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.
It’s got a reputation as Spain’s party island – through the 1990s and into the 2000s the Manumission club nights at Sant Rafel de Sa Creu regularly pulled in 10,000 clubbers. Somehow I’d never been there so going to speak at a tourism summit in Barcelona was the oppor...
Travel during the pandemic has been a weird experience, particularly in Australia or out of Australia if you’re lucky enough, like me, to escape. ▲ Lounging on a sand dune on the Yemeni island of Socotra in March 2020 When the pandemic kicked off in March 20...
◄ It’s wonderful how places in England are ‘upon’ – Newcastle-upon-Tyne or Stratford-upon-Avon – or ‘on’ – Henley-on-Thames or Bradford-on-Avon – or ‘by’ – Saltburn-by-the-Sea – or even ‘next’ – like Wells-next-the-Sea – where I went to stay with some friends recentl...
Having escaped Australia and flown from Melbourne via Singapore to London I’ve been doing some travel around England and further afield around assorted Greek Islands. There’s more European travel coming up before – hopefully – I manage to make my way back to Australia...
I’m not a dyed in the wool rail travel enthusiast, but I’m not averse to a good train trip and it’s remarkable how, when I do climb aboard I sometimes find Tim Richards – a real Australian railfan – is already there. Back in 2013 I finally got around to doing the Big ...
In July I flew from Melbourne in Australia via Singapore to London. It was a surreal experience. At the time the Melbourne domestic terminal was operating fairly normally. Soon after Sydney and then Melbourne would both go into lockdowns and one of the busiest air ...
One of the pandemic pleasures of life in Europe – as opposed to Australia or the USA – is access to rapid testing – more formally known as Lateral Flow or Antigen Tests. ▲ In London you can pick up a free batch of 7 NHS test kits and test yourself anytime you want....
‘How Long Before Covid Tours Become Part of the Dark Tourism Trend?’ asked the travel newsletter Skift. Too soon was the article’s conclusion, you can’t visit disaster sites (which is what Dark Tourism is all about) when the disaster is ongoing. One day in the future,...
Even in the pandemic and even without getting out on the road – and I’ll be reporting on some Greek Islands travel shortly – there’s often travel talk from at home. On Wednesday 15 September I joined Darrell Wade of Intrepid Travel, Gemma Sisia who runs the wonderf...
Having pedalled my bicycle around the London Monopoly board I set out on another Sunday ride with The Fridays cycling group to check out the cats of London. A ‘Purrfect’ ride as they described it. Home to home (including the 10km to Russell Square at the start and bac...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013