Homeward bound

My little holiday

After four nights but three full days, I’m homeward bound.  But because I use to word “home” to both mean Kuching and Auckland, I’d better clarify!  Today I leave Bali to fly back to New Zealand.  It had been a nice stopover while being the most economical way of getting from Kuching to Auckland.

The three full days went quickly with a massage a day (the cheapest being IDR50K for the hour but the amazing strong ones cost more) , one yoga class, daily cool dips in the pool but just one in the sea during high tide.

I had one little excursion to the Mal Bali Galeria and that was about it!  The most eventful thing was getting drunk after dinner with just one beer and staggering up the stairs to Room 221 (instead of 321) and finding it emptied out with upturned furniture!  Shock, horror!  Then I realised it was under maintenance and I was only the wrong floor!

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Leaving Bali

I had a lazy morning before taking the 1125 free hotel shuttle to the airport, which came with a long scheduled pause at a sister hotel just short of the airport.  That was because we had a good run with the traffic.  I got to the counter about 40 minutes before it opened and was issued a boarding pass straight away despite being on standby

At the airport I received a phone call from the Telkomsel Grapari Office staff.  I had tried doing a reload via a cash kiosk yesterday.  The money was swallowed but not detected as such. Fortunately a staff member was helping me and as witness, they promised to sort it out for me but they needed to wait till today when the kiosk was emptied out.

They rang to advise that they had recovered the money and offered me a choice of top-up to my phone or to my mobile wallet.  I chose the latter and they rang back soon after once it had been auctioned.  I was really impressed with their very personal follow-through.

I had three hours airside before departure and used the T/G lounge next to the Premier Lounge I had used last time.  Located in the loft of the terminal building, it was warm and muggy but the food was good and the drinks cold.

On Board

My Emirates flight left about 15 minutes late due to the late arrival of the flight from Dubai.

While waiting to depart, the man behind me asked the flight attendant if they carry any anti-nausea tablets because their toddler gets badly airsick.  The flight attendant asked “Has he vomited already?  Has he vomited on the previous flight?  We have to report this to the authorities upon arrival in New Zealand because New Zealand has very strict rules about sickness on board and diseases.”

Top marks for her compliance and efficiency.  Zero marks for warmth and compassion.  There are better ways to say the same thing.