Tomorrow, my family of five is flying to Sydney, Australia. (See how we’re doing it on miles and points!) We’ll be there a few days, and then we’ll fly to Auckland, New Zealand. This is a huge trip for us, and the biggest international trip we’ve undertaken with kids.
Actually, it’s going to be the most ambitious international trip for my husband and I as well. Sure, we’ve been to Russia a few times, but translators and facilitators held our hands the entire time.
I’m actually really anxious about the trip. I worry about us on the extra long flights. Also, I’m terrified of driving on the left side of the road in New Zealand.
If we can make it through this trip without anyone getting sick or injured, I will call it a success.
For the next 2+ weeks, posts will be light and I won’t be as responsive to comments.
Please follow Miles For Family on Instagram and Facebook for photos of our adventure!
See you on the flip side.
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Can’t wait to hear all about it!
I was terrified of the left hand road thing too but it wasn’t too bad. I kept on hitting the windshield wipers when I meant to hit the turning blinkers! Also we found we tended to get a too far to the left side of the lane for some reason- came really close to hitting parked cars a few times. The roundabouts took some getting used to as well. Hope you have a great trip!
Thanks, Wendy!
I find that I get quickly used to driving on the left side after the first 15 minutes. The biggest annoyance is the turn signal/windshield wiper thing, and funny enough, I’ve driven cars in Australia that had it both ways (one was US-style, the other car was configured as Wendy described). Oh, and you may have to switch your favorite smartphone navigation app to metric units – it’s a little weird being told that something is a mile away when the signs are in KM). BTW Google Maps allows you to download maps offline to save data – just zoom out of the map area as far as you can while on WI-FI and hit download.
Try to get a rental car that has Apple Carplay or Android Auto, it’s a huge benefit to have the map on the big screen and familiar tunes on hand (assuming you have songs downloaded to your phone). I don’t know about New Zealand, but in Outback Australia, there were many areas that had no radio stations available and I was quite thankful that I had music stored on my phone.
Have a great trip!!
Thank you!