Australia with a toddler.

[DublinMammy]

We are going to Oz in March with our son who will be 2 in May. Any advice/ tips from anyone about how to manage the trip and also the subsequent jetlag? Thanks!

Which part of Australia? Bank on 1 hour jetlag days for every hour of time difference.

Have you got a night flight? If so he will probably sleep most of the first bit.

Where is your connection/stopover? let him run about a bit.

TBH, just go with it - what will be will be.

Have a wonderful time!

Go with Singapore Airlines. Fabulous care on board. There are showers and a pool at SIngapore Changi Aiport.

Website: 'Lucy Loves Australia' is all about flying this route.

Going to Sydney and cannot WAIT! Thanks for your ideas, will let him roam freely at stopover and aim for a night flight for 1st leg. Sadly, since we are flying from Dublin we are either going to have to route through London which means 2 stopovers (ugh) or go with Etihad meaning only 1 stop in the Middle East. Have flown with Singapore a few times and love them but don't know what Etihad are like. I'll let you know!

If it were me, I'd avoid London and go with Ethiad. Are they direct through from the Middle East?

Ethiad have fantastic reviews with the only thing lacking being a glass of wine with dinner as they are a dry airline.

Loads to do in Sydney: Australian Maritime Museum that has great interactive displays, Taronga Zoo, Centrepoint Tower... Have a great trip, wish I could sneak in your suitcase!

We have just come back from australia with our 2.5 yr old. My dad travels with etihad a lot and raves about them- I dont know about pool but Dubai does have showers. May also have kid areas (hong kong airport does.

Jet lag tended to take form of going to bed late- then waking and falling asleep again to wake up late morning(not so different to jet lag we had) . She was better than we were with it but I would say avoid letting your lo nap too long late in day if you want to try and get anything close to a goodnights sleep. I also dint bother getting my dd back into sleeping too early so she could come out at night and eat with us.

In flight If wont sleep , colouring books, those crappy toys that you get with comics(I stocked up and produced a new one for each flight leg),portable DVD, iPhone if you have one and the in flight entertainment was good.

Thanks for this, will stock up on toys and see if I can smuggle a little bottle of wine on for self - didn't realise they are a dry airline - eek!

we took our DS1 to oz when he was around 18 months. he mostly slept for the duration. best idea IMO is to get a flight that arrives in the evening in oz. that way he can go down to bed on arrival - that worked quite well for us and i think it helped him get into the oz time a little easier. we travelled Cathay and they were great. Look out for the food though, most airlines only give baby jars...a bit silly for an 18MO!!! For entertainment, you can get those "magic" pictures - water pen that kind of brings out the colours and then it fades to use again.
good luck!!

For the flight - lots of snacks, things to do like stickers, the magic painting, magnetic scribbling board, a few cars or trains if he likes those. Ration them out or rotate them over the course of the journey. Also don't forget changes of clothes for DS and at least one change of clothes for yourself in your inflight bag in case of vomiting/spillages.

About jetlag - the main thing is not to let them nap too much, so keep them awake until a reasonable bed time as early in the holiday as possible. You may have a nightmare grumpy toddler for a day or two, but it's better than a nocturnal one when you want to be out doing things during the day.