After a miniature pub crawl through terminal A of DxB, it’s time to move toward the gate from where my flight to Jakarta will depart. I pick up the local English language newspaper, with the intention to read it aboard the plane. From the gate, a bus drives us onto the tarmac to a Boeing 777 parked in a rather remote location.
Again, the plane is not filled to capacity, and again I’ve got three seats at my disposal to nap on. THE magic trick to prevent jetlag.
Despite sleeping throughout most of the flight, my onboard data usage proved rather high. The explanation; one of the apps on my phone has the tendency to backup all photos taken to cloud storage, _if_ it is night, connected to a charger and a wifi network. In this day and age of transatlantic fibre optic cables, it feels kinda oldschool, knowing my photos are now relayed via satellite for a change.
Interesting when taking into account I only bought a data package for this leg of the flight in order to look up the address of my sponsor, to fill out on the immigration form.
Once in Jakarta, it took me some time to find the right line to enter the country through, but eventually I found the booth where I could get my visa stamped. After the usual rituals, involving withdrawing money in local currency, toilet break, gathering luggage and purchasing a local SIM card with a pleasantly bulky 4G data allowance. Just no not run out.

Then, it is time to take a first breath of sultry, humid tropical air. Mixed with exhaust fumes, but still, the warmth and waving palm trees, knowing people back home still experience winter is a delight.
Two of my acquiantances are coming to pick me up. First thing they do as we leave the parking lot is the huge billboard, announcing the solar eclipse. This looks promising.
Afterward we opt for coffee. This brought us to a rather generic mall away from the city, but it’s always a good thing to share food and beverages in good company. My first ever visit to Indonesia has officially started.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2016 at 11:59 pm and is filed under General.