Travelling Back to PNG!

To catch everyone up on what's been happening with the Michael family!

We flew over the Pacific in a 747

During our last term in PNG, our oldest daughter, Meliah, graduated from the the International High School while we were in PNG, and it was time for us to return home to the US to settle her into college and reconnect with friends and family. So we have been back in the States for the past year from July 2014 to June 2015.

Now, Meliah has finished her first year at Messiah College in Pennsylvania with flying colors. She is back in the Spokane area working for the summer and spending time with family and friends before heading back to College in the fall.

The rest of us are headed back to PNG for another 3 year term in Papua New Guinea serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators. As we write this we are in Cairns Australia enjoying a few days of "holiday" until the final leg of our journey to PNG on Wednesday. We're looking forward to what lies ahead and can hardly wait to get started with this next term!

With Meliah continuing with college in the US, this journey to PNG feels a lot different now that we
are travelling as a family of 4 instead of 5. It's not been easy to leave her behind. But we have been calling and chatting like crazy and we are so glad we have the ability through technology to stay in such close contact. And we are so blessed to know that Meliah desires to live a life of Kingdom Purpose for God's Glory!

Here is a quick recap of our travels over the past few days that we hope you will enjoy:

Packing up the suitcases before we leave

You can barely see our house as we fly past!

Mount Rainier

14 hours on a plane! We're almost to Syndey.

During this long 14 hour flight from LAX to Syndey, Australia, Annakah's TV screen kept "freezing". After a while, I mentioned it to one of the stewards who tried several things to get it working, but nothing worked. In the end, Ruth just switched seats with Anna so she could watch a couple of the programs to pass the time. No big deal.

But then just before the flight was over, the steward came by and gave our family a big bag full of pajamas, and face soaps and other cool stuff. They thanked us for being so understanding about the problem with the TV and that they were sorry they couldn't get it fixed. 

Great job Qantas Airlines!

Landed! Now we just need to transfer to the domestic terminal.

It was a lot harder transferring from the International airport to Domestic than we expected. After collecting all our luggage (three carts worth) and pushing them through customs and all the checks and paper work, we "thought" we knew just where to go. But when we got to the Qantas counter, we were informed that we were connecting through their partner Jetstar which was at a different location. 

We had to pay $22.00 to get a bus that could fit all our luggage and ride for about 20 minutes to what seemed like a different airport all together! Once there, I had to rent another $16 worth of carts to get our luggage from where we were dropped off to the check-in counter.

I was concerned that they were going to give us some trouble about all our luggage so I held onto my receipt that showed I had already paid for it all. But I also realized that two of my carry-ons from the previous flights would have to be checked on this flight so I figured I would have to pay for those at least. 

Thankfully, the lady at the check-in counter was really helpful and determined that they would honor the receipt showing I had already paid and that we didn't need to pay anything additional. What a blessing that was!

We got a Maxibus to get us from the Cairns Airport to Tree Tops

When we arrived in Cairns, it was really busy at the airport. It turns out that the Iron Man Australia event was happening that weekend! All the crowds can make things feel a bit more stressful, but we managed to get all our bags, and call for a "maxi-bus" (basically a big taxi) to drive us from the Cairns airport to Tree Tops Lodge.

This is what we all looked like the day after. Travelling can be exhausting!

Here Kiery is trying to get a Oreo from her forehead to her mouth at a local church function.

And there you have it! Your all caught up on our travels so far! We'll be sure to keep posting here, so be on the lookout for our next post!