New Zealand: Flying for the long haul with two kids in tow

Five flights in 45 hours via five countries with two kids under four, all heading to New Zealand. Caroline Hennessy presents her ‘long haul travel with kids‘ survival guide.

DADDY, when do they bring the porridge,” a little voice from the middle seat piped up. My husband and I exchanged glances over her head. In the list of things that we had prepared our three-and-a-half-year-old for before travelling to New Zealand — going to sleep on the plane, using the toilet on the plane, sitting in a seat on the plane for a long time — we never thought to warn her that there wouldn’t be porridge on the plane.

Five flights, 45 hours, five countries — and two kids under four. When I kissed a Kiwi on a random New Year’s Eve in Cork, little did I realise that I was setting in train a series of events that would have us sitting into the car at 7am on a cold December morning, sleepy 15-month-old Maya and her big sister Hannah tucked up in the back as we embarked on the epic trip to New Zealand. We were off to spend three and a half weeks with Scott’s family who live outside Nelson in the north of the South Island. It was a chance to exchange winter for summer, hang out with his family and introduce the girls to their first cousins. That’s if we all made it in one piece — and were still talking to each other when we got to the other side.