We've booked the flights

We booked direct with Air New Zealand using ther freephone number. Lady was really nicee and dead helpful.

We are flying at 4.15pm on 20th July at a cost of ?1972.20 (this is for a year return). They fly same time everyday, via LA for 2 hrs and arrive Auckland 5.15 am which is a stupid time.

For the exact same flight the travel agent quoted us ?2608.20, expedia ?2020 and Ebookers ?2056.80 & Air NZ website ?1988.80

Two tcks one way with Malay on 19th ?1272.40
20th ?1158
24h ?1192.80
Virgin return on 24th ?2136
Late June with Malay return ?1128
Aug 15th 1592
June BA return ?811 + tax each
June Air NZ return ?800 + tax each
6th July Air NZ ?1788
Korean 20th July one way ?1174.40

Thats all the options we looked at. Prices jump significantly at the begginning of July coz of school/uni hols. Cheapest time to fly is April/May I think she said. Hope that helps a little.

Aren't you off today. Best of luck and have a fab time. let us all know how you get on.

Helen.
:006:

Cool post, yeah prices were cheapest in april and may when we looked also. Summer holidays make a big difference obviously.

Hi Helen,

Thanks for popping all the info about the flights up, we're going to have to start looking into our flights now, we should be able to fly out 1st/2nd Aug so I'm hoping the flight differences between the ones you posted and then aren't so different.

Either way we'll be getting to go which is great (all providing our WHV are accepted of course) :icon_lol:

Hope your plans are going well

Glad it was of some help. We were gonna go Aug 7th so Mike could see his ma for her b/day and we could go to my bridesmaids wedding but on the 7th with Air NZ the price was ?850 each + tax which came to ?1100 each. Malyasian Air on the 15th was ?618 + tax each making ?1592 for both of us for a year return.

As it turns out in the end this would have been cheaper than Air NZ for 20th July but we couldn't wait that long and we didn't actually work out the price for Malay till after we booked and neglected to compare. Doh! But then I'm impatient now so another three weeks would have been a nightmare and i wouldn't have had the satisfaction of leaving work before the end of my temp contract and seeing them struggle to find cover. (but that bitterness is a whole other story...)

Anyway, we found it pays to shop around and just use the travel agents as a library service then do your own research on the net and pay the air line direct. Also availability for then is dropping fast!

Plans going well. House full of boxes and old friends are coming out of the woodwork who wanna say good bye. Not sure we'll have tim to see them all.

I'm sure youre WHV will be fine.

[quote:4f61fa898c="The Waters'"]They fly same time everyday, via LA for 2 hrs and arrive Auckland 5.15 am which is a stupid time.[/quote:4f61fa898c]
We found the early arrival time to work out fairly well. We flew in (early summer) as the sun was rising - nice view, and emerged from the airport about 6:30 or 7:00. Our hotel let us check in early, so we were able to freshen up and sleep for a few hours. Then we had time to explore in the afternoon and evening. By the next morning we were fairly well recovered. It would have been brutal if we would have had to wait until afternoon to check into the hotel. I hope the timing works out for you better than you think. Bon voyage!

We did the same thing in buying the tix and planning the whole deal before we told anyone. That was SO nervous a phone call to my parents. We live in Colorado and my mom and dad are in Minnesota, 1000 miles away. We have a great relationship and the first word out of dad's mouth was "cool!" That took the bite out of it. They travel quite a bit anyway and have already asked if they can come for Christmas.
My wife's family is here and we see them all the time, and they are taking it more difficult. They don't have the means to come visit more than once a year maybe, and they will miss us more because of the current proximity.
We are glad to hand off out terrier of 4 years to my brother here, who she knows quite well. That was far better than the torture (and $$) of the vet and the travel and the quarantine and so forth.
Sept 26th we fly, and that LAX 9:40 departure sounds like a good idea to me. Have a sleep and wake up missing a whole day!
More Later,
Cord72

Hi Cord72,

Good luck with your move, September isn't that long away, hope all your plans for the move are coming together nicely.

You'll be arriving in time for Spring/Summer which will be great, I hear at the moment the NZ weather is a bit 'chilly' so it's going to be good to miss that out.

Hi Selchi,

I think the fear with the early arrival is that we won't be able to check into a hotel till much later. We don't wanna have to book for the night before when we wont actually be sleeping there. I guess if we contact them and ask nicely they might be 'accommodating' (sorry, couldn't resist). But otherwise having a whole day will be cool. kinda hoping we can buy a car that day too.

Hi Cord, Our parents aren't as far away as that. Will miss them tho. They were much less upset when we said we were going for a yr WV as not as permanent as PR but they are convinced we won't come home. prob won't either. good luck with ur flights. not really all that long away either now.

Bye for now.

Hello,

I think the easiest thing with friends and family to help 'ease' the blow is to say you're just playing things by ear.

We're going on a 2 yr WHV but plan to stay longer if we fall in love with it too. We've said to people we may be back in 6 months if it doesnt work out (which it will I just know it!!) or may stay longer if it doesnt but to try not to have any expectations just incase.

Its such a weird thing as if you're the one moving its all fun and exciting but for the people we're leaving behind its exciting for them but at the same time they just dont want us to go.

Good thing is that at the end of the day you're only a day away from them :icon_biggrin: and with email its so easy to keep in touch with everyone. I actually speak more to my friend in NZ than I do to people who stay in the same city as me!!

I know what u mean. my mum is quite upset and all i wan to do is tell her all our exciting news but don't wanna say to much and upset here. we talk every day on the phone and i guess we won't be able to do hat now. also they won't ever be able to afford to visit so will all be don to us to visit them. never know. maybe we will be able to sponsor them to move over permantly if we stay...

we said if we hate it or run out of money (not that we have a budget or any money but hoping on work) we will come home sooner but as i said we think we will prob stay and they think we will too.

and as u said else where will be great place to bring up kids if we ever get round to haing them.