djoanonymous: August 2016

3 Countries in 2 Days

travel August 29, 2016

Hello from the other side! Hahaha. If you have read my last post, you might know already that I have started a new chapter of my life in Qatar, 3 months ago. Or to be exact, 90 days ago. Honestly, not much of a journey happened. I've spent the first few weeks searching for a job, not just for the sake of "having a job" but finding a job that I like. That's why the hunt took too long but luckily, I found it. After my job-hunting, believe it or not, I've dedicated the rest of my stay there in Qatar with my bed. Hahaha! I know, that's not really practical and sure, many would say that I've wasted my stay there, where I could have been enjoying the new scenery and adventure the place offered. But what can I do, if I really don't have the luxury to do some "touristy" activities there? That's why I told myself, when I get back there, with me having a decent job and money that I am earning myself, I would definitely verge myself on a Qatar adventure.

Anyway, as many would have known, before actually starting a job overseas, I need to have a work visa. And for me to have it, I need to exit the country since I am only on a business visa. More often than not, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the usual country that expats do their exit. But I opted on going to Malaysia. One main reason is to see my family again. It felt like I havent seen them for years already after just spending 3 months in away from them.

To avoid spending too much with the ticket, I didn't took a direct flight to Malaysia. Instead, I got to fly from Qatar to Indonesia and then finally, in Malaysia.

Qatar

My flight for Qatar Airways towards Jakarta was at 9:20am. I decided to head out to the airport at 4 in the morning, which was too early, I know, because I thought the ride would take too long and also because I was used to being at the airport at least 4hrs before the flight. It took me only almost 30 minutes to get to Hamad International Airport.

First thing I did was check the status of my flight, and to my dismay, I saw that it was delayed from 9:20 to 11:00 and then later on learned that it really was 9:20 and then much later on, the flight was delayed to 10:15. Just make your freakin' mind! Read here for my Qatar Airways experience.

Since it would be in the middle of the night when I'll get to Indonesia and I assumed all, or at least most, of the money exchange facilities would be closed by then, I decided to get my IDR here at the end of check in counter row 9. For my 100QAR, I got 370,000IDR, which I think would be enough for my 12hours stay in Indonesia.

I checked in my luggage, got my boarding pass, got through the immigration and security check -- all of which went on smoothly.

Piece of advice when passing through the security check, you must must put your less-than-100ml liquids in a resealable transparent plastic and must be place in a separate bin together with all your other gadgets like laptop (if it were in your handcarry, you must remove it from there) when scanning.

After the security check, lies the big yellow bear in which HIA was known for. Unfortunately, I didn't had a selfie with it, but was lucky enough to snap this almost solo photo of it.

I was supposed to go back here after I ate something, but one crazy thing happened. There was some sort of a mishap with the flight schedule that even the online site of Qatar Airways, the airport flight status board and even the crew were not in synced. But in the end, I got to flight out of Qatar at around 10. I'll just spare you the detail on to my other post.

I was a bit excited during the whole flight. To think that I will be flying in one of the best airlines in the world (even if I'm not in the business class, still though). Not to mention that this was my first time to fly on an airline with an entertainment system for each seat. I just came out of a cave that why I get too excited by these things. Hahaha! Read here for my Qatar Airway experience.

Indonesia

At 11:01pm, local time, we landed at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Terminal 2 in Jakarta, Indonesia, which was a total of 8 hours of flying.

As per the usual, I first headed to the immigration, which was the easiest immigration I've been through. I just gave him my passport, no other questions or forwarding ticket asked, and then got my passport stamped immediately with an exemption visa. Maybe that's the thing with a visa exemption?

I then went straight to the conveyor belt and collected my luggage. Before exiting the arrival area, I had to pass to their customs, something like declaring the items you bring to Indonesia.

I had layover time of almost 12 hours here, which means I will be sleeping again in the airport. I think this was way better to be spending the night in, compared with my last experience in Bangladesh. I found myself some decent place to stay, and yeah to lay too.

Before getting myself some rest, I walked around the airport. The building was c-shaped and I actually walked the area twice just so for the sake of findig an electrical outlet but found nothing. So, after my little walkathon, I spotted myself an area on the ground floor, where there are other sleeping passengers. It was right at the back of A&W. This was at the end of the left side of the airport. The place was air conditioned, with a free wifi and with benches where you can actually lay flat, thats why getting some sleep here wont be so hard. It was also convenient too, since the restrooms are right next door. The down side though, it got no electrical outlet and maybe nowhere in the Terminal 2. I prefer to stay on the ground floor which was for the arrivals because there's not much of people here. I stayed in the bench, where I set myself up for a goodnight sleep but unfortunately didn't got it. One factor was I was a bit wary of my surrounding that I could not let myself fall into a deep sleep. Wary that someone might stole my luggage or worst, slip some illegal things on it. Nope, didn't took those risk. I just stayed awake this entire layover and just started to construct this very post at this moment.

At 7 in the morning, I went to Bakso Solo which was still at the Arrival hall, and got my Mie Ayam Bakso. I was asking them what its made of but they can't answer me (due to language barrier I suppose) so I had to discover it by myself. I think this is one of the local foods in Indonesia. According to my research, mie ayam bakso is a chicken noodles with meat balls. As to what I've seen and tasted, they somewhat sauteed the chicken with soy sauce and some other kind of spices first before tossing it with the noodles. They served this by placing flat noodles, seasoned chicken, chopped celery and green onion and fried garlic in a bowl which was then topped with fried wanton. The soup was served separately, together with the meatballs. It tastes good and tasted like Chicken Mami from the Philippines.

At 10:30am, I checked in my baggage and went straight to the immigration. I was relieved that, again, nothing was asked.

Before heading to my flight gate, I went to this souvenir shop just right after the immigration. Since I have nowhere to spend the IDR I got, I decided to use some there. I bought 2 souvenir magnet and a "preserved" butterfly keychain for 30,000 IDR each and 20,000 IDR, respectively.

The terminal gates were nice. It was kinda set up in a middle of a garden. The walls of hallways towards the gates were made of glass, where you can see the green nature outside the airport.

Malaysia

My flight to Malaysia was the best time to make up with the lack of sleep I've had for the past 24hours. But If it wasn't for this some kind of a near-death flying experience, I will be asleep all throughout the flight. Yes, i actually thought i was gonna die back there.

Just when we were about to take our landing to the airport, the plane suddenly flew up again. I mean, I already saw the Penang island and even the condo that I was supposed to be staying at, but then we went up again with nothing to see but the gray clouds. I felt that we were somewhat turning. I actually thought the pilot made a miscalculation of the landing point that he had to turn around to do it again, what a silly thing for me to think. Hahaha! Then the pilot suddenly spoke and from what I caught, he was apologizing for what happened and said that it was because of the weather. I was not actually a bit worried at first, but then, the turbulence happened. This was the worst turbulence I've ever had. Every now and then, the plane was shaking in a very scary way and the worst part was the feeling of the plane going down, the way you feel when you are riding on a roller coaster ride when it suddenly goes down. Thats what we felt, or at least me. I can hear other passengers gasping with everytime these happened. And I can hear this woman in front of me sobbing. I was actually thinking if we do crash into the waters, would I survive? I'm not even good at swimming! Oh the horrible things running through my mind back there. I was close to crying myself too, so I prayed and prayed to calm myself down. I think all of this lasted for about 10-15minutes, tops. And then, there it was, the Penang island again and the condominium! I felt relieved with what I saw. I just really want for us to land and get out of the plane. And fortunately, we landed safely into Penang International Airport.

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I was fortunate and blessed with all thats happened during these 2 days,good or bad, from my first high-end aircraft experience to my worst turbulence experience. These really were unforgettable!

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Qatar Airways Economy Class Experience

diary August 26, 2016

I recently had a flight with Qatar Airways and I'm telling you, this was my first in flying in a flag-carrier aircraft. I mostly do my flights with small-scale and low-cost airlines so being in this kind of an aircraft kinda gave me a zing, even just from an economy class.

Booking

We, I mean my sister, booked my flight to Jakarta under Qatar Airways, 14 days before the flight. And I think, the process was pretty much the same as with all the other airlines. After getting the e-ticket, I was now able to manage my booking including seat selection and meal preferences. As always, I picked the window seat and from the meal selection, I chose the low-fat meal. It could have been better if they also indicated some possible meal that will be included in a particular meal selection.

Web Check-in

2 days before my actual flight, I opted to do web check-in because of its convenience. I was asked the basics - personal infos, passport and some special preferences. After completing it all out, you have a choice of having it be sent to your email or sms. I had it sent in email, so that I can easily print it. I'd rather have a hard copy of my boarding pass rather than rely fully on the screen of my phone.

Baggage Drop-in

Just as I reached Hamad International Airport (HIA), I saw that my flight was delayed for almost 2 hours. I don't really have much of choice but to wait since there's nothing I can do about it. As I was comfortably sitting and waiting, I heard these two, I assume, Americans talking regarding their confusing delayed flight. He was showing the Qatar Airway's online flight status to the other which, to my curiosity and a bit of nosiness, made me to check mine too. To my surprise, I too may be having some confusing delayed flight myself. It was indicated in the site that the flight was still on schedule, while on the HIA flight status board, it was delayed.

So I decided to talk to one of the people of Qatar Airways. They told me that the flight was indeed delayed and boarding would start at 10:00. And then she checked-in my baggage and gave me my boarding pass with an indicated boarding time - 10:00. The lady at the counter was very friendly and approachable, and she even reminded me of the rules for the security check which includes having my liquids (less than 100ml are allowed) be placed in a clear resealable pack and must put it out of my hand-carry bag and place it separately on a bin, together with my electronics during the security scanning.

Boarding

I was finished with the immigration and security check by 8:45, so I decided to roam around the departure area for some good eats. But then I heard a crew shouting "flight towards Jakarta". At first, I had not noticed it since boarding was not until 10 and it's not even 9 yet, but then again it shouted. And I stood up like a soldier being commanded by his superior. I went up to him and showed him my boarding pass indicating that boarding was not until 10. But he told me that the flight was not 11:00 but was still 9:20! He was practically telling me to go hurry or else I might miss my flight. To think that boarding gates will be closed 20mins before the flight and I've only got less than 10 minutes to be at the gate! I ran like hell, like one of those amazing race contestants, hoping to get there on time. And these crew, I passed on by, kept on shouting about the Qatar Airway's 9:20 Jakarta flight which made me really really anxious. After being somewhat lost on where to find the gate C28, I finally got there just on time-8:58; only to learn that the flight was really delayed! What. The. Efff! Seriously man, you people should coordinate yourselves! Phew! I came there literally panting. The good thing though, instead of 11:00, it was moved to 10:15. But still, I was pissed and I didn't even got a chance to have a breakfast!

Boarding started at 9:50. As per protocol, the crew checked the passports before letting us in the aircraft. We must first ride their shuttle bus which brought us directly to the aircraft. It was nice of them not having to shove too many passengers in the shuttle bus.

In the plane, flight stewardess checked the boarding pass and told us passengers on to which side of the aircraft we should go for our seat.

Entertainment

I was in awe. I was literally a dinosaur into this new technology! Seriously! This was my first time to experience an individual in-flight entertainment (IFE) system which was basically called the Oryx Entertainment! Each of the economy class passengers got a 10.6 touchscreen monitor with lots of entertaining selections to choose from. Along with it were touchscreen remote for accessible control and an unconventional two-pronged headphones.

Another feature with this IFE was the map, where you can check the status and information of your ongoing flight.

I was also surprised to find a USB port which I thought first was only for reading a USB or hard drive, but then I learned it can also be used as charging port! Thanks to this, my phone's battery was revived and spared.

Another great advancement of this aircraft was its in-flight WiFi, which was too pricey, I believe. But I gave in to it just so I can shoutout to my friends that I am posting from a flying aircraft. Sorry for being such an attention-seeker. Hahaha! Anyway, a 5mb internet costs $2 and 12mb internet costs $5 and then each succeeding excess of 100kb would cost $0.05. To avail this feature, just signup and enter your credit card details. Make sure your phone is still on flight mode. I availed the 12mb internet which gave me enough time to fulfill my narcissistic goal. Hahaha!

Facilities

And to my surprise, the aircraft did not have the conventional sliding window but instead they've got this state of the art glass window that has an automatic button controlling the shades, from clear to dark blue, in 6 different levels. The darkest shade provided reduced glaring while can still be able to see outside.

I am not a fan of their seat because it does not recline too much unlike with the other airlines I've been into. And leg room didn't have enough space as to what I've expected from an aircraft this big.

I have not had a chance to visit the lavatory since I didn't need to the entire flight. That's the thing with us nurses, we can survive 12 hours without even peeing! hahaha

Food

They served two meals during the entire flight. First was I think about 3-4 hours from our departure, and then the second one was two hours before the estimated time of arrival. As you may have remembered, I chose the low-fat meal on my meal preferences not even knowing what food I would get.
And then I was served with these very unfamiliar food, and this was my so called low fat meal. Irregardless, I still ate almost all of it since I was way too hungry to be picky. By then, I learned that I was served by some kind of steamed chicken with some hint of ginger, a coleslaw of pickles and corns, and 1/2 cup of rice for the main dish. It was a bit bland for me, so I have to add salt and pepper to it. As for the side dish, I only recognized the red beans, the white ones looked and tasted like nuts but definitely not. The dessert was a mixture of chopped melons. My stomach was satisfied, but my taste-buds were not which made me realize that low-fat meal will never be my meal.

For the second meal, I was first asked if I 'll still have a low fat meal and I immediately answered no. Hahah! I learned from my mistake already. This time, I was served with a curry chicken rice for main; mixture of mung beans, some onion, carrots, corn and a some kind of a yellow rice as a side-dish; and a triple layered chocolate cake with raspberry filling and top frosting. Both my taste-buds and stomach were rejoicing with my second dish, especially with the dessert.

All of these meals were served with bread and butter, water and a drink of your choice, which was cola for me.

Amenities.

Awaiting each passengers were a pillow, a pre-packed blanket and a little amenity pouch which included an eye mask, a pair of socks, earplugs, toothbrush and toothpaste.

It was a good thing they have provided these beforehand, unlike others where it's per request only. The pillow may not be the fluffiest one out there but this was better than nothing. And for such a cold-intolerant person like me, their blanket was good add-on. I pretty much overused the eyemask provided, which made my sleep a bearable one. The socks provided were in half-knee length and honestly not the best quality.

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For a consistent economy class passenger, even with some confusions during the boarding time, this flight may be the most entertaining and comfortable one I've been into. I just hope I get a chance to fly on a business class one day. Hahaha!

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3 Countries in 2 Days

Qatar Airways Economy Class Experience

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