Stop over to New Zealand

Those gardens you mention look amazing!

Ellianne
We were in the cafe in one of the ‘trees’ in the Garden on the Bay looking over at that hotel when we got into a conversation with another couple. They were staying there.

I asked them why, if they were lucky enough to be staying there , they were over here looking over there? Why weren’t they up by the Fabulous pool?
Their answer was that although only hotel guests are allowed to swim , all and sundry are allowed up to have a look around.
They felt like performing seals??

Wow, interesting Witzend! It must have been strange to go back later.
I'm not name dropping here, (well not much!), but when I asked New Zealander Monica Galetti which was her favourite hotel ever, she said Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. I think it is the one where the swimming pool goes right over the roof.

Many, many moons ago we stayed at the Raffles before it was tarted up out of all recognition - it was in the 70s when we were living in the Gulf and I was working at the airport and qualified for 10% (standby) tickets.

People asked why on earth we wanted to stay at the Raffles, since it was rather faded and run down, but we loved it! Reminiscent of something out of Somerset Maugham. I still remember the pool area being littered with frangipani flowers. And of course we had the obligatory Singapore Slings...

We’ve been back since - a BiL and Singaporean SiL had their big Chinese wedding banquet there in 2000 but TBH I’d barely have recognised the place.

I really don’t care for long haul flights now, but if we ever go back it’ll be the Shanghai-La again, but only in one of the rooms with the semicircular balconies overlooking the pool and gardens. Although we’d booked one of those rooms last time, they tried to put us in the fancy new wing - no balcony and windows that don’t open! - but we weren’t having it. I hate windows that don’t open - they make me claustrophobic.

These stopovers all sound lovely. Maybe I'm going to have to try a different route next time. I haven't been to NZ since my working days, and had to get there and back in two weeks. Now with more time I think I can see the benefit of tacking on some additional places.

The first time we stayed over in Singapore we stayed at Changi village and took a boat over to Palau Ubin. Fabulous- a small island like a tropical jungle. You can walk round or hire a bike.

Witzend, I too stayed at the Shangri-La on my way to Oz. It was so handy for shops/market and of course the Raffles. A brilliant experience. I'd promised myself a visit to the orchard gardens and bird garden while I was there too.
Well worth a visit to such a clean place.

Like Witzend, we also stayed in the Singapore Shangri La hotel and we loved it!! IMO it was worth paying the extra for the "Horizon Club" room - not only a gorgeous room, but it included really good "extras" - like afternoon tea and early evening cocktails - all for no extra charge. These (along with breakfast) were served in a delightful dining/lounge area, on a high floor with an amazing view across the city. We had our cocktails there in comfort and we didn't bother with Raffles! We stayed three nights - and though it was well worth doing.

The trick is not to go to bed first thing when you arrive in the morning however tired you are. Keep going until the late afternoon /early evening to let your body clock adjust to the time zone.

Business class is very expensive but we aren’t very rich just dh had open heart surgery the year before and it was a once in a lifetime trip for our 40th. Trouble is NZ is so beautiful it never is a once in a lifetime! We would love to go again but as time goes on sadly probably won’t.

Also the central Otago cycle trail is amazing

With family in NZ we have been many many times. We have done stopovers but to us it only prolongs the journey. We now fly direct just changing planes. Avoid LAX if possible and obviously (now ) HK. Best Airline? Definitely Air NZ. Paying for at least Economy Plus seats is worth every penny. Best rail trip? Dunedine to the Tjieri Gorge (we have done them all over the years.) ( think thats how you spell it. Best experience? Stewart Island. Enjoy

We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary last November and I particularly wanted to stay in Singapore and experience Raffles etc. We had two nights there and I hated it! It was 100% humidity, we had a central (Chinatown) hotel which wasn’t brilliant, we walked everywhere because the taxi from the airport was so expensive, it frightened us to death. All the streets/restaurants around us seemed to sell only noodles and it all smelt the same. My h has an allergy to MSG so we darent try any of that even if we fancied it so we ended up in McD’s! We went to Raffles as recommended for afternoon tea but we felt ripped off. Did have a Singapore Sling, much better value for money.

We couldn’t wait to get back to the airport which is magnificent and stunning and so preferable to the centre of town. We flew with Singapore Airlines in economy which was a bit of a shock, we’d no idea it would be so basic! The second part was Air NZ which was an improvement.

We loved every minute from getting off the plane in Auckland, through the cruise round NZ, Tasmania and back to Sydney. However, on the return trip, our flight was delayed which meant we missed the connection in Singapore. This was great news as the airline put us up in a lovely hotel near the beach and it was a different experience of Singapore altogether, much better and pleasant.

We were so lucky as our first hotel was right near one of those markets and we wandered through finding a replacement suitcase as ours had been damaged. We reckon we just missed catching the virus as it must have been around then. I’d love to go to NZ again, fallen in love with it but we’re probably too old now. I’d have to fly at least premium economy though, nothing less!

We’ve twice stopped over in Singapore on the way to Oz (I refuse to do it in one go) - dh has relatives there, but we stayed at the lovely Shangri-La hotel, thoroughly recommended! Beautiful gardens and pool, and just a short walk from shops.

Last time we flew from HR we paid to use one of the lounges.
It did make the waiting round at the airport much more relaxing. I think it cost about £70 but to be honest by the time you’ve wandered round and had a few drinks and some food there’s not much in it. We had a meal and free drinks and a comfy seat.

fascinating - planning our trip for when we can travel. Would have never thought about going via LA. Definitely want to spend a few days in Singapore. I dream of Business Class - but the prices are totally mind boggling and surely only for the VERY rich.

US airports can be a pain in the ar&e, last year I sailed through immigration, OH got pulled in because the fingerprint machine wouldn’t work, she appeared a hour later - there was a queue waiting to be checked over.
LOL

We stopped over in Singapore for two days but in reality it was only 1 by the time we'd got to the hotel. It was far too hot - there were forest fires so everyone was wearing face masks and my husband couldn't cope with the heat and humidity so we sat in the hotel bar for hours waiting for our pick up to go back to the airport. He went back on his own a year later and did a stop in KL - he had a hotel room in the airport for a few hours so got some sleep and a shower. Coming back he only had an hour so couldn't do it. If we ever go back again we would try to do an upgrade as we can't cope with the travel now.

My DIL has done the trip for many years and prefers the LA stop although when they came at Christmas they just got on with it and flew straight through with two small children!

We have a trip planned to visit my sister in Australia, it’s a long way so I’ve booked a 10 day stopover trip in Thailand on the way out in November.
Deposit is paid but wether it is able to go ahead I expect Thailand will be OK, OZ is doubtful so maybe we will have to reschedule.

Just when different countries are allowing travel is going to be very difficult to predict.

I know people who go to NZ every year and have done so for about 20 years. When we went about 4 years ago they advised us not to go with Air NZ because they have a brief stop over in LA and apparently the US customs can make life very uncomfortable. We flew Singapore airways to Singapore with a 1 hour stopover, then NZ airways to Christchurch. Service was brilliant but we paid extra to fly business class which meant you got a folding bed chair. My hat is off to those who fly economy.
You must go on the Trans Alpine Railway from Christchurch to Greymouth - it is awesome. In Auckland Mollie’s is a fabulous boutique hotel which I would thoroughly recommend. It is a wonderful country with beautiful scenery and if it were not for the long flights we would go again.

We did two stopovers, Las Vegas and Fiji going out and Hong Kong and Singapore coming back. Well perhaps avoid Hong Kong for obvious reasons, but the other three are amazing in very different ways. We spent three nights in each place, our true holiday of a lifetime. Hope you get to do yours, the planning is definitely one of the best bits!

Singapore is my favourite and Singapore Airlines or Air NZ if possible. NZ is so interesting but the journey is so long. I have family there so it's extra special to me.
I upgraded to Economy Plus on Cathay Pacific once via Hong Kong and the flight was good but would not recommend going via HK at the moment.

Like Ellianne I always travel with Air New Zealand. They are simply the best airline in the sky and choosing to go via the US does, as you said, break the journey in two. I must admit to often having a stopover in the US but even with no stopover it is the best route.

We found Singapore and KL interesting. I would have said HK but I’m not sure if I want to go there ever again.
I’ve not flown to NZ from the U.K. so it might be a good idea If your time is flexible to get a round the world ticket. I think you can have about 5 stops so you could see quite a bit of the world.
The downside is that you can spend quite a bit of time in airports.

Did return journey with just a fuel stop and then onwards again a total of 23 hours flying. Never do that again a stop over is essential!