Frequent Flyer Mile Programmes
When flying to or from New Zealand you can gain large numbers of frequent flyer miles esp if flying to Europe!
What Frequent flyer miles mean each time you fly you gain miles for the distance travelled. (as long as the flight is valid for miles) These miles entitles you to is free flights, hotel stays, car rentals & more once you have built up sufficient miles.
For example a return trip from London to Auckland can accrue enough miles on may schemes to get you a free flight within Europe from London or you can save up the miles for a trip to USA, if you plan on doing more flying.
Once you have frequent flyer membership, it is worth trying to fly with that airline or the same airline alliance.
There are 3 main Airline Alliances:
If you're flying try to fly with airlines within the same alliance as you should get frequent flyer miles no matter which airline in that alliance you fly with. Check out the above links to read more about this.
You can ask to join on-board your flight or information is frequently available in your in flight magazine.
Always keep your boarding passes to claim back unclaimed miles in case they don't add them from your trip.
Airlines Taxes
Be aware that the taxes on the flight are dependent on the US dollar exchange rate. As you may have heard the NZ dollar has dropped against the US dollar so taxes are now more expensive than they were a few weeks ago.
We hope fuel surcharges will drop soon as the price of oil has dropped but this has to be offset against the drop in the US dollar which has made things such as oil & other foreign goods more expensive here in NZ.
Internet Access Abroad
Local libraries.
Abroad you can often use the internet for free at libraries even if you don't live in the country or city. Australia has offered this service and Auckland City libraries offer free internet to anyone if they sign up for an account.
Internet access is often free in libraries abroad. Most times you need to be a member of the library but often you can get access without living in the country.
Auckland library's internet service can be a bit slow as so many people are using it especially round schools coming out.
Calling Home
The easiest & one of the cheapest way is often to buy a local phone card from a newspaper shop. They have these easily available in UK & Australia.
Do not use hotel phones as these often work out extremely expensive.
If you're techno savvy then often internet cafes abroad have skype loaded on to their machines so you can call to other skype users for free!
Another cheap way to keep in touch is with Text messaging with you rmobile. It doesn't cost anything to receive a text abroad on vodafone or telecom but can be quite expensive to send texts depending on where you are (60c-$1.20).
You will need to setup global roaming before you leave.
Prepay: You can automatically use your Prepay mobile on a number of networks around the world. See the website for the latest information.
Travel safely abroad
For guidance whilst travelling abroad go to the NZ Government website re safer travel & visa/passport information:
Safetravel NZ
Offers an ability to register your details which can be useful to help find you in emergency or get information to you.
Healthy travelling
Check out this website for information about what vaccines etc you may need.
Travel Doctor NZWhen travelling abroad NZ has reciprocal health agreements with:
UK & Australia
But you should always have travel insurance when travelling abroad as they only treat you under certain situations.
Your Holiday Weather Forecast
MetService NZ Weather in New Zealand
Yahoo Weather International Weather forecasts
Seating arrangements on flights
Seat GuruCheck out the best places to be sit on the plane.
Airline Meals AirlineMeals.netCheck out what you're meals likely to look like before boarding the flights.
If you're flying soon you can often check out what the in flight movies will be before boarding the flight but sometimes its fun to look forward to this. Means you don't go to cinema just before the flight and realise you have seen everything they're offering!