About a girl... in Bandung (2014) - Part I Well...this is gonna be a long one. Previously (a year ago) I had posted about the rendezvous to England and that was a 3 day holiday, this one is a 28 day holiday. This will be a much longer than a 2 part post that's for sure.
So, I went to Bandung in the beginning of the year. I was there from 13th of January until the 8th of February. It's no secret what my reason for going there was... to see Yute. I have never had so many days together with her so this seems like a great way to start the year. Last year we were only 5 days together. It was my goal to improve it this year and I did just that.
Bandung 2014 flight schedule
I also never been on such a far away trip on my own before. I have visited many countries but going to a country so far away with such a different culture and language is a challenge itself. Luckily there were people who I could communicate with and show me the ins and outs of Indonesia.
12th of January - Amsterdam
I woke up in the morning thinking what I should have for breakfast. As I looked toward the wall in front of me, I saw my suitcase and backpack which were already filled with the stuff needed for my month long trip. I managed to pack my stuff the day before so I can relax on the day I will leave. My flight would leave at 14:40 from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. That's one hour and a half away from Eindhoven, if you go by car that is. We decided to leave on 08:00 so we would have lots of time to check in and take just take our time on the airport.
But before we left to the airport I decided to check if I packed everything. I always make a list to make it easier for myself. Half of the suitcase was filled with souvenirs anyway and it would be a shame if I forgot even one piece of souvenir. Once that was done I put everything in the car and we went on our way.
Schiphol Airport in the morning
The feeling of actually knowing to have a meetup with someone you haven't seen for such a long time is hard to explain. As I was sitting in the backseat of the car, I was thinking about all the things we talked about. We did a lot of talking... almost daily. I have communicated a lot with Yute via mails, messengers, sms and many more ways for 11 months and we were one day away to seeing eachother again. There won't be a need for any mails for a month. It's such a weird feeling to know that we will finally see eachother again face-to-face. One of the things that I looked forward to was to have conversations with her. It's always interesting to have them with her.
An hour and a half have passed and we arrived at the airport. I got my stuff and we were on our way to the check-in desk. We were a bit early as we predicted because we had to wait for an hour for the check-in desk to open. There was a nice looking café just a couple of meters away from the check-in and it seems like a good place to have a drink while we wait. I was still a bit sleepy but couldn't help to take a couple of pictures while we were waiting. There weren't many people around that time so I had the opportunity to photograph the airport a bit.
Let the waiting begin
Suddenly I heard that the check-in desk would open so it was time for me to go. I got my backpack and suitcase, checked in and went off to the gate. It was a bit of walking to the gate because the airport is quite big. But I was in no rush and looked at the planes outside while I was walking.
A blue sky and planes
Previously I had travelled with KLM, which is a Dutch airline, but they are quite expensive and the transit flight will be in Kuala Lumpur so you had 13+ hours of flying before you could walk around a bit. This time I booked a flight with Emirates. They are cheaper and the transit flight will be in Dubai, around halfway to Jakarta and 7+ hours before being able to walk on solid ground. So Emirates was the way to go for me.
Fly Emirates
I arrived at the gate and had to wait again for the boarding announcement. There's a lot of waiting going on at an airport. I already knew that from my previous flight so I had a book with me to kill time. As I was reading I heard the announcement to board the plane.
Off I went to enter the plane and find my seat. I sat next to the window but I couldn't see much outside except for the wings of the plane. I noticed that the 2 seats next to me were empty but I figured that the people haven't entered the plane yet. But then I heard the captain speaking, he was telling us that we were leaving. So that means I have 3 seats for myself! This was pretty awesome. Let's just say I was about to have the most comfortable flight ever.
All for me
The plane was headed to Dubai and there wasn't anything going on worth mentioning. When we arrived in Dubai I had to catch my transit flight. It's basically the same procedure as in Holland. Go through baggage check, go to the gate and wait for the boarding time. I had to wait 4 hours for the boarding time and that is such a drag. There was a big clock nearby the gate and I looked at it all the time. Time really went so slow there but I felt something. It was the distance which was between me and Yute. We had 11000+ km between us for such a long time and it started to dissappear. I was only half excited because my other half was asleep. I couldn't wait for the boarding time to get some sleep.
The airport in Dubai is basically the same as any other airport. There were lots of expensive stores and lots of sleepy people. I like to talk with people but since I can't talk Arabic, I refrained from it.
A selfie in Dubai with a lady behind me wanting to join the action.
The time came to board and I was hoping to have 3 seats for myself again but that wasn't the case. An elderly man and woman were sitting next to me. They were with a group from Indonesia who travelled to the Middle-East. I tried to talk with them a bit but my Bahasa Indonesia is quite rusty so I just went to sleep.
13th of January - Jakarta
There was a bright light that woke me up. It was the sunshine coming from outside. The weather looked lovely and I knew where I was: Indonesia. There was just a couple of minutes left before I could step on that same ground I was a year ago. I bucklet my seatbelt and was so excited to finally be in Indonesia again. I wondered how everyone was doing during my absence. But there was a problem going on with the landing because the plane kept circling above the airport. Maybe the landing pad wasn't clear but the captain didn't inform us so nobody knew what was going on. There was a sense of nervousness among the people because the plane kept on turning and turning. Finally after an hour of circling around we strated to descend. I felt a bit agitated because of the circling around and that I let people wait for me for over an hour.
Soekarno-Hatta Airport
We finally landed and I ran towards the visa desk. There was a long line there and I had to wait a long time. I was losing my patience a bit because it just took too long for my taste. When I got the visa I proceeded to the luggage belt and saw that my suitcase wasn't there yet. The time I waited at the visa desk didn't really matter because my suitcase hasn't arrived yet anyway. But I waited only about 10minutes before I saw my suitcase and immediatly took it and went out.
I was looking around if I could find my brothers or Yute. They are the ones who would pick me up from the airport. The first person I saw was one of my brothers. I greeted him and asked where my other brother and Yute were. He told me they went to the left so I was headed that way. There I met my other brother and I was so happy to see him that I actually tripped him, but he was fine. So there was one more person to look for...
Three of five brothers
Rendezvous
My brothers told me that Yute was looking for me as well so we went in different directions. I was walking around everywhere for about 5 minutes. The fact that I would meet Yute again any minute now made me quite excited.
I was looking around on the first floor and went outside. Somehow I had the feeling I should look on the left side and there she was... on the 2nd floor. It felt like a bad soap opera because we finally saw eachother but couldn't get to eachother. We had to wait just a bit more because she had to go down to the first floor. So I stood there for a minute and saw her walking towards me. I greeted and hugged her. We were finally together again.
The first picture of many that I took of Yute after 11 months
We still had some travelling to do towards Bandung. There were some buses who drive to Bandung so me, my brothers and Yute stepped into the buses and went our way to Bandung.
Kalijati Antapani
It was a couple of hours driving to Bandung and I talked with Yute for a bit. I still felt so sleepy because of the flight so I took a little nap. We would have a month to talk to each other in person but we both needed some rest for now.
A couple hours later we arrived at a bus stop in Bandung. My brother's aquaintance would pick us up and drive us home. We finally got to my brother's house and I took my luggage with me. Yute's house was across my brother's house so she walked with us. Before I entered my brother's house to get some sleep, I wished Yute a good evening and told her it was good to see her again. Someone from the house across and Yute's dad came out so I said goodevening to them as well. The neighbourhood already knew me a bit from the previous time I stayed there.
So there was one more thing to do before Yute and I could hang out again... a good night of sleep.
To be continued...