I booked this trip at the same time as I had booked Bangkok only using Garuda Indonesia instead of the budget airline Tiger Airways as they didn't go to Jakarta. My flight was at 10am so I got there at 8am to check in. I got a taxi to the airport and left my flight documents and hotel voucher in the taxi. From that moment on I just knew it would be a bad day. I checked in at 8am and waited until 10am then the flight was delayed until 12:55pm. I got speaking to a Canadian woman called Patricia. We had a chat and I bought her a coffee, she was going to the same island but getting a connecting flight to another place on Java. I waited until 12:30pm and the plane was delayed again, the reason being because of the flooded airport, the plane which was meant for Singapore couldn't take off as there was only one runway in operation. The plane was delayed until 4:30pm and as time went on I was getting annoyed as I was only spending one night in Jakarta and would not have a lot of time to look around. I decided to ask for a refund and after going through all the procedures of immigration and customs I went to the Garuda Indonesia desk for a refund and they said they would not give me a refund as it was the weather to blame and not them so I said at 4:15pm get me on the plane for 4:30pm. Thankfully the plane had been delayed again to 5:30pm so I got the plane.
It takes one hour and twenty minutes to get to Jakarta and time flew. I got there at about 7pm and after getting a visa and going through customs and immagration I finally stepped foot on Indonesian soil, I was happy. I then got a taxi to the hotel which was near the centre of Jakarta, usually it would take thirty to forty minutes but because of floods it took three hours and at times you were driving through water it was that bad. The driver took me through all the residential areas and you saw people on the side of the street with no shoes on there feet, homes flooded and people wading through the water to get to where they want to go. I finally got to my hotel at 10:30pm. Had something to eat and went to bed. I was very tired.
Next morning I had very little money and only travellers cheques on me so I tried to change some money and because it was Sunday no banks were open. The so called money changers wouldn't change travellers cheques which I thought was strange. I was limited to what I could do so I decided to get a tour for a couple of hours and then go back to the airport as I didn't know how long it would take me and I didn't want to miss my flight, I just had enough money for this. I drove around the city and the driver showed me Chinatown, Sukarno era statues and the National Monument. After this the driver drove me to the airport which took only one hour so I think the first driver didn't know where he was going.
I got to the airport spent up and ready to come back to my nice hotel in Singapore. I went to check in and the man got me an earlier flight which would get me back to Singapore for three. He then said I had to pay 100,000 rupiah for airport tax. I had no money left as nobody would exchange my travellers cheques so I had to go to the ATM machine and draw some money out then go back to the check in desk and get my boarding pass. Everything else went smoothly and I got back to Singapore at 3pm. All's well that ends well.
Take care.
Robert
