By the time Tony co-founded Lonely Planet Publications in 1973, he already had the travel bug. And ever since, travel and discovery have been at the heart of his life and career.
Melbourne has a new subway line – the Metro Tunnel – running through five new stations and currently having a soft opening, before the schedule launches full tilt on 1 February 2026. The new Parkville Station will probably be the most useful new station, since it’s at the University of Melbourne which badly needed a handy Metro station.
▲ The Town Hall Station
The two new central city stations might look slightly redundant since the Town Hall Station is only a couple of hundred metres from Flinders St Station and the State Library Station is right beside the Melbourne Central Station. In fact you might find it easier to enter the State Library Station from Melbourne Central rather than from its own entrance. The Metro Tunnel line, however, runs in a different direction than the other lines through Flinders St and Melbourne Central.
Unfortunately to use the new line you still need the horrible old Myki Card. Transport Victoria have announced that they are introducing ‘tap and go’ technology to Melbourne. Tomorrow? No, they are testing it in 2026 and at some point in the future you’ll actually be able to use it. But didn’t they start testing it in 2023 at some stations? Well yes they did, but clearly three years of testing wasn’t enough, there’s more testing to be rolled out in 2026
◄ My hated Myki Card
Hasn’t anybody asked them about this before? Well yes, for one person I asked Transport Victoria why we couldn’t use contactless cards in Melbourne when London introduced the technology in 2014. So that’s 10 years ago.
And I did get an answer, ‘we’re working on it and hope to introduce it soon.’ Which in Melbourne seems to be in 10 years time. So for over 10 years I’ve been able to use my Australian ANZ credit card to pay for public transport in London, England. But not in Melbourne, Australia. Absurd isn’t it?
Once upon a time Melbourne was a regular ‘most liveable city in the world’ title holder. How could you be a ‘most liveable city’ and at the same time operate the world’s most-visitor-unfriendly-travel-card? I suggested that in 2013 and 13 years later my opinion hasn’t changed. Never mind, the new Metro Tunnel Line reportedly took lots of lessons from London’s very popular Elizabeth Line. In London I often use the Elizabeth Line even if it means travelling a bit further because it’s so fast and convenient. Perhaps Melbourne can also learn from London how to get rid of the Myki Card.
▲ The Elizabeth Line at Bond St.in London
Since it opened in 2022 the Elizabeth Line quickly became the busiest railway line in the UK although technically it’s not part of the London Underground network. It runs out to Heathrow Airport – but so does the Piccadilly Line – and even further to Reading. It’s popular and has won architectural awards as well as being so busy. Check my August 2024 posting about riding the London Tube.
Thursday night – in Melbourne, Australia – I helped launch Divided Cities by Jon Calame and Esther Charlesworth. Published by University of Pennsylvania Press the book looks at the stories of five divided cities – Belfast, Beirut, Jerusalem, Mostar and Nicosia. I’ve v...
In 1919 John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the first flight across the Atlantic. And experienced the first case of jet lag. ◄ In November Maureen and I drove from Galway to Clifden on the west coast of Ireland. Just north of Ballconneely, 4km south of Clifden, we s...
Rent-a-cars amaze me. The concept that I can turn up in all sorts of weird places, someone will hand me the keys to a car and I can drive off continues to delight me. But if there’s one thing worse than airlines loading on extra charges – see my recent Ryanair blog – ...
With a few days to spare before speaking at Hostelling International USA’s 75th birthday bash in Boston I set off on a quick circuit of northern New England. Some photos from my travels through Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont: ◄ Marblehead start...
Slovenia is the fourth ‘new’ country I’ve been to in 2009, I started with Malawi when I bicycled a stage of the Tour d’Afrique. Then there were mid-year trips to Costa Rica and the Faroe Islands. Finally I walked across the border from Gorizia in Italy to Nova Gorica ...
From Trieste I took the train an hour north to Udine for the town’s Fuorirotta (‘off the beaten track’) festival. Udine is one of those very swish small Italian towns, a place that looks well off. It’s a reminder that if you divided off northern Italy from the rest of...
After my visit to western Ireland the next stop in my November travels was the Italian town of Trieste, on the Adriatic coast, right up in the north-east corner of Italy. Trieste enjoyed a visit from a notable Irishman, James Joyce lived here for a spell before WW I. ...
I finally got around to flying Ryanair. I’ve flown on assorted LCCs – Low Cost Carriers – but never had a reason to get on the European airline which generates all the bad publicity. Michael O’Leary, the airline’s outspoken boss, specialises in being controversial...
I’ve been on the road for the first couple of weeks of November. Starting with a visit to Ireland for an Irish Tourist Board (Fáilte Ireland) conference in Galway. Walking along Galway’s main pedestrian street I came across a strangely familiar statue of that noted I...
Over the years I’ve travelled in many malarial regions and taken plenty of anti-malarial drugs. Touch wood I’ve never had malaria, but malaria can take a long time to present, so my travels in Africa earlier this year could still effect me. I certainly know I’ve been ...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013