Guest can36 Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 hi we relocated from Scotland to Oz in Sept there. We have a just turned 2 year old and a 3.5 year old. We flew from edinburgh via heathrow onto singapore for a stopover then onto brissie. Fly with Singapore Airlines - fantastic - they are great with kids and I would defo recommend a one night stopover - helps with the time changes. bear in mind though - emirates will stop in Dubai - you are not even half way there!!! Good luck - oh and kids will do better than you think!! get them up early enough and they will be tired for the first leg! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 We've done it a few times with children of various ages (as young as 12 months and as old as 6 years--they have a habit of growing up!). Frankly, the kids do better than the adults. If it was me, I'd go for a couple of longish hops rather than a short one to Dubai and an extra-long to Australia. Singapore, Bangkok or even Hong Kong are all okay places for a short break--and I'd rather have two or three hours to stretch my legs than the typical Qantas 45 min. thrown off the plane then go straight into a queue to get back on. I've mentioned this before: our UK doctor was also a traveller and he strongly recommended a mild sedative to help the toddler get to sleep on board. He prescribed something called Vallergan and, used as directed, our toddler had dinner on the plane, went to sleep on the seat beside us and woke up for breakfast refreshed and happy. A good run at the stop-over airport, back on the plane and repeat the process and he was a happy camper when we arrived in Oz. One thing I do suggest though is, whatever airline you use, try to find an early evening departure from the UK. This will allow for the maximum sleep on the first leg and, with the time zones, it'll be getting dark again for the second leg. As an aside, the quality of the cabin crew makes a big difference to the flight experience. I've found Qantas to be in a range from mediocre to okay...and other airlines (Emirates, Singapore and Air New Zealand) to be in the okay to great range. That's just my experience but, given a choice, I take other options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 I don't mind not being fawned over. This was terrible service, not just being churlish. Having a go at a mother travelling on her own with a wriggling 9month old because the kid wasn't strapped in yet and the plane was ready for take-off when they hadn't actually provided her with the kid belt yet, then just throwing it at her and walking off without showing her how to use it? It got worse from there... Oh dear. I have had that with BA but not Qantas. I guess you get bad flights with everyone! I boycotted BA for 25 years after my flight from hell with kids and inadvertently found myself on a code share with them (with the baby granddaughter as well) and it was a great flight so I gave them another go until last year when, not quite the flight from hell - but close, I decided that another boycott is in order!!! I guess you never know which side of the bed the crew gets out of! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in Bris Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 I would recommend no more than 1 stop over. We flew back to the UK for a holiday in April (Royal Wedding watching + other things). We flew Ethiad. Dreadful. They ran out of food and drink plus we had stops in Singapore and Abu Dhabi. By the time we got our daughter to sleep it was time to wake her up again as we were landing. We said next time we would choose just one stop over in Singapore then fly direct so we could sleep (or at least try and get some sleep) for at least 10-15 hours. Remember, and I hate to say it, the children are your priority on the flight so I ended up with no TV or anything. We bought a portable DVD player for our daughter which helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger2shirts Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Singapore Airways with a couple of days stop at the Rasa Shangrila Hotel on Sentosa Island Singapore. We did it with 4 young children and it was without complication. Just get the best deal you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsy16 Posted December 6, 2011 Author Share Posted December 6, 2011 Thanks to all for the replies, husband has handed his notice in and mine to go next week then I guess we will probably go with either Emirates or Singapore, whoever gives us the best deal at the time. Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronS Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Late on a reply....we had 2 1/2, 4 and 9 year olds from Texas to Sydney. They did OK. No major meltdowns. We did take prizes for them and would give them out every other hour or so. Most of the flight was during the night for them so they slept a good part of the trip. The inflight movies helped too. I have to say the worst part was in the airport after we landed...they did meltdown there in the line for Customs no less. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Thanks to all for the replies, husband has handed his notice in and mine to go next week then I guess we will probably go with either Emirates or Singapore, whoever gives us the best deal at the time. Kate Probably a bit late now but have you thought about just going for a career break rather than burning all bridges? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsy16 Posted December 6, 2011 Author Share Posted December 6, 2011 Hi Quoll No we didn't want a career break we are hopefully all in for the move. It is something that we have wanted since we lived in Oz in 2002 unfortunately it has taken this long to get things sorted we wish we had never came back to the UK then! Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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