[H & Rick]

We were just wondering how many times people come home for a visit since they have been in NZ.

What is the average flight cost from NZ to the UK?

Had thought of putting a bit of money in a flight fund account. We were just discussing it and wondered how other people manage. :p

[Lupin]

Well, for the four of us it'll cost over $10K, nearly a quarter or our annual income so it'll be a rarity. However my husband's brother is getting married next year and family woiuld like us there and are contributing nearly half so we'll probably go back for a visit September/October 2008.

TBH, I'm in the lucky position that my family are all coming out here so I'd rather spend the money on other things.

We had planned to keep some money by for a flight back but that plan went by the wayside!

[jubjub]

We went back last year, and it cost us around $10k for two adults and a baby, that included a hire car for two weeks and a few meals out. Did not need hotels luckily!

In all honesty it aint going to happen often, cos just for one adult its around $2500, maybe cheaper if you get a special offer. We went last year, and cant even think about going till next year at the earliest due to cost.

If you can keep a flight fund, it will help you greatly.

[Chiba]

I come home every day. I go to the UK once every couple of years.

[marcia]

I come home every day. I go to the UK once every couple of years.

Like it! :nice1

But that could spark the old debate about where is home??

We haven't got a flight fund as such, just our savings. But we have sort of said we aren't intending to go back except for a few select funerals!! :( And then it would only be one of us - who evers family it was!!

There are five of us and it would cost a fortune to go back to the uk, and to us it wouldn't seem like a holiday, all you would be doing would be visiting relatives and seeing the same places. Its much nicer if people can come here to see us, they are having a trip to somewhere they have never been before, and we will go off on trips with them exploring NZ together!

For some people a trip back to the Uk is a good thing, it reiterates the reasons why they wanted to leave in the first place and makes people realise they made the right decision, for others it tears at the heart strings too much and makes them homesick again.

So we sort of have a fund, there is money there if we need it, but its not specifically set aside for a 'trip' back to the uk!

[Familyofmonkeys]

We are also very much the same as marcia...also being a family of 5, it would cost a small fortune to go back alot.

Are planning on an extended visit once kids are old enough to remember it, but that will be a few years away. Planning on doing a tour of UK, so see historical stuff e.g. Warwick Castle, Bath Roman Baths, Stonehenge, London tourist stuff etc. Maybe hop across the channel to see Eiffel Tower aswell. Will also visit all the relatives aswell.

But, we are hoping real friends and relatives will want to come and see us. We are the only family with small children, so it would be alot easier for them to travel, not to mention cheaper. If they don't, well it is their loss (not trying to sound callous) but we've got our own lives to live.

[Chiba]

But that could spark the old debate about where is home??


I think it just kicked off (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12740) elsewhere. :laugh

[willsken]

I don't have any desire to go back to the UK for a visit at the moment but we have only been here 7 months, so that may change. I think I will go back for a visit in a year or 2 just to see friends and family who don't manage a visit.

[Tia Maria]

I started a 'real cost of flights thread' when I popped back in Feb 2007:

www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9422

It got a bit sidetracked but I might bump it as I was thinking of revisiting it to see if people had started booking trips back for Christmas.

Cheers

Tia

[KerryS]

I'm going back later this year - the first time in over 5 years.
There's no real reason for not returning sooner, I could have gone last year but my boyfriend wouldn't have been able to come. I'm looking forward to it, but am also a bit nervous as well. I'm still questioning lots of things about being in NZ, and I think this trip will help me clarify things... At least I'm hoping it will.