After asking to be driven to a particular guesthouse we took the not-so-great room on the belief that all rooms would be similar in Maumere, a rather grimy run-down fishing town. Our drivers bid us a quick goodbye as they appeared to heading straight back to Labuanbajo!

Our first task was to find a flight as soon as possible back to Bali. We walked towards a particular flight carrier's office who told us he had no flights until Thursday (four days away) but seeing the desperation in our faces he phoned another carrier who luckily had two tickets available for tomorrow morning.

With no desire to stay in Maumere any longer than necessary we accepted with relief and as the ticket details were being processed we rushed off to find an ATM to get the cash to pay.

Just prior to reaching the office we bumped into Doorstep Man, now back in his hometown. He seemed genuinely happy to see us and it was with a tinge of regret that we didn't use him, especially when he asked how we got here. Not having the heart to tell him we used another operator we lied and said that we had taken the bus.

Returning to the office, we paid for a flight and had a short wait before the tickets were ready. Afterwards we took a walk through town which is clearly unused to getting any westerners. Many of the groups of men were shouting out "Mister!" or something we didn't understand in Indonesian. Kirsty found the whole experience quite intimidating and uncomfortable.

The rest of the town had little in the way of charm and just before reaching home we found a brand-new first floor café where we spent some time eating and relaxing whiling away the morning. Paying the bill we went round the equally-new supermarket (on the ground floor) before returning to the room.

We spent the rest of the day chatting and relaxing in the room and watching the TV, taking it easy before our early morning flight.

Another day, another pre-sunrise start as we rose at 4.30 following a movie marathon taking in four films back-to-back. It's rare to get a TV in our room so we took full advantage!

We were checked out and waiting in the outside lobby by 5am for our taxi, kindly booked for us by the flight carrier office. To my surprise the streets of Maumere were dead (I thought fishermen got up early?). In this part of the world this meant a complete black-out (as there are no streetlights) leading to an eerie mood and only the stars for company.

A fretful 20 minute wait followed before the taxi arrived and we started on our way to the airport. Along the way I learned that Spain had won Euro 2012 within the last hour, good news!

The eerie mood continued as we arrived at the smallest airport I have ever been to (taking the title from the short-lived passenger terminal at Coventry Airport) where we had to wait for the staff to arrive and someone to open up the check-in hut. Keeping us occupied while we waited for any sign of life was a multi-hued sunset, so not all bad.

We checked in, our bags weighed using analogue scales and manually placed on a baggage trolley - no sign of any conveyor belts here! - and sat and waited in the departures room as other passengers arrived in dribs and drabs until not too long later our airplane touched down completing a previous flight.

Kirsty who had fallen asleep when the number of people in the room was four and there was no sign of any plane then awoke to a plane and a room full of waiting passengers. The dramatic change in circumstances leading her to question how long she had been asleep. We boarded the plane and being half empty we were lucky enough to set off early. Due to cloud cover the flight wasn't anywhere near as picturesque as the flight to Flores.