The revived Sydney to London ‘kangaroo route’ costs $50,000 a ticket. But you can do it for less than $10,000

The original ‘kangaroo route’: a Qantas flight takes off for London in 1947. Photograph: Qantas

The age-old adage goes that it’s not about the destination but the journey. While applicable for most situations, no one is jumping for joy at the prospect of a long-haul flight. Air travel is known for its discomfort, so most people want to hop from point A to point B as quickly as possible. The only exception? The passengers on the reintroduced “kangaroo route” flight, where time spent in the clouds is the selling point.

This flight follows the path of Qantas’ first fully operated air travel journey in 1947 from Sydney to London. The original route took four days and made stops in Darwin, Singapore, Kolkata, Karachi, Cairo and Tripoli.