Hi all, Sorry, it's as short as possible!
Back Story:
Extensive (cheap-mid) travel experience, but looking for more minds/opinions, please.
My wife's Irish, we live in Melbourne. We like to visit her home (near Dublin) every few years.
Last time, our son was 4 months old. We flew Melb-Singapore-Paris direct. 3 day stop, then Ryanair to Dublin. Same in reverse.
We were treated like kings, due to the baby. And he just slept in supplied bassinet, or sat & dribbled. The most mellow he'd been in 4 months.
This Trip:
He's 2.5 years old and FULLLLL of energy & curiosity. Everyone loves him, well-mannered good kid, but he's a handful. Constant management.
My wife insists on leaving 10th June, flying direct, 3 week trip. We'll squeeze-in a ~5 day side-trip to a family-friendly Spanish island - That's my one request for the "holiday", as we'll be sitting on a couch for 3 weeks, otherwise.
I see a ton of money & pain taking-place.
The Problem:
Her: We'll fly Etihad, as it's the shortest flights, do it all in one hit. She'll be grand. Massive blinkers.
Me: I've done those routes inside-out. This is not the time to use this method. Not fair on the little man, and we'll all pay for it badly.
Solutions?
She wants the shortest path (avoids Asia) and doesn't want a stopover in the Middle East… so I'm over a barrel.
Maybe we go via USA, instead?? Melb-LAX/SanFran-Florida… have stopover holiday there, intead… then Dublin???
Have a stop over somewhere. Any reason why she wants to avoid the middle east? It'll be hot but Abu Dhabi is a pretty cool place to visit. It's amazing to see a place that not that long ago was just desert and now is a massive city with really modern architecture.
You'll want to look for a good deal on a hotel with a pool though as it'll be 35º at least each day.
That flight to Abu Dhabi is horrid. It's 13 hours. Yes it is only a short hop to Europe after but your toddler will become tired and frustrated and you'll pay the price. I'd avoid going that way personally but it's up to you/your wife.
Going via the US isn't a bad idea, a bit strange and out of the way maybe but you could do a few days in San Fran then head to Dublin. Would break up the trip quite nicely. Aer Lingus actually flies direct to Dublin from San Fran. It's a long way though it's 10 hours.
On a side note if you haven't done already make sure he has a Irish passport done as the rules keep changing for getting EU passports by inheritance. Even if he gets one and doesn't use it much as long as he's had one he shouldn't have an issue getting one later in life.