Multi flight advice

[Sarahrellyboo1987]

Hi Everyone,
I’m not an experienced traveller but have travelled with work and always used Thomas Cook.
Next August I’d like to treat my daughter to a holiday of a lifetime. She’ll be 10 then. She has epilepsy, autism and a few other health conditions. She has had lots of health issues and deserves a nice trip.
I was looking for advice regarding multi flights - I’d like to go London-Tokyo. Stay in Japan a week. Then Tokyo-Sydney. A few days in Sydney and then an internal flight to Darwin for a few days in Darwin. Then back to Sydney for a few more days. Then Sydney-London. (Possibly add a few days in San Francisco as there is a layover there).
I’ve found some example flights using skyscanner but I’m just so nervous about messing it all up!
I’ve looked up holiday insurance and know it will cost quite a bit but I’m happy to pay that.
Any advice on making sure I don’t mess up? Any experiences travellers want to share their advice regarding a multi flight trip?

I’d recommend Trailfinders or Dial A Flight for a multi stop trip like this one.

Travelling all that way for a few days in each place seems like hard work though. Have you traveled on a long flight with your daughter before?

Thanks for the recommendation - will definitely check them out.
She’s not been on a flight before but she is a great long haul traveller and will spend hours in a car if she could. She also doesn’t sleep much...so being on the go all the time won’t be a issue for her...she’s subhuman!
It’s effectively a week in japan (excluding the days travel).
Then about 10 in Australia including the internal travel days.
We will stay in Japan longer if we don’t spend a few days in San Francisco.
We might be able to stay longer in Australia too if I can get an extra few days off of work.

Round the world ticket might be cheapest.

And you will get add some where else in!

How fixed are you on San Francisco coming back??
I would be very tempted to do London- Tyoko-Sydney-Darwin-London. With whatever stop over length you want on the Darwin- London leg. Singapore popped up when I looked. Sydney- Darwin- Sydney seems a bit excessive. You may find you dont need to do the internal flight in Aus with one of the big internationals - we entered and left Aus from 2 different citys, and sorted out low cost internal flights ourselves. It was MUCH cheaper.

Write down dates, with years, for everything you want. Double check it, then enter the details and double check again before hitting confirm!

I use skyscanner to find possibilities, then book direct through the main airlines webpage. We used Multi city rather than round the world - which is what adding in the USA sounds like.

Enjoy. We have been to Japan and Aus in the past 5 years, and they are our favourite holidays ever.

How risk averse are you?

I ask because you need to bear in mind that if you construct this trip as a sequence of stand alone, individual bookings..e.g; London/Tokyo with airline AA, then go off and buy Tokyo-Sydney with BB, and so on you will have zero come back/zero support if one of the early sectors falls over for whatever reason (volcanic ash, strikes,) and as a result you don't make the connection with one or more of the subsequent sectors.

It might be worth seeing if the whole trip can be done as a consolidated booking with/through one of the major airlines flying with them and their alliance partners, but that will come at a cost.

Good luck.

I’m not risk adverse in everyday life. I guess it’s just the concerns of what happens if something goes wrong.
When I looked there was a flight from Darwin-London that didn’t go through Sydney. I’m not massively desperate to go to San Francisco - the flights I looked at all stopped there so I figured if I may as well stay for a few days if it stopped there.

I didn’t actually realise a round the world ticket existed (embarrassing!!). What’s your experience of them?

Round the world tickets are great especially for Aus travel. You pick a number of stops and then you travel as it says round the world.

For example. London - Dubai -Singapore- Sydney - Auckland - Los Angeles - New York - London

You can go the opposite way as well. You can have I think up to 11 stops with some tickets? Don't quote me on that.

www.roundtheworldflights.com/mobilesite.aspx

www.statravel.co.uk/round-the-world-travel.htm

The Olympics are going ahead in Tokyo next August subject to COVID19. Flights and hotels will be extortionate if you include Tokyo in your route whilst it’s on. We were quoted £48k for a trip for four of us this summer to have two weeks in Japan whilst the Olympics were on. Needless to say we didn’t book 😂😂😂

I would really big up Trailfinders for this sort of trip. They do all of my multi centre trips and have been brilliant in shifting our summer trip to next year for us. They also have a very comprehensive COVID19 insurance policy.

I've done several multi trips with annual travel insurance
Booked directly with airlines
Booked own accommodation

Singapore is expensive
I believe that there are now very strict rules related to CVirus

I haven't stopped in Dubai, just used it as a transit airport to another destination

I would suggest adding Bangkok into your list of places to visit, so much to see there

Ensure that you have access to emergency money if you get stuck in lockdown in a foreign country

Sydney to Darwin is a massive Internal flight. It’s over 6 hours. You’ve then got to add in check in and the baggage reclaim you are losing valuable holiday time.

I’d do Tokyo to Darwin. Darwin to Sydney and forget about the round trip from Sydney.

With everything you’ve said, you are probably looking at a round the world ticket.

She has epilepsy and autism and has never flown before.

Could you see how she copes on a shorthall flight before booking your fantastic sounding holiday?

Also, you need to price up holiday insurance before booking.

I'm well travelled and this sounds very tiring. My wedding/honeymoon was a circumnavigation and to be honest while it looked great on paper, I was fed up by the end of it.

What specifically is she interested in that makes this particular route the trip of a lifetime?

I wouldn't say that Darwin is worth a six hour flight - it's a nice enough place but I wouldn't make a special trip there.
The suggestion of going to trailfinders or flight centre is a good one - they may also have ideas about different stopovers that might fit into your schedule.