The Reality of Flying That Far With Children

I’m not going to pretend the flight was easy, because it wasn’t. There were moments where I questioned our life choices, usually somewhere over the middle of nowhere when nobody could quite get comfortable and sleep felt impossible.

That said, it also wasn’t as bad as I had built it up to be in my head. We planned as much as we could with snacks,  downloaded films, activities, and the kind of “treats” I wouldn’t normally allow at home. There is something about being on a plane that makes rules feel a bit more flexible, and honestly, that helped.

The children surprised me. Yes, there were moments of boredom and the usual sibling disagreements, but there were also long stretches of quiet where they were completely absorbed in their own little worlds. I think what helped most was accepting that it wouldn’t be perfect. Once I let go of that expectation, everything felt easier.

Arriving and Deciding to Do Things Differently

Landing in New Zealand felt surreal. There’s something about stepping off a plane after that long and realising you are genuinely on the other side of the world. We knew before we went that we didn’t want to rely on tours or strict plans. With children, flexibility matters more than anything.

So instead, we decided to buy a car. It might sound like a big step, but it ended up being one of the best decisions we made for the whole trip.

Buying Our Car, Why We Chose a Mitsubishi Outlander

We bought our car through Simon Lucas, which made the whole process feel much more straightforward than I had expected. There is always that slight worry when you are doing something like this abroad, but it all felt very manageable.

We chose a Mitsubishi Outlander, and for a family trip like this, it made complete sense. It was big enough for all of us, plus luggage, without feeling like we were crammed in. That alone made a huge difference on longer drives. The higher driving position also gave us better views, which sounds like a small thing, but when you are driving through somewhere as beautiful as New Zealand, it really matters.

More than anything though, it gave us freedom. We didn’t have to rush. If we found somewhere we liked, we stayed longer. If the children were tired or fed up, we stopped. It took away that constant pressure of needing to be somewhere at a certain time.

Life on the Road, Slowing Down Properly

Travelling by road with children is never completely smooth, but there is something about having your own space that makes everything feel more manageable. We fell into a rhythm quite quickly. Mornings were slower than they would be at home. There were no strict schedules and nobody was rushing out the door. We would decide where we were heading that day over breakfast, often changing our minds halfway through.

There were the usual moments of course. Someone needing the toilet just after we had passed the last possible stop, snacks disappearing far quicker than expected, and the occasional “are we nearly there yet?” even when we had only just set off.

But there were also those quiet moments I didn’t expect. I loved watching the children look out of the window, completely absorbed in what they were seeing. Sitting together at the end of the day, all slightly tired but content. Those are the bits that stay with me.

The Journey Back, A Different Kind of Ending

Travelling back by road gave the trip a completely different feel compared to flying straight out and back. Instead of everything ending suddenly at an airport, it felt gradual. We retraced some of our journey, saw places differently the second time around, and had time to reflect on everything we had done.

By that point, the car felt like part of the experience rather than just a way of getting around. We didn’t want to leave it behind, so we arranged to have our Mitsubishi Outlander shipped and continued the journey by road once it reached the UK, which made the whole trip feel connected rather than split in two.

And oddly, the children seemed more settled too. They knew what to expect, they had their little routines, and everything just felt easier.

Would I Do It Again?

Honestly, yes.

Not because it was perfect, because it wasn’t, but because it worked for us as a family.

Flying that far with children is always going to be a challenge, and travelling by road comes with its own set of chaos, but together they balanced each other out. The flight was something to get through. The road trip was where everything actually happened. Sometimes the bigger, slightly more complicated option ends up being the one that gives you the most back.