Travel to Jakarta

Kim and Riley arrived in Seattle a couple of days before we would leave. I picked them up at the airport and executed my first "passport check" and then gave them a hug. This trip would involve a number of hikes so the next day we decided to warm up by hiking to Poo Poo Point on Tiger Mountain. If you have hiked this you might have issue with the term "warm up" :) It's also the place where paragliders launch from.

We would be flying EVA Air out of Seattle. This was the airline I flew on my first trip to Southeast Asia back in 2007 and I was impressed with their economy product, and this was before they earned their Skytrax 5-Star rating. A prestigious award only given to the top 10 airlines of the world. Well top 9 airlines but more on that later. There were only two problems with flying EVA Air. One, the flight leaves at 2am out of Seattle, and two, they are a Star Alliance Member instead of a SkyTeam Member. I'm pretty loyal to SkyTeam, so instead of using and then collecting miles I would have to leverage credit card points for this trip. But I've put in my time to get here so my business class ticket was actually quite a bit cheaper than Kim and Riley's economy ticket. We caught an Uber to the airport where I checked in, cleared security, and then hung out in the lounge while I waited for Kim and Riley. I know what you might be thinking, but when Riley starts paying for these trips then he can book me in economy. EVA Air uses the British Airways lounge in Seattle which is not bad, but no Delta lounge.

I enjoyed a nice cold beer.

I then got a text from Riley that they were in the terminal. I left the BA lounge to meet them so that all of us could go to the Club at SEA lounge which I could get them into with my Priority Pass. In fact, with all our flights and all the airports we would be in my Priority Pass would prove most valuable, and they were free with a couple of my credit cards.

It was finally time to board and I could not wait to get some rest as 2am is way past my bedtime. EVA Air uses the 1-2-1 herringbone configuration in business class so I had a fully flat bed with proper bedding.

EVA Air's Skytrax 5-Star rating was obvious as they greet you by your name, escort to your seat and review the controls and setup. You then get a glass of champagne, fresh towel, and a chocolate while you review the menu and place your order for both meals on this 12 hour flight.



Shortly after takeoff the flight attendant came by to make up my bed while I went to change into my new pajamas designed by Jason Wu provided by EVA Air. They were quite fashionable and comfortable.

I then reclined flat under the stars and wondered how Kim and Riley were doing.

I fell asleep to a terrible movie staring John Goodman as some kind of alien hunter.

After a refreshing rest I woke up to the first course in my six course meal.

Main course was a nice filet mignon with a wonderful peppercorn sauce.

For dessert we had a lovely cake and fruit platter.

A few more movies and another meal and we would finally arrive in Taipei. We would lounge hop here for the next three hours enjoying free food and drink across three lounges.

I had additional access to two of EVA Air's premium lounges, the Star and the Infinity, for a total of 5 stops.







Before we knew it, it was time to board our flight to Jakarta, just another five hours to Indonesia. Hope Kim and Riley are doing well.

We arrived in Jakarta around 2pm, cleared immigration and customs, and then converted some cash which made us all multimillionaires.

We were suppose to fly out to Jayapura around 11pm that night so we got a room at FM7 Resort Hotel for a few hours. An awesome hotel for a shower, food, and drinks. It's only about a 10 minute walk from the airport but unfortunately we took a car which is around 30 minutes due to traffic. This is Southeast Asia after all.

I got first dibs on the shower and then headed to the roof top bar for my first Indonesian beer, Bintang, the only local beer. I didn't know it at the time but I made a major miscalculation when I started booking this trip in not realizing that Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world. Don't get me wrong, unlike that insecure and incompetent Trump, I have no problem with Muslim(s). In fact in the correct context Islam and the Quran are quite beautiful. It's just been misused much in the same way Christianity has been largely misused. Anyway, apparently Muslim(s) consider drinking (even beer and wine) a sin and this would be my last beer for quite a while. Doh.

Feeling relaxed after 17 hours flying time and finally being in the country, I decided to check on our flights to see if they were on time. My heart sank and I had to slam my beer. I raced downstairs to our room as my mind was scrambling for a solution. This would be a very brief rest.