

Tip of the week: Chart success

We found and booked our Tokyo hotels using the amazing Google Maps app and its array of restaurant reviews, based on ratings, price and cuisine, attractions, museums, shops and parks. We saved the Street View location of each place to be visited in a “Tokyo 2025” folder we created in the “your lists” section under our Google account. Exiting our Shinjuku hotel, we clicked on the saved restaurant location and activated the maps’ “directions” function which walked us there (and back) using Street View with no need for annoying paper maps or having to ask for directions. For restaurants afar, we clicked on the “public transport” option to direct us to the nearest bus or /tram stop or train station. It told us which one to take, times, cost and where to change. Google Maps made our Tokyo experience so much more relaxing and efficient in terms of time and budget.Tony Danino, Wheelers Hill, Vic

Soccer ruse

Further to the recent letter from Ken Hawke (Traveller Letters, August 1) we also had a recent, poor “special-assistance” experience at Istanbul Airport on our outbound Turkish Airlines flight, with a similar hours-long wait. We had been assured by Turkish Airlines that on our return flight itinerary we would qualify for a complimentary layover night at a hotel as the layover was 23 hours. However, when we reached the hotel desk in Istanbul Airport, we were denied the hotel room with no sensible explanation. Australia had defeated Turkey in the FIFA World Cup qualifier just a few hours earlier, and we couldn’t help but think this was a petty payback. Turkish Airlines service was great in the air, but the ground side experience leaves a lot to be desired.Bill Bolton, St Ives, NSW

Sin of omission

While I enjoyed your story on the 25 man-made wonders of the world worth seeing, I find the omission of Hagia Sophia astonishing. This omission is exacerbated by the inclusion of the Blue Mosque which is beautiful, yes, but does not compare in beauty or early history with Hagia Sophia. And I would have thought Chartres Cathedral or Notre Dame in Paris would have also merited inclusion.Charlotte Brewer, Shepparton, Vic

Constructive comment

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about these man-made wonders. Now at 80, since being married, we have loved our travels together to St Mark’s, Venice, the Colosseum, Rome, the Eiffel Tower, Paris, the Empire State Building, New York, and many other unmentioned places. And I must mention an unforgettable visit to Mexico climbing the Pyramid of the Sun – I didn’t think I’d make the top after gaining so much weight. Great memories.Frances Levings, Ilawong, NSW

Shell won’t be right

I note Ben Groundwater’s preference for hard shell suitcases but I draw to his attention the issue of the amount of space a hard shell case takes up in a hotel room. Built like an oyster, the hard shell when open takes up the same space that two soft sided cases would with their lids resting on a wall behind. Given that hotel rooms rarely provide luggage racks for two suitcases, the soft-sided case is a more practical option for travellers who share a hotel room.Graham Hannaford, Ainslie, ACT

**It’s a Giverny thing **

Barry Stubbs makes a good suggestion about visiting Giverny (Traveller Letters, August 1). Do book a timeslot, but I suggest you go one step further by staying in the village of Giverny for a night or two. My wife and I stayed two nights in 2015, at Le Clos Feuri, a gorgeous bed and breakfast/guesthouse owned by Danielle and Claude, both French, with Danielle having lived in Adelaide for 30 years. We were able to visit the gardens in the afternoon after all the tour buses had left and there were relatively few people about. We wandered around Giverny village itself in the evening and on our second day, Danielle drove us to the nearby town of La Roche-Guyon, with its impressive 12th-century castle. Back in Giverny, we returned to the gardens later in the afternoon for a second look.John Ure, Mount Hutton, NSW

The Letter of the Week writer wins three Hardie Grant travel books. See hardiegrant.com

The Tip of the Week writer wins a set of three Lonely Planet travel books. See shop.lonelyplanet.com