Kazo

Staying at a nice hotel, near the airport, the night before sounds like a great idea!!

Karen

Pinkie

That would be my preferred way of handling this I think and after reading the really helpful responses here I'm more convinced than ever. OH has read too and agrees - although I think we both agree that Sandra has a point and we do need to make sure we're not doing people out of a sense of being involved in this, hadn't really added that to the equation. Darn you Sandra

We're going to discuss it with them but making sure they know our feelings on it and the downsides it could involve. Then we just see what they say.

The main thing is that once we're in Australia we'll be in touch with them alot and will be coming 'home' as often as we can. Once they see that we mean that hopefully they'll feel alot better about this whole thing, and of course once they see how happy we are there - fingers crossed

Thanks for all your comments everyone, it has really helped us.

sammyg

We are not doing it!!

I don't want our daughter to see more tears and stress than she needs to.

I'd stick to having the nice meal the night before

Sandon

I really dont want to say goodbye at the airport, but my family really want to come and wave us goodbye. I keep saying to them it's going to horrible but they still want to come. Don't think I have choice!!

Josie1100

We are having a leaving party for all our family and friends 2 weeks before we fly. We wont be seeing any of them after that and my sister is taking our dog to live with her the day after the party. We will need the 2 weeks to compose ourselves. I just wont be able to cope with all the goodbyes at the airport

TrickyTree

Looks like I am going to break the trend I had all my immediate family at the airport. Yes it was emotional but I was glad to be with them right until the last moment. I thought you may not be seeing them again for a few years so you should grab every second with them while you can.

Taking the easy way out is very rarely the best way I have found.

suzimc

When we left for the States my husband had to leave 2 weeks before me so my parents took me to the airport when it came to my turn.

It was okay until we got to the queue for me to go through security and we had to part - both my mum and dad were crying, and I had to stand in a queue fo 20 minutes sobbing my heart out. I turned around just as I finally went around the last visible corner halfway through the wait, and they were still standing there, my mum had tears rolling down her face and they were waving frantically, which just set me off again. I managed to compose myself, but started blubbing again on the plane. Now when we leave England we always say our goodbyes at the house and make our own way to the airport.

It's just as bad at the other end, we get a lot of visitors ended up taking most of them to the airport, and it's always hard, the mums are definitely the worst though!

Streaks

I'm glad that worked for you TT, but in my experience it's a no no. When my brother and his family left for Oz we were all there and it was truly heartbreaking, we then all had the 2 hour drive back without them and it was a bad experience actually quite a dangerous one trying to drive feeling so charged up (with my brother and his partner trying to calm down 3 very emotional little girls in departures who they had trouble with cause they wouldn't go through while they could see us) When we left for Oz we arranged a morning flight and spent the evening before with the family, yes it was heartbreaking too but we were then able to get up the following morning and leave without any scenes.
Hope it all goes well Pinky whatever you decide
S xx

Pinkie

Thanks Streaks, once all these final things are ironed out we might finally be able to start looking forward to this whole thing!!

moneypenny20

Definitely don't do it. We didn't tell anyone what day we were flying or what airline. One friend took us to one of the Heathrow hotels the night before. Even he didn't know what time we were flying the next day. It was enough of a nightmare dealing with first born, without rellies or friends there to set us all off

Issie

Yeah we are thinking of staying the airport hotel the night before, we don't want the kids too upset for the flight, it's not fair on them, or us

moneypenny20

A chance to relax (holiday ish), free transfer, it worked for us. Oh except for leaving a couple of things in the hotel room and big road accident between us and the terminal but the free transfer still got us there on time

rangersman2

Hi we left on 5th oct 2005 and the airport still haunts me we had misses mum and my brother and it was really painful, as others have said DONT DO IT, SAY IT AT A FAMILY HOME, much easier, as we found out when we went back for a holiday, good luck Paul.

mickandtrace

We as family had that awful experience just two and half weeks ago at Heathrow. Unexpectedly friends turned up without us knowing, parents we did the night before. I would not recommend any goodbyes whatsoever at the airport. It took us until we got to Singapore to fully realise we were on our way to Australia. It was far to emotional. My advise is to say all goodbyes before you get to the airport. It was nice to see friends turn up to see you go but the emotions are just to sad. Even my 16 year old son found it hard to deal with. But good luck and all the best for what ever happens.

jensteve

My advice and what we did was to say goodbye the day before and travel to the airport that night and stay over in one of the hotels. By the time we woke up we where really looking forward to our adventure and not having to worry about saying goodbye to anyone at the airport which can be emotionally draining and what a way to start a long flight.
Jenny