I sit slumped, fatigued from air travel, gazing aimlessly at my phone screen. I am flicking through images to pass time while I wait for my guests to arrive. A little nervous, a tad excited and quite unsure of what awaits on-board the Aileoita. My legs stick to the faux leather seat in the hotel lobby. Foreign exotic smells waft through the air, circulated by air conditioning that is tricking my body into thinking I am back home and not in a smoke engulfed tropical Sumatra, that I am not. Although we share the Indian Ocean with our Indonesian neighbours I am a far cry from my Western Australian desert shores. A day’s travel from Perth to Padang I find myself pensively waiting to board the boat to set sail on my first Mentawai surf trip as a coach and guide.