Australia with young children?

[rubberduckling]

We have been invited to a family wedding in Sydney later in the year. Our children would be 2.5 & 5yrs at the time. We would have 2 weeks for the trip & I was thinking of going all the way there in one go & then stopping in Singapore for 3 days on the way back. Does anyone know how children of this age cope with the travel & the jetlag?

We travelled to Australia when my son was 4 and he coped perfectly well the adults seemed more effected. We decided to have the quickest stop over on the way which meant getting off 1 plane straight onto another but we just wanted to get there rather then hang about. Lo slept well on the plane. We picked a night flight from the Uk so he would be tiered and sleep as normal and we arrived in Oz at 7am so we kept him awake all day as long as possible and he eventually gave in about 6pm (Oz time). This did mean the next day as a bit of an early start at 5am but did seem to work well with the time difference etc. All in all I would say he was not overly effected from the jet lag and coped really well. I would say just make sure you take a few travel games, books and small toys to keep them occupied on the plane. At 4 he was also kept occupied by the on flight films and cartoons etc.

Good look and I sure it will all be fine

My auntie took her son when he was 6 and her daughter when she was 1 to see family in Australia and she said the same as you caz05; the kids were both really calm and easily entertained; completely unfazed by the whole thing :)

Thanks guys, that sounds much better than I had expected!!:)

Don't miss the zoo in Singapore, it's great. Also, don't forget swimming suits and towels for the kids as it has a lovely water park at the zoo as well for the kids to cool off.

If you only have 2 weeks don't bother with singapore coming back. Must better things to see in Sydney and areas. If you think about it, out of your 2 weeks 2/3 days of that alone will be travelling plus you want 3 nights in Singapore. You will barely arrive in Sydney before having to leave again.

Stretch to 3 weeks if you can.

And book night flights for the DC too.

We took our 3 dcs (2, 6 & *) to Australia Xmas 2011 - they were fab! We flew to Sydney drove to Melbourne, flew to Perth and then home over 3 weeks.

We decided not to stop on the way, just keep going. We flew with Cathay Pacific who were lovely, stopped for a few hours at Hong Kong both ways.

We arrived in Sydney about 9am and spent the rest of the day trying to keep the whole family awake. We made it to about 5pm and then all crashed. My advice would be to go to bed when the children go to bed so even if your not quite on Australia time you are all on the same time.

We had about 3 v early mornings, first morning we all woke about 4am then 5.30 then 6 and then we were on Australian time.

I packed a little rucksack for each child for the plane. Colouring, books, apps on the iPhone/ipad if you have them.

I just remember the dread of the journey getting in the way of looking forward to the holiday but actually it was fine. If you stay calm it rubs of on them. WHat really helped was having a couple of extra seats near us on most legs as when the DCs slept we could lie them down but that's just luck isn't it?

Have a lovely time

Things to do in Sydney

Taronga Zoo is an absolute must, just fantastic!
Darling Harbour & Aquarium
Sydney Monorail
Sydney Eye
Botanical Gardens - free!!!!!
Ferry to Manly and Manly beaches.

You can get tickets for multiple places that work out a lot cheaper than individual tickets. With the exchange rate as bad as it is (for us) it's worth it.

We stopped over at Singapore en route (we did go for a month though) to Oz 10 years ago. Ds was 3.2 and it was a nightmare very hard. He didn't really suffer jet lag, but he was very hyper. Quantas were lovely with him (BA were not!) and they provided him with colouring books, puzzle books and a pencil case with pencils, ruler, rubber etc each flight we took.
Just before we started our return leg home, I discovered Phenergan and it made the return flights so much easier as it calmed him down and he slept quite a lot. Just wish I'd discovered it before leaving the UK.
Have fun, just remember that they do get bored...

please learn from my mistake - don't accept the bulkhead seats. The arm rests do not lift up and so your little ones won't be able to snuggle up to you or put their heads on your laps.

We went to Oz almost 2 years ago with our 3 who were 4, 2.5 and 13mo.

We flew straight through both journeys (stopped for an hour and a half for refuel in Singapore) and I am glad we did it that way to be honest. It felt like we managed to get the flights out of the way and done with, I think it would have been awful doing a 13 hour flight and stopping off for a few days knowing we still had another 8 hours to go before we got to Oz.

The kids coped absolutely fine on the flight. The eldest 2 had packs from the staff (Qantas) which didn't keep them occupied for very long to be honest but it was at least something for them to open and inspect! We had taken loads of toys for them but they were far more interested in their personal TV's with hundreds of movies, programmes and games to keep them occupied. They slept really well, we took their own little blankets and their bedtime bear they each had at the time and snuggled them up on their seat with a pillow. The youngest was in a bassinette. They didn't really have any jetlag. Our flight was at midday from Heathrow and we arrived in Sydney at around 6pm iirc. By the time we got to the apartment the kids went to bed by about 9pm but then all woke up at 2 in the morning wide awake! Took us a few hours to get them back to sleep and then they slept til about 11am that morning. We were up and raring to go before they were! We then just made sure they had a really busy day, didn't let the youngest nap at all and they went to bed about 8:30 that night and were back into their normal routines the rest of the holiday.

We went for just under a month and spent 4 days in Sydney then flew to Hamilton Island, stayed with my DBro and family for a short while and then very slowly drove back from there to Sydney (having a holiday on the Sunshine Coast with my DB on the way, who then drove back up north while we carried on down south). Then had a few more days in Sydney before flying home.

Unless you have a huge desire to visit Singapore, I would say don't bother with the 3 day stopover. 2 weeks really isn't long enough to incorporate such a long stopover, I don't think so anyway. As other have said, there is plenty to do in Sydney and surrounding areas, I would stay there as long as you can or look at extending your trip if possible.

Have fun, I'm sure it will be great x

It will be fab. We went last yr with 11, 9 and 5 year olds. The jet lag was just as Kellamity said. They loved the Tvs on the plane. be prepared to not sleep at all though - My DH slept all the way both ways and I fed/entertained the kids and Had DS2 on my knee asleep half the way home! The planes were cold too - take blankets

I'm interested to read this as I'm booked to go to Adelaide via Singapore in a couple of weeks with DP, DD (3.7) and DS (11 months). As we are having 3 weeks at my sister's in Adelaide, we are stopping 2 nights in Singapore and 3 nights on the Indonesian island Bintan nearby. On the way back i booked a deliberately long layover of 19 hours in Singapore airport and have booked the airside Transit Hotel for 16 hours (reasonably priced easy nice place for a proper sleep between long haul flights- you don't immigrate or pick up your suitcases). So the transit hotel might be an option for the OP if they want a rest in Singapore one or both ways but decide not to go into the city.
We are booked (already) on the bulkhead seats so I am dismayed to read the armrests don't move. Why the hell not and is this standard on all airlines? We're flying Singapore Airlines. We have got a bassinet booked for DS and I think this is the only position they can fit one but I may be wrong.
Check out this enormously long and detailed forum from intelligent-sounding California mums all about air travel with babies and kids of various ages- loads of good ideas:
parents.berkeley.edu/advice/going/flying.html

Bulkheads armrests don't lift because they store the tv for your seat. I'd only do BH seats with a baby. Toddlers would be on other seats where armrests lift. All airlines are the same.

Bulkhead means a cot for a baby otherwise on your knee the whoe way or buy another seat. Your 3.7 year old won't be able to stretch out or cuddle in. Ou could sit in separate rows so you with baby at BH and DP a row behind with your older one.

I'd definitely do two different rows if I was in your position. Bulk head for bassinet and one parent but different row for toddler and other parent. Because even if you recline the seat for the toddler, he/she won't weigh enough to keep it back and twill end up trying to sleep sitting upright which is pants. This was my experience anyway.

I have to say, we didn't have any problem with the bulkhead seats for our 2 toddlers. We just reclined the seats (no problem with them staying reclined either) and cuddled them up with their blankets. They would quite often use the armrest as somewhere to prop their pillows and slept for hours and hours. I'm quite glad they didn't have to rest on my lap or stretch out over me to be honest. I was having to get up and down a lot to deal with the baby or go to toilet or have some food or even just have a little fidget to get comfy so a child across my lap wouldn't have been ideal!

We went to Australia with our oldest when he was 2 yrs old 9and he was a right little bugger - one of those kids who cant sit still etc). He amazed us by being really pretty good the whole way there and back and it was one of the easiest flights I've ever had with a child! We flew to Sydney and had a very short stopover in Singapore - enough to stretch your legs, get a drink etc - but we broke up the flight on the way back with a few days in Beijing - amazing! It is a very long flight non-stop - I was severely jet-lagged both ways, although kids seemed fine!