Hello and welcome to another trip report. It's 5:10 in the morning, and I'm at a sticky
and hot Jakarta airport, here in Indonesia's capital! Today I'm taking Citilink of
Indonesia and I'm flying on a domestic flight down to Denpasar, in Bali. Never flown within
Indonesia before - gonna be another new experience for me. This is my sixth leg
of my 25 leg round the world tour. Let's go check it out.
So, Jakarta Airport has a transit train that I used, to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal
2. Problem is, I misread my booking email and it turned out I was leaving from
Terminal 1 after all. How annoying - even the most well-travelled of us sometimes make
mistakes!
Jakarta Airport is like nothing you'll see in Europe. Citilink depart for Denpasar from
Terminal 1C, and there is even a landside Priority Pass lounge.
However, I don't have time to check it out today. Something I couldn't film, but you
should be aware of, is the chaotic security screening that happens before you even
enter the airport. This check is very basic and there isn't another security checkpoint
inside, so be ready for this if you depart from Terminal 1.
I'm soon checked in and it's obvious this terminal is designed like a shopping precinct
or a hospital. It's really odd, in a way I can't quite put my finger on. Something
else you'll want to know in advance before flying from here is the unusual way they use
gates. Look at the departure board - the same gate is used for flights only 10
or 15 minutes apart. You need to pay close attention for the name of your destination;
there is no public address here and an agent will just shout the name of the
destination at you.
The views from the terminal though are pretty good if you like planes.
So a couple of flights have just left and that's emptied out the terminal a little bit,
so I can grab a brief moment of sanity. As you heard earlier in the voiceover,
I've actually gone to the wrong terminal today. I went to Terminal 2 and wasted about 45 minutes of my morning
getting between Terminal 2 and Terminal 1, which wasn't a great start to the day. It's really, really, really
humid here, and the air conditioning here is not particularly efficient. So, I'm not a particularly
happy bunny from that perspective, however the whole purpose of this world tour
is to take in a lot of new experiences. I've never been to Jakarta or Indonesia before,
and I'm certainly interested and intrigued by the design of the airport, as well as how it operates.
It's certainly not how I would design an airport, but it's given me something to think about.
Anyway, I've got about 5-10 minutes to boarding now, going to head off to Denpasar, Bali,
and I'm really looking forward to getting there!
Today's aircraft is an Airbus A320neo, which is brand new and has just arrived at the gate.
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Today's seat is 3A, in the Green Premium area at the front of the aircraft. Green customers
get certain benefits, and can sit in more favourable seats, denoted by the
green head rests. Simple but effective. I'll explain more what Green Premium is and how
much it cost at the end of the video.
Legroom is absolutely fine for this short domestic hop down to Bali.
In case you're wondering how they manage to squeeze one flight every 10 minutes from one gate
We're lucky to have an airbridge. Most gates involve an outside walk in the oppressive
humidity here.
I've lucked out again with an empty row. There's no blocked middle seat or anything like a
European business class - this is pure good fortune.
As we leave the Jakarta smog behind and head east across the island of Java, let's take
a look at our route. It's 610 miles at 34,000 feet, and it will take us around
90 minutes to get down to Denpasar.
The person in front of me reclined straight after takeoff - what can you do? Luckily I
had the luxury of a whole row so I moved to the middle.
Here's the inflight magazine. It's mostly in Indonesian, but there's always a route
map to look at. Our destination of Denpasar is number 8 here.
Citilink is the budget subsidiary of national airline Garuda - there are adverts in the
cabin, but they're proud of their Skytrax 4-star rating for low cost
carriers.
One of the benefits of Green Premium is the ability to order a meal for no extra cost
online. There was a good selection of about ten dishes. Something which stuck out
about the service onboard was the cabin crew using my name to address me. Now, I don't
get sniffy about those things, but that's a no-cost way of showing basic hospitality
which doesn't happen that often.
This is nasi goreng, it might not look inspiring, but the spiced chicken and fried rice were
absolutely delicious.
Indonesia is vast - the fourth most populated country in the world, and I know I have quite
a few subscribers from here. So, hello, and thanks for all your support from
so far away!
I even have time for a short nap in between gazing at the mountains of East Java. Spectacular
scenery.
The toilet was clean - no problems - although I'm not sure why they chose a strawberry air
freshener.
And, does anyone know why there isn't an oxygen mask fitted in the toilet, by the way?
After a short but pleasant flight we're on approach to Denpasar's Runway 09.
So, let's look at the cost. This flight cost me £62 one way, all in - that's about 80
US dollars or 1.2 million Indonesian rupiah. I was in Green Premium which meant
that as well as my transport, I got a hold bag, carryon, preferred seating, a meal, on
time insurance, water, and priority baggage.
Green Premium costs around £11 or 14 US dollars, so if you take that away and just want the
airline fare, it would have cost me about £50.
Personally I think this is great value and can recommend it to anyone, such was my positive
experience here.
Bali airport uses a mixture of bus and airbridge gates - I had to wait only two minutes for
my bag, before heading into a hectic 24 hours in Bali. So hectic that I
didn't film a closing piece, so I'm gonna include here a couple of shots of a traditional
fire dance I saw that evening.
My next video will be on Sunday, and after that, I'll be releasing my Q+A and channel
update video, which I've really been looking forward to.
Make sure you subscribe to follow me around the world on this trip.
See you next time!