Travel advice please-London to New Zealand

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Permalink Reply by Col on August 7, 2015 at 9:44

Harringey is like some odd small Kiwi enclave, so you'll hopefully get lots of ideas.  My wife is from NZ, having done the trip 6 times via Singapore, Seoul, Dubai and LA I'd definitely say don't go via LA if you're not planning on stopping over - unless you like the cattle treatment in an airport. 

Tokyo is awesome, if you have a couple of days well worth considering, but not the most direct of routes, Singapore was good if you have a day or so you want to spend, I think our 2nd time there we only had 6 or 7 hours stop and still managed to get into the city for a couple of hours), Seoul airport is a good hour out from the city, so again unless you have a couple of days its not something for a short stop.  Dubai as an airport and city I didn't really rate, Emirates tend to be cheaper but unless you're a massive shopping fan not the best of places.

Airlines wise, Korea air were pretty decent, the airport in Seoul is nice and clean, they have free showers that are easy to get to and make for a nice break if you only have an hour or two stop over in one of the routes. The city is pretty interesting a swell - although I did have a friend there to show me around.  Singapore Air I rate highly, and as people have said Changi is a pretty good airport.  Air NZ, sadly, I didn't enjoy as much, and the LA stop over was a complete nightmare having to go through immigration!

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Permalink Reply by Nanz on August 7, 2015 at 10:00

I do this journey on average about every 1.5 - 2 years.  

If you fly AirNZ then you can stop in LA, Hong Kong & Tokyo

On Singapore Airlines you can stop in Singapore

On Cathy Pacific you can stop in Hong Kong

Those are the ones I would recommend as they are at the midway point of the journey (approx 10 - 14 hours).  I love Hong Kong and Singapore and would highly recommend those places as you don't prefer North America.  I don't fly any other airlines as I tend to want to get back to NZ as fast as possible and those are the fastest routes.

You have to keep in mind that adding a stopover will add a cost to your journey (as opposed to not stopping), esp travelling at that time of year as its peak travel time to that side of the world.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah on August 7, 2015 at 10:25

Oh yeah I thought I would share some advice on what NOT to do.  Do not under any circumstances listen to your mother when she says the Dubai-Bangkok-Sydney-Christchurch route is "fine, really" and worth paying £200 less for.  

9 hours to Dubai, then herded onto a bus, driven around the airport (standing up, 2am London time) for 40 minutes, dumped back in the terminal, told flight delayed by 3 hours, total time to NZ now 35 hours.  I counted 5 times through security through the trip including two bag searches.  And having a smoking room in the middle of the brand new terminal in Dubai is a really bad idea.  Yuck.  Delays on the way back too.

NEVER AGAIN.

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Permalink Reply by matt on August 31, 2015 at 16:16

Just back from NZ on Singapore Airlines. Their service is very good, excellent food and they are very efficient at managing their aircraft cattle :) which is important so you get sleep, proper food and plenty of liquids. Let us know who you end up going with & of course don't forget to share a few holiday memories/pics

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Permalink Reply by Philip on August 31, 2015 at 16:30

Have now booked with Quantas/Virgin/Emirates(question of dates, rather that airlines. Trip out 3 days in Singapore and back 7days in Bali! Anyone got tips for either stopover welcome. thanks all for sharing ideas.

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