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/