Every couple of years, Mother Nature
showcases one of the most beautiful events in the sky, the total solar eclipse.
A total solar eclipse happens when the moon goes between the sun and Earth and
fully blocks the sun. The result is a
breathtaking display as the sky darkens and you can see nearby stars and
planets in our solar system. Seeing a
solar eclipse has always been one of the items on my bucket list.
Total solar eclipses are quite rare and it
usually occur around once a year in some part of the world. On March 9, 2016, a total solar eclipse was
set to happen in South East Asia. While
most of Asia could see a partial eclipse, the total solar eclipse can only be
seen in a few select areas in Indonesia.
Since I was currently living in the Philippines, I figured this will be
one of the best times to witness this phenomenon.
How
I booked the trip
Viewing the total solar eclipse will be
tricky as most populous cities in Indonesia won’t be able to see it. In fact, only a handful of cities will have
the a view of the total solar eclipse.
Of all those cities, the biggest by far is Palu, a middle sized city
located in central part of Indonesia.
This town with a population of around 300,000 was set to be transformed
into the capital of the 2016 total solar eclipse. With high global demand from solar eclipse
enthusiasts, getting a room will not be easy.
In fact, hotel rooms in Palu and other cities in Central Indonesia were
fully booked by mid 2014.
Luckily, in Palu there happened to be a
Mercure hotel, which is part of the French chain Accor Hotels. As an Accor
platinum member I was entitled in theory to a guaranteed room as long as I
booked the rate within 48 hours. In practice the experience varies, as some
properties will ignore the benefit completely, while others will have extremely
high “regular rates” that make taking advantage of the benefit astronomically
expensive.
Since hotels have been sold out since 2014
due to the solar eclipse, I decided to contact the Mercure Palu directly.
Surprisingly, not only did they honour the benefit, but the rate charged was
extremely reasonable given the high demand!
Palu is a remote city and as a result is
only being served by domestic airlines including the national carrier Garuda
Indonesia which is part of the Sky Team Alliance. This meant you could use
miles from other Sky Team Alliance partners including Delta and Air France. In fact Flying Blue, Air France’s frequent
flyer program, a transfer partner of American Express quoted only 10,000 miles
one way between South East Asia.
Unfortunately Air France applies fuel surcharges for award redemptions. Not only that, I would have to fly the long
way around as there were no direct Sky Team flights from Manila to
Jakarta.
I decided to save my points and booked more
direct flights using cash. My final
flight itinerary included flights on Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Lion
Air. The latter two being low cost
carriers.
