Leaving Kuching
With a 1050 departure to Kuala Lumpur, connecting to Bali, we left our apartment around 0815. Traffic was bad and Wayz directed our Grab driver through some rather unusual routes. We got to the airport around 2h prior to departure.
Kim’s bag was tagged all the way to Bali and for such connections, they require the bagdrop to be done manually rather than self-service. Unfortunately, the system went down as we got to the counter. It was expected to be down for about 20-30 minutes so I went to McDonald’s to get breakfast while Kim waited at the front of the queue as it grew longer and longer.
By the time I returned, the airline had switched to manual check-in. In all the commotion, the staff had forgotten to stamp Kim’s boarding pass showing that his documents (eg passport, visa etc) haad been verified. This would cause a little concern later. Mine had been done earlier.
The brand-new A320neo for our flight turned up 15 minutes late and we arrived into Kuala Lumpur equally late.
KL transit and a lesson!
Going through transit security, an officer asked Kim to go back return (not sure where) to have his doc check stamped. Kim tried but didn’t get very far. He managed to get through security without further issue second time.
It was a lesson for me too – when travelling without luggage, I should report to the counter for a doc check when doing a connection! Some airlines are happy to do it at the gate but it’s better to do it landside!
We had an hour in the lounge before our flight to Bali on another A320neo. Both aircraft today had a very annoying hydraulic whine during taxi. And airbone, it was quiet but probably not any quieter than the old model.
The plane now carries 186 passengers rather than 180. This has been achieved by repositioning the toilets and galley stowages. Bench units are now two-deep. Some trolleys are now 1.5 deep (full size trolley plus a half-size). The crew find it a challenge working with the new galley.
Arriving in Bali
We landed in Bali on time at 1835. It was a 25 min queue at immigration for me but Kim was able to use the senior citizen queue for those who are over 60 (or crippled etc). The next queue for customs was quick for us as we managed to get forms done in Indonesian whereas our fellow-passengers had to get English ones (they had run out on board).
Taxis to Sanur were around IDR250K. The hotel had offered it to us for IDR200K but I knew that Grab was around IDR70K. Unfortunately Grab didn’t work out as the pick-up point was too hard to find. We eventually settled on a car for IDR150K which was very reasonable.
We reached the amazing Puri Kesari guesthouse around 2000. The beautiful clean homestay/hotel only cost NZD35 per night! We grabbed dinner nearby before settling into our room around 2130.
Googling the Grab situation at Ngurah Rai airport, I realise the dedicated pickup point was only at Domestic. It would have been too hard trying to do it in a chaotic environment without a dedicated pickup point. I also read that the Grab official price is far too low and drivers tend to ring the customer to re-negotiate and failing that ask the customer to cancel the booking. So it seems like we did really well with our ride.
It had been a long day of travel for a relatively short distance from Kuching to Bali due to absence of direct flights. The time taken was about the same as that from Auckland!