I’ve got a golden ticket

Writing about going to the cinema in a travel blog seems to be a bit left field but trust us on this one this is something you probably want to try at least once. In Australia there is the standard cinema (although these are usually pretty good with comfy seats and low audience numbers) and then there’s Gold Class. We’d deliberated about going to see a movie in Gold Class for some time as we weren’t too sure what it entailed but we thought why not and so went for it. We choose Star Wars (The Phantom Menace) in 3D to see as that was the only film out of a bad bunch that we wanted to see – not that we think Star Wars is bad it’s just we would have rather paid to see something neither of us had seen before. We booked the tickets for a Tuesday as this is the discount day and got a few dollars off but even still they were expensive at $30.

Still not knowing what to expect we were ushered into the Gold Class lounge as we waited for the showing to start. As we were sat in the plush surrounding a waitress stopped off at our table offering us a drinks menu. We decided to treat ourselves and asked for a cocktail and a beer and were pleasantly surprised when she offered to bring them in part way through the film. The drinks menu was pretty impressive, with exotic cocktails as well as the standard alcoholic and soft drinks mix. There was also a comprehensive food menu, and although not of a gourmet standard looked appealing nonetheless, with a healthy range of options.

We were then shown to our fully enclosing recliners in the cinema. There were spaces for around thirty people although there was only one other couple. It felt like being sat at home in the comfy armchair with the lights off, just with the TV replaced with a giant screen. The recliners were so big, with a drinks table in the middle, that we could barely hold hands across the chasm. The film was brilliant although the 3D was a bit mediocre; unlike the drinks. They arrived as promised about forty-five minutes into the film and Rach’s cocktail, the Toblerone, was amazing! Overall it was a really good experience although in hindsight we do wish we’d waited for a film we both really wanted to see on the big screen. Aside from that we would definitely recommend splashing out on this experience at least once (but make it a Tuesday!).

Rex’s Rules of the Road

• Save yourself a couple of bucks go on a Tuesday.

• The air-con is pretty fierce so make sure you take a jumper if you get cold easily.

• Although it's expenisve it's well worth doing at least once.