So what is my worst case scenario? Well, I keep hearing that Immigration wants me to complete the process for visa extension in Jakarta, so after wasting a day (Wednesday) here at the Yogyakarta airport I might need to fly to Jakarta and spend all of Thursday at a hot and crowded immigration hall. If I get to see an officer after waiting all day I might get directed to come the following day (Friday) to get my picture taken, after which the weekend would get in the way so I could not reasonably expect to get the extension approved until Monday or Tuesday. So worst case would be to spend another week in Indonesia fighting the bureaucratic beast. Thoughts like these kept going through my head, which was definitely not conducive to a good night sleep.
Imagine my delight when, at 8:01 am, I got a text from Vicey with a screen shot showing my approved extension. This good friend had gotten to Immigration Labuan Bajo first thing in the morning and managed to convince the powers that be to approve the extension. No good deed shall go unpunished, however, because then I remembered Carlos from Barcelona, and how he also had an extension on the works. So there goes Viecy back to battle, and half an hour later Carlos' extension also came through. I have much to thank you for, amiga, and I hope that one of these days I will be able to repay your kindness in California or in Mexico. In the meantime I will repay the favor forward by helping the next tourist in need who crosses my path.
Needless to say I sent a flurry of happy text messages informing all my Indonesian friends that the problem had been solved, and got busy booking a new flight to Colombo (US $300), hotel in Kuala Lumpur ($45), taxi from the airport in Colombo ($20), and hotel in Colombo ($75). A reminder that it is good practice to not book your stays well in advance, but to rather keep it fluid at the risk of having to pay for things twice. Compared with my worst case scenario, I think I got through this hiccup relatively lightly, having lost only one of my 80 days. "All part of the plan", as Phileas Fogg would have laconically said.
I checked out of my hotel at noon, destined to haunt the corridors of Yogyakarta International Airport, like a penitent soul, waiting for my 5:30 pm flight. Imagine my pleasure when I met my BMKG friends, who offered me to go idle to time at their office, where I could get access to WiFi (and get showered with coffee, a yummy plate of black beans with sweet yoghurt, a type of tightly rolled rice crepe, and a full fledge mid-afternoon lunch of Rocket Chicken!) As far as flight waiting goes, this was one of the best.
This time immigration was smooth as silk, the flight was on time, and I landed in Kuala Lumpur at about 9:30 pm. I had booked "a capsule" at the airside airport hotel (by airside I mean I didn't have to go through immigration, and tomorrow morning I won't have to go through the security check). It was as close to a crypt as one could imagine, but the bed was comfy and this time round I was able to get a good night sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment