So, the day was finally here, the end of my five-week trip to Asia. Got up a bit earlier to have time for a shower, to eat breakfast, and adjust anything in my bags if needed. When I got down to the restaurant it was full, so they wrote down my room number and asked me to wait in the lounge. It only took about five minutes to get a table so that was okay.
Got back up to the room, went through everything once more, and then called for a bellhop to help me with the bags. It would have been sufficient if I just could get a trolly, but they don’t work like that 🙂 During checkout they told me the car was already there and the bellhop had put the bags in, so I could leave about 30 minutes earlier than I had planned to.
The driver drove fast, weaving lanes back and forth, at high speed, but it never felt unsafe. Arrived at the airport after about half an hour. I went to find the tax refund desk and after the customer in front was done I handed over my documentation. He apologized and told me I had to have a refund value of over 550k to be able to make a claim, and my sum was about 480k. I apparently hadn’t read well enough because I had seen that number before but thought it was in regards to the purchases, not the taxes. Not much to do, I left the papers with him and went to check in instead.
Jakarta to Taipei
The check-in was smooth, it seems though like I have to take out my luggage in Vienna and take it through customs, but not check in again, I guess I’ll ask someone when I land there in about 24 hours. He also pointed out which lounge I had access to and where I would find it. There was no line at the security and a lack of information about what was required, so I took off the belt, emptied my pockets, and took out the laptop. No bells went off so I got my stuff and continued into the terminal.
I still had some cash left so I went to the tax-free shop to see if I could find some gifts for the three lovely ladies who have taken care of my beloved cats while I’ve been gone. Marianne, Ebba and Cida! <3 When I had spent the last money I went to the Plaza Premier Lounge where I had some lunch and wrote the first part of this blog post.
When the clock was getting close to the announced boarding time I walked over to gate 8 where our plane was waiting. It’s funny how people react in different circumstances. It said on the board that boarding was delayed about 15 minutes. Someone decides to stand at the entry point for boarding anyway (everyone was sitting before this). In just a couple of minutes, there are 50 people queuing for boarding, that still won’t happen for another 15 (or in the end, 30 minutes). I normally want to board pretty early so I can fit my carry-on luggage in the overhead compartment. I’m too long and too big to fit anything sizeable under the seat in front of me. However, this is not a problem when traveling in business class since you have the same space, but much fewer passengers sharing. Eventually, we got to board and I found my seat 5A. First time I’m sitting in a seat that has an “angle”.
I got served a welcome drink before takeoff and then a three-course meal. I watched two movies, Uncharted and Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant, and an episode of The Blacklist. That made the roughly six-hour flight seem pretty quick.
Taipei to Bangkok
Landed in Taipei at 21 local time and went to see where I was going next. Just a security checkpoint, with no queue, that didn’t require me to take out the laptop. 20 minutes after touchdown, I was standing outside the next gate. Tried to find some sweets to eat but almost everything was closed. Outside the gate, I met two Americans, one of them was going on the same flight as me. We speculated a bit about the stop in Bangkok, if it was for fuel, if we would have to leave the airplane, and so on. It was worse than that.
Boarding was smooth, I was the first one on. I had read up on what seat would be preferred and 2A that I had chosen was apparently a pretty good one since you get your “coffee table” between you and the aisle, which creates some more privacy. Bingo! It’s also the first time I’ve seen a “three-point seatbelt” for passengers on an airplane! Pretty smooth solution though, so you could unbuckle the chest one separately so you could have the normal one during the flight while sleeping and such.
Another three-course meal and the movie Snowpiercer made the roughly three hours to Bangkok rather smooth. A bit tired in the end but were planning to sleep after the stop in Thailand.
Bangkok to Vienna
But, when we landed in Bangkok, they told us that we had to disembark and bring all of our carry-on luggage with us. And that boarding would be in 40 minutes, at gate E3, which is the same as we got off at. However, we could not just step into the gate and wait there, we had to walk over to a security checkpoint before we were able to come back. Me and another guy were the first to arrive at the security checkpoint and they didn’t like that our boarding cards didn’t say Bangkok on them, cause we had a flight, with the same flight number all the way, from Taipei to Vienna. One of the staff left with the other guy’s passport and boarding card, he was a bit worried about that, and after a while, she came back with someone who I assumed was a supervisor. She also questioned our boarding cards and we explained that we were getting on the exact same plane, we were just forced off. The American I spoke to in Taipei said he had seen this flight doing the exact same thing for the last couple of nights according to FlightRadar. Eventually, she just gave up and we could pass through.
I wasn’t very impressed at this point, the time was around 01:30 and I just wanted to sleep. So when the security checkpoint required us to take off our shoes AND check the capacity on all my (five, my bad) powerbanks, I just shut up. Walked back to the gate, sat down, and waited for boarding. Finally, we got to board again, sitting down in the same seat as before. The flight attendant came to ask about drinks and I told her that I wanted to cancel my pre-ordered meal I would get right after take-off. My goal was to sleep.
Said and done, after we reached our cruising altitude I turned my seat into a flat bed and actually got about seven hours of some sort of sleep. We’ll see later today how well I slept 🙂 I got up about 2 ½ hours before landing and had breakfast along with the movie Justice League.
Vienna to Stockholm
We landed at 8:20 and after getting off I tried to find someone to ask about my luggage. At the check-in desk in Jakarta, the staff told me that I had to pick it up and take it through customs before dropping it off again. However, no staff was to be found so I just followed the Transfer signs and passed by passport control and a security checkpoint. Finally found Austrian Customer Service. She was mainly confused and said it seemed strange. The luggage was destined for Arlanda and would go all the way. So let’s hope my bags arrive on the carrousel later today 🙂
I went to the Austrian lounge for some food and drinks as well as writing the second part of this blog post. We boarded on time and it was by bus to a nearby spot. There is no special business seats but it means that the middle one (3-3 configuration) is always free. It was a fully booked plane, that’s a reason why I want to board early, so I can get my backpack in the overhead compartment before it gets full. I’m too tall and big to have the space underneath the seat in front of me filled with a bag. Especially now when it contains a laptop and mugs that can break.
I didn’t know about it before but got served some lunch and dessert. It’s rare that you leave hungry if you’re traveling biz 🙂
Just as we were about to land at Arlanda, right before the wheels were about to touch the ground, the pilot hit full throttle and aborted the landing. We ascended again, made a couple of sharp turns and the captain told us over the PA that he aborted the landing for security reasons and we were already on a new approach. I asked a couple of friends what it could be and it might have been a plane that got too close to the runway, some debris, or perhaps wind. Anyhow, the second attempt went great, and all in all, it cost us about ten minutes.
Left the plane, got my bags, jumped into a cab, and had an extensive conversation about what effect Ãœber has had on the taxi industry in Sweden. Got home at 15:00, 37 seven days, nine hours, and 30 minutes after I left my apartment in July. Since I got up yesterday morning, 8 o clock Jakarta time (GMT+7), and left the hotel at 10, I’ve been traveling for 29 hours and have had seven hours of sleep on an airplane. I’m looking forward to getting into my own bed, with my cats and not thinking that I’m getting up to work tomorrow morning.
Jättebra berättelse om din resa hem även alla andra berättelser har varit intressanta och roliga att följa. Förstår att det känns skönt att se sin egen säng och antar att katterna blev glada att husse kom tillbaka någon gång.