On our way to Vietnam

So, we are off again. It's now February 18th and we're making our way to Vietnam but we decided to spend two nights at an Airport Hotel; the Ibis, Jakarta for 2 nights (we really liked it there). We had booked our flight out of Borneo through Nusa Trips way back in early June. We booked through Nusa because we were unable to book a flight with our visa credit card in Indonesia and during my research I found out that Nusa Trips would take Visa credit card (if you've read earlier entries, sorry to bore you with this as I've already mentioned this scenario). Well, as mentioned previously, I tried to log in to Nusa Trips and create an account from Canada, but was unable to do, something I think to do with my last name (2 last names) and birth date (leap year). But guess what, it didn't work in Indonesia either. However after reviewing their website I felt assured that as according to their website, if there were any changes they would contact me by email, and they did have my email address, because after all, they had emailed me my e-ticket. Right? WRONG!

Our flight was to take off at 5 to 10 in the morning via Wings Air. So, we get to the airport and early and when it opens (yes, it is not a 24 hour airport) we are told by one of the counter staff that they no longer do the same layover in Pontianak (our short layover point before going to Jakarta). I over simplify, it wasn't that easy because the English was broken. However, the service we had was very good and we were directed to the Lion Air counter (Lion Air owns "Wings Air".) Luckily we were re-routed and our only inconvenience was to fly an hour later plus our total flight time wasn't any longer than the 3 hours it had been on our original booking. We were very grateful for the great service and that the Lion's Air rep spoke not bad English, 'cause I think we could have easily been told so sad too bad had to pay for another flight.

What did we do in the meantime with the extra hour? We found 2 t-shirts that fit us (finally) and we were happy that we had purchased our stuffed orang-utans while we were in town because one was double the price what we paid for the 3 we had bought. And last but not least, before boarding , a stop to the airport washroom

Yes, these type of washrooms are not uncommon in Borneo, actually throughout Asia but in the bigger hubs you see them last often Let's face it, Borneo isn't the mega tourist destination such as Thailand's Chiang Mai, Phuket etc., which cater more to tourists such as European and North American and have a better established tourism industry. With that being said some say that this type of washroom is more conducive to going to the washroom than our "modernized way" (think of Squatty Potty"; if you haven't heard of it Google it).

Luggage intact, we spent $20 for a 5 minute ride to the Ibis Styles Airport Hotel. We absolutely had no intention of going to downtown Jakarta; horrific stories of traffic jams....heck we were here to relax and not get stressed.

We really liked to IBIS. (Jl. Tol Bandara Prof. Sedyatmo Kp Rawa Bokor RT02 RW04 Kel. Benda, Tangerang, 15125, Indonesia -
Phone: +622129327777) Room was great, they had a pool which I didn't use because on the second day it rained. There was a gym, which I used and was so happy to be able to. Buffet breakfast included and the price worked out to approximately $50.00 Canadian/night. After our $7 a night this was a splurge!

Now, if you decide to stay here be warned that there is no where else to go there, like walking to a restaurant or such, so we used the hotel restaurant and we liked the meals. They had a buffet which I suppose was the best deal because if you ended up ordering things separately it would cost you about the same or more but honestly, the first day I just couldn't do the buffet dinner I was just wanting something lighter and different, so I had a shawarma. Funny ehh, you would have thought I would have had one beforehand but in all honesty while we were in Pangkalabun, we found such good places to eat and liked the food it was just easier to do that then find a place or try to explain what a shawarma was (don't know if we would have had to do that; but we just were very happy with the food and places we had ate).

After spending a frustrating hour or so trying to do our on-line boarding with Air Asia (due in part to my out-dated IPAD), we had dinner packed our stuff with plans to have our morning breakfast and head out to the airport. Our flight left at 11:35 the next morning and transportation booked (like $10.00).