Lois, I definitely think you should have a stopover (Hawaii sounds good) but having said that, don't let the jet lag thing spook you too much. We found LAX-SYD more tedious than SYD-SFO, but that was probably because we'd been travelling all day before we even boarded at LAX at 1 a.m. and had to transit to Canberra on arrival in SYD. Despite that, I went to work the day after we got home and was only a little more unproductive than usual. Definitely avoid any temptation to nap on your day of arrival, have a normal night's sleep and you should be rearin' to go next morning.

If you care to write me directly with suggestions, please do so at:
[email protected]

Thanks to all, Lois

Lois, sounds like you're getting your plan together. Sorry I've been away from the boards for so long.

It does look as though Hawaiian is going to start flying there in Mid May from Australia! (They are scheduled to start flying 18 May, but do not have the "official" permissions yet).

We're going to Hawaii in early May to meet up with the family, so you can imagine our disappointment at missing out on flying Hawaiian...and probably getting "new service" discounted fares!

It looks like they will be departing Sydney at 9:30pm and arriving in Hawaii in the AM, but not sure about the other direction yet.

If you have the time and have never been to Hawaii it is certainly a good opportunity to do so, and it WILL be less monotonous than doing it all in one flight.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you the best way to do it because there are so many factors that go into this sort of thing.

I do seem to remember that United has one of their bigger hubs at DC, so it may be that those connections will be easier for you.

Air New Zealand is a partner of United so you could end up flying on either ANZ or United plantes.

Qantas DOES fly some of its planes via Honolulu, so that is a possibility as well.

Finally, Air Canada flies from the mainland to Hawaii and to Sydney, but you may have to go through Vancouver or Toronto to do that.

It really depends on your needs, and you should try to find a good Travel Agent there to help you with this.

Qantas Holidays as well as United Vacations will both have package deals, so look around.

I'm afraid that's not much help, but it depends on when you're going, where you're going, how long you're going for...so many factors, it's hard to pin down on a forum like this!