8 flights in 7 days – my Indonesian adventure

– The trip starts in 48 hours and I think I can still join the group. – I said to my husband on a Monday morning while we were having a coffee. Then I started to doubt the idea – I’m still on antibiotics, I still don’t feel well, I was in bed for the last 2 weeks and is 48 hours even enough to plan, pack and prepare everything?

While thinking about the stupidity of my decision, I was already typing an email to apply for the trip. The news came the next day – “welcome on board Aga, here’s your itinerary”. And there I was, with less than 24 hours till go time, trying to pack my bags.

This is not how I do trips. I usually have at least a few weeks to make a proper packing list, check my first aid kit and research EVERYTHING about the destination. There is also the added excitement when I have some sort of a countdown widget on my phone and can see that I have 50 days, then that we’re in single digits to finally have just one day to go. Having just 24 hours to do all that was new to me.

Something else was also going to be different – I wasn’t going with my husband. Instead, I would meet 8 bloggers and be their travel buddy for the week. I’ve never travelled in a group. I was scared and excited at the same time.

Fast forward a week and I was sad that the trip came to an end. We all had to say goodbye and hope we will get another chance to travel together. Legends!

It was definitely a trip of many “firsts” for me. First time to travel with a group, first time to travel with complete strangers, first time to fly Singapore Airlines, first time to fly Garuda Indonesia, first time seeing parts of Indonesia other than Bali, first time playing drinking games, first time seeing Komodo dragons, first time on a propeller plane…

MEL -> DPS

Flying from Melbourne to Denpasar is usually easy and takes about 6 hours. Our trip was booked at the last minute, so that was probably the reason why we flew there via Singapore. But at least both parts of the journey were with Singapore Airlines, which gave me a chance to experience their service for the first time.

First plane, B777, wasn’t too impressive. Looked old and tired. The worst part was the entertainment system – poor quality, small screens (try reading subtitles on them, not possible) and not that many movies/shows to choose from. And when we jumped on the plane number 2 of the day, Singapore – Denpasar, the entertainment situation was much better.

Did you know that Singapore Airlines serve cocktails in economy class? I had no idea, but I was more than happy to discover I can order myself a nice and strong Singapore Sling to make up for my poor entertainment system experience.

Indonesia

Our itinerary included 1 day in Bali, 2 days in Lombok and 3 days of Flores & Komodo National Park. I will be writing more about the beautiful places we’ve seen and for now, I will leave you with two videos from the trip. Sailing in the Komodo National Park and the time spend in Lombok are the highlights of the trip for me.

The Crew

If you’re interested in reading more about the trip, check out our Indonesia Crew: Chris from Aussie on the Road, Dave from Jones Around The World, Jasmine from NomadGirl.co, Jub from Tiki Touring Kiwi, Vic and Elaina from The Freedom Travellers, Silke from Happiness and Things and Shandos from Travelnuity.

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Aga travelled to Indonesia as a guest of Tourism Board of Indonesia . All opinions, as always, are my own.