Australia with a 3 year old and a baby - am I mad?

[IlanaK]

I am thinking of going to see inlaws who have moved to Australia. They have not seen ds2 yet and would love us to visit. We would go for 3 weeks to make it worth the trip. Ds1 is 3 and ds2 is a newborn but would be 4 months ish when we go. I have travelled longhaul with ds1 before (florida) which was hard work, but bearable, but never to Australia. I have never even been there myself and am not sure how well I would cope with the trip let alone them! Ds2 is fully breastfed which will make things easier. Has anyone else done this trip? What airline is best? Which route did you take? We have the option of direct to Australia and then change to Brisbane. Or through Singapore and then change to Brisbane. Any thoughts??

One more thing Donk: as I just said my dd had her second birthday on the flight. She wasn't allowed a sky cot (too old) and after two they have to have a seat of their own so we just scraped under the line in terms of having to pay for a seat. Luckily there wasa spare seat next to us on the way out. I found the hardest part was during take off and landing when they insist your child is straped to your lap. Dd wasn't too keen to sit still for 10 or 15 minutes! and the staff were forever telling ME off! Around Australia, I found the Qantas staff much more relaxed about the issue.

gosh, that sounds horrible lonelymum.
Malaysia airlines or SIA staff would never dream of telling you off!!!they all usually try to make your journey as painless and as comfortable as possible. and the food they serve onboard is really good....u get satay on malaysia airlines' first and business class and if you're lucky, you get satay if seated in the first few rows of economy !!

Well, the flights are booked, Australia here we come! We decided that we couldn't miss the opportunity and we would find ways to survive the flight(s).We are flying Singapore Airlines, and stopping over in Singapore on the way out to calm frazzled nerves and toddler! Sadly they wouldn't let us stop over on the way back....
Many thanks for your comments

how long is your stop over as there is a hotel in the airport for stays of 6 hours or more.
Worth it if you have a longish layover on the way back.

When flying to Oz, has anyone successfully brought a car seat onto the plane, put it on the airline seat, and the child has used it during the flight? BA suggest you can do this on their website. I'm talking about the 9m+ forward facing seats, Group 1, like this\link{http://www.askbaby.com/product/britax-eclipse-si-car-seat,-topaz.htm
Keen to find out as want to book flights to Sydney next Easter this week! Thank you

oops the link did not work. try again carseat

We took a (rear-facing) car seat to Australia on Qantas and used it. This required a great deal of bloody-mindedness, although it is Qantas policy. I strongly, strongly recommend that you print out the airline's policy and carry it with you, that you contact them ahead of time, that you remind them every time you check in, and that you watch like a hawk to make sure you really get pre-boarded. On the other hand, we would have had much less trouble with a forward-facing seat -- as DD was under six months and less than 8 kilos we didn't have that option. US carriers (i.e. United in this case) should be less trouble as the FAA absolutely requires them to allow you to use a car seat if you buy a ticket (Australia does not, and I don't think the UK does either).

thanks SueW and California girl!