Flying

Garuda Flight Staff

Well if you ask me 7hrs in a plane is plenty long enough for Pete.  Don't get me wrong, nothing against Garuda Airlines (in fact I would highly recommend them) but sitting for so long was bad on my backside.  Fortunately, Rosie and I were in the a two seater row next to a window, so we didn't have to accommodate a third person, which was a treat when compared with those in the three seat row.  We read a newspaper, I started reading a biography on John Monash, I watched the film Captain America, closed my eyes for a bit, drank lots of water, went to the toilet a lot!!, ate a very nice hot meal including an icecream that I didn't need.  Oh yes, we had some minor turbulence which if we didn't have some chewy would have resulted in a very dangerous stomach.  I don't know how anyone can be in a plane for 20hrs like some of my friends, I'd be beside myself.  Our trip consisted of two legs; Melbourne to Jackarta on the island of Java ( 7hrs) and Jackarta to Denpasar on the island of Bali (1.5hrs)

As I said Garuda Airlines (Indonesia's national carrier) were great.  Flight staff looked beautiful in their sarong dresses with a long sleeved top in colours of either orange or aqua, blokes wore grey though.  They were friendly, smiled a lot and very helpful, one even assisting us to fill out a form we needed to present at Jackarta airport.  Couldn't fault them and they are $400 per person return fare cheaper than Pacific Blue.