Alternative travel to NZ; no direct flight

[Heynekamp]

Hello,
Curious as to who all has experimented with alternate ways to get to NZ from the US? Multi-day island stopovers? Airlines other than Air NZ? Departing from somewhere other than LAX or SFO? I'm looking for a more adventurous route next time. I would also like to explore more some of the tropical islands in between if there is a method that doesn't hugely increase cost. Would love to hear of some other adventurer stories.

[dbonnett]

We flew Air Pacific (Fiji Airlines) from LAX to Nadi and spent 4 days on the beach in Fiji as part of our transition - it was a great opportunity to catch our breath and relax as a family since the prior 4+ months had been absolutely breakneck and our daughter had been more or less pushed to the periphery. The cost of the flights wasn't any higher than Air NZ (maybe even less) and we had no issues with bags etc, not even my 40+ kg bike case!

I would definitely recommend something like this since you otherwise go from full speed on the US end to full speed on the NZ side.

[72andsunny]

Hello,
Curious as to who all has experimented with alternate ways to get to NZ from the US? Multi-day island stopovers? Airlines other than Air NZ? Departing from somewhere other than LAX or SFO? I'm looking for a more adventurous route next time. I would also like to explore more some of the tropical islands in between if there is a method that doesn't hugely increase cost. Would love to hear of some other adventurer stories.

You can catch the cruise ships when they realign in the (nz) spring. I see them advertised for around 2k (nz), which includes a flight from Auckland to LAX.

[Elaine_NZ]

Air Tahiti Nui/Air NZ fly AKL-Tahiti (Papeete)-LAX.

Try searching for possible routes via Skyscanner.

[jawnbc]

You could bop a bit north and come via the non-stop flight Vancouver-Auckland on NZ--but it'll probably increase the price significantly. Coming via Honolulu is also an option: Hawaiian Air flies from a lot of US cities to HNL and then have 3 flights a week to Auckland. A more circuitous route would be via Asia: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur are each options.

[Azkateaz]

We took a 3 week cruise from LA to Sydney and flew over from there. It was not much more than flights + accommodation for 3 weeks so it worked out well, but the timing during the year for when they do trans-Pacific cruises is limited.

[Heynekamp]

Interesting stuff! I've been looking at some of the sailing trip logs. Very tempted to try that one day. Sounds like an incredible adventure! How many sail on this forum?

[72andsunny]

I'd like to change my answer. Cruise ships are for old people. You want an adventure? Travel by container ship! http://www.freightertravel.co.nz

There are so many advantages. Avoid the tourists and the extra pounds rhat come with night after night all you can eat buffets. Do you know how much space there is in a 40 foot container? And there are numerous opportunities for extending your trip indefinitely in the Bay of Plenty.