London-Sydney via Hong Kong with a 14 month old...... HELP!!

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We will be flying to Sydney in April with our daughter who will be 14 months. On the way out we are stopping over in Hong Kong for 4 nights. We are then doing a one night break of the journey on the way home.

S is hyper very active and am pretty sure she will be confidently walking by then if not running, God help me. My questions are:

1. How the hell do you explain time differences to children of this age?
2. She will have a Trunki which I will jam full of toys put a few favourite toys etc in but any suggestions of good things to take with us would be very welcome!
3. Any tips on how to stop her using the seats etc as a climbing frame?
4. Can anybody recommend a good lightweight pushchair to take with us and I think the Cameleon is going to be too big.

I know this trip sounds like a very stupid plan but DH's only remaining Aussie relative (his grandmother) is getting on a bit and we really want the small person to meet her. We have also managed to use BA miles to book the journey in Business so at least we have a bit more space and can lie down and mummy can drink lots to survive the horror of a 12 hour flight with an overexcited toddler

blimey where to start. first off you are likely to find that the other passengers in business class are a lot less tolerant of your child so whilst it might be a good idea for you it might be a bit more stressful so be prepared for this. best advice i ever had on toys etc. Go to the charity shop buy cheaply one age appropriate toy/puppet/book per hour of the journey out. wrap in cheap paper and put in trunki. take one out every hour to open and play with. on the way back re-wrap and try and guess what they are before opening and playing with. Time differences you cant explain there are lots of threads on here about how to gradually get them to be asleep/awake at the right time. good luck judging by other threads it is never as awful as you think it will be.

Book the night flight out of uk. If you have a day flight change it. Night flight means dd will sleep.

What they said. Business class folk will be fine as long as you don't let your child wander around unsupervised and expect others to entertain them. If I'm travelling with my dc I have just enough energy yo keep them quiet and entertain them. I don't want an unexpected extra ( this has happened to me more than once).

Oh, and stock up on chupa chups or a bottle to suck on take off and landing.

We've got night flights for all bar the Sydney-Hong Kong leg. I figured it would be the best way to try and get her to sleep!! And I definitely won't be expecting others to entertain her, I wouldn't inflict that on anybody!!!

Cheap toys sounds like a gret idea and I think I'll download a few movies/toddler friendly apps onto DHs iPad.

Contemplating buying a bulk bag of earplugs to give the other Club passengers just incase. He's not usually too loud but if she's overtired or ill then it's not great!

We recently took DS to Hong Kong and then Tokyo when he was 10 months old and it was fine.

On each flight we were sat next to another family with a baby so the two babies entertained each other for large parts of the flights :)

I'd recommend taking a few toys, a few books and lots of snacks like rice cakes, flapjacks, dried fruit etc.

We took our Maclaren Quest stroller and checked it in at the gate and the airline arranged for it to be delivered to the plane door on arrival for us to pick up. We also took our sling as well just in case DS didn't settle in the buggy. I think any type of pram/stroller is fine, but perhaps email your airline if you're not sure.

With the time differences, we just co-slept with DS. I think the first two nights in HK we all woke up at 2am for an hour or two, but we kind of just went with the flow and just made sure we offered DS meals at local time and this seemed to help get him on track.

Business class with 2 adults, 1 child will be fine. I did it with a 14 month old and a 3 years 2 months old and the cabin crew were very helpful.
If she likes watching TV, do not let her watch any TV or have any screen time for a week before hand. Hide her favourite books and produce a couple of them on the plane. Stickers, aquadoodle mats, some stickle bricks and an iPad or iPhone might be helpful. Take lots of snacks and a couple of changes of clothes, for all of you!
I agree that night flights are better for sleeping but check how flat the business class seats go. When we flew they had a slight recline and the kids kept slipping down them as they slept!