What I Did on My Summer Vacation (Part 2)

I thought I’d highlight some of the travel details from this trip because we did some things very right, and some things we will not do again. Hopefully you can learn from our mistakes!

Let’s start with flights. Previously there was only one direct option from Auckland: the Air New Zealand flight to Houston. The kids and I have done this flight about seven times in the past, though the last time was January of 2020. (Concerned about kids and long haul flights? Here are my tips.) A few months ago American Airlines started a direct flight from Auckland to Dallas. We decided to go with this flight for a number of reasons: Jon’s been working in Dallas, we wanted to see if this flight compared to the Houston flight, and it was about $6000 cheaper for our family to go this route.

It quickly became apparent that this choice was perhaps not the best decision. The American flight left early afternoon, not in the evening, so the kids weren’t anywhere close to sleeping like they would on the Houston flight. Instead, they stayed up watching movies (which admittedly came from a much larger in-flight movie library than Air New Zealand). By the time they were ready to go to bed, there was no way they were going to get a good night sleep like they can when the flight leaves in the evening. I also realize that I had not properly prepared them for the sleeping arrangements on a non-Sky-Couch flight. They were completely perplexed on how they were supposed to sleep, and there was a lot of grumbling and complaints about body parts touching.

I had also forgotten about how grumpy American flight attendants can be. My son periodically gets motion sickness, and this flight was unfortunately one of those times. After using up all of our waste bags, I took them to the back of the plane to speak with the flight attendants about where to get more. The very crotchety man I spoke to told me to check all of our seat pockets, and I got an exaggerated eye roll when I explained that we had already used all of them. He then grabbed a bag from another passenger and shoved it in my hand. When I asked about where to dispose of our used bags, he looked at me like I was crazy and told me to put them in the lavatory. (Apologies to anyone on our flight who used that toilet after us. I’m sure it didn’t smell great!) I think if the same thing had happened on an Air New Zealand Flight, I would’ve had flight attendants bringing us ginger ale for his stomach and a wine for me, plus frequent check ins throughout the flight to make sure everyone was feeling better.

To be fair, the return flight went much better. The flight left at nearly 11 pm, and the kids took it upon themselves to change into their pyjamas even before takeoff so they could go immediately to sleep. Since they knew what to expect, they were much better sports about arranging themselves so they could both get some sleep. I also didn’t have any fear about losing our luggage during the great Air New Zealand lost luggage debacle over the summer. There was no risk of our bags ending up in the Auckland Airport baggage claim purgatory.

Next up is a car. This one is much less dramatic. We rented from Hertz and got a mid-sized SUV to haul around the four of us and all of our luggage. It was a bit tight with four large suitcases, two smaller ones, and hand luggage for everyone. Since we were flying to Texas, there was no need to get an international driver’s license as the state recognises our New Zealand ones. If you’re travelling to the US, double check the states’ motor vehicle department to see what their requirements are. If you do need one, they’re relatively simple to get from AA.

Each state also has their own car seat requirements for kids. In Texas, the general rule is 8 and over or 4’9’’ and over. Given these criteria, my son was not legally required to be in a carseat or booster. We used our mifold seats as we left the airport, then made a quick stop by Target to pick up booster seats for the remainder of the trip. We got two so there were no fights along the way. We got basic boosters that cost about $30 and we ended up leaving them in the car when we turned in the rental. This was much easier than trying to carry the carseats through the airports, and I hope they went to a good home after us.

Onto our accomodations. We moved around in Texas, from Dallas to Austin to Houston and back to Dallas. We stayed in hotels, with family, and AirBnbs. By far my preferred home away from home is on AirBnb. There are so many to choose from, and I like having a whole place for our family to spread out. (Plus laundry becomes a very big deal when on extended trips with kids.) Our longest time in any one location was in Houston where we stayed in this Airbnb. It wasn’t much to look at from the outside, but it was a great location and layout for us.

I’ll wrap up with travel insurance. I decided to purchase Southern Cross Travel Insurance. For under NZ$300 we got all sorts of benefits, from getting sick and having to change our travel plans, some medical coverage while in American (though I shudder to think what that experience would’ve been like had we actually needed to use it) car insurance deductibles, etc. On a previous trip with bought a month-long Sedera membership that only covered health issues in the US and still cost about US$500. Our trip was uneventful, but it gave me a lot of piece of mind that we were covered if something terrible happened.