27.03.2019 # Starting anew

How the pictures look alike. When we set off on our first South Seas tour two and a half years ago, we actually wanted to leave with a maximum of 16 kg of luggage per person. At that time, we clearly missed this goal.

However, at the sight of the large pile of absolutely necessary stuff that lies in front of us now, one would rather think of the move of a family of three than of a journey of almost three months. The clothes to wear take up the least part. When everything is packed, we dangerously come close to the limit of 20 kg per person. Plus hand luggage, of course, which in my case with my regulator bag and backpack adds up to about 9 kg. When one considers that there is hardly any consumable material included, there is hardly any room left for any souvenirs. Let's see how we manage that.

This time our journey takes us via Australia to New Zealand, then to the Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia until we meet our friends for a small tour of Java at Herman's in Bali.

On 27.03.2019 we will start with the Flixbus to Berlin-Tegel on time at 3:15 pm. The two drivers are in an extraordinarily good mood and from time to time make a typical saying with a Berliner accent. So the journey passes quite pleasantly, especially as each of us has a 2-seat row for ourselves. The only thing that annoys is a pale, red-haired young woman who manages to constantly nag her companion loudly until Berlin-Südkreuz. At some point he sits three rows away from her, but that doesn't stop her from continuing to rant.

Arrived at Tegel, we have the obligatory currywurst farewell at the food train, before we are the first ones at the check-in counter due to perfect timing and can drop off our luggage immediately. The employee who handles us is nice, but after weighing my backpack she insists that I can only take one piece of hand luggage with me on the plane. So I convince her that my regulator bag is actually a part of the backpack that I only took off for better transport. When I have attached the bag makeshift, she is satisfied and fortunately does not weigh the package again. That would have probably led to new discussions.

At the security check, the employee asks me if I have any food with me. When I ask sympathetically if she is hungry, we both laugh. Nice when not everything is taken so seriously.

Before the flight with Qatar Airways to Doha, we are taken aside at the gate and receive new boarding passes. Maike had already noticed that the employees had been talking about us. Now it becomes clear why. The seats we had chosen for ourselves during web check-in were no longer available due to a change of aircraft. However, no one noticed this at the counter before. In the meantime, we had been relocated to a row of four in the middle, which we had all to ourselves. This allowed us to spread out properly. A good reason to forego a window seat on a night flight.

In Doha, we have about two and a half hours of layover, which we spend in the smoking lounge and with a cola. On the flight to Kuala Lumpur, we have a row of three with a window seat, so we also have pleasant legroom here. The over seven hours to KL pass at some point and we have familiar Malaysian ground beneath us. We complete the immigration procedure in record time, so that after a good hour after landing, we arrive at the Orange Hotel by taxi, which is about ten minutes driving time from KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport). Then we treat ourselves to a small snack at the Indian around the corner and a cool 'Tiger' from 7-Eleven in the gutter in front of the hotel, before we fall exhausted into bed.

The next morning, Maike brings me breakfast in bed. It's from McDonald's, but it's sufficient for the moment. The taxi to the terminal is ordered for 7:30 a.m. The driver is also punctual, but when we want to leave, he bursts into hectic cursing because his previous user took the key with him and apologizes profusely for this, as he says, 'idiot'. After five minutes, the key is there and everything is fine again.

To Perth, our first stop in Australia, we fly for the first time with Malindo Air, a Malaysian-Indonesian company. As luck would have it, at the time when I was looking for suitable connecting flights, there was a business class sale. As a result, the tickets for the business class cost only slightly more than the economy tickets, an opportunity we did not want to miss. And so we fly business class for the very first time (and possibly also the last time). Great. It's not as luxurious as, for example, on Qatar Airways, but the food is delicious and the seats in these dentist chairs are really comfortable. And there were still over five hours to Perth. But the greatest advantage is the whole surrounding. You have your own counter during departure and save yourself the meandering in front of the passport control. You can pass the time before departure in a lounge with a snack and when you disembark from the plane, you have a certain advantage in the immigration at your destination. In principle, one could get used to such conveniences. But spending a fortune on it every time is not in our plans.

It was definitely a pleasant flight, apart from the rather hard landing, and so we arrived safely in the largest city on the Australian west coast, where we want to stay for three days.

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