We’ve traded white and yellow cockatoos for leathery fruit bats, air conditioning for the occasional sea breeze, indoor church for outdoor church, restaurants for home cooking, and suitcases for closets. There are certain aspects of Cairns we sorely miss, and I briefly adorn my “going south hat” when I see the morning and evening flights in the sky, but overall we’re relieved. We’re home. It smells like home, looks like home, and feels like home.

Getting here was relatively easy, but not without character. We had two short flights and a brief stint in Port Moresby’s domestic terminal. Our morning started slow since we had a later flight and we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Since we were a unique case, going through immigration took some time. Willa didn’t exist as an independent person when we arrived in country and, as such, she didn’t have a visa. But then she wanted to leave the country as an independent expatriate who happened to not be in their system and also happened to not have a visa in her brand new passport. In the end it’s doable, but unique and complicated. Fortunately we had a very happy agent that chose to chat about the girls and baby names while we waited for higher-ups to sort us out.

The hot and humid PNG air hit as soon as we climbed down the metal steps of the Qantas plane that bore us away from pleasant Cairns, but it felt right. I used to react to that air with nerves of excitement and dread. Now it’s simply the air as it’s supposed to be. Blowing hot and smelling hot. Two international flights landed at the same time causing the immigration lines to fill the small, dark room. One agent was available for important people, one agent was available for those getting a visa on arrival, and one agent was available for the many, many expats coming in with a visa. That was us, so in dismay we popped to the back of the line in the back of the hot room. Willa was strapped to Brian’s front in the Baby Bjorn while Ray was strapped to me in the Ergobaby. I wasn’t exactly sure how I would hold her in the creeping line. My back ached just thinking about it, but almost immediately an airport employee came around and quietly led us to the important people line where only one other family was waiting. Traveling with youth is exhausting, but it has perks!

We made it to the domestic terminal and settled into an empty row of seats. Ray warily eyed the precocious Papua New Guinean toddler sitting in the next row. Eventually they became over-the-seat friends sharing books, snacks, and squeals. In return for sharing her Olaf the Snowman book, the girl gave Ray some Twisties, forever addicting her to that processed puff of corn with questionable flavoring. 

Climbing aboard the Air Nuigini flight from Port Moresby to Madang was less sentimentally appealing than the exit from our first plane. It wasn’t a full flight, but even so the cabin felt tight. Small bursts of stale air would come out of the vents, but did little to relieve the overall stuffiness. We sat in our sweat feeling the tenseness of our fellow passengers, all of us wondering when the crew would arrive. The comfort level dropped even lower when the lady sitting behind Brian sprayed enough perfume to cover three rows. Ray was immensely frustrated at being strapped into another seat, this one much more uncomfortable than the first. She determined to follow the course of action dreaded by all parents in planes: bellow, whine, fuss, and flail. It’s the first and only time I’ve been grateful she doesn’t have full command of the English language. She began by reasonably asking to be let loose and when that was a firm no, she lost sight of reason. The rest of the flight went about like that. Brief moments where she calmly asked to do something she’s never allowed to do, followed by a “why can’t I have my way” meltdown. Towards the end, Brian looked at me from across the aisle and reminded me that it’s just one hour (plus some wait time) where it could have been sixteen. Truth.