🇮🇩 We are flying to Indonesia for the first time (Thailand ➡️Bali ➡️Flores,Komodo). Here you can find out what went wrong 🫠

🇹🇭 We are taking the bus from Hua Hin to Bangkok on March 6, 2024. We are staying in the “Sleep Owl Hostel” close to Don Mueang Airport because our flight to Bali leaves early in the morning on March 8. There is an Amazon café and a 7-Eleven around the corner from our hostel and we go to eat cheap and delicious food in the airport food court.

Since we had booked a three-day boat trip through the Komodo National Park, with snorkeling trips, guided hikes to the Komodo Dragons, etc., we drove to Decathlon in Bangkok to stock up on swimwear with UV protection, and we found what we were looking for. 😊 We were really looking forward to our boat trip and a trip to "Le Pirate Island", where the boats leave from the port of Labuan Bajo, and it wasn't cheap. But we didn't care, because you don't see or experience something like that every day. At that point, we didn't know that it would unfortunately not happen.

In the middle of the night, at around three o'clock, our alarm goes off and rudely wakes us from our sleep. The bags are already packed and we leave our hostel and go to the airport. Conveniently, we only have to go across the street. We check in, hand over the large backpacks and drink an overpriced coffee (and eat muffins) at Starbucks. Without any delays, we are then on the plane to Denpasar, Bali. The flight takes several hours... and we are slightly overtired because the night was of course only short. We land in Bali, go through immigration and collect our backpacks, which is done in a good 90 minutes. 🙃 So far, so good. We change terminals because we still have a domestic flight ahead of us. When we arrive at the Air Asia counter, we hand over the large backpacks again and go through security. Of the four hours, we still have about two hours left that we have to kill somehow. So we eat something first. For a lot of money, Christian gets a burger and I get a wrap and a portion of fries for both of us 🍟 time is running out and we walk close to our gate, keeping an eye on the display board. Horribly loud announcements for possible flights, such as to Jakarta, are coming through the loudspeakers one after the other. We wait for the call for Labuan Bajo, but it doesn't come, or rather, our flight number literally says "is in the waiting room". We don't know what to do with that, but we don't ask, but assume that our flight is delayed. So we get another coffee and wait. Suddenly the display on the board changes again: "Gate is closed". We can't believe our eyes and run to Gate 5. (We were waiting at Gate 6. The gate and boarding time have been changed in the meantime). We argue with the staff, but it's all to no avail... they won't let us on board, our luggage is taken to the counter where we are supposed to wait. We are stunned. 😓 Apparently we took it lightly and missed our flight. For the first time. What now?! We argue with the staff at the counter again, but nobody can/wants to help us or understand us. We have no choice but to book a new flight for the next morning, look for a room near the airport and, to top it all off, we buy overpriced SIM cards at the airport 👍🏼🙈 this day just keeps getting better! Our mood is at rock bottom and we go to our hotel, just a few minutes away. Then it starts to rain cats and dogs 🌧️😂 it's raining so hard that the floor by the window is suddenly under water and we have to change rooms. We try to get food delivered by Grab taxi, but that fails miserably too. 😂🌧️ After a fresh shower, we set an alarm for the next morning and just go to sleep.

Our flight 2.0 to Labuan Bajo leaves on March 9th at just before 7 a.m. We are well rested and prepared for all eventualities. We walk to the designated gate early enough and listen intently to the loudspeaker announcements. And then it happens again, only this time we hear it.☝🏼 Shortly before boarding, the gate is changed and the boarding time is brought forward by a whole ten minutes! Tell me, is that a "trick"?! To be honest, we have never experienced anything like it before. We run to the gate and catch the plane on time. ⏰ An hour later we land in Labuan Bajo. 🏁 Finally!😮‍💨

A taxi takes us from the airport to our accommodation, the “Manta Manta Guesthouse”. We move into a nice room with a great view of the harbor of Labuan Bajo. The weather isn’t exactly at its best. On Sunday, Christian suddenly receives an email from the organizer of our boat tour informing him that the bad weather in the national park means the boat may not be able to go out on Monday. That would mean the whole trip would be canceled. 😓 We have to be patient, the organizer promises to get back in touch. And it happens as it had to... our three-day boat tour is canceled due to the weather. We feel a little unlucky. The tour to “Le Pirate Island” will also be canceled. ☹️ Far out in the national park, it is said to be so stormy that no boat is allowed to go out. We are stuck on Flores for a week (March 9th-March 17th) because we booked our return flight without a flex ticket and the option to rebook for free. Why we still saw the Komodo dragons, you can read in the next post ☺️