Java — Day 1 ...

Taipei  ✈️  Kuala Lumpur  ✈️  Jakarta  ✈️  Surabaya. 16 hours door to door. Upon arrival in Jakarta, there is a Rp$450,000 (NTD$1,100/CAN$44) 30-day landing visa for foreigners.

My flight landed the same time as flights coming in from Dubai, Abu Dubai and Doha and my immediate feeling was as though I was in the Middle East. Waiting for luggage to appear on the conveyor belt took forever; I swear they walked it over.

My long time friend and travel partner, Vernon, was waiting outside the security check. We were scheduled on a 6:40pm flight to Surabaya with Lion Air. We had a few hours to wait and wanted to see if we could get on an earlier flight. The first counter we asked at said that all flights were full and that we needed to head over to Terminal 1A; we were currently at Terminal 2D. In search of a taxi, I spotted a free shuttle bus that runs between the terminals so we hopped on.

At Terminal 1A, we found another ticketing counter and decided to ask again if it was possible to get on an earlier flight. Again, we were told no. We decided to check in and then see if we could find a place to sit down with a cold beer.

Upon checking in we were told that we needed to quickly go over to Terminal 1C because we were on a flight leaving at 5:25pm with a different airline. How that happened we weren't totally sure but there were no complaints. So over to Terminal 1C we went. Keep in mind that with each new terminal, there was a new security check.

We checked in with no troubles and our tickets stated that our flight would be leaving from gate C7. At gate C7 the signs read two other locations and was not showing our flight. We went to the information counter where we were told that the plane would be leaving from C6.

Nearing the time of departure I heard our flight being called but not one person was entering gate C6. There was a guy checking tickets at C7, so back over we went to board the plane. How is it that no one seemed to know what was going on at the airport?!

After the quick flight to Surabaya, we had yet to make plans for a hotel. We were hungry, hot and tired so we decided to treat ourselves and headed over to the JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya (see my review on TripAdvisor here).

The view from our hotel room in Surabaya

The hotel was about a half hour drive from the airport and I noticed along the way that there were a ton of fast food joints like KFC, A&W, McDonalds and Pizza Hut. They weren't your average fast food restaurants either. They were located in these massive buildings with three or fours floors. Not what I expected to see in Indonesia.

The room was Rp$1,300,000 (NTD$3,200/CAN$127) and absolutely worth it. We checked in around 9pm, grabbed a shower and headed to the lounge for some margaritas and food. Shortly after we sunk into our cozy beds for a comfortable night's rest. We would need it as the next day's plans were still uncertain.

Let the unexpected joys of travels begin ...