So from Malaga to Amsterdam to Singapore to Jakarta.. and after "enjoying" the quarantine.. if all goes well I should arrive in Bali on Valentine's day evening.

Hope your Valentine's trade is going good, it's the start of the season of love.. the season everyone in the gift trade loves :)

It was slightly stressful in Amsterdam where I thought I had a tight but manageable hour and half transit time. Some mistake with the time difference calculation, when I checked my flight to Singapore on the screen, it was already boarding and only 30 minutes to spare. Departing gate E1 on the other side of passport control, I arrived and found a big queue. So I asked a guide if I could skip the queue due to the short connection time, he barely glimpsed at my ticket and shook his head. I asked another guy, same response.. third time lucky - got some sympathy and a pass to the front. Panting I arrived at the gate to see a "Gate Closed" sign. Oh OK I thought, it's not my fault they will have to put me up for the night and book me on the next day's flight. "Come quickly sir" a security man waved me through, "we just need to check your papers" you can still make it. It's actually quite cool being last to board. 

Getting through Jakarta airport was also a journey in itself. First they issue you with an ID barcode then document checks then the PCR test. That all went fairly smoothly, the passport control only had two rather sleepy people working and it took 2 hours to get through that. I grabbed my luggage and went to the secure area where you meet the quarantine hotel reps. Everyone had someone waiting for them with a name board, except me.. and a lady holding the same hotel reservation paper. 

The other reps were super sympathetic and tried to help us by calling the hotel, one even knew the guy who was supposed to be there. "Please wait, he will be here soon". 

An hour later he turned up apologising, in the meantime the lady and I had bonded.. She was from Thailand and was in Indonesia to meet up with her British husband who she hadn't seen in two years. "Stupid pandemic" she explained. Snap I said.. I haven't seen my wife in two years either.. so we exchanged pictures and stories. She had a 16 year old daughter, very cleaver who she was hoping would go to university in the UK. 

Outside the airport we had to wait again for a car to come to take us to the hotel, my car came and I suggested rather than wait for the next we could both go together. After we set off I noticed our taxi driver was driving ridiculously slowly.. he didn't speak any English. My Indonesian is very rusty but I asked him, "why so slow?" - it turned out his sat nav system wasn't working, he didn't know the way and was going slowly hoping it would start working soon. 

A 20 minute journey took 90 minutes.. 

The quarantine check-in desk is in the underground carpark, the staff were waiting for us in rather unnecessary hazmat suits Because we came out of the same car they assumed we were a couple, and in our frazzled and travel weary state didn't have the energy to argue. They took us to a room and sat us down at a makeshift check-in desk, "We are not married" I said to the check-in girl.. "It's no problem.." she said with a 'we are not that type of Muslim country' look, "..there are no restrictions here".

Honestly.. after that journey, I almost gave up. 

We have to wear quarantine wrist bands - the type they put on dead bodies at the morgue. And according to government regulations, the hotel has to take a photo of you wearing it. So we had our photo taken together holding up our bands. I said goodbye to the lady in the lift, "maybe see you in four days, if not I hope your reunion goes well", thank you she said, touching my arm, "very nice to meet you".

Next week I will be in Bali..

Hope you have a lovely Valentines day.

Take care.