Would you consider Australia for 2 weeks from UK?

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Just pondering holidays for this year. We usually go long-haul (2 adults, no DCs) and we'd love to go to Australia - I've been before but DH hasn't.

Trouble is, DH can only get 2 weeks off work. Would you consider going that far for 2 weeks, or would it be absurd? Would the jetlag / travel time just make it miserable?

When I went before, I've always done a stopover in SE Asia - if we only had 2 weeks, that would eat into our holiday time and might not give us enough in Oz itself...?

Has anyone done it for 2 weeks?

My sil has done this before, coming from Perth.

I came back to the UK (when we lived in Oz) for 3 weeks with dd's aged 15mo and not quite 3.

But, I take flying in my stride as flew for a living for 15 years.

Where are you going inOz? If Eastern states Id say go via SE Asia, if Perth, try zzz Middle East.

I think it's too far. There's so much of Oz to see, so you need time to travel I between places.

Have you been to Central America? There are some beautiful countries...

I did it once, I think it depends how well you cope with jetlag. I had it bad for the first week, ok for the second. I don't think I would do it again especially now we have DC. Costa Rica is nice, very varied with nice beaches and wildlife. Or how about Peru, doable to see the main sites, flight was about 16 hours in total I think, via Dallas. Or Madagascar, with stop over in Mauritus!!

I did Aus and NZ (for work but visited 4 cities) last year. Arrived back in UK exactly 2 weeks after I had left. It is doable but I was not firing on all cylinders for about 5 days after I got back. I flew economy on Qantas for that trip but with extra leg room, I've flown business with Emirates, the beds are amazing and if you can afford it for the Dubai-Aus leg it will make all the difference. Emirates & Qantas both use a380s but Qantas cram more seats in, I'd always choose Emirates.

I've done a couple of shortish Australia trips, but I don't get jet lag so I didn't lose any days. My friends who live in Australia can't function properly for about the first 5 or 6 days when they come from there so tend to travel only when they have enough time to recover before the holiday starts properly.

We flew out there on Christmas Day once, for the same reason as you have described ( max 10 consecutive days holiday allowed by my work) as public holidays didn't count. Could that be an option? Xmas holidays are expensive obviously but if you're willing to fly on Christmas Day ( or new year) it's quite a bit cheaper.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I'm not too worried about being able to fit what I want to see in to 2 weeks - I've been before a couple of times, so I could plan a tight itinerary. It's just more a question of whether the long flight would be a killer for a fortnight's holiday.

Having said that, I've done 2 weeks on the W Coast of USA a couple of times - long flight, lots of jetlag. But I guess Oz is in a different league in terms of distance / timezones messing with your head etc.

I've never been to Central America, would love to! I'm keeping my options open.

It is tough going but do able. Where do you want to go and what do you want to see?

I would go to the E coast, and just do Queensland probably. Wouldn't try to fit it all in, that's not really the issue - it's just whether it's too much of a killer to go there for 2 weeks.

Would be too far for me....

If you go to WA - Perth, Margaret River, Denmark Albany - jet lag will be easier to manage at there is no time difference between WA and Hong Kong. Flight from HK to Perth is about 7 hours.

Go for it. Emirates flights are around 20 hours including 2 hours in Dubai airport.

As a PP says, depends how you cope with jet lag. I've been for work for 5 days a couple of times and been fine, so I would say 2 weeks would be fine.

We have had nearly no jetlag since we started to do a short layover in Singapore. Basically flying out of London around lunchtime and then 12-15 hours at Singapore Airport - book into the hotel which is airside so no customs to worry about. Have a good sleep, have a swim in the pool, meals and a wander round and somehow magically it tweaks our body clocks enough. Then landing in Australia early in the morning and pushing through until bedtime (or at very least limiting naps to no more than 2 hours) and the next day is pretty fine.

We used to have 3-4 bad days. Now, except the baby, we are pretty jetlag free each trip.

Sounds like a good way of doing it Jassy.

Also, Emirates do it in 20 hours? Well, considering flying to Vancouver island probably took nearly that, including waiting for internal flight etc, then it starts to look do-able...

Hmmmmm.

I did it for 2weeks pre-children, no problem. The jet lag when there was fine, on holiday, so had the odd nap. The return to the UK was harder, but helped by being on a high from a fantastic holiday.

We've done it many times! The shortest trip was under a week. My husband in Australian, I'm a Brit, it was just always part of our life to have to go back and forth like that. No, I don't think jetlag would be much of a problem, but I wouldn't choose Australia for a holiday particularly, when there are some nicer, cheaper, more interesting places not so far away. But if you strongly want to go, go! It's totally up to you and depends on the strength of your desire.

Definitely doable, the jet lag will be worse on your return than while you're there, regardless of which direction you fly. If you're bouyed up and in holiday mode, it usually takes about a day to get over it.

I do think though, that you'd be better off going somewhere less long haul (there are so many places to choose from), and save Australia for when you do have more time.

I've done it, it was fine. Did fly business class all legs though.

If he's only ever going to get a max of 2 weeks off and he really wants to go, then go! You have to show him Sydney though!

We went to New Zealand for 2 weeks
Jet lag on arrival wasn't too bad. We just all went to bed
It did take a bit longer on returning

I went to visit family in Australia last year. I was there for a week, (arrived and left on the Saturday) and travel time was on top of that.

I was a bit zoned out on the first day, but fine after that. On the day I got back, I went out for the day with the family, as it was for a one off event, that couldn't be moved to another time.

It was fine.

It's a bit of a long way to go for Queensland, though. Surely you can visit similar places closer by? Unless you intend to spend a lot of time at the reef, before it disappears forever.

We've done 2-weeks in Australia with DC no problem my only tip would be to get flights that land in the evening so you go straight to bed, nice 12 hour sleep and you're ready for your holiday. We did 3 stops, Brisbane, Cairns and Sydney on that trip.

Mind you we fly to the Rockies to ski, 12 hours plus for. 1 week and have even been to Hawaii for just 1 week.

First photo is Surfers Paradise, second is Benidorm.

Yeah I've done two weeks a few times. You can get a Friday night flight to optimise your time. Or possibly ask DH work if he could have the Friday off too and go on Thursday night given the travel. Emirates via Dubai is a great route.

It's not a tactic for everyone but I get on Aus time as soon as I get on the plane and take sleeping tablets to get me to sleep when needed. The last time we landed at 7 a.m and I had just woke up after a good sleep so was on time. I would def do it but I'm bias because I love Aus so much