On one narrow walkway we reached our hotel. I had the idea previously to document the ceremony around the monument, but we got busy and we were exhausted. After check-in, we went to our room. We had spacious and luxurious rooms. Every cluster consists of three hotel rooms and one big living room; it was very convenient facility for those people coming for long stay and business.
This trip, there were four of us minus Leo. After we dropped our luggage, we went to our friend’s room, chitchat to catch up with one another, camera, gear talk, time flies and soon we hit midnight. We also exchanged information given by Grand Komodo. We got our air tickets as promise, and sweet package of T-Shirt and Komodo Dive Sites and Komodo Island information.
I was quite anxious to get to my camera, because I wanted it prepared for tomorrow. When we rode the plane, we should take out the O-ring from the underwater casing to prevent it from being compressed by the air pressure. It was, ehem, my virgin camera, so I didn’t really sure how long was the workload to prepare everything. And then, my gears were also dissembled. But then, we still had to take another flight tomorrow; so we might as well did it after we reached the real destination.
13th October 2006
The ADA driver picked us up early, we checked out and off we went to the airport. It was always shorter journey to the airport. After we were dropped, things started to get unclear. I was told to meet Grand Komodo ambassador in front of GT Air counter, but I couldn’t see any GT Air sign anywhere. I only had one clue; it’s located in the far corner. Huh. There was some kind of gate where only airline passenger could pass through. But I thought GK wouldn’t be able to meet me inside. So I told them that I was going to wait outside, in front of Merpati counter, next to the check-in gate, anyway, they were still on the road so they should pass me.
Apparently, GK ambassador had another herd, the six Westerners who were going to join us on the boat. So they were checked in directly, and we had to find them inside, on the @#% GT Air counter. I swear it was written Indonesian Air. Hayah. Spare us from confusion, GT Air counter was not exists! Maybe the previous name was GT, but, how would we know?
However, I was more than glad to finally be on the clear track. We weighted our luggage, praying not to exceed 80 kg. Lucky, it wasn’t. Our luggage was being cleared from the scale when the officer told me.
“Mbak/Miss, please step on the scale too. We need to weight you.”
Hahaha. A joke is always a good sign that the process is done.
“Mbak. please step on the scale.”
I still thought they were joking, until they asked me again. So, one by one we were weighted. Weird? I guess so. After that. we quickly escorted our hand cabin away, as although our backpacks looked normal, they were not on the normal when we counted in kg. We dumped computer, hard disk, breathing device and gigantic torches to prevent additional charges for our check-in luggage and to save our important life supports from abuse and torture in the cargo compartment.
10.15am. We rode the propeller plane. It was much better that I thought. Although propeller, it fitted more than forty people. Unlike my ride with propeller in the past, with 8 passengers, me seated in the co-pilot seat, where I got a touch to the funny2 button and watched the navigation guy running away from the plane walkway when we touched down, unforgettable.
So, it was much better than I thought, we even had stewardess on the board. But for my friends, I don’t know whether it’s better than their imagination. They looked quite tense during the trip and the turbulence, and the propeller sound.
It was around one and a half hour when we reach Labuan Bajo airport, Flores Island. On my side, we were able to see beautiful sight of islands around the destination.
This trip, there were four of us minus Leo. After we dropped our luggage, we went to our friend’s room, chitchat to catch up with one another, camera, gear talk, time flies and soon we hit midnight. We also exchanged information given by Grand Komodo. We got our air tickets as promise, and sweet package of T-Shirt and Komodo Dive Sites and Komodo Island information.
I was quite anxious to get to my camera, because I wanted it prepared for tomorrow. When we rode the plane, we should take out the O-ring from the underwater casing to prevent it from being compressed by the air pressure. It was, ehem, my virgin camera, so I didn’t really sure how long was the workload to prepare everything. And then, my gears were also dissembled. But then, we still had to take another flight tomorrow; so we might as well did it after we reached the real destination.
13th October 2006
The ADA driver picked us up early, we checked out and off we went to the airport. It was always shorter journey to the airport. After we were dropped, things started to get unclear. I was told to meet Grand Komodo ambassador in front of GT Air counter, but I couldn’t see any GT Air sign anywhere. I only had one clue; it’s located in the far corner. Huh. There was some kind of gate where only airline passenger could pass through. But I thought GK wouldn’t be able to meet me inside. So I told them that I was going to wait outside, in front of Merpati counter, next to the check-in gate, anyway, they were still on the road so they should pass me.
Apparently, GK ambassador had another herd, the six Westerners who were going to join us on the boat. So they were checked in directly, and we had to find them inside, on the @#% GT Air counter. I swear it was written Indonesian Air. Hayah. Spare us from confusion, GT Air counter was not exists! Maybe the previous name was GT, but, how would we know?
However, I was more than glad to finally be on the clear track. We weighted our luggage, praying not to exceed 80 kg. Lucky, it wasn’t. Our luggage was being cleared from the scale when the officer told me.
“Mbak/Miss, please step on the scale too. We need to weight you.”
Hahaha. A joke is always a good sign that the process is done.
“Mbak. please step on the scale.”
I still thought they were joking, until they asked me again. So, one by one we were weighted. Weird? I guess so. After that. we quickly escorted our hand cabin away, as although our backpacks looked normal, they were not on the normal when we counted in kg. We dumped computer, hard disk, breathing device and gigantic torches to prevent additional charges for our check-in luggage and to save our important life supports from abuse and torture in the cargo compartment.
10.15am. We rode the propeller plane. It was much better that I thought. Although propeller, it fitted more than forty people. Unlike my ride with propeller in the past, with 8 passengers, me seated in the co-pilot seat, where I got a touch to the funny2 button and watched the navigation guy running away from the plane walkway when we touched down, unforgettable.
So, it was much better than I thought, we even had stewardess on the board. But for my friends, I don’t know whether it’s better than their imagination. They looked quite tense during the trip and the turbulence, and the propeller sound.
It was around one and a half hour when we reach Labuan Bajo airport, Flores Island. On my side, we were able to see beautiful sight of islands around the destination.
posted by aping at 5:04 AM
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