Day 1: Getting to Indonesia

With Renuka at IAD before departure for Doha

Our journey began at IAD at close to 3pm on Dec. 28. I met up with a couple of my fellow travelers at the airport, including Renuka, Tom Jones, Noah, Jackson.

On transit in Doha

We got to on Dec. 30 Indonesia about 7 am, on time, aboard the Qatar Airways flight 958 from Doha, Qatar.

Duty free cars in Doha!

Passport control, baggage claim and passing through customs was a breeze. It took us no more than 20 minutes to alight the aircraft and meet Matt Regan, who had arrived a day earlier, to prepare the way for us. And prepare he did.

A section of Soekarno-Hatta Airport di Jakarta

Matt gave us the brief on what to do, and how to do it. We withdrew cash from ATM (Matt recommended 1 million rupiah!!!). It felt like a lot, but it turned out to be about $74 bucks (with the conversion being $1 = 13,500 rupiah). The notes were in 50,000s or 100,000s crispy ones.

We then got into taxis and got driven to our Ibis Styles Hotel, where we'd be spending most of our next 24 hours.

Our shuttle from Jakarta airport to Ibis Styles; behind me is Tom Jones and Taryn Levels

Pit stop 1: At Ibis Styles Hotel in Jakarta

Did I mention, the air was humid and hot (very muggy). Halfway around the world that we had left behind, DC, lakes, rivers and waterfalls were frozen. From a world of less than 20 F to one of 80 F.

Oh, it turns out that we are 12 hours ahead of DC, basically the number of hours we skipped ahead in a time-warping machine. So, day is night, and night is day. Unfortunately, this means that the circadian rhythm is gone. Hunger pangs in the middle of the night, forcing the body to sleep when it should be waking; eating dinner when you should be eating breakfast, and so on. The world is crazy, and is going to be so, for the next day or three until the body adjusts.

It's now close to 7am, and I am starving (actually I have been famished since around 1 am this morning). I need to go down and get breakfast and catch up with the rest of the crew.

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