Looking at travel plans... where would you 'stop over' for a few days on route from UK to Australia?

[MrsBigD]

Looks like it's all firming up and Easter 2008 will be the time we're moving to Australia. we'd love to take a few weeks to actually get 'down there' but can't make up my mind about route... all I know 100% is departure LHr arrival Sydney but inbetween???

Have to do a stop in Germany so family there can say their good byes especially to dd and ds.

Have you done it and if so where would you recommend with 2 young children? dd will then be 6 and ds 3.5

[CountessDracula]

Sri lanka

[Earlybird]

One of my best friends is a London based Australian. She and her family like to stop in Hong Kong for a few days to break up the journey. With 3 children under the age of 6, she says it makes all the difference.

[Dinosaur]

How about a week in Bali? I think it would be a fantastic place to go with children.

[wolfear]

Thailand and Singapore - done both on same route and both are great.

[BroccoliSpears]

Thailand. Prob not Bangkok with young children, but Koh Samui or Phuket would be lovely.

[hamabeads]

I have been to Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore and Bali and they are all lovely

[hamabeads]

PS my favourite country in south east Asia is Mayalsia. You can get about by taxi from town to town so very easy.

[nospeak]

If you want a really 'easy' break I would suggest Sentosa Island in Singapore. It is not exactly a cultural highlight but close to the airport and Singapore is so easy with children.

[MrsBigD]

thanks for all your replies so far

Not going for too much culture with the little ones it's a bit of a waste LOL dd and ds would probably love to climb about on ruines though and probably get us arrested LOL

[Earlybird]

Oh - meant to add that my friend always ensures the Hong Kong hotel has a swimming pool so the children can tire themselves physically after sitting still for so many hours on the plane.

[mosschops30]

Malaysia, great airline for a start and great country, wonderful places to visit and especially great for children

have also heard singapore very nice but never been

[MrsBigD]

dh just read the posts and he likes Singapore and Malaysia options

[ninedragons]

Another vote for Singapore, and SQ are fantastic. I'm told they're particularly so if you're travelling with children. The Singapore-Sydney leg is the Expat Express so if you need a sky cot/bulkhead seats let them know early.

Singapore is the most civilised place on earth.

[yeahinaminute]

Another Singapore vote here - very, very child friendly !!

[kjaysmum]

Have flown from Europe to NZ twice with Singapore air and once with Air Malaysia. I had an excellent experience with both these companies they are fantastic with kids. My one bad experience was doing a leg with KLM the Dutch airline who I found most unaccommodating. We had a singapore stopover built into our trip which was 24 hours in a hotel where a bus is arranged for taking you to and from your hotel. Singapore is a highly civilised country to travel through (they even sold soya milk and hagen das icecream in the seven eleven next to the hotel! Bearing in mind I was travelling alone with my three year old I can highly recommend singapore for a easy transit place.
In Malaysia we stopped for one night in Kuala Lumpur and took another flight to spend seven days on Lankawi island. This was obviously more of a travel experience(a fantastic one) but did mean we completely avoided any jet lag which was great. Best of luck

[eidsvold]

singapore, singapore, singapore - with accommodation at Swissotel Merchant Court.

Right on the river for bumboat rides, a short walk to merchant court - which was being renovated when we were there but still with cheap but fab eating places, a very short walk to the Metro - clean, efficient run on time metro, courtesy bus to Huge Mall and Raffles.

We just caught a cab to the Zoo - fabulous - can do night time visits to Zoo as well as breakfast with gorillas.

metro and skyrail to Sentosa Island

Swissotel - pool including children's pool with cafe sort of at the bar - can have evening meals there too, most importantly for you MrsBigD - day spa

we had such a fab break there.

WIth the courtesy bus to raffles we had dinner in an area right near there called Chijmes - fab.

Shuttle to and from airport - no problem getting one of those as we arrived.

Singapore is as direct a route in terms of as the crow flies as you can get. You have really broken the back of the journey when you get there and it is only an hour ahead of Aus so we found our five or six days there with the fab sunshine etc meant no jetlag when we got to Aus.

Singapore are also fab fab fab airlines.

[arfishy]

Singapore!

[quokka]

Hi mrsbigd, I live in s'pore now so If you decide to come we should catch up and have a coffee!

[MrsBigD]

hi quokka so you're in Singapore now eh? once we're decided I let you know and we can arrange a 'former West London Group members meet-up'

all the descriptions sound so good. Want to go now! LOL

When we went to NZ to visit family the first time with 18 month old dd we flew Singapore Airlines and they indeed were brilliant. Not sure whether it helped that dd was petite, cute, blond with huge blue eyes but the crew didn't mind at all that she ran up and down the aisles (neither did passengers because I reckon they preferred a happy runnign toddler to a screaming strapped in one). At one point dd didn't reappear for ages and I went looking for her. She was sitting with a group of stewards/esses and having a great time! . And when it was time to land and dd let rip the stewardess from 1st class came to see us to see whether she can alleviate dd's discomfort. Problem was dd was fine re pressure change, she just didn't want to sit down and be strapped in LOL

[wilbs]

Definitely would stay in Singapore, people are lovely and there is plenty to do to keep everyone happy! We took the kids to the Night Safari which was great, they are still talking about it a month later, we also did the duck bus tour which was good fun. Shopping is amazing and it really is so civilized, we stopped off en route to emigrating to Oz and all agreed we could happily stay there....

[superloopy]

We flew Singapore Airlines too and they really are great!!
Stayed on Sentosa Island which is just lovely, we stayed at the Shangri-la hotel/resort which is just perfect for families. Right on the beach, fab big swimming pool, water slides. Lovely rooms with HUGE comfy beds.
Airport transfers were easy to sort out and took maybe 30 mins travel time.
Exellent shopping in Singapore! Very easy to get about on the metro too if you go exploring.

[Olihan]

Everything that eidsvold said. Singapore is utterly amazing. Somuch to do in a small space, dirt cheap taxi rides to everywhere you want to go and they adore children there.

[MrsBigD]

Singapore it is then LOL

All we have to do now is decide on a date to book the flights for and how many days to spend in Singapore

[AussieSim]

I have done Bangkok and Dubai with children, but just enroute stopovers for a night or two rather than anthing like a proper holiday. Both were good, as the main objective was to break up the long trip. As far as a real break in a stopover destination I would say that Singapore and Hong Kong are for the less adventurous - which I am since kids other Asian destinations can be a bit more confronting.

When in Bangkok we just stayed in our fab hotel and hung out by the pool etc. Dubai we tried to get out and about a bit more, but it can be super super hot, so the option is stay in your hotel or head to an air conditioned mall complete with playcentre.

[sunnydelight]

Yet another vote for Singapore. So easy with kids and a very pleasant place to spend a few nights. Our kids adore the Marina Mandarin - wonderful staff and a gorgeous roof top pool (with bar!). If you're arranging your own accommodation their "family room" is two interconnecting rooms at a good rate. Gives everyone plenty of space.