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.
We are meeting friends in Tuscany to spend a week walking, so how to get there from London? EasyJet would be cheap but dull, the Orient Express sounded much more interesting. The original Orient Express made its first run from Paris to Constantinople (the city ...
Maureen and I have recently acquired a house in London which we’re using as a base for the European side (as opposed to the Australian side) of the world. Maureen farewells my London ambulance On Saturday afternoon I managed to trip over a chair, fall full lengt...
Bogota I started and ended my Colombian travels in Bogota, the country’s capital, and on my last morning climbed up to the top of Cerro de Monserrate, the hilltop viewpoint overlooking the sprawling city. Bogota’s a lofty place, at 2600 metres (8500 feet) it’s at t...
Safeway Not sure if the supermarket company would approve, but what a great name for a condom brand! It was thoughtfully provided in the bedside table of the Confucius Hotel in Tainan, Taiwan. Is there a Confucian saying about it being wise to take precautions? &n...
Close to the equator the climate doesn’t change much with the seasons in Colombia, but it sure does with the altitude. I’ve always thought of Kathmandu, at 1300 metres, 4300 feet, as a useful rule of thumb for city heights. So between the hot and steamy Caribbean coas...
I’m travelling around Colombia, a country which travellers are starting to discover, now that the drug guys are keeping their heads down and the rebels have retreated into the jungle. In the rest of the country the main danger, the Colombian tourist board suggests, is...
Cap Haïtien on the north coast of Haiti is the second largest city in the country and although it’s surrounded by the usual Haitian chaos the city centre is remarkably tidy and orderly. It’s got an almost Mexican or Central American feel, particularly in the spacious ...
I've been travelling Haiti and Jacmel was my second stop. The town is regularly cited as the most popular in Haiti and has lots of fine old houses with a distinct New Orleans flavour, even if many of them are crumbling. Right by the town square the Hotel Manoir Alexan...
Art for sale on the street in Pétionville Remember Haiti? The half-a-Caribbean island where the first ever slave revolt ended with the defeat of the French colonialists? Despite the black leader of the slaves, the wonderfully named Toussaint Louverture, being dou...
1956 Thunderbird and the Ocean Drive scene OK, I’ve got 18 hours between flying in to Miami (from LA) and flying out (that’ll be the next travel blog). Grab some sleep at an airport hotel or head in to a hotel on Ocean Drive, South Beach, Miami’s art deco central...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013