New Zealand at Christmas - any MSE ideas please?

pandora205

Hi

My daughter and boyfriend are living in New Zealand and planning to stay until next year, so I'd love to visit and my 15 yo daughter wants to come too. Trouble is we're limited to school hols as she is doing GCSEs and want to go when it's hot, which means Christmas and New Year.

I've just started looking at prices of flights to Auckland which seem to be from around £1300 upwards, with no reductions for a 15 yo. I'll also need car hire and accommodation (daughter lives in Ahipara), which is going to cost a fortune.

Any ideas from seasoned travellers welcomed, thanks.

flutterbyuk25

Not much help, but I am also going to NZ at Christmas/New Year. I booked my flight 2 months ago. Flying with Emirates, out Dec17th back Jan 4th, via Dubai (not stopover, just changing planes). Cost was £1212.

I found cheaper ones around the £1000-£1100 mark but they had 10hr stops.

Look at www.kayak.co.uk put all your details in and it will tell you the prices of all flights, and has a table showing flight prices for that month so you may find its cheaper to fly a day or two different.

I booked via Quidco and got 1.5% cashback, and paid on my Tesco CC to get Clubcard points.

Also search for voucher codes, when I was looking there was £25 off Emirates if you paid on a HSBC Mastercard.

HTH

x

boombap

Flights should be a little cheaper if you're willing to travel on Christmas Day.

As NZ is such a long flight away you really should try and spend at least three weeks there if possible - you will 'loose' a couple of days due to jetlag. If I remember correctly the schools here in the UK go back quite early in January so I guess leaving on Christmas Day won't give you much time as your daughter has to be back.

Do you know what your daughters' plans are for after her GSCEs? if she's going onto a college then she might have much more generous holiday times so you could put it back a year.

Travelling out at Easter time would mean cheaper flights and the weather should still be ok then but not as hot as it would be at Christmas although I think the Easter half term is when you've gotta get serious about revision

HTH

S

pandora205

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

Not much help, but I am also going to NZ at Christmas/New Year. I booked my flight 2 months ago. Flying with Emirates, out Dec17th back Jan 4th, via Dubai (not stopover, just changing planes). Cost was £1212.

I found cheaper ones around the £1000-£1100 mark but they had 10hr stops.

Look at www.kayak.co.uk put all your details in and it will tell you the prices of all flights, and has a table showing flight prices for that month so you may find its cheaper to fly a day or two different.

I booked via Quidco and got 1.5% cashback, and paid on my Tesco CC to get Clubcard points.

Also search for voucher codes, when I was looking there was £25 off Emirates if you paid on a HSBC Mastercard.

HTH

x

Thanks for this - I'll look at that website. I wouldn't mind a stopover somewhere though this would limit the time we could spend there. And I'd forgotten about Clubcard points - I have a couple of hundred pounds worth I could use (though I'm aware you said you earned points rather than used them).

I've also discovered my younger daughter breaks up on 18th December which makes things a little cheaper. We can't really do 3 weeks as she is doing very well at GCSEs and has several A grades so far and she will have more modules in January. And my elder daugher who is living in NZ only has a 12 month (working holiday) visa so she would be back by Easter. I was rather hoping to have a really hot holiday too - as they are in the far north of the North Island.

I'd better start saving a bit harder I think!

alanrowell

Christmas is peak time for travel to the antipodes so unless you book nearly a year in advance you are going to pay through the nose for the pleasure.

I'd start some serious grovelling at your daughter's school and see if you can travel a week earlier then you'll get the 3 weeks & a good chance of cheaper fares.

Just remember to allow a couple of days when you get home for jet lag unless you want your daughter to have a really bad start to her term

olias

Can't help with the airfares, have just had a look at Air NZ and you are looking at £1100 minimum. You really must look at the options of a defferent time of year to christmas. You could potentially get £400 off EACH. Is it worth paying £800 more just to get warmer weather? If you go for a round the world ticket, you could probably have a couple of days stop in fiji or similar either outbound or return to get a sun/beach fix!

As far as MSE tips go, are you planning on staying the whole time near your daughters or travelling around with or without your daughter?
What I would suggest is staying in hostels. A lot of the better ones are great and have private ensuite rooms and some stunning locations. Also internal flights can be really cheap if you shop around. If you are travelling that far, you really must try and see the south Island

Olias

In_debt_5

The most expensive time to travel unfortunately. All I can think is What about meeting somewhere half way. a 2 week holiday in Thailand for example

richardw

alanrowell wrote: »

Just remember to allow a couple of days when you get home for jet lag unless you want your daughter to have a really bad start to her term

Good point.

I've been to NZ and it is a very long way.

To maximise the time there perhaps plan to be ready for an evening flight on Friday 18th December, they go at about 9pm or later from Heathrow.

Where in the UK are you?

pandora205

Thanks for the help everyone. I do need to think about jet-lag and effects on both my daughter and me. I wish we could spare longer though my work and her studying limit it (not to mention my son who will be 18 who doesn't want to come and lives at home, but that's another issue).

I think I'm resigned to paying quite a bit as it really has to be over that break (as eldest is likely to return to UK Jan/Feb unless she extends her visa). She's being careful with money (ie keeping her return fare!) but wouldn't be able to take a holiday to meet me, and I wanted to see her and the boyfriend's family anyway. I'll just have to cash in an ISA or so!

As for travelling, I was thinking about breaking the journey - both flying and travelling - then spending the bulk of the time with my elder daughter. Unfortunately there isn't room to stay with her so we will probably be looking at a hostel (unless dd can wangle a good deal - she's house cleaning holiday lets just now).

Heathrow is my most likely airport as I'm about 40 miles north of there, though Birmingham would also be possible. I'm still trawling through flight deals and trying to find something more reasonable if anyone finds a bargain. My ex mentioned a site called something like cheapflights.com but it didn't look that cheap to me. Must give him a call.

Does anyone know about breaking the (flight) journey? Do I pay extra for the privilege of this? If there are a few hours (say 8 or 9) are we at liberty to go on a city tour etc. while we wait? Thanks

pandora205

I spoke to my ex who gave me this website:

www.cheapticket.co.uk

who do indeed have very cheap flights advertised, though I wonder if it is a ploy to get people to phone (and they don't include taxes).

http://www.cheapticket.co.uk/index.aspx

becominganobsessivesaver

I'd try and fly via Hong Kong if flying with Air NZ - much nicer route than via LA. Think it was about a 9pm Friday night flight we got. Also look into whether you can join the airline loyalty programme as you could rack up quite a few miles.

Shop around for car hire cos you can save a fortune