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Showing posts with label Garuda Indonesia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garuda Indonesia. Show all posts

Monday, September 24, 2012

14 September: Menuju Inggris Raya

persiapan seminggu baru terasa kurang setelah hari keberangkatan ada di depan mata. yaah sebenarnya tidak kurang2 amat sih, toh barang bawaan juga tidak boleh lebih dari 35kg sesuai jatah yang diberikan. yang kusesali mungkin karena tidak sempat ketemu dengan teman-teman sma dan smp.

aku membawa dua koper ukuran sedang. satu koper isinya pakaian sedangkan koper satunya berisi sepatu, obat2an, bumbu2 masak dan beberapa barang lain yang printil-printil nan banyak. tidak ada timbangan di rumah tapi dengan hati2 aku pertimbangkan barang yang akan ku bawa supaya tidak kelebihan berat karena bayarnya pasti mahal mengingat ini keberangkatan internasional.

hari ini juga adalah hari ulang tahun ayah. aku tidak tahu apakah berangkat pada hari ini adalah waktu yang tepat. mungkin malah bikin tambah sedih? tapi sepertinya ga ngaruh karena yang namanya hari ulang tahun tidak pernah menjadi hari yang 'wah' di keluargaku. tetap merupakan hari spesial tapi tidak kemudian menjadi tradisi untuk melakukan perayaan. kalaupun ada perayaan, paling maksimal hanya makan-makan di rumah. mom biasanya akan memasak makanan favorit yang berulang tahun. tidak ada hadiah-hadiahan, hanya ucapan selamat dan doa. sederhana kan?

just the 3 of us - dengan ayah dan mom di bandara

yang membuat aku nervous bukan ke inggrisnya melainkan kuliahnya. aku sama sekali tidak ada persiapan! huah bagaimana nanti kalau ada tugas? kalau ada materi kuliah yang tidak aku pahami? bagaimana menghadapi dosen? bagaimana menghadapi perkuliahan, seminar dan praktikum? ooh 4 tahun yang lalu di yogya terasa seabad lamanya.. aku seperti anak umur 18 tahun yang baru akan mulai kuliah s1..

2 hari sebelum berangkat aku coba maksimalkan waktu dengan mom dan ayah. sayangnya ayah tidak dalam kondisi 100% fit. beliau flu di hari 3 aku dirumah dan belum sembuh betul ketika mengantarku ke bandara. 2 hari sebelum berangkat aku juga dalam kondisi moneyless, tak ada piti, hahaha. kembali menjadi parasit lajang bagi mom. sebagian isi koper putih dibeliin oleh mom.

koper hitam 90% diisi oleh pakaian pesanan mom: kebaya dua pasang, baju batik 3, jaket kulit dua, celana kain 2; baju india tiga potong. kata mom: "kamu akan kuliah s2, bukan s1 lagi jadi yang rapi dan bagus dikit bajunya" dan aku pun hanya bisa menjawab dengan tertawa. okay mom, you're the boss, hehe.

dari maskapai Qatar, aku mendapat jatah bagasi 35kg. tapi karena berangkat dari makassar maka naik Garuda dengan jatah bagasi 20kg. perkiraan berat bagasi ternyata benar, kedua koperku total beratnya 35kg! yuhuu. tapi karena awalnya naik garuda aku sudah siap2 untuk bayar. saat check in dengan sigap aku tunjukkan surat sekolah dari Uni of Kent dan alhamdulillah tidak bayar kelebihan yang 15kg! ahh, kalaupun disuruh bayar pasti aku nego terus dengan kata "mahasiswa nih...." hehe

saat transit di jakarta, aku sempatkan untuk menelpon keluarga dan anggota timku. hmm.. saying "sampai jumpa lagi" memang tidak pernah mudah ya..

Bandara Doha - toilet perempuan dan di bandara pun jual mobil!


dengan Qatar, maskapai yang disebut sebagai satu diantara maskapai terbaik di dunia, perlu sekitar 7 jam untuk tiba di Doha, transit sebelum lanjut ke London. boleh saja Qatar maskapai terbaik, tapi aku keburu kelaparan saat sudah di dalam pesawat, sementara refreshment dan makanan baru datang setelah 1 jam mengudara, duuh sungguh tega. kalau seperti ini sih tetap belum ada yg ngalahin maskapai asia lah macam Singapore, Thai, atapun China airline, dan tentu saja Garuda Indonesia dong yang mengratiskan 15kg untukku, hihi.

ini adalah penerbangan panjang pertamaku semenjak penerbangan terakhir ke Seattle tahun 2006 lalu. well, waktu ke New Delhi tahun 2010 juga lumayan lama sih tapi tetap masih kurang dari 10 jam.

hmm.. akhirnya kembali ke kampus, memulai 'petulangan' baru kembali


Tuesday, January 26, 2010

garuda and badminton

on a short notice, i had to fly to jakarta to attend national workshop on sumatran tiger. the invitation was forwarded to me around noon. when i was having my lunch, my supervisor told me that i might be going to jakarta for that one day workshop. around 2 pm, i spoke to the program manager and he said i should go to that workshop because neither he or my supervisor could go because they already had another agenda. so then i rushed to office receptionist to book me a flight this evening. i was not sure though there'll be one seat left for this sudden need because normally pekanbaru-jakarta route quite busy. i could also fly tomorrow morning but i don't wanna be late as the workhsop will start at 9 a.m. moreover, i don't fancy flying in the morning coz it usually gives me headache. but she got me the ticket for that evening flight. so that's good news. don't have to worry bout headache and morning flight.

i left the office around 3 so i could have some time to pack my stuffs. yeah, it was only one day, surely there isn't many things to bring. again, i was just trying to play with time. don't want to left anything important behind (such as deodorant maybe, hehe) and i don't want to get late to the airport. i had a bad experience of being late to check in at airport. i just don't want it to happen ever more.

so, eka took me to sultan syarif qasim II airport with his brand new green motorcycle. it is TVS brand. one of the reasons he chose it because it has MP3 player among many bonuses he got (nokia handphone, etc). arrived at the airport, i still got plenty of time so i used it to write an email and facebooking.

there were three flight at around the same time. so everybody eagerly lined up to get into the plane. seeing the crowd makes me think that the stairs won't be able to hold for such big capacity any longer. but it appeared they split the line into two. one for other airline and garuda. well, guess that was one of the advantages of flying garuda because the extra money (garuda promo ticket = above other airline normal ticket) you paid, make you have extra room. no need to be in the crowd because garuda passengers are the priority.

another difference between garuda and other airlines is the stairs to get into the aircraft way bigger. so i felt like in first class although my boarding pass showed me that i will be seated in the economy class. they also have more space between each rows. very nice. totally more comfortable then budget airlines. and now with its brand new aircraft, each seat has its personal tv! yeaaahhhh... entertainment on air. so long the green creature show just for laughs candid video.

after a smooth take off and the personal tv was on for entertainment, i quickly moved my right hand looking for the remote control. but couldn't find it! what.., how am I gonna enjoy my own tv??! i was almost give up when i saw the beautiful lady seat next two seats from me touch the screen with her finger and the screen changed. woaaww... this one is a touch screen tv, way to go garuda! so then my index finger playing around the screen. touch this and that. i was so excited. i don't know if SQ or MAS airlines have moved to touch screen tv too. i don't care at all. what i care that now Garuda Airline is so cool.

based on entertainment on air magazine i found in my seat pocket, i know that it will not worth watching movie. besides, only few movies are available for domestic route. so i decided to see badminton video. it was from All England 2009 where Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia) play againts Peter Gade (Denmark). i haven't seen this one. i don't think any local tv stations in indonesia broadcasting the tournament. it turned out that i am so happy with my choice. it was a world class! brilliant game! superb! fantastic! a very worth to see game! both Hidayat and Gade showed how wonderful badminton game can be. this make me think that badminton tournament should has big prize for its winners, just like the tennis.

i got so into the game. i hope i did not bother anyone in the plane with my excitement because sometime when i see badminton game i would cheering the players without knowing how loud it is., hahaha..

Hidayat won the first game with 21-18. woww, it was close, very tight points. entering the 2nd game, i wished that Hidayat will win the game too so he would get into next round. the game on, with more fabulous point to point play. ooh i feel like i can't wait to see the end of the game. i hope it will be Taufik Hidayat. reaching the points 17, the plane was about to land at jakarta, so they were shutting down all tv, dim the lights and getting ready for landing. it was so close to end of the game. ohh, that makes me so frustrated. i wanna know who finally won the game.

surely if i was so desperately curious with that game, i would go to mbah google looking for it. but i just didn't do it during my 3 days stay in jakarta. i don't know why. perhaps the beauty and the sorrow of jakarta attracts me more.

back to pekanbaru, i still flew with garuda, but this time with the old aircraft, so no entertainment on air. that was ok. i use it to sleep coz i was so sleepy.

on the first day of the week, i remember again about the badminton game. so, i looked for it in youtube and there they are! yess. it was nice to see the whole game. before that game, Taufik Hidayat and Peter Gade has met 11 times with the record 5-6. so the game at the All England tournament made the record same for both players. nobody is stronger than the other. both of them just know how to play the game beautifully. thanks guys.