Thursday, July 17, 2014

Planning a Melbourne trip

I've been wanting to go Australia for a long time, since I've not been there since 1989. I have never been to Melbourne and next year has so many sporting events in the area. There is the annual F1 GP and Australian Open but also the Cricket World Cup and the Asian Cup will be held in Australia, with a few matches in Melbourne.

I was thinking of attending the Australian Open in late January while going to see an Asian Cup match. Yet I plan to go on a short trip in early November, so it will come to early and also there weren't many matches in the Asian Cup that I could see plus have an genuine interest in any of the sides.

Fast forward to March 2015 and there is the Australian F1 Grand Prix with a quarter final match of the Cricket World Cup within the following few days. I didn't mind who played in that Cricket World Cup match. The problem would be the F1 Grand Prix. It is spread over four days and I didn't fancy going for the whole four days. I was hoping only to go on Saturday and Sunday. However most tickets are for the entire Grand Prix. The only single day tickets are for general admission, which means you don't get a seat but you can stand in the general zones allocated. I don't fancy standing for the entire day, so I'm thinking of my last option.

In late March 2015, the Cricket World Cup final will be in Melbourne. Around the same time, the Melbourne Comedy Festival starts. Again, I don't mind who plays in the final. I'm hopeful it will be England but I'm not hedging my chances. The lineup for the Melbourne Comedy Festival is not finalized but I have had a look at the 2014 program, and there are enough names I recognize to make it worthwhile going.

So if I can't find individual day tickets for the stands for the Australian F1 Grand Prix, I'm thinking of going to the Cricket World Cup final instead with a few shows of the Melbourne Comedy Festival thrown in, plus the standard touristy stuff of holding koalas.

No comments: