Frequent Flyer?

On Tuesday my time was up. I had done my shopping, said my good-byes, and that evening my sister and Thomas saw me off at the airport. Yes, I was a bit stressed, scared, and excited about going to Indonesia. But I was also very sad to be leaving my family, especially little Thomas who is fantastic in so many ways.

But yeah, I was setting off on the trip from hell! Five airplanes, four days, three continents, two sad hearts back in the USA (my sister pointed this out to me), and one little lonely me. Everyone, including me, has asked, “What were you thinking?” Four days of airports, hotels, waiting, planes, plane FOOD! Oh, I admit that it does seem quite hopeless, but I really didn’t have a choice in the matter price-wise or time-wise. This was the cheapest way for me to get to both the USA and to Indonesia in one go… yeah, we are talking about a large price difference…. 8000NOK (1370 USD) versus 18000NOK (3080)? As for the time part, flights into Europe arrived after relevant flights to Asia had left, so there goes three to four days.

Until now though, all my flights have gone well. The extremely small plane from Myrtle Beach and down to Atlanta calmed my nerves quite a lot and the long haul over to London was a smooth as ever. Getting to London and kicking yourself in the ass for not finding a hotel before hand was not as fun. I had planned to just find a hostel or something but once I got there, dead tired, I found out that I wanted a real room. I ended up taking a “cabin room” (closet room) in a small, but clean hotel in South Kensington.

The next day I was off to Riyadh with Saudi Arabia airlines. Again I have had people shaking their heads at me for this, but for the most part it wasn’t bad at all. The 5-hour flight down was in the biggest plane I had ever been in. The food was some of the best airplane food I had ever had, there was lots of space. I ended up watching three movies and getting a bit teary-eyed with all three. No idea what is happening to this cold heart of mine! Hahhaaa…. Arriving at the airport I was told that I would be getting a free meal during my layover there. Again, the food wasn’t bad at all.

Boarding to Jakarta I knew that this flight would be nothing like the last. An ocean of people surrounded me; most of these were Indonesian women who I found out later were seasonal workers returning home. The plane was again bigger than anything I had been on before, packed full, and very old… meaning there were no tv’s for the 8-hour flight it would turn out to be. I ended up sitting by an overweight man who kept me squeezed into one side of the seat and who stared after all the women going to the bathroom. Surprisingly many of these women knew how the bathroom doors worked and very rarely locked the doors after them! Hahahaa…

As I left the plane in Jakarta I was hit by a wave of heat and humidity and began to wonder as to how sane I really am. Cleared customs easily enough and talked a bit more to a flight attendant who I ha spoken a bit with on the plane. She asked for my telephone number and if I were married, not for her but for some of her co-workers. Hahahaaa…. I honestly almost died from laughing, but eventually got off the hook!

It took forever to get my baggage, but I was happy. I had booked a decent hotel for the night I would be spending in Jakarta. Only 30 dollars and it was only 7 miles from the airport. So you can imagine my surprise when the taxi driver told me it would take nearly two hours to get there because of traffic and he would be charging me around 40 dollars one way! This resulted in me trying to catch an earlier flight to Yogjkarta and failing, then checking the airport hotel to find out that their rooms were 120 USD a night. A guy working there was helpful though and he drove me to a hotel that was both cheap and nearby. Ended up losing 30 dollars because of my pre-booked hotel, but ended up getting a night and drive to and from the airport for less than the taxi drive to my first hotel! Not going to complain about it. Hahahaa…

So now I sit here waiting for my last flight! Hoping that Yogja will be a bit quieter than Jakarta!

UPDATE! I found out this post also needed a picture. Sadly I only took one picture during the flights over and that was of the safety sheet from Saudi Arabia airlines... :P I am sure you will understand why I liked it!