Anyone have suggestion for stopovers to and from Australia from Philadelphia? Hawaii? New Zealand--just trying to get the basics about flight times etc. Thanks

If you want to break your trip up then I would stop over in Hawaii as its only about 5 hours from LA and then its 8 hours or so from Australia. You can do that flying AA and Qantas if you are with Oneworld or you could think of flying into Fiji with Air Pacific and then on to Australia with them. If you are with the Star group then you could fly to Tahiti with Air NZ from LA ( I think about 5 - 6 hours and thense onto Australia via Auckland stopping at both if you are allowed to do so. Or just flying into Auckland for a stopover. It does pay to stop in LA I think because when you add the flight time from Philly to LA plus the time allowed for the changeover to International and add the time to any of the mid-way destinations then it does make for a long trip - there are lots of good hotels at the airport in LA<BR>HTH.

Hi<BR>We flew from BWI to LAX on the first day and then stayed over for the night leaving LA thr next afternoon and then directly to Sydney. If you can, and have the time, I would consider stopping in Hawaii in the same manner. Staying overnight certainly made the trip easier on us.<BR><BR>Have a great trip!!

If you have the time, try to have a 2 or 3 night stopover, it's much more relaxing, gives you a proper break. With a 1 night stopover, you feel as if you've just transferred from the airport and checked into your hotel and then you're doing it all again, in reverse. The only good thing about it is you get to sleep horizontally (which after a long flight feels wonderful!)<BR>We have often stopped in Hawaii on our way from Australia to LA but there are direct flights from Sydney and from Melb direct to LA with Qantas(about a 14 hour flight).<BR>Kay

I would just go straight to NZ and spend some time there first. There really isn't that much of a flight difference if you stop in Hawaii (look at flight times from Phili-Hawaii-Aus vs Phili-Aus). How many times will you want to make a flight like this? Might as well do it in one sitting and soak up as much as you can Down Under.