Jakarta – London, 1st
of SPIRIT MOF Batch V, Part I
I cannot begin to think where to
start this journey. For purposes of maintaining my macho image, I will skip the
tear-jerking moments throughout the entire experience :D.
Let’s start with the
pre-departure preparation. I used the online check in option provided by
Etihad, so I could choose where I would sit in 24 to 2 hours before I departed.
There are two flights that I took, the first one is Jakarta – Abu Dhabi and the
next one is Abu Dhabi – London, so I choose my seat twice. On the Etihad
website, I could see that Dewi had chosen her seat for the latter flight but
not for the first flight. I could see that maybe because we had the same ticket
number. Most of the seats had already been taken by someone else, so I only had
few options. Luckily, there were still some aisle-seats remain in each flight
that I could choose. I took it because it is a long flight and I wanted to be
able to go to the toilet freely. Some bumps from the flight attendants and a
closer observation of them are also expected :D.
Our flight was scheduled to take
off at 1.40 am, but to make sure that I had enough time to arrange for everything,
I arrived at the airport somewhere before 11 am. Dewi had arrived before that.
I met her and we introduce our family to each other. After saying my goodbye to
my family, I went to the check in counter. I paid 150,000 rupiahs for the
airport tax. I had a feeling that my baggage will be more than 30 kilos and my
feeling was justified. I had to move 2 kilos of things from my suitcase and put
it in my backpack (there goes the room in my backpack for the plane’s blanket
that I intend to take :D).
I was bringing a lot of cash
(bank notes and bank draft) because I don’t want to pay for the transfer fee. I
had taken a bank draft to pay for my tuition fee and approximately 9,000 pounds
in cash for my living cost. According to the rules, I have to declare the money
I took with me on a flight to other countries if it is more than 100,000,000
rupiahs and/or its equivalent in other currencies. Therefore, I went looking
for the customs office. I found it and the officer told me that I had to fill
in some forms and they did not provide it, I had to prepare it myself he said.
Customs at the airport is not like the tax office where you could find any form
you need. (@Fajar, you should do something about this). I complaint because I had
the goodwill to declare something and my beloved country, whose rules I obey,
cannot provide me the means I need. He called his boss and he was told to just
let me take the cash with me. I wanted to tell him to find the forms for me but
because it was midnight I didn’t do it, and also because we work for the same institution
and he was quite good-looking :D.
I went to the waiting room after
that. I leave the next part to my partner in crime. Take it Dew :D.
Herdy G.G. Pomantow
No comments:
Post a Comment