The first flight from Chicago to Narita was long (14 hours) but fine. My row was full but the middle seat was a tiny old Japanese man who kept getting up and would be gone for long stretches of time. I slept, watched some movies and tv shows. I had a short layover in Narita and went to find Coke Zero. I found it and some banana flavored Kit Kats. Awesome!
I also got some savory snacks. There were many varieties in tiny snack packs. Most were good but then I came across this one. Should I eat it? Can you see the little freeze dried fish in there?
My row lucked out and we didn’t have anyone sitting in the middle seat. I watched many episodes of The White Lotus Season 3. I love the background music in that show. The flight from Narita to Jakarta landed just a little bit early, which is great because I only have two hours to go from International to Domestic. I got off the plane and started hauling ass to the Visa upon Arrival desk.
Then I saw a QR Code for immigration that is supposed to help you get through really fast. I didn’t work on it beforehand because I didn’t know the URL (and the one Pirjot told me about cost money). So, I stood in the manual immigration line while I also worked on entering in all my information digitally. Once I had an entry code, I left the line and went over to the kiosk and it would not let me in… and nobody was nearby to assist. Ugh. I’m not sure why it wasn’t working. I talked to a line minder guy and he said I had to go back to the manual line. And of course I lost my place.
Tick Tock.
Oh, and there is no Global Entry line anywhere. Ugh.
I finally got through Immigration, met my escort and headed to baggage claim. Luckily, my bags were there. We picked them up and then powerwalked out to the cab line. It was all prearranged, so I didn’t have to pay the cabbie anything.
By now it was like 1:09am and I had to be at the gate by 1:30am. Yikes!
When I got to the domestic terminal, a different escort was waiting there. He already had my boarding passes, we just needed to get the bags checked. I reminded him that I already prepaid for extra weight.
He had me just sit in a chair while he got that done but then he needed me. I guess they were saying that I hadn’t prepaid. OMG. So we had to go way far away to the cashier, show proof, and get a voucher. Luckily I had a printout of my ticket with the prepaid baggage so they didn’t charge me anything. Then, we had to go back to the checkin counter, ensure that the bags got checked in and that I got my passport back.
Whew, the escort said goodbye and I started walking. I remembered it was far, but it said like 13-15 minutes to the gate. Gah. I was trudging, dragging my heavy suitcase (with all my underwater photography equipment) and backpack. I made it through security and my gate was the first one on the right. The boarding agent was calling my name, but I did make it in time and there was space in the overhead for my luggage. Whew.
Once I was on the flight, we just sat on the plane. For a long time. We weren’t moving at all. The flight attendants kept making announcements, but even the English version I couldn’t understand. Eventually, they told us to get off the plane. We were switching aircrafts. But of course, instead of just going from the old one to the new one, we had to go back to the original gate.
So, this heavy rollerbag full of my camera equipment. I forget how much it weighs. I think around 35 lbs. In the states, we just glide down a ramp to board a plane. But in Indonesia, there are stairs to the tarmac. Yes, stairs. So, normally I just have to carry all my stuff down the stairs, ride a bus and then back up the stairs to the plane. Today at 2:30am (after two International flights) I had to do it three more times and I needed to use the bathroom in the terminal which was another trip down/upstairs. It was a lot, but I guess I got my exercise in. My knees were definitely feeling it.
At least the airline fed us some snacks and water because of the delay.
Given this two hour delay, I was worried that I wasn’t going to make my connecting flight to Alor, so I talked to the gate agent. She let me know that there were like 13 of us connecting, so they would be holding the flight for us. That made me feel good.
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