kiwistravel – Kiwis Do Fly

The Story Of Business Class Travel And Indonesian Customs

Published on September 30, 2025 by kiwisdofly2Leave a comment

Our next adventure begins. It was quite the trip from NZ which started with a very special treat – we flew business class. We were told that once you had flown business class you will never be able to go back to cattle class. It was such a great experience. I know exactly what was meant by that statement.

Arriving at Auckland Airport we went straight to priority check in and bag drop, immediately following that was an “Invitation” to go to the lounge. Ok, yes please! We have 3 hours until take off and we feel like kiddies in a lolly shop. Where do we start?

There is cooked breakfast on offer, a barista making coffee, all pastries and cakes you could dream of, and a full bar. 1 plate, 2 plate, 3 plate, oh hang on, here comes lunch! The mandatory glass or 2 of bubbles, even though it is only 10am. Oh this is lovely. We took a seat right by the window looking down at the departure lounge. Passengers waiting for flights, sitting on plastic seats, trying to get comfortable drinking cuppuccino’s out of takeaway cups – this is usually us by-the-way.

That was just the lounge! Now we get onto the plane. First to be called, down a seperate skybridge that I never even knew existed! Into our own little area on the plane. We have our own cubicle with a sliding hatch between us. Duvet, sheet and real pillow. A footrest with room to stretch right out into a bed. This is going to be good.

The Crew are amazing. Right there every step of the way making sure there is nothing we need; nothing is too much trouble. The meals come with linen tablecloth, proper cutlery and glass glasses – which, it seems, were never empty! My crew looked so disappointed when I said no to Champaign, a Sauvignon blanc would be just fine thank you – to be fair, he did not know I had already had 3 glasses of Champaign in the lounge! After the first meal, a little Baileys perhaps? how about a 12 year old malt whisky sir? Oh it would be very rude not to!

It was so very comfortable in our little cocoons. It was wonderful to get our feet right up. It was an 11 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur. We did not get the swelling in our legs that we usually do. It was the best thing for my ankle, as I am still having issues with swelling and stiffness. I think it would have been a lot harder with out the feet elevation.

It was very cool to lie right down and snuggle into the duvet, turn off the light and try to go to sleep. BUT, I was just too excited to sleep, just as well this was a day time flight. So nice to have the choice though. Imagine having this luxury every long haul!

So I sit up again, reclining in my wonderfully comfortable seat. I felt like a Queen. Another glass of wine perhaps, or something else to eat Miss Donna? Oh my Gosh, I could so get used to this.

3 nights back in one of our favourite cities, Kuala Lumper. We stayed at a usual spot in China town and reacquainted ourselves with the wonderful smells and food.

Kuala Lumpur

A few pieces of navigation equipment to pick up for Banana Split took us out to Port Klang. 45 minutes drive from the city. It took an hour to do the “deal”, sign the papers, pay the man, collect receipts, then the driver took us back. Now to readjust the packing to get it all in. We only had to buy 5kg extra baggage for each flight. It was an interesting exercise as you buy by the kilo, not by bag. Perfect for us carrying what we had. We ended up with 3 bags – well one was just a big box. As you tag your bags, the weigh scale counts down your allowance. That was concern No.1, will we get away with the allowance? – yes! Easy peasy.

Concern No.2, getting said equipment into Indonesia. We landed at Jakarta airport. We had the right documentation, but alas, we were called into the office with the very official man asking quite a few questions. The guy on the x-ray machine said “is there something you want to tell me?” and pointed to the x-ray of the box. We were carrying a radar dome, he had no idea what it could be. Through the screen it really looked like something from outer space. I was visualising us being on the Indonesia version of Border Patrol – “do you know the contents of your bag?”…… All was good though. We had a laugh with the man in the office, right before he socked us between the eyes with the bill – he charged us 10% duty, 11% VAT and 10% Income Tax – yes Income Tax as we are not Indonesian citizens, then sent us on our way.

That piece of equipment was the sacrificial lamb, with a bit of clever accounting we got away with a fairly low bill. It could have been 3 times that amount. They were also so interested in the Navigation equipment, they forgot to ask about the brand new dive gear we were also carrying. Job Done!

Next flight, Jakarta to Sorong, 4 hour flight leaving at 1210 am, where is our business class now??

This part was easy, our faithful driver Neddy was waiting for us at Sorong and took us to Tampa Garam Marina where we found Banana Split. This is a small marina with no berths as such. It is a small rectangle of water with 8 vessels tied up in the Mediterranean style mooring system.

It was 0630, and though the manager knew we were arriving today, there was no one around. A quick discussion on how to get out to the boat as our dinghy is on the boat; not helpful. A call to the manager, who offered us to use the one tied up down at the other end of the marina, it has no oars; but there is 1 paddle.

There she is – Banana Split; our home for 3 1/2 weeks

We manage to get us and all our equipment safely onboard. Wow this is cool, we are back on a boat!! Now the real fun begins!

Thank you for reading our story

Life on a Deserted Island: Embracing Isolation

Published on February 10, 2025 by kiwisdofly24 Comments

Uoleva, Ha’apai, Kingdom Of Tonga

Who doesn’t want to go live on a deserted island? Where the sun shines all the time. The cool, crystal clear water of the ocean is right there in front of you. The gentle breeze through the coconut trees, white sand as far as you can see. Leave behind all those day to day grinds. Who wouldn’t want to have that – even just for a while. Hands up if you do!

It is an interesting concept, to just leave the rest of the world behind, sounds idyllic, sounds perfect even. It is the most unique situation I think we’ve ever been in and probably will ever be in again. This whole island, we are the only people on it; us and our little furry friends, and the crabs and the bats. It is a really unusual feeling. So freeing, we have escaped an everyday life of schedules and expectations.

We do miss the people though. Of course we miss our families and our friends. We also miss the strangers we meet on the street, in the shops, at the parks, on the train even. That is something we really enjoy about house-sitting and we are missing it a bit this time. We are so thankful for the awesome star link system here. It means we can easily keep in really good contact with people back home, which is vital. And just if you were wondering, Chris and I are still talking to each other haha! The parting comment from daughter when we left was “don’t kill each other!” Well, we haven’t – yet!!

We are coming to the end of our stay here. Well I say that, we still have 5 weeks to go. Just in the last week we have connected with people! We are in the low season just now, the rainy season, the cyclone season. This is when the people who live here go on their holidays, they get out of town so-to-speak. Close down the resorts and go somewhere else; hence the need (for some) for house-sitters. We have been here 3 months now and the people are starting to come back! We have now connected with a couple of people. We met them last time we visited Ha’apai in 2011. Through them, we have met other people. And so it goes.

We realised that there is a family who live in Pangai. It’s a village on the next island up. They have a property on Uoleva too. They said they would be out there on Saturday for the day, we should come for a visit. So we take the inflatable down the lagoon side of the island and try to find the track that goes through to the other side. The track up at our place is about 350m but this part of the island is a bit wider. The track has not been used since the end of the last season, probably not since October. So we are not sure how overgrown the track will be, or even if we can find it. We are so excited to be doing something different, and we get to hang out with some new people.

Yip, there is a boat and we can smell the fire

We see a buoy hanging from a tree and decide that this will be as good a place as any to start looking for said track. We anchor Wodga, the inflatable, and go ashore. Well how about that, this actually is the start of the path across, how clever are we. It was about 20 minute walk. Toward the end we just follow the smell wood smoke – yes, there must be people nearby! We come out the on beach and see their boat anchored just offshore, looks like we made it!

We had the best afternoon. The whole family was there, we met the kids, 3 girls, and Aunty. Dad had the fire going. He used branches from the trees to make a rotisserie for some lamb and chicken and started cooking over the fire. There was a pot of boiled root vegetables. Aunty weaved a table cloth from a palm frond and when the meat was cooked, we all sat around the table and had a feast. The meat was cooked to perfection, dripping with flavour, so simple yet so perfect. Grease all over our faces, licking our fingers, the kids fighting over the juiciest piece, could this have been any better! We were not expecting to stay for a meal. The kindness and hospitality was so beautiful, we felt like part of the family.

After the meal, we had fruit grown on the island. More sticks were sharpened so the girls could toast marshmallows over the hot coals. They were so soft and melty, squished between cookies and ended up all over the girls faces, so much fun. Reluctantly, we had to leave. We needed to get ourselves back across the track. We also had to return through the lagoon before the tide got too low. We had a great afternoon, days like this a gold, this is what it is all about, this is our “why”

We have been making amazing meals here, probably the best home-made meals we have ever created. We take turns in the hot-house (kitchen), it can be 38°C in there in the afternoons. We have plenty of meat, thanks to our awesome home-owners, and a pantry full of goodies. We just lack a bit of fresh produce. We can get potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic from the little China shop on the next island up. But that is a trip in the inflatable, and only when weather and tides are permitting, We can’t just go if we are missing an ingredient, it can be weeks between visits. We have been creating all sorts of dishes using what we have to hand. We have been using Papaya and Pele (Tongan Spinach) regularly. We have learnt how to make our vegies last in storage so we can buy bulk and not waste anything. Blanching and freezing, refrigerating in water, storing dry – it has been an awesome learning experience.

There is only a basic supply at the China shop. But we can order supplies from Tongatapu, which is about 160 km away. This involves an agent on Tongatapu to do the shopping, then package it up and deliver to the airport. On arrival at Ha’apai, the cargo then gets delivered by another person, to a place where we can get to by dinghy, dependent on weather and tides of course. It’s a challenge in itself, believe me! So we have not done this very often. We have made do with what we can get locally. If there’s something we can’t do with a carrot, it’s not worth knowing!

BUT……..

One day we get a message from our home-owners (currently in Bali). They say that we are to meet a guy at the end of the next island on Saturday. There is a box of cargo to pick up. So we just go and get on the boat and make our way across. Collect said cargo to find it is actually a box of vegetables and fruit for us. Oh My Goodness, we were so excited to see all this fresh produce. We feel very overwhelmed by the thoughtful kindness. What a surprise, just like Christmas all over again! We spent the next week creating even more amazing dishes with fresh produce! Thank you again Glen and Karen!

The colours and freshness – we are so lucky

The weather has remained dry for us. It is rainy season as mentioned, Cyclone season in-fact, but we have just had hot hot hot and very little rain. My seeds as mentioned in my last story have not survived! Just too hot, 30°C feels like 41° C, nothing will grow in that heat, especially tender baby plants. Last week we had a little rain at some point almost every day. This was a very welcome reprieve from the heat. The forecast was for rain again, every day this week, but it has not come and is again hot hot hot. We have noticed a strange phenomenon with this island. All the weather seems to go around us. We seem to be in this little bubble in the middle of the chaos. We often watch the black storm clouds building, but we don’t get the effect. The ocean temperature is currently 29°C. Warm sea temperatures spur on Cyclones, so let’s all keep fingers X’d for the next 5 weeks!! But a bit more rain would be nice!

Thank you for reading our story!

Be Careful What You Wish For

Published on January 10, 2024 by kiwisdofly21 Comment

Engen, Germany November 2023

It is November and here we are back in Europe. It has been 4 years since we were here last, and we have been really looking forward to coming back. Sadly, it is Autumn (Fall) and will be full on winter soon, but we love Europe and how cold can it really get? (remember I said that!)

We are met at Zurich airport by our lovely homeowner and accompanied through the three-change train journey up to and into the village of Engen in Germany. It is a sunny day, so everything looks so pretty as we make our way through into the German country side.

The two dogs we will be looking after are shy to start with but soon come round and are so lovely. We have not had anything to do with Sighthounds before and found these two to have such gentle natures and are so loving . It did not take long for us both to fall in love.

The village of Engen is small, only 10,000 population. We were staying in the “Old Town”, very cute and very old. A High Street with a beautiful church and a castle. It is said to be one of the best preserved medieval urban ensembles in Southern Germany. Our house was toasty and warm, built right under the castle. With only one external wall, it was as if the house had been sculptured and pressed into a mound of clay that hardened into the bedrock that was the castle’s foundation. The house was 4 levels high, and the walls were near enough half a metre think. Shutters on the windows, door opening right onto the street, so pretty.

The dogs were gorgeous! Such elegant faces and long legs. It was fascinating watching them sit and curl up with those long legs, they seemed to fold up like a builder’s measuring tape. We walked with them 3 or 4 times each day, there was so much beautiful countryside to explore. It was not very warm so the doggies had coats to wear if it was below 10°C, – they only went without their coats once! The colours were beautiful as the leaves had changed and were falling, we expected that all the leaves would be gone by the time we left.

I really admire people who speak multiple languages. We can only speak English but can usually get away with being understood with various hand gestures and of course “Google Translate” We love the challenge of being understood, but this one takes the cake. Our gorgeous neighbour, Maria, has lived in that same house for sixty years. She is originally from Italy and is so lovely. She would knock knock on our window and bring us espresso – Italian espresso that she had made, or a bottle of Italian Rosé. We would sit and have a conversation. We don’t speak German or Italian, she does not speak English and prefers not to speak German. So we manage with a bit of everything – a bit of Spanish even comes out. So funny! the laughs we had over that Italian Rosé, unforgettable moments we will never forget.

I had researched the weather in Engen before we got there and was told (by Google – so must be true!) to expect 4 snow days in November and that the average high would be 7°C and low of 1°C. I would love to see the snow! We do get snow in New Zealand but not, generally, in the North Island where we are from, unless you go up the mountains to ski. It was starting to get colder and colder; my app was starting to show the snow icon and the lows were getting lower and lower as the weeks went by. I could not believe what I was seeing when it predicted -13°C.

One night it said it would snow at 11pm. We went to put the light out at 11:15 and as a joke I said to Chris “is it snowing yet?” He looked out the window and we could hardly believe what we were seeing! It was snowing! OMG it was actually snowing!

Our house with the blue shutters, tucked in under the castle

In the morning there was a dusting of snow and that was the beginning. It carried on snowing and snowing and snowing, the trees, the fences, the cars, the roads, getting whiter and whiter and whiter. The sky was quite grey to start with but the dogs loved being out in the snow, we double coated them as it was quite wet. Then the sun came out and the whole place became a fairy tale, like a scene from a Christmas card, it was so pretty with the blue sky making all the white sparkle. It was such a treat to be here in these conditions, everything I had hoped for.

Just had to have a go at making a snowman with Helen, Reinhard and Olivia

Sunday, the day before we leave. It has been snowing heavily for days but the sun is now shining and the sky is a brilliant blue. We have met Helen, who is from New Zealand, we all decide to go build a snowman. The snow is as soft as silk and so dry that our snowman turns out a little unconventional. Reinhard pulls a few beers out of a basket in the trunk to celebrate our fabulous snowman making skills! What goes with Beer? Sausages! Well, this IS Germany, Right? but it is Sunday! everything is closed. So we just “pop” over to Switzerland to the supermarket – Switzerland is NOT closed! This is the most bizarre concept for us, to be able to just pop over to another country to buy sausages! But we did, and we had sausages and more beer back at their house. The sausages were even cooked on a BBQ, after the BBQ was dig out of the snow! What a fantastic day!

The snow was unusually heavy for this time of the year and on our day of departure the trains on the route we needed to take to Zurich airport were not running as snow laden trees had fallen across the tracks and damaged the electrics. They had put on a replacement bus from our first train-change to a destination we could use to pick up a train to connect with the one to the airport. We had to take a taxi from the house as we could not wheel our bags through the snow. We were so thankful that out awesome homeowner came with us and we decided to take the taxi all the way to the bus pick up point. Thank goodness he was with us; we don’t think we would have found the place on our own. Then we waited and waited. The bus finally turned up and we are looking at our watches thinking “ok we will still make it”

BUT…The bus driver would not let us on the bus. A whole line of people standing in the snow outside the bus while he reclined his seat, crossed his arms across his chest and closed his eyes!

20 minutes later he let us all on and we were heading out of town. Will we make it? The bus seemed to go the long way, cross-country through narrow streets and we really are thinking we will not make it. We had three options once we got to Schaffhausen, and as time marched on, each option became an impossibility. Then we stopped, about 5 minutes ahead of what my google maps was telling me. We ran to find the train that was our “if all else fails” option for getting to the airport on time. Made it! But we did ask two different people if this was the right train to the airport, it wasn’t showing as a stop on the screen and we didn’t trust that we wouldn’t end up on a train going in the opposite direction. Anyway, all’s well that ends well, we made it and got to the airport in time!

Looking back, our trip to Engen was wonderful, beautiful pets, wonderful people, cute village and the prettiest snow covered landscape I have ever seen – a bit of stress getting out of there – but hey! thats what travel is all about – expect the unexpected!