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Original poster

Poll: is it worth £200 to avoid having to overnight in KL?

13 replies

florenceuk · 07/09/2004 08:34

I am trying to book a trip to NZ in February. As I'll be travelling back to London with a 3yr old and a 4mth baby was keen to go straight through on the flight back. But the cheap flights that go straight through are sold out. If I pay an extra £130 for me and £100-odd for DS I could get a straight-through flight - otherwise I have a 14hr stop over in KL - arrive at 8pm, leave at 11am. I have to check out all baggage etc although there is a transit hotel at the airport which can be booked in 3hr blocks. Not sure about things like buggies etc - I suspect I will have to sling baby and drag DS around until baggage claim anyway. What do MN'ers think? Should I fork out the extra or not? Has anyone done this and have a view as to whether the brief break offered by a stopover is worth it? I've done it with 2 of us and one baby, but not one of me and two babies before!

OP posts:

pesme · 07/09/2004 08:44

I would pay the extra. When you add up how much you will spend eating sleeping etc is it really worth it? Have a good trip, v. envious.

Ghosty · 07/09/2004 08:45

IMO Florenceuk ... 14 hours is not worth stopping over ... it is a PIA!!!
We stopped at KL for 36 hours and it was a pain then ...
AND it takes HOURS (well, at least 1.5) to get from the airport into the city so by the time you land (might be late), pick up your bags, get the crappy minibus (no car seats OR seat belts) to the hotel, check in, get some food, crash out (or not, depending on jetlag and the children), pack up again, get to the airport (on dodgy minibus again) 3 hours before departure for check in ... well, work it out ...
If you HAVE to stopover then there is a Pan Pacific Hotel at the airport ... nice rooms etc, somewhere to have a shower ... or the transit hotel that you mentioned. But don't bother going into town ...
If I were you and I could afford it I would pay the extra to go straight through ...
Are you going to come and see me???

janinlondon · 07/09/2004 08:57

Florence I would go with the extra £230, but I wanted to say that we have had a six hour stopover (not the same as 14 I know) with an 18 month old at KL airport. We booked a suite in the airport transit hotel - ie: a bedroom and a small lounge attached - which is good if one child is sleeping and the other wants to watch tv etc. The transit hotel is fine - not exactly glam, but its okay. You don't have to collect your baggage - the airline will book it on through to London for you - and if you are still in the airport you don't have to worry about going through customs etc. We took our very light fold up buggy all the way onto the aircraft to DDs seat with Malaysian airlines - then held it aloft until a crew member came and stowed it on board for us. So we definitely had it when we got off at KL. Hope this helps. Have a great time. We are doing Oz in March, but two adults and one four year old is manageable.

Original poster

florenceuk · 07/09/2004 09:12

Hey Ghosty, I am going to be spending 2mths in NZ - of which at least one mth will be in Tauranga - close enough for a meet-up I reckon!

OP posts:

hazlinh · 07/09/2004 09:53

hi, agree with a lot of the posts here. you do get to carry your buggy free onboard Malaysia airlines flights.
And yes, don't bother going into town, it's too too far away.

If you don't fancy going to the transit hotel, please stay at the Pan Pacific nextdoor - their rooms start from 360 ringgit which is only about 55 pounds or so.If you're intent on saving the money, then you might as well stay at Pan-Pac.

Otherwise, I can't comment. Travelling with my dh and 6-mth old baby to Pangkor island from KL (where I live) is already a pain, let alone attempting to fly anywhere like NZ!!!!So, my sympathies, florenceuk.

Papillon · 07/09/2004 10:04

i will be in NZ from around mid January to mid end of Feb... and Tauranga will one of our destinations.. are you from tauranga florence?

we are doing a stop over which lots of people recommend. I recently used a sling on a short flight and found it invaluable.s

TurnAgainCat · 07/09/2004 13:40

When ds was two I worked in NZ for a few months, and ds and I really liked stopping over and I think I would have been too exhausted to look after ds without it. Flying makes me feel quite dehydrated and tired, and this might be worse for you when bf your baby? We stopped for 3 nts in Singapore on the way out, and returning 5 nts in Bangkok and 1 nt in Sydney. In Sydney we just had time to get to the youth hostel, eat dinner, sleep, eat breakfast, go for 30 minute walk, and return to airport, but was still worth it. If you have all the things you need in your handluggage, the suitcases are not really a hassle because you can just put it all on an airport trolley. I managed 3 suitcases, pushchair and backpack babycarrier by myself fine.

TurnAgainCat · 07/09/2004 13:41

bran · 07/09/2004 13:53

I prefer to stop-over myself - it's just such a relief to be able to stretch out properly and have a shower, and if you're staying overnight it'll help with the jet-lag. Having said that, I've never travelled to NZ with a child and my dh's family are in KL so we always have to stop in at least one direction.

I agree with Ghosty about not going into KL city though, it is a really long journey to and from the airport and you won't be wanting to sight-see anyway - just eat/sleep/eat.

Hope it goes well.

suzywong · 07/09/2004 13:55

Agree with other wise MNers

it is worth the 230 quid alone not to have to lug your bags plus kids around the airport.

Stopovers are only worth it if more than 36 hours as Ghosty says. PLUS wouldn't go in KL traffic with kids without robust Heath Robinson style car seats and you won't get those in taxi or minibus.

Pay up and get peace of mind

(how are you by the way? )

Lorien · 07/09/2004 14:19

When you get back to London after your long haul, are you going to have some help? Is someone going to pick you up and take you home? What about the first days at home?

If you have to do that bit by yourself (or most of it) then I would definitely take the stopover. There isn't a big time difference from New Zealand to KL, (3 hours or so??) so the kids would crash out as soon as you got to the hotel, and you could get up the next day and continue onwards, hopefully a bit refreshed, and definitely not so tired when you arrive in London.

I live in KL so I've never stayed at the Pan Pacific, but its meant to be OK, and it has a swimming pool and so on, so I'm sure it would be fine for a night.

In May, I flew New York to KL by myself with a 3 year old and an 18 month old. Its a 24 hour flight with a 2 hour stop over in Dubai. I was glad at the time that it was a short stop over, but I had forgotten the immense time adjustment and fatigue that kicks in when you get home. Now I try and look at these long haul flights as a kind of one-week event. While its nice to get home as quickly as possible, its also terribly tiring to do a 24-hour stretch of flying.

As for buggies and baby equipment, Malaysia Airlines has always let me take a buggy (I've a Maclaren Volo, which is light and folds small) onboard when I've been travelling alone with two kids (seem to do it quite a lot at the moment). HTH

Original poster

florenceuk · 08/09/2004 10:13

Thanks for all the advice - I'm going to try and upgrade and get a straight-through flight. DS is such a handful at the moment the thought of trying to control him for the whole of the stop-over is just exhausting. So cross fingers we can get the flight (left up to DH to book - bad idea).

Anyway, the plan is to arrive at home at Easter and dump kids on DH who will be refreshed by 4 weeks sans kids! Lorien, do you have any good tips for travelling with 2 by yourself?

OP posts:

Lorien · 14/09/2004 14:33

HI Florenceuk, Sorry for the late reply -- I've not been on mumsnet for a few days SHOCK SHOCK
Anyway, back to travelling alone with two kids. I think the most important thing is your own mental state. If you can get into a mindset of not expecting to do anything for you, and concentrating entirely on your kids, it helps a lot. So don't even look at the movie selection (apart from what is on the kids channel) and take it as a bonus if you get to eat your own meal in any degree of peace.
As for things to entertain kids, I have found the following the most useful:
play dough
sticker books
story books (that your elder child can also scribble all over, my elder one liked those books where you can point out things -- something like 1001 things to spot in the sea, its an Osbourne publication)
treaty snacks, like mini mars bars for bribery
pyjamas to change into at "bed time," so you can make a bit of a division into day and night and hopefully get your elder one off to sleep

I also gave my kids a sedative on the flight (rhinathiol promethazine, its a cough mixture) which helped them to get off to sleep. But don't do what I did on my most recent flight back from London, where I bought some cough mixture at the airport (Actifed, I think..) anyway, although safe for children, it has a horrid taste and I couldn't get either of them to drink it...

What else? Nappy changing will be a bore. You will probably have to take both kids with you to the loo. DItto when you want to go to the loo yourself. But at least its a change of scene for a moment or two. ANd also if your elder child is out of nappies, I would put him/her back in nappies for the flight: If you are feeding the baby, you won't be able to jump up and do a loo trip straight away.

Finally, as I mentioned before, I take a very lightweight pushchair (maclaren volo). I've never had any trouble taking that on board. ANd it is very useful to have it when you are disembarking. Infact, I would make a bit of a fuss about this if you have to, as Heathrow has got all strict recently about not letting you collect your stroller at the aircraft (if they put it into the hold) and the last thing you want to do is traipse though all those corridors with a tired toddler and a baby in your arms -- assume you'll be taking a baby bjorn or similar baby carrier for the little one?

Oh and one last thing, as well as spare clothes for the kids, take a spare t-shirt for you. Its quite likely you'll get something horrid down your front....

And one last, last thing. Its only 24 hours of your life. Its not that bad, and putting up with the journey means you can go to New Zealand, which is infinitely more fun than staying in England in February.

HTH, Lorien

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