I was thinking about my parents the other day. Things with Dad's cancer are deteriorating and Mum is Dad's nurse, which obviously isn't easy even with the help they get from the amazing Herriot Homecare girls, the wonderful sitters who allow Mum a few hours respite each week, Macmillan nurses, and the doctor. Additionally, I haven't seen my parents since October last year and whilst Skype is great, it doesn't make up for seeing someone in the flesh. So I spoke with Uchiel and we decided that a trip back to the UK was a good idea.
Next step was resolving work issues and I asked Katherine how many holiday days I had left. If I was living in the UK I guess I could travel to Leyburn on a Friday after work, spend the weekend and then maybe even travel back home on a Monday morning. But living 8,000 miles away needs a tad more planning.
It turned out that I had three days left to take before the end of my contract in June so, with the use of the Saturdays at either end as my 'Saturdays off' and Nina very kindly allowing me to take a couple of days unpaid, I went ahead and booked the flight.
Last October, Uchiel and I flew with Lufthansa and they managed to lose one of our cases for four days. Because of this, I was reluctant to use them again as I planned on bringing some perishables back so I booked with KLM, one of the better prices on skyscanner.co.id. As it happened, two days after booking the flight I received a telephone call from Lufthansa with a most generous offer of 250 Euros as compensation for the situation with the lost luggage. In light of them doing that, it certainly made up for the experience and I would now happily book with them again. (I know that sounds a bit nonchalant, but in my opinion the offer more than made up for a) the loss of the bag and b) the three months of waiting for some resolution to my complaint!).
Anyway, I was now booked with KLM meaning I would travel with their flying partner and Indonesian national airline, Garuda, from Jakarta to Amsterdam, and then on to Newcastle. The return leg would include an extra stop in Singapore and all this for 15 million Rupeah. The original price on Skyscanner was 13.2 million but I waited a few hours before booking and the price went up and then there were the "administration costs" for the company Skyscanner forwarded me to. (it's also interesting to note that the flight actually cost 6 million, the other 9 million was tax and admin costs!)
The Soekarna-Hatta to Schipol leg of the journey would take twelve and a half hours with an extra ninety minutes to get to Newcastle. Added to a layover in Amsterdam of three hours this was still going to be the fastest I had ever done a trip to the UK. The reality was a one hour delay in reaching Amsterdam but a thirty minute reduction in the time to Newcastle due to a very nice tailwind meaning I shaved half an hour off of an already quicker trip. Result!
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Uchiel gave me a lift to the airport where I needed to check in at about 10pm. We left with enough time to navigate the complicated entry to the airport, caused by works to create a new MRT terminal, and to get something to eat together. Having parked, we made our way to the new Bakmi GM restaurant in Terminal 2's arrivals section, pushed my case into a redundant space next to a table for two, and off I went to the counter to order the food. I'd only been stood there two or three minutes when this Indonesian guy wearing a Songkok started having a go at me for bringing my case into the restaurant. I'd previously noticed this guy when we arrived as he was loudly complaining to a waitress about something equally inconsequential so I new he wasn't anything to do with the running of the place. I was also quite taken aback by his attitude, as it's really unusual for outbursts of anger, especially over something trivial.
I admit I wasn't in the best of moods as travelling to the aiport is a grating experience. From the amount of traffic on the road to get there, the unnecessarily complicated entry to the airport that I mentioned earlier and the attempts to park the car which are always stunted by the inability to drive of a significant percentage of the population, I was just looking forward to a relaxing bowl of fried rice with my wife, not having to put up with this git.
For a few monents I stood there in two minds. I'd already verbally established, in a defiant manner, that I wasn't moving my case a) just because he'd told me to and b) at least not before ordering our food, but it was his final demand that I was to just make sure that I "do it!" that left me with the indecision. Part of me wanted to just leave the queue, gently take him by the throat and nut him. Another part of me wanted to continue the debate, regardless of the gawking onlookers. Thirdly was the choice to allow others to accept that this guy was some sort of FPI-following, Westerner-hating imbecile and just ignore him. I really was livid at this point and I quickly left the queue, went back and collected Uchiel and the case,and explained to waitress on the way out that due to the behaviour of said gentlemen, they wouldn't be receiving any of our money. She was so apologetic and the sneaky grin on his fifty year old face that he made no attempt to hide nearly caused me to lose complete control.
Five minutes later, sat with some chicken and fries in the nearby A&W, I'd had the chance to calm down and we got to discussing normal stuff. But in the back of my mind I couldn't get over the guy's behaviour and that it is also the first time in six years that I've experienced it....
Next step was resolving work issues and I asked Katherine how many holiday days I had left. If I was living in the UK I guess I could travel to Leyburn on a Friday after work, spend the weekend and then maybe even travel back home on a Monday morning. But living 8,000 miles away needs a tad more planning.
It turned out that I had three days left to take before the end of my contract in June so, with the use of the Saturdays at either end as my 'Saturdays off' and Nina very kindly allowing me to take a couple of days unpaid, I went ahead and booked the flight.
Last October, Uchiel and I flew with Lufthansa and they managed to lose one of our cases for four days. Because of this, I was reluctant to use them again as I planned on bringing some perishables back so I booked with KLM, one of the better prices on skyscanner.co.id. As it happened, two days after booking the flight I received a telephone call from Lufthansa with a most generous offer of 250 Euros as compensation for the situation with the lost luggage. In light of them doing that, it certainly made up for the experience and I would now happily book with them again. (I know that sounds a bit nonchalant, but in my opinion the offer more than made up for a) the loss of the bag and b) the three months of waiting for some resolution to my complaint!).
Anyway, I was now booked with KLM meaning I would travel with their flying partner and Indonesian national airline, Garuda, from Jakarta to Amsterdam, and then on to Newcastle. The return leg would include an extra stop in Singapore and all this for 15 million Rupeah. The original price on Skyscanner was 13.2 million but I waited a few hours before booking and the price went up and then there were the "administration costs" for the company Skyscanner forwarded me to. (it's also interesting to note that the flight actually cost 6 million, the other 9 million was tax and admin costs!)
The Soekarna-Hatta to Schipol leg of the journey would take twelve and a half hours with an extra ninety minutes to get to Newcastle. Added to a layover in Amsterdam of three hours this was still going to be the fastest I had ever done a trip to the UK. The reality was a one hour delay in reaching Amsterdam but a thirty minute reduction in the time to Newcastle due to a very nice tailwind meaning I shaved half an hour off of an already quicker trip. Result!
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Uchiel gave me a lift to the airport where I needed to check in at about 10pm. We left with enough time to navigate the complicated entry to the airport, caused by works to create a new MRT terminal, and to get something to eat together. Having parked, we made our way to the new Bakmi GM restaurant in Terminal 2's arrivals section, pushed my case into a redundant space next to a table for two, and off I went to the counter to order the food. I'd only been stood there two or three minutes when this Indonesian guy wearing a Songkok started having a go at me for bringing my case into the restaurant. I'd previously noticed this guy when we arrived as he was loudly complaining to a waitress about something equally inconsequential so I new he wasn't anything to do with the running of the place. I was also quite taken aback by his attitude, as it's really unusual for outbursts of anger, especially over something trivial.
I admit I wasn't in the best of moods as travelling to the aiport is a grating experience. From the amount of traffic on the road to get there, the unnecessarily complicated entry to the airport that I mentioned earlier and the attempts to park the car which are always stunted by the inability to drive of a significant percentage of the population, I was just looking forward to a relaxing bowl of fried rice with my wife, not having to put up with this git.
For a few monents I stood there in two minds. I'd already verbally established, in a defiant manner, that I wasn't moving my case a) just because he'd told me to and b) at least not before ordering our food, but it was his final demand that I was to just make sure that I "do it!" that left me with the indecision. Part of me wanted to just leave the queue, gently take him by the throat and nut him. Another part of me wanted to continue the debate, regardless of the gawking onlookers. Thirdly was the choice to allow others to accept that this guy was some sort of FPI-following, Westerner-hating imbecile and just ignore him. I really was livid at this point and I quickly left the queue, went back and collected Uchiel and the case,and explained to waitress on the way out that due to the behaviour of said gentlemen, they wouldn't be receiving any of our money. She was so apologetic and the sneaky grin on his fifty year old face that he made no attempt to hide nearly caused me to lose complete control.
Five minutes later, sat with some chicken and fries in the nearby A&W, I'd had the chance to calm down and we got to discussing normal stuff. But in the back of my mind I couldn't get over the guy's behaviour and that it is also the first time in six years that I've experienced it....
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