Pollyana

Have a look at www.boking.com for accommodation ideas. A lot of their places are "book now, pay on arrival, free cancellation". So even if you later find somewhere better or cheaper then at least you have a booking made whilst you search for cheaper/better options. Removes the stress of getting to the last minute and not being able to find anything.
Might also be worth looking at getting a hotel close to Heathrow for a night or two whilst you catch up on sleep and adjust a bit.

Transport - even as I non-driver, I wouldn't think its a good idea to hire a car as soon as you land, you'll be too tired/emotional. However if you caught your breath overnight at Heathrow, then if you're planning to hire a car you could then drive down from Heathrow.
Alternatively I'd suggest National Express coaches - Heathrow to Weymouth, for instance, is £29, takes around 6 hours.

Hope this gives you a few starting points

LittleGreyCat

Driving from Heathrow might be a bit tough unless you are comfortable with Auckland traffic.
Remember that the UK has a train service, so although expensive it might be easier to go by train than to hire from Heathrow.

You are planning to come near peak holiday season so accommodation may be tight depending on what you want.
Holiday cottages are often good value if you are stopping in one place for the whole trip.
Also consider holiday caravans if you are planning to stop near the coast.
I don't think NZ has any equivalent to coastal holiday parks with masses of static caravans.

Flights seem expensive at the moment, allegedly due to pent up demand.
My flightscanner search showed the cheapest flights from Christchurch all went through the USA, mainly LAX, so possibly worth checking how much hassle it is.
A long time since we flew through the USA and things might have become a lot more tricky.

spouse of scouse

After all the years of advice and comfort you've given people, I think you have more 'thank you' credits than you'll ever need

spouse of scouse

Good idea about booking accommodation that has free cancellation Polly. I usually use Airbnb but most of the hosts there don't allow cancellations for 4+ week stays. It always pays to check because a few do, but most don't.

M have you thought about travel insurance yet?

Pollyana

Before travel, you need to get an ESTA, which then gets you entry on the Visa Waiver Programme, or if not eligible for that (and many people aren't) then apply for a B2 tourist visa which can take 6 months or more. You need to collect your luggage on arrival in the USA, be processed by immigration, and if they are happy you then proceed to the onward flight, recheck baggage, more security checks etc. Can be very smooth, but can be a nightmare if Immigration decide not to allow entry, if the visas dpn't come through in time, if Immigration are slow and/or want more checks and you miss the onward flight.
I saw one case British lady going to Canada, changed flights in the US somewhere to fly on to Canada. She had a work visa for Canada and a job to go to, and apparently the US Immigration people thought she might try and get work in the US instead of flying onwards, So they deported her back to the UK. Call me a chicken, but its stress I'd rather avoid!!

BEVS

No. I had not thought of that at all. Y'know. We haven't been offshore in four years. Crikey!

I know July is really peak hol season but this would be about a special day with special loved people. It may be we simply cannot - yet again - so then at least I have your kind thoughts and input for maybe later on.

Not sure we could do a drive from London to Dorset these years. I'd agree about the train or even a coach.

Hhmm. Might look at holiday caravans. I did this for MrBEVS one year with his old Mum. It was the year he met with a stranger from BE to bring back a family item to a stranger here in NZ. Mentals.

We might have been K with our pal that ran a pub but she's had to bin it post-covid.

I think we've written off the LA/USA route. Poll has done all this far more than us and knows her stuff. I've memories of LAX back in '97 that wasn't so good.

scrubbedexpat142

You're right about not driving, remember the hell that is the A31 in summer!

Tom H

The A35 between Poole and Dorchester says hello

BEVS

Yes. Jump in the car with a picnic and blankies for a day out in a traffic jam.

Start at the A338 and by the end of the day you might have actually reached the A31.

scrubbedexpat143

A few (very brief) hints from a lifetime of travel.

this sounds like a "once in a lifetime" journey for you. try a little forward planning (and some lateral thinking) as you browse, and you may be surprised at what you will find, even during travel high season in Europe.

For such a long haul, for me penny wise would be pound foolish. I often fly shorter distances (Sydney-Bali, Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur, Singapore-Brunei, now and then Jakarta-Bangkok) so I'm not faced with half a day or longer of sitting in a cramped jet. Even then at my age (70s) four to five hours airborne takes a lot more out of me than I care to readily admit.

For the sake of your well being (physical and mental), onsider spending a little more to avoid the 'bucket' airlines like Jetstar or Air Asia, and I try to go in comfort, even on the notoriously bad Bali-Australia flights. Using Bali as an example, I could easily pay up to AUD $600 for a so-called "average" fare on all-nighter without baggage or even basic comforts unless I cough up more money for these (which I won't in principle, being somewhat of a cheapskate), and when I do pay I get cafeteria food service and quality. Not for nought is the Bali haul derided as "cattle class", I've flown it and without meaning to be rude about it, it's full of the sort of people I wouldn't hang out with even at our local pub.

I'm now at the age where comfort is important and I'm prepared to pay reasonably more for it. A little extra money (at times less than $100) well spent buys me the comforts I want. Shop around and you might luck into a last minute surprise flight. Again as an example, in May I'll fly from Surabaya to Sydney on Singapore Airlines, a top rated flier. This will be a 12 hours jaunt (with a three hour stopover at Changi in Singapore, so in all 9 hours in the air) BUT my fare includes food, in-flight entertainment AND 25 kilos of baggage. All for the glorious price of a little over AUD $400. For me the fare alone says it all.

Avoiding any flight passing through the USA is a good idea. I've not done this route for many years, the last two times I flew across the Pacific I changed at Honolulu for a Vancouver connection. Arriving via Hawaii was (at that time, about a decade ago) far more pleasant than alighting at Los.Angeles where American immigration and customs seem to have it in for all travelers from Australia or New Zealand. I'm not suggesting you fly through Canada as I believe this would add too much time (and most likely cost) to your travel to Europe. But if you must, then look into the Canada option. Canucks are a vastly different culture from Merkins, much more laid back and easygoing, tho again I've heard a few iffy tales about the Gestapo tactics of some Canada Customs staff in dealing with arriving tourists. Better you consider the westbound trek as many more good Asian airlines do this route and you may have more options.

Someone here has suggested you sleep a night at Heathrow. The idea appeals to me as after such a long haul. In this regard you should shop around as hotel prices vary and often as not hop all over the place. As an Accor Club member I get reasonable discounts (sometimes) on my hotels in Asia, and for the fun of it I went to the Ibis/Accor web site and put in a few dates for Heathrow hotel stays - Ibis looks to have several hotels there and the prices seem fair for England at the height of the summer tourist season.

For the lark of it, I input mid-month dates from May to September on the Ibis site and came up with some interesting (and varied) prices for a standard room for two. (In AUD$) May 17, $141-$163. June 15, $150-$190. July 15, $186-$227. August 15, $144-$190. September 15, $132-$163. There seemed to be dates available. Remember room rates can and often do change day by day, so when you are ready to book, have your credit/debit card ready and primed for action, or as we used to say, "snatchengrabbit".

Remember that when it comes to travel, the internet is your friend. Spend an hour every now and then browsing thru airline and hotel sites. You should consider becoming an Accor Club member. It's free and there are a few benefits worth having, a little cheaper room rates (not everywhere, but in many places) and you build up points which you can then use for further discounts.

So do think about going in September and October. The big tourist rush will be over and if my experiences in Europe aren't way outdated, even in these post-Covid times the costs in many places will have come down, even post-Covid.

Once there, trains are a great way to travel. Buses too, tho I dislike them, too cramped and often crowded for me. But then I've not driven anywhere for 20+ years, so that's me. (My SO is madly keen on cars and dislikes traveling any other way, which makes for some interesting discussions when we travel overseas. Some rail services have off-peak travel discounts and/or special offers for tourists, you should look into these.

Above all, plan your itinerary carefully and well with the aim of enjoying your marvelous one-time-only trip abroad to the utmost. Don't be like my next door neighbors who went to France last August (at the height of the tourist season in France) and ended up eating mostly at McDonald's in Paris because, as they later complained, "French food was too expensive". To me that was a waste of effort, money and time. Tourist prices are high maybe in Paris, yes, but in my experience, getting out of the city and into the provinces, to the south but also in Normandy and Brittany, spending reasonably on food would have fed them like a king and queen. In my case, man can easily live on bread and wine alone with now and then a hunk of cheese to add flavor to my repasts, and in France (much like Australia in the case of the latter two) all three are mostly magnificent.

It's really all in the planning, and to me that's a wonderful part of the enjoyment one gets out of being overseas.

Brief? Did I say brief? I did say "brief", didn't I? Ah yeh, well, y'know,..

scrubbedexpat142

Remembering to throw your litter out at the side of the road!

Chocolate eclair

Hi BEVS, I can't really help you with prices as we booked our flights before Christmas and then postponed them. And of course we aren't returning.
I much prefer travelling through Singapore and using Singapore Airlines. Changi Airport is so easy to navigate. I've deliberately booked a 14 hour delay between flights to get a good sleep in at the transit hotel. The first time we travelled through we spent a few nights in a hotel on the way back. Did the tourist thing! Helped us to de-stress after dealing with family .
We are flying in to Heathrow because I prefer it to Manchester Airport. We arrive at 7.15pm so are staying at the Hilton Gardens Hotel for the night.
Just trying to decide how to get to the Northwest with 4 large suitcases and hand luggage!! Sadly a hire car seems the best option.
​​​​​​I'd normally book flights through the airline directly but post-covid it seems a little more complex, so using YouTravel on this occasion.

Pollyana

That's a great hotel, stayed there twice now. Two minutes walk from Terminal 2, couldn't be easier! I love the bar on the 14th floor overlooking the runways, great place for watching the aircraft comings and goings.
Have you checked out National Express as an alternative to driving? Way cheaper than the train.
Interesting that you feel booking direct is harder now, I haven't noticed any difference, and I prefer it as then if their are any problems you can sort them yourself instead of trying to get hold of travel agents out of hours!

Tond3

Man, Uncle Sam dramas, I had planned to go via San Francisco, well, I will go via Dubai or Singapore now. I hadn't realized one will have to go through the process of security checks, etc.,

Chocolate eclair

I stayed there before coming back to NZ and the whole MIQ nightmare. I loved the bar too. The hotel staff were very accommodating on letting me keep my room for an extended period too. Actually I've booked us in for 2 nights!
I think because we are coming home via Adelaide, Singapore, Bintan, Singapore and then to LHR, it would've been more complex for me to organise. Plus us having to postpone travel dates because we hadn't sold the house.
We shall have 4 suitcases (although Air NZ are being a pain about extra luggage currently) plus hand luggage, so it's going to be difficult with travel. I have looked at National Express but there doesn't seem to be anything available on 10th June, from Heathrow to St Helens/Warrington.