Jakarta… Eventually 😴

The delays added up getting out of Bali last night. I grabbed dinner at the airport as the departure time got extended a couple more times. When the departure time finally came, staff at the gate were calling out, “Jakarta – gate change to gate 2” (from gate 1). Seemed pretty simple—only to arrive at gate 2 to hear the same announcement: “Jakarta – gate change to gate 1.” A tad confusing, as there were now two Garuda flights to Jakarta at the same time due to our delay, both swapping gates. Gate 2 had my flight number, so despite the repeated, confusing messages, I stayed put.

Boarding commenced by groups of rows, back to front. I was up the front of economy, so I was in the last group to board. This took forever—or maybe it just felt that way as I was getting tired. On board, we departed quickly for the 1.5-hour flight to Jakarta. Thinking I’d have a nap, we were instead served a hot meal: “Chicken or fish?” Fish—yuck! Chicken it was. Not a bad little post-dinner dinner, and quite unexpected on a domestic flight.

I’d booked a night at an airport hotel connected to Terminal 3 in Jakarta. Arriving this late there was no point exploring the city—and if I’m honest, I have so many bad memories of Jakarta traffic from work trips that I didn’t want to go far anyway. It was unclear how to find the hotel, so I’d WhatsApped them (is that a verb now?) for directions. Unfortunately, my GPS was playing up, so I had to do it old-school with written directions. Alas, those directions weren’t much help. I got out of the domestic end of the terminal near door 5, then proceeded as instructed to the “west lobby.”

It was a bit confusing as the instructions also said I had to go into the car park and up to level 1, but also see the lobby before I entered the car park. Walking the length of the terminal, trying a few lifts to no avail, I eventually just kept walking and arrived at the west lobby. The car park was opposite; I took the lift up to level 1—nope, only cars parked here. I went back to the west lobby and finally saw a sign for the hotel. I followed that to level 3 of the car park, passed the airline offices (which the instructions also said I’d need to stop before), and arrived at the hotel… or so I thought.

“Sir, I can’t find your booking. May I see your confirmation, please?” I showed my phone. He sighed. “Sorry sir, you’re at the Anara Hotel. You’re booked at the Grand Anara Hotel. It’s near door 5 of this terminal.” That’s right—where I’d started about 30 minutes ago. While I’m glad I’d somehow picked the “grander” version of the hotel, I was also peeved that the incorrect directions led me to the wrong place.

The man at reception said it was easy to find, just near door 5. I took the walk across the terminal again to get back to almost where I started. There’s a hotel at door 5—the “Digital Hotel.” Not mine. I saw signs to another car park, so I figured maybe it was in there. Winner—it was! Now almost an hour since I arrived, tired and sweaty from lugging my bag through the humid terminal, I finally crashed into bed.

My body was still on Melbourne time, so another early start today. I grabbed breakfast early, had a little nap, and then decided to hit the gym. I was going to run, but they didn’t have any water, so I went for a sweaty weights session instead. The last two days have been pretty active—a long walk and surfing yesterday, and a workout today—but I’m feeling good about moving before sitting down all afternoon. Showered, dressed in my new linen pants and feeling fresh, I headed to the airport, checked in, and took off for Muscat, Oman. The 60th country I’ve visited is my next stop! Bye Indonesia—I’ll come back to ride your waves again soon.Read more