Travel to PNG

We departed Denver on the flight that would take us all the way to Singapore. We flew to Seattle where we had a three hour layover and Kim had her last Starbucks latte (sadness…  ). We also switched to a Boeing 777 in Seattle, the largest jet Jacob had ever been on.




It was quite thrilling all around. After departing Seattle, we flew along the coast northward over Alaska and the Bering Strait and then dropped down into Tokyo. It was crazy because we left Seattle at 1:30 pm on Tuesday and arrived 10 hours later in Tokyo at 5:00 pm on Wednesday and we were in bright sunshine the entire flight. Our layover in Tokyo was very short, only 55 minutes. Enough to take a picture or two and buy Kim a Japanese magazine.


We continued on a different Boeing 777 to Singapore where we arrived 7 hours later at midnight on Wednesday. We had a 24 hour layover in Singapore and had planned to use the transit hotel located at the airport. We discovered that you could not use the hotel if you left the secure area and being that our next flight was 24 hours away we had to collect our luggage which forced us to leave the secure area. Our plan B was to stay at the Crown Plaza Singapore, which is also attached to the airport, and very posh. However, the Crown Plaza was full, so we went to plan C which was looking into getting a hotel in Singapore, but found that at 1:30 am they were all full unless we wanted to stay in the red light district. Therefore, we opted for plan D, and “slept” on benches in the airport.

By the time we had our luggage checked into 24 hour lockers and changed into our pjs, it was around 3:00 am. We awoke fully rested at shortly after 6:00 am and changed so we could catch a free tour bus into Singapore.

We had a lovely day exploring Singapore and all of its charm. By charm we mean 95 degree weather, crazy high-end shopping centers on every block, skyscrapers in every direction, lots of Ferraris, beautiful gardens, and crazy laws such as no eating in the subway (unless you wanted to pay the $500 fine.) Kim brazenly broke the no eating in the subway law and we barely escaped into a passing subway train before the guards stole her lion-shaped lotus blossom cream-filled pastry and fined us $500.

As the day progressed, we made our way back to the airport. At this time it was Thursday at around 5:00 pm and we had been traveling since Tuesday at 6:00 am with no opportunity for showers. We were delighted to discover (after we checked in for our flight) that the Singapore airport has a spa (seriously, there is really no airport that rivals Singapore’s) and for the low low price of $8.00 we could have hot showers, a hot beverage and some time in the spa’s lounge to relax. After our showers, we relaxed in the spa lounge and then headed off to grab some dinner and catch our flight to Port Moresby. Dinner was strange foreign Subway sandwiches and by the time we ate and made it to our gate we were so tired that we were literally falling asleep at the gate. The flight to Port Moresby was on Air Nuiguini the plane was a Boeing 767 that was older and crowded. Kim saw a sign in the restroom that said it was illegal to smoke under Icelandic law in aircraft restrooms. Maybe Air Nuiguini got a good deal on the plane from Iceland. At any rate, we boarded shortly after midnight and they proceeded to feed us and show a movie. We were very tired, but it was cramped so we just kind of sat there. After 7 hours in the air, we finally began our descent into Port Moresby. As we flew in along the coast of Papua New Guinea, it was interesting to see how it was pretty much just jungle as far as the eye could see.