Crossing the Big Dream Out of My List with Garuda Indonesia (Part 2 - Jakarta-Narita-Odawara Station
11 May 2015 - Depart
Jakarta - Denpasar
Flight: 19:55 WIB (Western Indonesia Time)
Dad said he need to go to the airport to meet his friend on my departure date, that means: free taxi to airport! Yay!!
My flight is Jakarta-Denpasar-Narita then I have to go through domestic terminal first in Jakarta, then change into International flight on Denpasar. Nothing much happen on Jakarta's airport, Bali was a whole different story.. ><
Denpasar - Narita
Flight: 00:25 WITA (Indonesia Central Zone)
the plane landed on Bali at 22:55 local time (Indonesia Central Zone - an hour a head of Jakarta). I don't have watch so I rely on my phone for time. What I didn't know is that my phone will automatically adjust to local time zone. So when I saw the time I was shock, thinking that it's 23:55 WITA already; which means 30 minutes away from boarding time to the next flight. I was panicking as I have to go to the International terminal, plus immigration. I was literally running, it was almost midnight, not many people was around to ask for direction, plus as the airport was on construction, there are only little signage available. I was afraid that I might get lost and cannot catch the next flight. I succeeded in finding the right way by following a Japanese guy, he's catching a flight to Osaka. I forgot that I don't need to check in anymore, only need to went trough the immigration. After immigration, there's a huge clock showing that it was 23:05 WITA, which means I still have around 1 hour 20 minutes before boarding time ^^;; In my boarding pass, it said my boarding gate was 1A. I was waiting in 1A for about 10 minutes and the Airport guy asked us to go downstairs, there we were ask to wait again. I thought after going downstairs we don't have to wait much longer, but we needed to wait around 15-20 minutes and we were mixed with the passenger to Seoul. There was a little confusion when the staff were announcing the boarding for Seoul, as far as I remember no notification showed on screen (only several staffs shouting), which made some passengers towards Tokyo joining the queue towards Seoul and some were asking the staffs whether it was their boarding call or not. Later, when the boarding to Tokyo was announce, I notice that the gate was actually the same gate when I arrived from Jakarta, and I'm sure that I board the same plane from Jakarta.^^;;
Notes: During waiting time I tried to download some Qibla finder apps but apparently nothing works on my phone (the apps said they need magnetic something2 for it to work but my phone doesn't have it) Lesson learned: buy manual compass!
Anyway, I really glad that I use Garuda. Blanket on flight, warm breakfast. Next time I might not be that lucky.
sun rise from Garuda...
Narita
08:50 AM Japan Time
After a long fight completed with nice breakfast, I finally arrived at Narita. Went to the toilet then straight to immigration. Nothing much happen until I wait for my luggage. I have waited 'till all the baggages been taken away by the owner but I didn't see my luggage. I asked the information desk and they asked me my name. Once they heard my name they instantly apologized to me, saying my luggage was sent to Osaka instead. They promise to send my luggage and asking where I stay tonight. I say I'll stay at Hakone and the say it can be delivered tomorrow night, that day I suppose to stay at Atami. They said if in Atami, it can only be delivered on the next 2 days. I was speechless, but nothing I can do. I could only ask them for the report so that I could claim to the insurance later on.
I was literally blank after that. I didn't know what should I do. I tried to contact the hotel but my phone died after several try and reached the mailbox (I ran out of credit trying), trying to contact via public phone but my coin runs out really fast (I think it was inter-local call because my hotel was in other city). I bought a phone card but I didn't know how to use it. So finally, after some times just sitting on a bench thinking, I decided that no matter what I have to reach the hotel first, because I don't know how much time the journey would take, how difficult it would be and I think I will be calmer after reaching my destination. So after that, I took my mobile wifi (which was free from the project), and going to JR East information center (JR East pass was also given for the project). JR East information center gave me 3 things; the JR East pass for 5 days, Narita Express Ticket and a Shinkansen ticket to Odawara. The information center also said to me to stop at Shinagawa as Tokyo Station would be too big and would be confusing to me. So I stop at Shinagawa and ask the station officer how to change to the Shinkansen. However he said that I cannot use Shinkansen because what I have is the JR Pass (which as far as I know it could be use for certain Shinkansen - definitely not the most expensive one and I already have the Shinkansen ticket with me). He suggest me to take the ordinary train. I don't want to argue - to be exact, the language barrier made it difficult to argue plus I didn't really mind taking ordinary train as long as I could arrived at Odawara safely. I went to the right track and taking the ordinary train, the seats were all taken at that time.
Inside Narita Express
Odawara Station
When reaching Odawara, I decided to go to Odakyu tourist information center. Basically main transportation in Hakone is provided by Odakyu. The tourist information center has staff with great English (Thank God coz my Japanese sucks). The staff is very kind to explain everything to me, she got me a ticket for a cheaper train to Hakone (instead of the more expensive romance car), explain that I could take bus to my hotel and inform me the bus number (the explanation in the hotel website only provide romance car and taxi as option), She also shows the current situation in Hakone with rising volcanic activity (which means the famous tourist spot: Owakudani was closed) and storm approaching (she showed me another tourist attraction, Lake Ashi was covered in fog and she explain that the Lake would probably remain close tomorrow because of the approaching storm). I was devastated by the news, because both spot are the famous spot to see mount Fuji. But I have to go to Hakone anyway, plus they still have some attractive museum that I could visit. The last thing that I asked her was the best place to buy some clothes (I didn't have any back up clothes except from what I was wearing because all of my clothes were in the luggage), she told me to shop here at the mall in the station, because it's hard to fine clothing shop in Hakone. So I shop at the mall, I was shocked by the price. The cheapest item: T-Shirt cost around 3000en (tax excluded). I found a cute over-sized hoodie(!?) only 1,000en away from T-shirt, so I decided to buy that, also I bought 2 pairs of bra and undies with total cost of more than 10,000en (super expensive.. TT). Oh, and with this emergency that I face I have to cancel my diving plan to Izu which I have planned because I'm afraid I will not have enough cash available (see the amount of money spent for the clothing) for the rest of my trip. After shopping I went to Hakone by train.
Crossing the Big Dream Out of My List with Garuda Indonesia (Part 1 - Preparation)
Crossing the Big Dream Out of My List with Garuda Indonesia (Part 3 - Hakone)
Crossing the Big Dream Out of My List with Garuda Indonesia (Part 4 - Atami)
Crossing the Big Dream Out of My List with Garuda Indonesia (Part 5 - Tokyo-Home)
C rossing the Big Dream Out of My List with Garuda Indonesia (Part 6 - Kyoto)
Jakarta - Denpasar
Flight: 19:55 WIB (Western Indonesia Time)
Dad said he need to go to the airport to meet his friend on my departure date, that means: free taxi to airport! Yay!!
My flight is Jakarta-Denpasar-Narita then I have to go through domestic terminal first in Jakarta, then change into International flight on Denpasar. Nothing much happen on Jakarta's airport, Bali was a whole different story.. ><
Denpasar - Narita
Flight: 00:25 WITA (Indonesia Central Zone)
the plane landed on Bali at 22:55 local time (Indonesia Central Zone - an hour a head of Jakarta). I don't have watch so I rely on my phone for time. What I didn't know is that my phone will automatically adjust to local time zone. So when I saw the time I was shock, thinking that it's 23:55 WITA already; which means 30 minutes away from boarding time to the next flight. I was panicking as I have to go to the International terminal, plus immigration. I was literally running, it was almost midnight, not many people was around to ask for direction, plus as the airport was on construction, there are only little signage available. I was afraid that I might get lost and cannot catch the next flight. I succeeded in finding the right way by following a Japanese guy, he's catching a flight to Osaka. I forgot that I don't need to check in anymore, only need to went trough the immigration. After immigration, there's a huge clock showing that it was 23:05 WITA, which means I still have around 1 hour 20 minutes before boarding time ^^;; In my boarding pass, it said my boarding gate was 1A. I was waiting in 1A for about 10 minutes and the Airport guy asked us to go downstairs, there we were ask to wait again. I thought after going downstairs we don't have to wait much longer, but we needed to wait around 15-20 minutes and we were mixed with the passenger to Seoul. There was a little confusion when the staff were announcing the boarding for Seoul, as far as I remember no notification showed on screen (only several staffs shouting), which made some passengers towards Tokyo joining the queue towards Seoul and some were asking the staffs whether it was their boarding call or not. Later, when the boarding to Tokyo was announce, I notice that the gate was actually the same gate when I arrived from Jakarta, and I'm sure that I board the same plane from Jakarta.^^;;
Notes: During waiting time I tried to download some Qibla finder apps but apparently nothing works on my phone (the apps said they need magnetic something2 for it to work but my phone doesn't have it) Lesson learned: buy manual compass!
Anyway, I really glad that I use Garuda. Blanket on flight, warm breakfast. Next time I might not be that lucky.
sun rise from Garuda...
Narita
08:50 AM Japan Time
After a long fight completed with nice breakfast, I finally arrived at Narita. Went to the toilet then straight to immigration. Nothing much happen until I wait for my luggage. I have waited 'till all the baggages been taken away by the owner but I didn't see my luggage. I asked the information desk and they asked me my name. Once they heard my name they instantly apologized to me, saying my luggage was sent to Osaka instead. They promise to send my luggage and asking where I stay tonight. I say I'll stay at Hakone and the say it can be delivered tomorrow night, that day I suppose to stay at Atami. They said if in Atami, it can only be delivered on the next 2 days. I was speechless, but nothing I can do. I could only ask them for the report so that I could claim to the insurance later on.
I was literally blank after that. I didn't know what should I do. I tried to contact the hotel but my phone died after several try and reached the mailbox (I ran out of credit trying), trying to contact via public phone but my coin runs out really fast (I think it was inter-local call because my hotel was in other city). I bought a phone card but I didn't know how to use it. So finally, after some times just sitting on a bench thinking, I decided that no matter what I have to reach the hotel first, because I don't know how much time the journey would take, how difficult it would be and I think I will be calmer after reaching my destination. So after that, I took my mobile wifi (which was free from the project), and going to JR East information center (JR East pass was also given for the project). JR East information center gave me 3 things; the JR East pass for 5 days, Narita Express Ticket and a Shinkansen ticket to Odawara. The information center also said to me to stop at Shinagawa as Tokyo Station would be too big and would be confusing to me. So I stop at Shinagawa and ask the station officer how to change to the Shinkansen. However he said that I cannot use Shinkansen because what I have is the JR Pass (which as far as I know it could be use for certain Shinkansen - definitely not the most expensive one and I already have the Shinkansen ticket with me). He suggest me to take the ordinary train. I don't want to argue - to be exact, the language barrier made it difficult to argue plus I didn't really mind taking ordinary train as long as I could arrived at Odawara safely. I went to the right track and taking the ordinary train, the seats were all taken at that time.
Inside Narita Express
Odawara Station
When reaching Odawara, I decided to go to Odakyu tourist information center. Basically main transportation in Hakone is provided by Odakyu. The tourist information center has staff with great English (Thank God coz my Japanese sucks). The staff is very kind to explain everything to me, she got me a ticket for a cheaper train to Hakone (instead of the more expensive romance car), explain that I could take bus to my hotel and inform me the bus number (the explanation in the hotel website only provide romance car and taxi as option), She also shows the current situation in Hakone with rising volcanic activity (which means the famous tourist spot: Owakudani was closed) and storm approaching (she showed me another tourist attraction, Lake Ashi was covered in fog and she explain that the Lake would probably remain close tomorrow because of the approaching storm). I was devastated by the news, because both spot are the famous spot to see mount Fuji. But I have to go to Hakone anyway, plus they still have some attractive museum that I could visit. The last thing that I asked her was the best place to buy some clothes (I didn't have any back up clothes except from what I was wearing because all of my clothes were in the luggage), she told me to shop here at the mall in the station, because it's hard to fine clothing shop in Hakone. So I shop at the mall, I was shocked by the price. The cheapest item: T-Shirt cost around 3000en (tax excluded). I found a cute over-sized hoodie(!?) only 1,000en away from T-shirt, so I decided to buy that, also I bought 2 pairs of bra and undies with total cost of more than 10,000en (super expensive.. TT). Oh, and with this emergency that I face I have to cancel my diving plan to Izu which I have planned because I'm afraid I will not have enough cash available (see the amount of money spent for the clothing) for the rest of my trip. After shopping I went to Hakone by train.
Crossing the Big Dream Out of My List with Garuda Indonesia (Part 1 - Preparation)
Crossing the Big Dream Out of My List with Garuda Indonesia (Part 3 - Hakone)
Crossing the Big Dream Out of My List with Garuda Indonesia (Part 4 - Atami)
Crossing the Big Dream Out of My List with Garuda Indonesia (Part 5 - Tokyo-Home)
C rossing the Big Dream Out of My List with Garuda Indonesia (Part 6 - Kyoto)