Indonesia > Flying to Java

My last day on Sumatra has arrived. Today I am flying to the island of Java. At half past seven, I meet Mario and Jogco for the last time during this trip. Jogco places my travel bag in the bus. It is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive to the coastal town of Padang. Just before Padang lies the airport. I take one last look at the daily life on Sumatra. I am curious to see what the streets on Java will look like. I have read that Java is much more densely populated and therefore more organized. I wait and see. Just before ten o’clock, I say goodbye to the driver and the assistant. I head into the airport building. To my relief, I am allowed twenty kilos of luggage instead of the fifteen mentioned in the travel description. My suitcase turns out to weigh 17.

Indonesia - At the central square of Bukittinggi everyone wants a photo of Western tourists

2 kilograms. After checking in, I walk through to gate 4, the last gate in this small airport. Just after twelve o’clock, the Garuda Indonesia Boeing takes off toward the capital, Jakarta—a distance of roughly a thousand kilometers. After an hour and a half, I land at Jakarta’s international airport. The plane taxis for several minutes before I arrive at the arrivals hall. A bus takes me the last stretch. I have a two-hour layover here. I stroll past the shops and order a “Puff”—a bun with a filling injected on order. I choose vanilla. At four o’clock, my connecting flight departs for Yogyakarta. The flight initially leaves from gate 7 but later moves to gate 4. The change isn’t clearly indicated. Switching is easy, though, as I am also bused to the plane here. In just under an hour, I fly to Yogya. Outside, the sun is already slowly setting. On Java, twilight comes more than an hour earlier. I see several volcanoes rising above the clouds. In the last rays of the sun, it is a breathtaking sight. It is completely dark by the time I land at Yogyakarta airport. I collect my travel bag and follow Karin to the bus. In about forty-five minutes, I arrive at the hotel on the south side of the city center. I notice that I have grown quite tired from this travel day. Karin has arranged a buffet at the hotel, which is very convenient. I thoroughly enjoy the extensive buffet, as do my fellow travelers. It almost feels as if we haven’t eaten in weeks.