Heading to whistler couple of Qs

[spikenet]

hey gang,

heading over to whistler for 3 weeks and couple of things I'm wondering about

-best mobile phone deal? I've heard there is lots of free wifi etc (for talking to family back home) so really this is just so can contact mates who are there with me if we get seperated etc..

-travelling with the bike? I'm flying qantas and have 23kg limit on the bag. The bag is 9kg and bike 15.5kg, how fussy are they normally? Will I get stung with $175 overweight bag fee for ~1kg over the limit or should I strip tyres off and put in my other luggage bag? Or load it up to the 30kg max and just wear the fee??

cheers

 

[Staunch]

I don't know about Qantas, but I've always gotten away with slightly overweight boxes/bags as long you're super nice and cheery to the bag-check person.
If you're worried about it, pull off your pedals and throw them in with your helmet/helmet bag which makes up your 'personal item' you're allowed to carry on.

Not sure about phone plans but last I was there the free wifi in town sucked, I wouldn't rely on it. In saying that, we managed pretty well almost only using the wifi at our apartment.

 

[LPG]

Does qantas do the 2x23kg or 1x23kg bags?

If it is 2 you can pretty easily put your pedals in the other bag. A seat and seatpost is easily doable if you dont have a dropper with annoying cable connections. If you are putting a fresh chain on the new chain can be in the second bag.

 

[pink poodle]

I've flown Qantas a few times for snow. I didn't have any trouble this year with my snowboarding bag jammed up to 30kg on the way over. Flight home I had to split it out into two bags. I usually have a duffel bag stuffed in there for such a situation.

 

[spikenet]

Got the bike packed, smack bang on the 23kg limit! Pretty happy with that, just put pedals etc in main bag, thankfully didnt have to remove tyres etc.