S and V, Me and Vietnam: The Departure

Jakarta, September 23rd 2009

This was my first trip abroad in the past 10 years. I was so excited. I had Gamya Taxi pick me up at home. Unlike Blue Bird who tends to pick me up late, Gamya arrived 20 minutes earlier. Wow! Cheaper, but more reliable!

More than a month before I already booked a return ticket for Jakarta - Ho Chi Minh City from Air Asia at Rp.2.054.000,-. A colleague told me that now Air Asia leaves from Soekarno-Hatta Airport's new terminal, Terminal 3. Being so naif, I believed him with all my heart. He said that Terminal 3 is like a mall. Wow! Hopefully I won't end up broke before I even get into the plane.

QZ7736 was scheduled to take off on 16:35, but I was already at Terminal 3 on 12:30. I decided to have lunch at California Fried Chicken. From there I could see through the inside of Terminal 3. I didn't think it looked like the mall I had pictured in mine. I began to loose interest and wonder I should do until check in time.

"AirAsia.com". It stood right next to California Fried Chicken. In Facebook, Air Asia seems to be notorious for it's habit of retime. So I entered the office and handled my e-Ticket. "I would like to confirm, is there any retime schedule for this flight?"

She stared at my paper for a couple of seconds. Bad news... I thought.

"I'm sorry," she said at last. (See. Bad news. Apparently retime.)
"You are in the wrong terminal," she continued. "You should be in Terminal 2D."

"What??" I really didn't expect that. Should I take a taxi to the other terminal? This trip to Vietnam is on a tight budget, but now I have to spend extra money because of the wrong terminal?!
As if reading my mind, the lady continued, "You can take the yellow shuttle bus over there to Terminal 2. Free of charge."

That's how my trip began. It began not in Vietnam, but in Soekarno-Hatta Airport. A trip to Terminal 3 and then Terminal 2 by airport shuttle bus. It was a nice experience as I always enjoy seeing new places.