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.
The Panama Canal is a huge part of the Cuban economy and will become even more important when the expanded locks open next month and even larger New Panamax vessels can take that handy shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific, paying up to US$376,000 for the trip. Th...
My principal reason for visiting Panama was, of course, to see the Panama Canal. A quick history: A French team led by Ferdinand de Lesseps constructed the Suez Canal linking the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. Originally 164 km in length it took 10 years to construct...
My Panama City visit featured the new skyscrapered financial centre and the original Spanish city Panamá Viejo, until it was sacked by the English pirate Henry Morgan. But I started my Panama visit by staying in Casco Viejo, the newer ‘old city’ which replaced the ori...
◄ We followed this taxi flying a pirate flag from an aerial. ‘Ah, il pirata,’ my driver commented. And then, somewhat ruefully: ‘Morgan.’ You can’t get away from Sir Henry Morgan, the English pirate who comprehensively sacked Panama back in 1671. Nearly 350 years l...
After my visit to Cuba – last gasp centre of fast-fading Communism – I travelled to Panama just as it became the worldwide symbol of greedy grasping Capitalism. Yes, the Panama Papers story broke just a day before I arrived in Panama City. So I looked up where ground ...
Wearing my Global Heritage Fund archaeological hat once again – as I did when I visited the National School of Arts in Havana – I looked at a number of churches in Santiago de Cuba with Stefaan Portmaan (GHF’s Executive Director) and archaeologist Santiago Giraldo (GH...
If those old American cars are one of Cuba’s most iconic images then music has to be the other one. ▲ You can search it out, as we did at the rooftop bar of the Hotel Casa Granda in Santiago de Cuba. Grahame Greene came here in planning to interview Fidel in the 19...
Havana is a great city for people watching, whether they are Cubans or visitors. ▲ Lounging in Plaza de la Catedral beside the statue of flamenco dancer Antonio Gade lounging against a pillar. There are lots of statues like this one around Havana – variously loungi...
◄ There’s lots of it and you encounter it everywhere you walk. Like the Casa Particulares – a Cuban B&B, Airbnb without the internet – where I stayed on Calle Concordia in Central Havana, a few blocks back from the Malecón. My room has one of those balconies up to...
On my 2014 visit to Havana I suggested that Cuba could be the world’s next hot restaurant destination. Two years later there are even more interesting places to dine although I found myself returning to familiar haunts: ▲ La Guarida – the ‘lair’ or ‘hideout’ – wa...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013