Trip Report PNG and Fiji (Part 1 of 5) - Air Travel

[thesmoothdome]

After getting home last Saturday night, I was speaking with a friend about my vacation. He was quick to remind me that I didn’t take a “vacation.” I “traveled.” The difference being, a vacation is thought of a relaxing; traveling involves frustration, confusion, and uncertainty. With that in mind, I present my trip report for my recent trip to Papua New Guinea and Fiji.


Since there is so much to share, I have decided to break it into categories and post the report in 5 parts.

Air Travel
The most common saying in Fiji is “Bula,” which is the official Fijian greeting. The most common saying in PNG? “Good luck. It’s Air Niugini.” This is uttered every time you tell someone you have a flight to or within PNG.


Our travels started in Los Angeles on June 28th. Our Air Pacific flight boarded on time at 11:00pm for its scheduled 11:30pm departure. With business class being, oh $4000.00 more than economy seats, I did the next best thing. There’s a small section of seats in the back of the 747 that are set up in pairs on each side of the plane. They also provide a gap between the wall of the plane and the window seat, allowing us a little extra room. I was lucky enough to land these seats for both the outbound and return portion of the journey. In hind sight, they are definitely worth the effort of securing these seats for a 12 hour flight, even if it means that you’re last off the plane and consequently last through the customs line.


Two hours after boarding, we finally took off. Yes, that’s right. We sat on the tarmac for an hour and half after our scheduled departure time as we waited for clearance to depart. Nothing like sitting in economy for 13 ½ hours, even with the sweet “honeymoon seats.” Couple this with the fact that it’s the middle of the night and my short 2 hour lay over in Fiji is now just a scant ½ hour and I’m stressed and grouchy. Thankfully, I slept through the entire flight.


We picked up about ½ an hour over the course of the flight and landed in Fiji at 6:00am.
By the time we disembarked, we were back to having a ½ hour to clear the transit line and board the Air Niugini flight to PNG. We finally arrive at the counter only to have the counter agent say that Air Niugini apologizes, but they won’t be flying today. It’s not even 7am and an airline has canceled its only flight of the day out of country. We were put up at a hotel across the street from the airport and arrived in PNG the next day on a plane ½ the size of the one originally scheduled to carry us. I assume the cancelation was a cost cutting move based on numbers. For what it’s worth, the flight from Nadi, Fiji to Port Moresby, PNG is about 6 hours including a short layover in the Solomon Islands.

Travel within PNG is pretty much the same sort of adventure. We spent time chatting with locals and visitors who confirmed that Air Niugini is completely dysfunctional. When we commented that we had to catch a flight from Port Moresby to Rabaul on Saturday morning in order to make the Star Dancer we heard what was to become a familiar phrase “Good luck. It’s Air Niugini.” Thankfully, except for a 2 hour delay while trying to fly from Hoskins back to Port Moresby, we weren’t subjected to Air Niugini’s poor performance, except…


After spending 3 nights in the Eastern Highlands, we flew back (again) to Port Moresby. For those keeping track, we flew into Port Moresby on a 7/1/08, to Rabaul on 7/5/08, back to Port Moresby on 7/14/08, up to Goroka in the Eastern Highlands on 7/14/08 and back down to Port Moresby on 7/17/08. We spent the night at the Airways hotel while waiting for our Air Niugini flight to Fiji the following morning at 9:15am. At 6:30 the next morning, we brought our considerable luggage to the front desk and were informed that it didn’t look like Air Niugini would be flying that day. At 8:00pm the previous evening the air traffic controllers in PNG went on strike. We were told that we could go back to our rooms and the desk would call if there was a change in status. Around 10:00am I called desk and was told that we should proceed to the airport and check in, our flight had been rescheduled to leave at noon.


We rushed to the airport to find a mass of humanity trying to check in. The air traffic controllers had agreed to allow international flights out of the country and every Aussie in the world was trying to get on their flights that were scheduled later that afternoon. It seems that if you’re Aussie, you MUST go to PNG and walk the Kokoda trail. Anyway, we realized that Airways screwed us and we should have arrived at the airport a few hours ago. There was no way we were going to get checked in before noon. After scrambling around for an hour while the wife waited in a non-moving check in line, I finally found a sympathetic agent who agreed to check us in after I offered her 50 kina. To be fair, she said the money wasn’t necessary. I insisted and slipped it between our tickets. It was gone when the tickets were returned and we went upstairs to stand in the next line.

I guess I should mention that Jackson International Airport isn’t air conditioned and between the heat, the humidity and the bodies it was pretty damn uncomfortable by this time. I am one of those people who have been blessed with good temperature control. What I mean is that I sweat well. Well, profusely anyway. By the time we got through the X-ray machine I looked like I had been swimming. All I’m thinking is that it’s nearly noon and I’ll be on the plane soon. Wrong. It turns out the airlines just made up their own departure times. Nothing was set in stone. So we sat. We sat and I sweated. How hot was it? I went into the restroom to change shirts (I had soaked through mine and bought another one in the duty free shop) and the restroom mirror was fogged over! Eventually, we did get on the plane and out of the country.


If you’re going to travel to PNG, plan on dealing with the unexpected when traveling. I was bummed that I lost a day of diving, but never really let any of the delays get to me until the air traffic control fiasco. I was more upset with Airways for not keeping me in the loop like they promised they would than I was with anyone else. I am glad that we were able to get out of Goroka the night before. For all I know, with air traffic control grounding all domestic flights, we might still be stuck in the Highlands today.

Part II – Loloata Island Resort tomorrow.

[chinacat46]

Damn you had it worse then I did. The worst for me was standing in line for over an hour and half to get my visa on arrival and then having to stand in line to recheck my bag and then run over to the domestic terminal to board my flight which required standing in two more lines. Looking back that is nothing compared to your experience. You forgot to mention the lovely smell of humanity in the domestic terminal(most PNGers don't know what a shower is).

[Travelnsj]

I guess I will never complain about Lion or Merpati Air again.....I'll look forward to your report....I hope it was worth it.

[JCAT]

Thats some hard-core traveling.....great write-up and looking forward to the next.