"I think that I'm quite ready for another adventure."

"I think that I'm quite ready for another adventure."  - Bilbo Baggins

Well, my life in Indonesia is truly underway. I’ve been here 5 days, but it seems like it’s been so much longer. I left home on August 29th around 7:00 am for the two hour drive to Pittsburgh International Airport. Thankfully, my entire immediate family was able to go with me. One we got the airport, I checked my luggage (two very full 50 lb suitcases, which still didn’t hold enough for my tastes), and eventually said a very sad goodbye to my parents, my sister, and her fiancé. Then I headed off on my adventure, trying desperately not to break down and cry in the middle of the airport.

Three seats all to myself!!!

Then began the planes and airports, boarding and disembarking, checking numerous departure screens to find my gate and numerous security checks. My travel involved 5 airports, Pittsburgh, Houston, Moscow, Singapore, and finally Manado, and had a total time of 38 hours. My longest flight was 23 hours long. It went from Houston to Singapore with a 1.5 hour stop in Russian. I was extremely blessed to have my entire row of three seats to myself, which made the flight so much more enjoyable, and allowed me to get a little more sleep than I normally would have.

We had a great selection of food choices on that flight. Everything that I ate except the herring salad and one particularly dry roll was delicious. The flight attendants were are very nice and I felt like they genuinely enjoyed their job and really did want their passengers to have a wonderful flight, a feeling that I don’t always get on other flights, especially US domestic flights.

I had a 4 hour layover at Singapore (Changi Airport), and I have to say that the airport there was very impressive. It was huge, and I do mean huge. The airport has three terminals and each has their own food courts and shopping centers that put any of the malls back home to shame. It also had several gardens (butterfly, orchid, sunflower) and even a movie theater. If I have to have a long layover anytime in the future please let it be at Changi.

After that layover, I boarded the plane for Manado. The four hour flight included a meal and in-flight entertainment, something that United Airlines didn’t provide for the four hour flight from Pittsburgh to Houston. I tried to nap on the plane, but I found that I was just too wired after 30-some hours in transit to do anything more than doze. Once I started to see Sulawesi (the island that Manado is located on) I didn’t have a hope of sleeping. I was glued to the window, taking in everything that I could about my new home. I was also paying close attention to the announcements made in Indonesians, picking out any words that I recognized from the language learning pod casts that I had been listening to before I left, which wasn't many.

When we finally touched down at the airport, I left the plane and headed for immigration. I already had my visa which saved me some time and made the immigration process very easy. And that I waited for my two bags to appear on the conveyor, all the while hoping and praying that they would be there and not off gallivanting through Moscow or France or India. Finally they appeared, and I headed for customs, which ended up being nothing more than a passport check and handing in a declaration form. With one final nod from the customs agent I was free to enter Indonesia.