50 hr flight to/from Sorong - I must be crazy

[Dan]

We are travelling from Toronto to/from Sorong in December. I just calculated the actual "in-air" flight time and it totalled 50 hours (49.333 to be exact), not including all the time waiting at airports in between flights. 7 planes. I think I am crazy. I hope it will be worth it.

Lucky you, beat me by 4-5 hours.

 

[Dan]

Your not crazy, it's so worth it. When I travel to SEA I try and amortize all that travel time by staying as long as possible.

I usually time my time from my door to my arrival at the final destination. My average is about 36 hours from the west coast. But it's so worth it. The wife and I did quite a few trips to SEA before I was a diver, and she arrives and sleeps for 8 hours while I wander about. Nowadays she really doesn't want to travel all that way so I take solo trips. I barely sleep on the plane and then it takes me 2 weeks to reset my body clock! Luckily at home I don't sleep much or else I might be a wreck, but the first week I have a beer or two before dinner, then one or two after then I grab a few hours sleep before I wake at 2am and can't get back to sleep.

This year no SEA trips for me just a quick flight to San Diego a 2 hour bus ride then a short 24 hour boat ride to Guadeloupe Island to dive with Great White Sharks! It's only 3 days in the water so I hope it will be worth it.

Melatonin is my friend during those 2 weeks after the trip.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Melatonin is my friend during those 2 weeks after the trip.

I've used Melatonin at home with no results but have never tried it while travelling, I'll give it a shot.

 

[Dan]

@Hoag , we are flying AC using points. Cathay Pacific would be my first choice because the flight starts past midnight so you basically board and sleep and by the time you get up, the flight is pretty much over. Then there’s a Cathay Pacific flight to Jakarta that’s a pretty decent connection.

Next time I’ll take Cathay instead. I’ve tried the premium economy once and depending on the price it is worth it. When I was pricing it out this time, it was $2400CAD and only for the YYZ to HKG leg. I didn’t think it was worth it this time. Last time I paid $1800.

I guess I shouldn’t complain about my longer flights when I paid half as much as you do ($680 with SA for IAH-CGK & $220 with Garuda for CGK-SOQ)

 

[billt4sf]

We LOVE EVA Air! You have to stop in Taiwan, we usually get a flight departure time such that we have a 12 hour or more layover in Taiwan, where we get a hotel for a nice bed for 6+ hours then breakfast before continuing on to Bali or Jakarta. Bags are checked through, single ticket price. I used to think "I just want to tough it out and get there, THEN sleep" but this works much better for us. We leave SFO in the evening, have a long flight (13 hours) where we sleep somewhat, then arrive at night, have a nice lie-down, then breakfast, then fly daytime to Bali or Jakarta.

We fly Premium Economy because I am tall (1.98m). Be advised that PE flights in Asian airlines, like EVA, are considered another class - not just more legroom. You also get fewer bathrooms / per person, better meals, and more flight attendant consideration than for PE in US airlines. "Can I have another red wine please?" -- "Yes, sir".

- Bill

 

[clownfishsydney]

Only 25 hours? Should live in Australia and try to go somewhere. Minimum of 24 hours to main European cities, much longer to smaller ones. Even the closest country to Sydney and Melbourne (New Zealand) is 3.5 hours away. Five hours and you are still in Australia if you head west or north-west! Off to South America in December, an epic journey no matter which way you go.

 

[borisphotosafari]

Garuda non stop flight from Jakarta to Sorong was pretty good. Got in at 6:30am. On the way back it isearly, 7:35 departure. Beats the stop overs

 

[Dan]

Another reason to take Garuda for domestic flights: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/10/28/asia/lion-air-plane-crash-intl/index.html

 

[reubencahn]

Since Garuda started flying Embraers to smaller airports it's been mostly possible to avoid other airlines for internal flights. In light of Garuda's safety record, professionalism, and baggage policies, it's well worth the extra cost. But sometimes, traveling on other airlines is unavoidable. In a week or so, I'm flying MDC-AMQ on Wings. It's direct flight of a few hours. Garuda would have taken 2 connections and the entire day. Oh well, at least it's not Merpati.

 

[Illini_Fan]

We LOVE EVA Air! You have to stop in Taiwan, we usually get a flight departure time such that we have a 12 hour or more layover in Taiwan, where we get a hotel for a nice bed for 6+ hours then breakfast before continuing on to Bali or Jakarta. Bags are checked through, single ticket price. I used to think "I just want to tough it out and get there, THEN sleep" but this works much better for us. We leave SFO in the evening, have a long flight (13 hours) where we sleep somewhat, then arrive at night, have a nice lie-down, then breakfast, then fly daytime to Bali or Jakarta.

We fly Premium Economy because I am tall (1.98m). Be advised that PE flights in Asian airlines, like EVA, are considered another class - not just more legroom. You also get fewer bathrooms / per person, better meals, and more flight attendant consideration than for PE in US airlines. "Can I have another red wine please?" -- "Yes, sir".

- Bill

Good to hear about EVA air -- I'm flying their business class product for my DPS-TPE-SFO leg returning from Bali (albeit not until next September). The online reviews of their business class seat and service (plus the decent departure schedule and award ticket availability) made the worth a shot.