CDM

If I want to break up my journey to Oz to soften the load with travelling with 2 small children (3 & 4), I'm thinking the best approach might be to make 2 separate journeys and spend maybe a week or more somewhere on the way.

Where would be the best destination that would be age appropriate for our kids to spend a holiday in between the journey?

- CDM

werty1

mine were 3 and 4 last yr when we did it and we only stopped at singapore for 3 hours, was so easy, the kids were angles on the plane and were awake for most of it. I was so worried about it before hand but this yr im planning on taking the for a trip to the uk on my own it was so good last time, i may regret it thou!!

cybie

I am travelling on 1 March with a 1 year old and will be flying via USA. We are splitting it up by staying 4 nights at San Francisco then flying to Los Angeles and staying another 4 nights before heading to Brisbane. Cant wait to hand notice in at work!!

I was worried about what he was going to be able to eat and drink if we went via Singapour etc. Didnt want to risk any dodgy tums. Will probably get one in USA now I have said that.

CDM

Actaully, as someone that has travelled extensively (backpacked around the world - and then some), you may very well find that you'll get tummy troubles regardless of which way around you go. It isn't necessarily always about food hygene. You can get tummy troubles based on the fact that you're suddenly eating food that contains different enzymes than your body is accumstomed to.

Having said that, we've not had problems from US cuisine before - but then we did used to live there.

- CDM

Nicholson_family

We've flown UK to Aus and back twice with our two kids (now 7 & 5) and we always go straight through. The journey on these planes is great - the kids get their own DVD / TV screen and the hours fly by with a combination of the meals, the movies and a few new toys.

If you stop off in Asia you've got the whole additional stress of leaving the airport, getting a transfer to a hotel in the city and getting used to a new bed for a few nights before doing the whole thing again.

If you fly through you've done the big 13 hour leg by the time you get to Asia and there's only a 9 hour flight to go, most of which will be sleeping.

Unless you really want to visit somewhere I recommend continuing the flight.

Good luck.

jillandsi

Hi,
We travelled a few years ago with a 3 & 2 year old, we weren't in a rush to get there so went from Manchester to Orlando and did Disney for a week and then flew to L.A. for two days and then flew to Sydney from there. It was good in that there wasn't the big jetlag to deal with however the flight from L.A. to Sydney was something like 14 hours, so with hindsight it probably wouldn't have been that much more difficult to just go the quicker route i.e via Dubai or similar and just get there and start to get settled.

We also flew last year via Dubai (Emirates) and because of the tv's which had a large amount of kids tv programmes, films and simple video games to choose from the two children watched the tv's for most of the journey and eat or slept for the rest.

Good luck
Jillian

By the way have heard good reports about the new Atlantis (I think) resort in Dubai, which may be a good stop over.

mulben

Coming from Uk via Emirates
Its 6hrs to Dubai then (wouldn't stop there)
6hrs to Singapore -great place to stop
6hrs to Perth or 8/9hrs to Melbourne
One advantage of Singapore is its the same time zone as Perth so if you spend
your break there you don't have to readjust again.
Always found the 13hr flight LHR to HK the hardest to take .

The Crow

We stopped off for a month with our 2 & 3 year olds. Flew into Langkawi - to a great hotel with the biggest pool in Malaysia - so great for the kids. Travelled down through Malaysia - stopping at two great water parks and lake resorts. Then a night train from KL to Singapore (Sentosa Island great for kids - lots to do!) and then back to KL - again lots to do. And, of course, the Malaysians adore children

Rapido

Crow, that sounds brilliant. Had a holiday in Langkawi a few years ago and loved it. Got around everywhere on a hired scooter, which was huge fun.

CDM - on way from Sydney to Dubai (where we now live), we had a couple of days in Singapore, which I would recommend especially if it's Singapore Airlines you are flying with - they do some great deals with stopovers.

We found it an absolute masterstroke to break the journey up for the kids (4yrs and 1yr) - we just hung around the pool in the humid heat for 2 days drinking beer and eating satay sticks.