Merdeka and Lebaran in Jakarta, Jogja and Singapore

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richie9x

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May 18, 2011
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For the past the past 10 years I have spent my birthday in a different country. This year was no different. A friend invited me to attend the Merdeka (Independence) celebrations in Jakarta and a side trip to Jogja. However it coincided with an extra-long weekend in Indonesia and a lot of flights were fully booked. So I ended up taking good mix of flights. Including two new airlines (Lion and Scoot) and one new aircraft type (B739).

Flight: QF509 - Brisbane to Sydney
Date: 10 August 2012
Plane: Qantas 737-800
Seat: 1A

The taxi to the airport took the new airport link tunnel. I was quite impressed by the tunnel. It was still in the free opening period. The cost of the taxi was a few dollars cheaper than the usual as there was no waiting at traffic lights. Given the eventual toll cost I think it will end up about the same total cost to take the tunnel or to not take the tunnel when travelling by taxi.

For a Friday morning Brisbane airport seemed unusually busy. As I had an international connection I had to line up for check in at the counter. Both the premium and normal lines were quite long already. I joined the premium line which was very slow. There seemed to be two passengers at the premium counters taking an extra-long time that was holding up the line. I don't really get how people can take so long to check in; I normally take a minute or so. Anyway I managed to check in and was on the way to the business lounge. The lounge was pretty normal, except one of the TVs that normally displays flight departures was tuned to the Olympics.
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Premium boarding was as per normal - not enforced. When boarding was called most of the passengers lined up in the premium lane. The normal lane was shorter to start with, although the later passengers did start to line up in the normal line. I did see one girl in the premium lane get turned away, but it seemed to be because she had a hot beverage rather than for being in the wrong lane.
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The flight was pretty typical. I was seated in 1A. The passenger next to me was a Qantas FA on leave. I always seem to end up sitting next to Qantas staff when I am business. Which is usually good, the pilots are interesting to talk to and the FAs still seem to be in work mode still keen to help out.
Breakfast was omelet, bacon and roast tomato. It looked and smelled pretty good. I had the bacon and a nibble at the omelet, but as I was going to be in the flounge later so didn’t have much.
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Coming into Sydney presented a fantastic view of the city. But the ride was very bumpy due to the very strong winds in Sydney that day. Given what I would later see that day the pilot did an excellent job to land the plane smoothly in one go. So far a good start
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