International Travel Advice

I'm planning to travel to the UK late July to surprise my brother for his 40th and take my son with me (who will be 8 months then). A friend was going to go with me but can't now and I'm a bit anxious about doing it on my own. J is actually quite a good traveller - has flown to Invercargill at 2 months and driven to Auckland and back at 4 months and was great both times. I however, am a bit of a phobic flyer and am worried that my anxiety will rub off on him. Any advice on which airlines are most baby friendly with staff that are likely to help? Is it better to stopover on the way or go straight there? Any other tips?

I had a major fear of flying (came about after Sept 11) I have since done a flying with out fear course which helped. BUT when we flew in February to OZ I had Cooper with me which meant I was totally focused on him and didn't think once about what I normally think of when flying!!! It went so well that I'm off again to Oz in 3 weeks and booked another trip to Rarotonga in August. Normally I work myself up so much that I only fly once a year!

We went with Emirites which were great. They gave Coop a hand puppet before take off to distract him. I had a bassinette (great for extra leg room if J is too big by then) they also had jars of baby food and a little pack which had a bib and wipes.

I've only ever flown to the UK with stop overs but that was pre-kids so not too sure about that, might be better just stopping in transit?

100% emirates...........flown every other one and they are the most perfuuuuuueccccccccccccccccccccct flight you could ask for .........so baby friendly its unbelievable. If the baby cries and your getting 'up-e-ti' then they come and take them for a walk while you calm down have a wine or two :)

I would not reccomemnd Lufthansa for travelling with baby, we just felt like we were a nuisance and completely ignored. singapore airlines were great, although we found with our long baby the basinette was a bit short. The tip about stopping over to break the flight is a good one, you can at least start the second leg not covered in sick and poo and have a sleep in a bed. Again i would reccommend that in Asia, Singapore is a good start rather than through the states, Asians love kids and you will be given so much more help (sorryhope that doesn't sound like a patronising statement about Asian people) You can book a room at Singapore airport that has a bed, shower and loo if you want to do a longer break but not a stopover IYKWIM. I hate take off and landing, but concentrating on Fay and keeping her distracted was the best thing to allay that fear in me and she has no fears whatsoever. she flew round the world and a bit more before her first birthday.
Good luck