Typical Day

My internship started May 13, 2015 in the middle of the week. That week on a beautiful Friday morning at MEIDECC, the whole building seemed deserted at 8:50 AM. As one sat there thinking that perhaps it was a public holiday in the Kingdom of Tonga. I had arrived early as usual and sat down on the assigned desk to collect what the first three days of working in Tonga was like.

I looked around and there was no one in the section where I was working, the ministry of information. The next room separated by walls was the ministry of energy, and again no one was there as I got up to peek through the door. All the executive offices of the chief executive officer of MEIDECC, director of energy and director of information were also empty.

The next section again separated by a wall was the corporate affairs of MEIDECC was completely empty. On the very far corner to one’s surprise saw the two receptionists for the entire seven ministries. I quickly walked over to inquire about the building’s quietness. The casual reply with confidence of course was that Friday morning the staff would arrive at 9:00 AM. Sure enough, at nine o’clock almost everyone showed up to the office, this is a typical Friday morning at MEIDECC and their normal time of attendance. One was taken by surprise of the easiness, casual appearance and the tardiness were not even an issue.

Tongan time is known throughout the Kingdom as pretty much the normal practice. 

Free Write 2: How to get to Tonga?

In my personal opinion, Tonga is a phenomenal tourist destination. In the beginning as mentioned in the Bible, God created the earth. God created Tonga the last, as the only remaining sovereign nation in the entire Pacific Ocean. Tonga is surrounded by many beautiful white sandy beaches, its ocean so blue and clean where one can swim with the whales and dolphins. It is going to be a trip of lifetime, and this is how you can get to Tonga.

There are many ways of flying to Tonga as showed on the map courtesy of Tonga Tourism website[1]. I will concentrate on the way from the United States only. On the map it shows two cities that connects America to Tonga, either from Los Angeles or San Francisco. I will also recommend a new discovery of flights that one took in the summer for my internship in Tonga because it was cost effective and better especially if one wishes to travel to Tonga directly from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Please note that there is no direct flight from any cities in America to Tonga. Here are your options to travel to Tonga;

Option One:

From Phoenix to Tonga via San Francisco, California and Auckland, New Zealand – you will travel to San Francisco to connect onto Air New Zealand. The Air New Zealand direct flight from San Francisco to Auckland is about 13 hours. There is a layover of about two to four hours at the Auckland International Airport before connecting on a three hours flight to Tonga from Auckland, New Zealand.  

Option Two:

From Phoenix to Tonga via Los Angeles, California and Nadi, Fiji – you will travel to Los Angeles to connect onto Fiji Airways. The Fiji Airways direct flight to Nadi from Los Angeles is about 11 hours. There is a layover of about three to eight hours depending on the day of travel at the Nadi International Airport before connecting on one hour flight to Tonga from Nadi, Fiji.

Option Three:

From Phoenix to Tonga via either Los Angeles or San Francisco, California and Sydney, Australia – you will travel either to SFO or LAX to connect onto United Airlines. The United Airlines direct flight to Sydney, Australia is about 15 hours. There is a layover of about two to four hours before connecting either on Tuesday or Thursday on a 5 five hours direct flight to Tonga on Virgin Australia from Sydney. Australia.

My recommendation:

From Phoenix to Tonga via Honolulu, Hawaii and Auckland, New Zealand – you travel directly from Phoenix Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines, and then again on Hawaiian Airlines from Honolulu to Auckland. The reason why I am recommending these flights is because you get to spend one to two nights in Hawaii, one to two nights in New Zealand before arriving at the final destination Tonga either by Air New Zealand or Virgin Australia. This was a new transiting travel for me which I really enjoyed thoroughly when I was travelling to Tonga for my internship in May. I flew on a 6 hours flight on Hawaiian Airlines from Phoenix to Honolulu. It required that you spend the night there before connecting the following afternoon from Honolulu to Auckland. The Hawaiian Airlines’ 9 hours flight from Honolulu to Auckland was very comforting and not too long. The flight also arrived at night to Auckland which required you to spend the night in Auckland before connecting on your selected flight to Tonga. I actually chose to spend three nights in Auckland before connecting on a three hours flight on Virgin Australia from Auckland to Tonga. This was by far the cheapest flight that I have paid for to travel to Tonga.   

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[1] http://www.tongaholiday.com/

Free Write 1 - Tonga, the Friendly Islands

The exploration of the Pacific Islands by Captain Cook in the 18^th century, discovered Tonga in 1773 and named it the Friendly Islands. Since then the Kingdom of Tonga is also known as the Friendly Islands. Tonga compromises of 177 islands of which 125 islands are habited. Tonga was first discovered in 1616 by two Dutchmen explores Schouten and Le Maire, and later on by Captain Abel Tasman in 1643.  

Tonga

 

Tonga is located geographically on longitude 21 degrees south and latitude 175 degrees west. It is located in the South Pacific close to Samoa and Fiji. It is about an hour away by flight to Fiji and three hours away to New Zealand

Tonga is made up of five main island groups; Tongatapu, Vava’u, Ha’apai, ‘Eua and the two Niuas. The capital city Nuku’alofa is located on the biggest island Tongatapu. Tonga has its own currency called Pa’anga.

Tonga’s total population from Tonga’s latest statistics is about 103,000 people. Tonga is a monarchial ruling form of government. Tonga’s hierarchy system is ruled by a constitutional monarchy; His Majesty King Tupou VI with the government system as follows;