mrttennis

Looking for advice / other people's experiences of the really exciting 1 way ticket to Brisbane.
We are a family of 4 - 2 kids aged 6 and 11, the 11 year old rarely sleeps on planes (convinces herself that its impossible).
Considering stopping over a couple of nights in Singapore to break it up a bit, of course the alternative is to get it over and done with and just keep going...
What did you do and how was it?
Any experiences you have and may want to share would be greatly appreciated.

cooks

havn't done the one-way trip yet but on previous holidays I've flown with Malaysian air stopping off in KL for a couple of nights one time and the second time (MA again) I got a free internal flight thrown in with it so I flew to Langkawi Island for a couple of nights.

OzTennis

Hey, mrttennis, OzTennis here

I can thoroughly recommend a Singapore stopover but if you can manage it you need at least 2 nights. We only had one night last year and it wasn't enough to do all we wanted, particularly as our flight got in late afternoon and we flew out late afternoon the next day.

Obviously which airline you travel with determines the stopover possibilities but it sounds as though you mightn't have booked flights yet? I think Dubai is worthy of consideration but I'm just wondering if the heat might be too much with the young ones - although come to think of it, heat is going to be inevitable whether you choose Dubai, Singapore, Bangkok, KL, HK or whatever. But then again you can get to Brisbane the other way so the states, NZ etc are options.

OzTennis

snappy

Buy some phenergan or Medised for the kids for the flight it should knock them out for a while

Sasha

JayneS

I would definitely say stopover - i've done both - stopped over in tokyo and another time straight through. Straight through nearly finished me off and i was out of sorts for about 4/5 days so it's just not worth it I don't reckon - especially if you have kids.

mrttennis

What about if we went business class all the way? I've just seen Royal Brunei offer 4 tickets all Business class for £3500.
Ohhh decisions decisions.
Just asked the kids what they think and they said first of all yes to the stopover but when offered business class they said they would prefer this.....

JayneS

I'll bet they did!!!
sadly I've never gone business class but reckon it would be loads better and you wouldn't get the jet lag anywhere near as bad as you'd get seats that allow you to sleep!

mrttennis

Cheers Oztennis - Are you a tennis fan or in the tennis business? I'm a coach on the south coast who's happy at our house sale falling through and then going again (yesterday) as it means I can use my Wimbledon tickets!!

OzTennis

Ah, that strong decision making force Marketing people call 'Pester Power'.

It seems to me that you could have one (or two or three) hell of a stopover on the difference between 2 adults and 2 children's one way economy fares and £3,500! But of course it's your call.

OzTennis

Grayling

This would seem the best option to me. Singapore is worth a visit but I have been there so many times it no longer appeals.
KL is more difficult now as the new airport is a long way from town. I am going with Malaysian next month but just spending a day at the airport hotel.
A trip to Langkawi is great and worth doing if you have the time.
Good luck

G

leanda

As a very nervous flyer I find it impossible to sleep on planes, we did the non-stop to Brisbane at Xmas and vowed NEVER AGAIN, the boys aged 3 and 5 slept some of the way to singapore but I didn't and felt dreadful, the flight went on and on and the joy of landing at Singapore was just dread at the 8 hour flight to get onto next, the boys were ill from Singapore to Brisbane on the plane and although the Singapore girls were fantastic I think it was just they were both exhausted and a stopover for 3 nights is what we have got planned this summer, so I would say don't do it, stop over!!!!!

mrttennis

Yeah - difference of £1500..... I guess that could very well go a long way re stopovers. £3500 seemed really cheap for 4 x business class - all the others quoted £6K upwards.
My wife recently had a business class oneway ticket paid via travel insurance that cost £4800!! (rip off Quantas) long story....

I think I'd rather just get there asap and get into the new life etc.
Not sure if the kids would be in good moods etc when jet lagged. Things could get tense.

andrew63

MrTennis
Jetlag is just tiredness. Sure if you do the journey with stops there will be less tirdeness at the end of it.
I would take the businessclass if it were me and I have done that journey over a dozen times- mostly on economy and mostly with stops. My kids done it once (age 6) and couldn't understand why everyday had two mornings (he would conk out in the afternoon and wake up again a few hours later thinking it was morning).
very funny but you had to be there!
Presume you have been waiting a long time to go so I would also agree with the philosophy of just getting there ASAP.
PS: Did your travel agent find you those good fares or were they on the web?

Andrew

wandrews

Have you considered going via the states, there were various threads on this matter a couple of months back, some experienced very good deals with high baggage allowances etc.

Not sure about which airline was the best to choose. I guess it all depends on whether you like the states or not.

mrttennis

Never dealt with travel agents however austravel.com seem quite competitive. The Royal Brunei business class price was via their own website (in Brunei) - awaiting confirmation of the price as it appears real cheap!! All my other prices were in July via either Emirates own website or travelocity.co.uk or Expedia.co.uk (sometimes they have some good deals)