Oh Garuda, Merpati<\/p>\n
A few days off, friends from Germany in town, a nice hotel
\nbooked in Lombok -- what more do you want? That was how the four
\nof us felt when we left our house on Oct. 5, at 6 a.m. to catch
\nthe 8 a.m. Garuda flight to Surabaya and to proceed from there
\nwith Merpati to Lombok.<\/p>\n
Upon arrival at the airport, we were told the flight was
\ncanceled. We were given no explanation. We checked in for another
\nflight at 10:30 a.m. that would still enable us to catch the 1
\np.m. Merpati to Mataram.<\/p>\n
Garuda later announced the delay of our substitute flight and
\nwe finally boarded the aircraft after five hours at the airport.<\/p>\n
Upon arrival in Surabaya, we got our Merpati boarding passes
\nand had just enough time to wave our flight to Mataram goodbye as
\nit was obviously not possible for the plane to wait the few
\nminutes for the Garuda connection.<\/p>\n
There was the 3:30 p.m. flight to Mataram, but right on time
\nthere was another delay announcement, followed by similar ones
\ntill 6 p.m. Then even Merpati, just like the waiting passengers
\n(many of them tourists from Europe), finally knew -- or confessed
\n-- that they were not going to fly anywhere. Reason: None.<\/p>\n
Everyone was transferred in a Merpati bus, which had left its
\nsuspension in a pothole a long time ago, to a hotel in Surabaya
\n-- the Delta Permai -- conveniently close to the airport.<\/p>\n
As for us, after 10 hours in airports, we passed on the offer
\nto make use of the flea hostel and instead took a taxi to the
\nShangri La hotel where the excellent service and the very nice
\natmosphere compensated for a lot endured so far.<\/p>\n
Right on time on Oct. 6, we arrived at the Surabaya airport
\nagain, got new boarding passes from Merpati combined with the
\nnext announcement that the flight would be delayed. After
\napproximately two hours there was a plane flying to Mataram.<\/p>\n
So after 30 odd hours, we arrived at the beautiful Senggigi
\nSheraton which was constantly kept abreast by phone about our
\nordeal. We found not only that, but the extremely pleasant
\nsurprise of an upgrade into one of the beach villas -- thanks a
\nmillion.<\/p>\n
Having smartened, we went to the airport on the morning of our
\ndeparture day to get the boarding passes for the evening 6 p.m.
\nflight back to Surabaya, which was no problem. The question of
\nwhich hotel we were staying did not alarm us at the time.<\/p>\n
Strolling through the hotel lobby at 3:30 p.m. the reception
\nstaff informed me that Merpati had changed the flight to 5 p.m.
\nand not to Surabaya (that was canceled) but to Denpasar and that
\nwe should be at the airport by 4 p.m.<\/p>\n
As it turned out, however, we were a bit hasty as the flight
\nwas delayed by about one hour.<\/p>\n
Upon arrival in Denpasar, we got new boarding passes in a
\nflash to take the 7 p.m. Garuda flight back to Jakarta and we
\neven appreciated that we might be back home ahead of our original
\nschedule. We were then informed that the flight, well, guess
\nyourselves...<\/p>\n
We finally arrived in Jakarta about 8:30 p.m. (don't forget
\nthe time difference), all rested, relaxed and in need of another
\nvacation.<\/p>\n
ROLAND WOEHRLE<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/oh-garuda-merpati-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }