mgbridges
11th August 2007, 09:21 PM
I thought it might be useful to post some details of how our journey with our 5-year old son went. We flew from London Heathrow to Auckland with Singapore Airlines, with a 5-hour transit in Singapore.
Joe did pretty well on the flights. He slept for a good few hours
between London and Singapore, but less so on the second leg from
Singapore to Auckland. He fell asleep while the plane was still
loading, but woke up shortly after takeoff. We then couldn't get him
back to sleep until a couple of hours before landing and then he
really went into a deep sleep just before we commenced descent! Still,
he didn't cause a fuss at any point. He has watched Shrek 2 & 3
several times on the flight!
Singapore Airlines have lived up to their reputation for service and
particularly in dealing with kids. Joe was given a watch on each
leg of the flight and on the first leg (after being told that it was
his first time on a plane) they gave him a card signed by the whole
crew plus a teddy bear.
The lounge in Singapore Airport was a brilliant idea and I recommend
it for anyone coming out that route. We paid about 75 Sing dollars
(about 25 quid) for the 3 of us for 5 hours in the lounge, and this
entitled us each to a shower (towels and toiletries provided),
unlimited soft drinks and hot & cold buffet and internet access. I
paid extra (not much) for a half hour back and shoulder massage so we
got back on the plane feeling better than we had when we left
Heathrow! You could pay even less if you just wanted to use the shower, but we were glad of the peace and quiet away from the hubbub of the main airport.
The formalities in Auckland Airport went very smoothly. We joined the
New Zealand Residents queue and the immigration officer put the
"indefinite leave to remain" stamps in our passports and said "Welcome
to New Zealand!". Didn't have too long to wait for the bags and sailed
through customs. I went and retrieved the car from the long stay
carpark then loaded up and headed off to the house in Campbells Bay - very nice!
Still can't quite get our heads round the fact that this isn't a
holiday but I'm sure it will sink in over time. Very glad to have got
the journey out of the way, now we can get on with settling in.
Cheers,
Martin
Joe did pretty well on the flights. He slept for a good few hours
between London and Singapore, but less so on the second leg from
Singapore to Auckland. He fell asleep while the plane was still
loading, but woke up shortly after takeoff. We then couldn't get him
back to sleep until a couple of hours before landing and then he
really went into a deep sleep just before we commenced descent! Still,
he didn't cause a fuss at any point. He has watched Shrek 2 & 3
several times on the flight!
Singapore Airlines have lived up to their reputation for service and
particularly in dealing with kids. Joe was given a watch on each
leg of the flight and on the first leg (after being told that it was
his first time on a plane) they gave him a card signed by the whole
crew plus a teddy bear.
The lounge in Singapore Airport was a brilliant idea and I recommend
it for anyone coming out that route. We paid about 75 Sing dollars
(about 25 quid) for the 3 of us for 5 hours in the lounge, and this
entitled us each to a shower (towels and toiletries provided),
unlimited soft drinks and hot & cold buffet and internet access. I
paid extra (not much) for a half hour back and shoulder massage so we
got back on the plane feeling better than we had when we left
Heathrow! You could pay even less if you just wanted to use the shower, but we were glad of the peace and quiet away from the hubbub of the main airport.
The formalities in Auckland Airport went very smoothly. We joined the
New Zealand Residents queue and the immigration officer put the
"indefinite leave to remain" stamps in our passports and said "Welcome
to New Zealand!". Didn't have too long to wait for the bags and sailed
through customs. I went and retrieved the car from the long stay
carpark then loaded up and headed off to the house in Campbells Bay - very nice!
Still can't quite get our heads round the fact that this isn't a
holiday but I'm sure it will sink in over time. Very glad to have got
the journey out of the way, now we can get on with settling in.
Cheers,
Martin