Oz and NZ Summer 2022 - tips on booking a multi stop trip

[Waterlemon]

We have been saving for years to visit family in NZ and Oz then the pandemic hit! Finally it looks like restrictions will be lifted enough to enable us to visit.

We would like to visit family in Auckland, Melbourne and Cairns and the kids would also like to visit Sydney but I’m not sure if this is viable in the time we have. First stop would be NZ, then onto Australia. (Due to our accommodation availability)

We will be going during UK school Summer hols - so late July to late August. (I know weather won’t be great, but it’s only time we can go) Our Accommodation is Mostly sorted, we might just need to book a hotel for Melbourne.

Any tips for booking Flights? I’ve never booked any travel before other than a Couple of European package Holidays! Should we just go through an agent? How do you even find travel agents these days?

Any general tips for long haul flights with teens? Which air lines? Best stopovers etc

Would be very grateful for any recommendations/advice as very overwhelmed at the moment!

We actually ended having a day stopover in Sydney by accident, as that was the route back.
So we went out via Qatar to Auckland.Flew internally from Auckland to Queenstown to avoid the drive, and then out from Christchurch and home via Sydney. Teen DS loved Bondi Beach.

Oh and en route to NZ I'd advise just having a short stop at the layover airport and getting to final destination as quickly as possibly.

Really the worst time to visit NZ, is there absolutely no way to delay it a bit? It's freezing and wet and shit and a good chance of storms.

Definitely non stop to NZ as pp said. Get it over with.

@rookiemere

Oh and en route to NZ I'd advise just having a short stop at the layover airport and getting to final destination as quickly as possibly.

Yes, this is the plan - mainly to avoid testing positive For covid on route and being stuck in a hotel mid-transit.

I used Flight Centre and found them good, it was a few years ago though so I just checked Trust Pilot and they do have an excellent review ratio.

@ABitBesottedWithMyDog

Really the worst time to visit NZ, is there absolutely no way to delay it a bit? It's freezing and wet and shit and a good chance of storms.

Definitely non stop to NZ as pp said. Get it over with.

I know! Such a shame but it’s the only time we can go for that length of time. We can only have the accommodation in Cairns at the end of our trip, otherwise we would have done NZ last.