Travel
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Mozambique
I have a friend working there through the end of this year, so I feel like it's now or never. Flights are somewhat easier to finagle from Paris than from New York. However, while flight times are shorter, I'm not actually sure it's cheaper. Please indulge me, if you've been.
- Is approx. 1100 Euros r/t airfare a good deal or is it similar to what you would get flying from the US?
- Are there things to do to entertain a small child there or should I scrap this trip until I can find someone to leave DD with? My friend insists I should come with DD if that's the only way to do it, but I think she just really wants to see us.
Re: Mozambique
I don't know about the costs, but the flight times from Paris will definitely be shorter. From the US it's likely to be an 8-hour flight to a European hub and then another 8-hour flight down to Africa. It may be possible to take a long flight from the US to Africa and connect there, but I find that long-haul flight options into Africa from the western hemisphere are limited and expensive.
I think that ?1100 sounds like a pretty good deal. We paid around ?1000 to fly from Oslo to Jo'burg, which is a much larger and better-served airport. A very quick search from NYC to Maputo shows flights around $1700 (?1300) in the low season and $2300 (?1750) in the high season.
Flying In the summer, you can save a lot by flying into Jo'burg instead (the same search pulled up flights for $1550/ ?1200 and driving to Mozambique. The roads are good, so it's an easy drive, and you can still get your visa at the border (though the process is a little confusing).
Where in Mozambique would you be going? Just to Maputo? Up to Tofo? Up north to do some wildlife watching? We spent most of our time in Tofo, and honestly, it didn't strike me as a particularly child-friendly place. The beach accommodations were mostly fairly primitive (though there are some luxe high-end options) and the activities centered around water sports (primarily scuba, but also snorkeling and some surfing). Snorkeling with the whale sharks is done from the dive boats and probably wouldn't be easy for kids under 10.
I don't know much about Maputo, because delays in our border crossing (South African school holiday traffic) cut out the time we'd planned to spend there. I can, however, tell you to heed the warnings not to drive the highways after dark, because the corrupt/fake policemen threatening us with AK-47s was definitely not a travel experience I would want to share with children (I could do without it myself for that matter).
There were some children at the tiny beach area where we overnighted on the way back from Tofo, so someplace like Xai Xai might be an option. Personally, I would plan to go without DD if possible, because most of the things we did weren't very kid-friendly, but if you'll just be staying in Maputo with your friends, then it probably wouldn't be as much trouble to take DD along.
DH goes for work. He says it isn't the most child friendly of places, he flies in and out of Maputo, but then drives several hours to another town still in the southern oart of the country. The malaria drugs could be a concern. There are a few extra recommend vaccines. The hotel he stays in looks like it is from the 50s, it is clean and it does have AC. The power goes out on a regular basis. not sure if that is as much of a concern in Maputo.
Double check your entry stamp before you leave immigration, they aren't great about making sure they have the correct date, DH found out the hard way on the way home the one trip. Luckly he pointed out his DC issued Visa was issued after when they were claiming he'd entered the country and he had his boarding pass from his in bound flight, someone had the month wrong on the stamp. He has had it happen again, got it fixed immediately.
Flights from the US, his last flight was about $2k that was a last minute booking, he had to stop in Cape town, SA to pick up some items first at their office there. His flights when booked earlier are $1.5k to $1.8k with the Capetown flights added in.
Washington to Dakar ( the dc Jo'berg flight stops to refuel) to Jo'berg to Capetown. CPT to Maputo. Return Maputo to Jo'berg -Dakar-DC. If you take the flight out of NYC on South African, it doesn't stop in Dakar.
The other route his coworkers take is DC to Frankfurt to Capetown to Maputo (they have to stop at the office before going to Mozambique)
Cancer sucks.
Thanks. This is my biggest concern with DD. I know a lot of adults who have had adverse reactions to anti-malaria drugs and it seems like it would be even more of an issue for a small person.