Journey Recap

I'm back here in Jakarta this morning and since i didn't bring my laptop during my journey to Semarang, i just want to write some details i remembered so here it goes:

18 January
I went to my sister's place at night so we could go together to the airport and help her with some luggage that she had to bring to Semarang. I usually go to my sister's place around 8 - 8.30 PM at night, but since it's thursday, so i went there around 7 PM and the street was not as crowded as in Friday (in Jakarta, people often use Friday as the end of the week, so they usually go somewhere in town. This what makes Jakarta so crowded at Friday).

19 January
Our plane was scheduled to departed at 12:30 PM, and we left at 11 AM to go to Blok M and we planned to use Airport Bus to reach the airport, but since we were quite late, the taxi driver offered a non-argo ride to the airport which costs us Rp. 70.000 (without further charges). I know it's quite expensive, but we had no choice at that time, since airport bus usually waits for passengers also before leaving to the airport, and we're chasing for our plane, so we took that offer. We arrived about 15 minutes before the plane was scheduled to depart.

After check-in, we went to the waiting room and we got an announcement that the plane was postponed for about 45 minutes. Argghh... if we knew it will be like this, we would have taken the bus rather than taxi. Ok.. so we wait for about 45 minutes, but there was no sign of the plane was going to be departed, so we waited for about 1 hour and then finally an announcement that we should wait for a plane from Surabaya (so another delay). After the plane arrived, there were still no announcement of when will the plane leave, so some people asked them and they said that the plane couldn't be used since the auto pilot was broken and the mechanics were still fixing them. Ohhh My GOD!!!! After some tough discussion and some were angry too, finally we (the passengers) asked for a plane change and they agreed with it, so we had to go to Gate 1 from Gate 5 to reach the new plane and then we left to Semarang using the new plane.

I was picked up by my cousin, Andrew in Ahmad Yani airport. Just for information, this was my first time to go to Semarang using plane. Usually i go to Semarang via JogloSemar shuttle bus or by car, since i usually go there when i was a child and my last visit to Semarang was few years back (i guess it's around 5 years). There has been a lot of changes in Semarang and i already forgotten some of the street name/areas in Semarang. I got into my uncle's house in Gombel and have some rest before a family dinner at night in Holiday restaurant.

At night, we went to Holiday restaurant to have a family feast. The event was scheduled to start at 6:30 PM, but it actually started at 7:30 PM and it ended around 9 PM. After this, we were planning to eat Nasi Pindang, but the place was not open, so we go to Gang Pinggir. It's a small china town in Semarang that were quite famous up to now. Usually it's very crowded, but since it's 9:30 PM, we had some room to walk in and have a look on the night view of Gang Pinggir. Too bad i left my digital camera at the car, so i couldn't take a picture on it.

20 January
I wake up a little bit late today because last night i was very tired. At about 11 PM, i met my girlfriend at Metro Hotel, where she stayed there with her mother. We had chats until around 2PM when i had to go back and picked up my father at Joglo Semar's head office in Gombel. Next, we went back to my uncle's house and take some rest before we went to PRPP, the place where the marriage takes place. It's located in Puri Anjasmoro and near my cousin's house who were married. It's only 5 minutes from his house.

We had some family events first at 4:30 PM and around 6 PM, i picked up my girlfriend at her hotel to go the event with me. The event was great and i liked it. The party itself ended at about 10 PM and during that party, i received good news that Liverpool beats Chelsea 2-0 and tonight, MU will face it's rival, Arsenal.

21 January
Today i had to wake up early in the morning since my plane was scheduled to leave at 8.30 AM. I woke up at about 6.30 AM and then preparing all my stuffs and left to the airport at about 7.30 AM. We arrived at the airport, checking in and the officer said that the plane was already in place and ready to go, so there was no delays again. We used Batavia Air this time and the flight was so smooth. It even flew few minutes before it was scheduled to leave, so it's earlier than in the schedule. At 9:15 AM, i already landed in Soekarno-Hatta airport and went back to my house and then start posting this blog.

One note about Ahmad Yani airport is that they have provide a free hot spot on it (too bad i didn't bring my laptop, so i couldn't use it). I just hope that Adisutjipto and Soekarno-Hatta will also provide this services in the future.