Travelling to New Zealand

[MrsWillis]

On my own with 2 year old DD and 3 year old DS, is it possible?

Also where is the best place to look for flights? BA have quoted me £2800, is that about average?

Yes, possible, could be hard work with 2 toddlers though.

I flew NZ-UK on my own with 7 mo dd, which was OK as she wasn't moving yet.

I flew with Singapore who are great if you're travelling with kids. If you want to have a break between the flights, Singapore airport has a transit hotel you can book in four-hour blocks where you can sleep, have a shower and eat, without having to go through customs/immigration and collect all your luggage etc. I think you can stay there up to 48 hours between flights. Obviously you are inside all the time as you are in transit section, but the airport is huge, has shops, playgrounds, swimming pool, free cinema etc. There is another Asian airport with same kind of transit horel but can't remember which.

Or you can bite the bullet and go straight through without a break between flights.

I'd advise flying with someone who has TV screens in backs of seats so your dcs can watch - they have loads of kids films/programmes on amongst the millions of channels available.

Good luck! I'm not going to attempt the flight again while dd is a toddler as she would rampage around the plane, but I know people who have managed it.

Fare sounds about right but you could get cheaper, is there a flight comparison website you could use?

i recently flew from NZ to UK and back again with 3 year old twins. It was fine, although hard work, but I put quite a lot of thought into it. I took as little luggage as i could get away with as it is hard to manage two children and lots of luggage. Each child had their own little backpack and carried their own water bottle, snacks, toy, colouring pencils, jersey and so on. i also gave each child a whistle around their necks and instructions to blow it if they couldn't touch me in airports (this got us through border control super fast, i can tell you - those LA security officers moved like greased lightening with two kids blowing on whistles!). We had a big practice at sitting on plans and sleeping on planes on the couch as home. We also broke the journey for 36 hours in LA both ways. The TV screens on the seat backs were a godsend - would not have managed without Winnie the Pooh. We flew with Air NZ - the most reasonable when buying tickets out of NZ, although stopping in the states is a bind and i think Asia might be more efficient.

Just logged on to ask similar question. Thinking about flying with 2.5 yr old DS & 7mth old DSm on my own. Is it possible??? I am really not sure - as am thinking about what do I do with baby when I need to take toddler to the toilet and vice versa. The more I think about the worse the idea seems. It wold only be one way as DH would be with me for the flight back.

Air NZ is always the best price, and I have always found the crew to be good when I travelled with just the one baby. If you try experiment with different days using the tool on there website you can find some really good deals. £2800 is quite expensive.

I flew to Australia on my own with my daughters age 2 and 3 and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. We stopped in Singapore on the way in the transit hotel which is inside the airport. I would definately recommend this. There is a pool a cinema, play grounds and the airport is huge for running around in! As the hotel rooms have no windows (not as bad as it sounds!) it was really easy to get everyone to sleep for six hours and then we got up had a meal and took our next flight.

My girls loved pulling our cabin bag with wheels even when it weighed a ton so that might be worth a thought.

Also I requested assistance with check in and on arrival and there was someone there to help carry the bags and make sure the girls didn't run off!!

Go for it!

OK just read other threads, sorry for repeating everything!!

If you are booking from the UK, Air NZ may be the cheapest but they are not if booking from NZ - I have flown with 3 or 4 other airlines which have been cheaper. And better usually. Last time I flew with Air NZ there were no screens in the seats which I think are an essential if travelling with small children (I thnk this may have changed now though, it's been a few years since I flew internationally with them).

There must be a UK price comparison website for airfares? I just had a quick look on a NZ one and Cathay Pacific, Singapore and a couple of others were cheaper than Air NZ.

Another hint, don't take too many books, I found it too noisy and dark to make much use of them.

Makemineaginandtonic I thnk I remember your thread about those flights, if that was you I'm thnking of, I was in admiration of you doing it alone with 2!

Yes, forgot to say you can request assistance from the airline for check-in and arrival, they will help with bags etc. I didn't request it but someone from Singapore Air spotted me at the baggage carousel with dd in Baby Bjorn and got all my luggage for me, whisked me through immigration and customs (including the irritating bit when you have to have all your luggage X-rayed on arrival in NZ in case you are carrying a rogue apple or something) and had me out in arrivals meeting dh in about 2 minutes.

Thanks for your replies.

It won't be until May 2011 but I need to start saving and planning it all. I have family over there so I don't need to worry about anything other than the flights really.

Yes, Air NZ have screens in seats now. My DS was entertained by Winnie Pooh for sometime when I flew to NZ last year

I flew Singapore at New Year to NZ with 1 hour stop over with 3 ds aged 11,9, and 3. Both planes had screens in seat. Ds3 aged 3 watched 1 episode of blue's clues repeatedly while i dozed on the first flight and slept for almost all of the second flight. DS9 had a temperature and was ill for the flight so had to be looked after a lot more than usual as well. We all survived. We all survived but we very pleased to see DH at the other end.

Make sure you check in online and sort out seating before you get to the airport.

We went straight through at Singapore which meant we did not have to collect and recheck our bags. If you fly via the US you will have to do this. Not sure what happens if you stay overnight at Singapore. We had 14 bags and a car seat as well as carry on luggage so having to recheck it all half way through would have been a nightmare - we had fun at Heathrow and Auckland doing relay races with 4 trolleys and a toddler.