Want to go to Oz this year, advice please

[BouncyTigger]

DD1's godparents emigrated to Oz last June and now live in Wollongong (1hr south of Sydney). We want to go and see them in Oct/Nov this year. Currently pregnant with number 2 (due in June), so plan is to take a 4/5 month old and DD1 who will be nearly 3.
Has anyone got good advice re:
flights - who to travel with, how far in advance to book etc.
Good places to go/stay in Sydney - are planning a week-ish in Sydney, a week with friends at home then a week somewhere else on holiday with friends.
Have never travelled so far before and DD1 never flown, so need as much advice as possible. Thanks in advance.

Qantas was good in my experience, DO NOT GO WITH BA!!!!!!!

Travelling with a toddler is not the easiest experence, just take lots of food to nibble on, and toys that aren't too noisey. Mine refused sleep so I ended up giving him some medised, which worked a treat!

My second one was 5 weeks so I just fed him little and often, and he slept most of the way. Imo the younger they are the better, once they are moving about its harder to keep them happy.

You can get quite good family accomodation in Darling Harbour, the aquaruim is brilliant! We visited friends so didn't really do that much sightseeing, and I'm an ausiie so have seen it all before. Feel free to ask any other questions you might have

For the young one, you'll be fine - just be sure to book a bassinet at the bulkhead (I reccomend Malaysian and Singapore). They sleep the whole way. Well mine did. About the 3 year old... I'll let you know what to do about. I'm about to do the trip next week with a 2yr and 3yr....

For staying in Sydney have a look at www.stayz.com.au and www.ozstays.com - there's usually a great selection and you can check availability for places on line. If you want a list of areas in Sydney great for kids, let me know and I'll send some through (I lived there for 5 years). Rachel x

I heard some airlines have child flight stewards that help with kids but not sure which ones. ime the asian ones were always seemed helpful.

Singapore were good when we flew wiyth them (childless though)

NOT Garuda....

singapore singapore singapore - fabulous airlines.

WE flew once when dd1 was about 8 months old and then emigrated back to AUs when she was almost 2. Singapore were fab - have flown plenty of others and they far outweighed any we had. Very understanding and helpful.

We had only three weeks and it was a stretch. I think in hindsight our first trip would have been a little better had we had some time in Singapore.

YOu could do something like - two weeks in sydney then something like Cairns - reef and the rainforest although it is quite warm and humid Oct/Nov time. Possible then fly singpaore from Cairns international rather than having to go back to Sydney.

We booked our flights as soon as it was possible - for the first one - even before dd1 was born - we had already chosen her name and knew she was a girl - so that made it easier.

THere are plenty of threads about flying to AUs and places to see and stay if you do a search through the threads.

Could you do two weeks in Aus and some time in Singapore on your way home. We had a week stopover when we came out here in 2004. Otherwise - jsut fly straight through. We found although it took a little while for dd1 to get over her jet lag ( and us too) it worked better for us.

second the bassinet - we had it both times as dd1 was not over the weight limit the second time. So useful - when they are not sleeping - can use it for storage.

Agree with Eidsvold re Singapore Airlines. We travelled with dd (20 months) last year.
We had extra baggage on way back, but they didn't bat an eyelid, wa no problem. Bassinet a god send. DD was small for her age so slept in it & sat in it to play etc.

Phone the airline you go with. Find out what you get. With Singapore, we were told (by travel agent) that unless we buy dd a seat she wouldn't get baggage allow/meals etc. Phone SA & they said she not only gets meals, but baggage allow too. The lady told me that TA don't tell you as they think this will make you buy a seat.

Also emigarted with them in June 06. They allowed us extra baggage allowance, which other airlines you have to pay for. Malaysian charge 17gbp for each kg over their specified weight!

If you have several hours in Singapore, either way, there is a transit hotel. Quite cheap. We had 14 stop over when we emigrated & it was brilliant, being able to get some sleep, bath dd, shower etc. It's onsite & they even give you a 'wake up' call so you won't miss your flight!

We travelled with dd (20 months) last year. (last year, being 2005!)

Thanks for all the tips so far, thinking about getting shortest stop possible as we really want to be in Oz with our friends rather than anywhere else.

Eidsvold, do you need to know the sex of the baby to book it on? We probably want to book flights way before the baby is born as DD's godfather only gets 4 weeks of holiday a year and needs to know exactly when we're coming plus we're trying to overlap some of the Aus school holidays to go away with our friends so will need to book accomodation for 9 of us. It's pretty good news if we do need to find out as my 20 week scan is soon and I want to know and DH doesn't!

Also anyone had experience flying from Manchester rather than Heathrow (looking at Singapore A)? The flight take off times are in the morning rather than evening from Manchester which puts me off, but we live in Sheffield so loads closer to home.

Hi - I would also recommend Singapore Airlines. We have flown to Aus with them 3 times now. They have always been brilliant (although sandcastles - we took our twins to Borneo last year - they were 18 months old and we booked one seat to make it easier and they would only give us one meal for them as there was only one seat!).

I have also flown BA to Australia but it was a long time ago and pre kids. We flew Emirates to Australia in 2005 with the twins when they were 5 months old and on the first leg they had no bassinets for us which with twins was a nightmare as you can imagine! They had overbooked the no. of babies but I think thats fairly common with all airlines. I would however say that with regards service they came close to Singapore Airlines. The head purser even took DT2 up to first class to give us a break so he has been in first class, poor parents were sat in economy!!

Re flying from MAnchester - we are in HArrogate so have always flown from MAnchester, it is a morning flight out but we found it ok, just took plenty of things to amuse and dont forget they have the seat back tvs as well so there is always plenty of films and kids programmes for your eldest to enjoy.

Hope this helps!

harrogatemum...how odd. The first time we flew dd didn't have a seat booked, but still got a meal! TA said we weren't entitled, so had we not have rung the airline direct we wouldn't have been any the wiser!

Hi, we travelled BA/Qantas late last year (2006) and I have to say BA was a dream and Qantas was hell. I would definately travel BA again

DS was 5 months on the way to Oz and the bassinet was confirmed on all flight sectors there and back before we left London.

When it comes to the airlines, I guess it all depends on the crew on each flight. Have not flown Singapore Airlines but have heard many glowing reports.

We stopped over in Singapore on the way to Oz and then Bangkok on the way back. The break was wonderful and adjusting to the new time zone on the way there was very handy. Singaporians are very warm and welcoming and just LOVE children.

In regards to booking before your baby is born, you can go ahead and book your flights and the baby's name can be added later when you know. I used to work as a travel consultant so you can take my word for it. An airline will allow you to add an infant name at any time as an infant does not have a seat. But be aware that you can't change the name on the ticket once it has been paid for (even if just a deposit has been paid).

Check out this website for information on each airline including facilities available on board, seating layouts, baggage information, links to airline websites etc seat guru

DS travelled really well - slept most of the time. If you need to stretch your legs with bub while they are awake - go for a walk into the main galley area. People come and go all the time asking for drinks and extra food and just love to have a chat to bub. The crew usually love having a chat as well. It was great for me as I travelled back to London from Oz on my own and having someone to chat to was a relief (guy sitting beside me was very anti babies

Oh and it's Gulf Air with the onboard Sky Nanny service which is FREE! check this out

Hope this helps!

Follow the yellow brick road?

We flew to Oz a year ago with BA/Qantas and they were both fine, nothing to choose between them IMO.
Get accomodation prices off www.wotif.com and then check the reviews on www.tripadvisor.com - we stayed in several different places on our trip and none of them were disappointing. There are lots of serviced apartments in Sydney which may be cheaper and more spacious than a hotel, we were going to stay at Goldsbrough Appts @ Darling Harbour which a friend raved about (stayed elsewhere in the end).
Things to do: the aquarium at Manly is fun, there are lovely beaches like Balmoral (wasn't as keen on Bondi), and the zoo is supposed to be good.

i don't think we needed to know the sex - think babies are just classes as infant X. Know friend who flew from Aus just recently to the Uk and the only airline that would take their booking with an unborn child was Air France!!

From memory stop overs on first flight when dd1 was 8 months old were about an hour and a 1/2. Basically it seems like everyone flying from UK to AUs - goes on huge jumbo to SIngapore and then branch off onto flights to Melb, Syd, Bris etc. We were going to Brisbane so I think we had the shortest change over time. But from memory departed from the same or a very close gate to the one we landed at.