Millers to Mentawaii's - a long haul

The trip nearly got off to an interesting start - with our plane almost getting diverted to Durban thanks to a massive hailstorm smashing Joburg as we were trying to land to connect to our international flight. Note to self - do not try fly into Joey's in the late arvo in summer - it's hailstorm heaven. After about an hour of circling, it was almost time to bail but luckily a tiny break in the storm let us sneak in. You know the flight was eventful when the whole plane bursts out in spontaneous applause when the wheels hit the ground.

It wrecked havoc with the international flights leaving too.The 2 hour delay proved to be an educational exposure to other cultures. Our Dubai connection was packed with Chinese, who, it transpires, have a very interesting approach to personal hygiene issues in public. Pretty much anything goes. Including having a big sniff, placing a finger on one nostril, and blowing a lekker big snotball out your nose right onto the carpet in front of you in a crowded airport waiting room. Schweet. Not. For 2 hours it was spit, snort, pick nose, burp loudly and any other bodily affliction you felt like sharing. Note to self #2 - do not fly the Emirates 22h20 flight outta JHB, as it's the one that connects to Bangkok.

We'd resigned ourselves to missing our connecting flight in Dubai cos of the delay - but luck was on our side, and it had been delayed as well. Onwards to Kuala Lumpur. Stoked to have booked into a kiff overnight hotel there - cos there was a dude with a sign waiting for us as we left the plane. Just as well, cos it's one flipping big airport and we'd probably still be wandering around there now if we hadn't got a meet n greet. The styling continued when we got picked up by a lil golf buggy and driven through the airport to the hotel. 

Glad that I had the extra padding made for the boardbag cos it looked like the All Blacks had done the Haka on it. What the hang baggage handlers do to your stuff once it disappears down the chute is anyone's guess.

Day 2 and a quick trip to the Low cost airport terminus for our Air Asia flight to Padang - organised chaos. About 10 queues and 2.5 hours later and we'd finally managed to ditch our bags. Being low cost means instead of a bus to your plane you get to walk the 1km there. Literally 1km from terminus to where the plane was parked. Note to self #3, rather fly in via Singapore (which we would have done had we not booked so late - there were no flights left)

Padang. Finally. The typical mission through customs where you had to unpack everything - turns out it was the rugby ball that had got them confused! Then a 40 minute drive up into the foothills outside of Padang where we'll be spending the night in a homestay before catching a lil charter flight out to the islands tomorrow.

Can't wait to get in the water!

Every ou has a dog or two on his bike

Petrol station Indo style - buy your litre bottle for your bike