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Get Around Indonesia By Boat

Since Indonesia consist of thousands of islands, another famous transportation mean to get around Indonesia by boat will be the ferries. Many people use the ferry service for the inter-island travel. The largest ferry company in Indonesia is known as PELNI which gives services to every major and inhabited island in all around Indonesia. The journey taken by the ferry will of course be the longer one. It will sometimes take 2 weeks sea journey from end to end. PELNI operates the large European-built ferries that may serve thousands of passengers. Taking ferries during the peak seasons can be very uncomfortable, because it is commonly overcrowded and over capacity. You can imagine how uncomfortable it might be for being in the boat actually built for 3000, but then is boarded with 7000 people.

Indonesian Boat 300x225 Get Around Indonesia By Boat


Cabin accommodation classes, all including meals and private lockers, are:
• 1st class, around US$40/day: two beds per cabin, private washroom, TV, aircon
• 2nd class, around US$30/day: four beds per cabin, private washroom, aircon
• 3rd class, around US$20/day: six beds per cabin, aircon, shared washrooms
• 4th class, around US$15/day: bed in a dormitory

The “real” way to travel, though, is ekonomi class (around US$10/day), which is a noisy, smoky, cramped free-for-all scrum; buy a rattan mat and get in early to stake out your spot — it’s common for people to start rushing in as soon as the ferry arrives. Pickpocketing and theft are a real concern though.

In addition to PELNI’s slow boats, ASDP runs fast ferries (Kapal Ferry Cepat, rather amusingly abbreviated KFC) on a number of popular routes. Both PELNI and ASDP tickets can be booked via travel agents.

Last but not least, there are also countless services running short island-to-island hops, including Merak-Bakauheni (hourly) from Java to Sumatra, Ketapang-Gilimanuk (every 15 min) between Java and Bali and Padangbai-Lembar (near-hourly) between Bali and Lombok.

When you decide to take a ferry, you need to scout out any information of the on board safety devices. Due to the poor boat maintenance and common overloading passengers, sinking ferries run by small companies are commonly happened. Therefore, larger ferry company will be the cleverest decision. It will be wise if you are calling off or postponing the trip if you find out that the weather will not be nice. The foods provided on board are considered not too nice, so it will be better if you equip yourself with some meals along the journey. The extra meals are even highly suggested, because there are times when the journey turns out to be stretched from the schedule.

You may get hassled by people onboard trying to extract extra money under some dubious excuse. Feel free to ignore them, although on the upside, it may be possible to bribe your way to a better class of accommodation.

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Get Around Indonesia By Plane

Indonesia is the largest archipelago country in the world, and the only option of rapid transportation is to get around Indonesia by plane, especially for a long distance trip. Garuda Air Lines, the state-owned domestic carrier, is known as the largest carrier In Indonesia. In the recent years, some lower cost competitors have been up spring, and among them, the famous ones are Air Asia, Lion Air, Mandala and Batavia Air. For the less popular routes, and also for the eastern routes of Indonesia, the plane services are taken by Merpati Air Lines, Sriwijaya Air Lines, Jatayu Air Lines, Air Fast Air Lines, and some other smaller ones. If you are going to a very remote destination, such as Papua’s settlements, you will not find any scheduled services. You will have to charter a small plane, or you may take a ride with the missionaries.

Indonesia Airplane 300x174 Get Around Indonesia By Plane


You need to be quite careful in taking certain carrier to get around Indonesia by plane, because some of them might not have good safety standards, and might also not punctual or even conduct frequent cancellations. There are some terrible plane crashes in the last few years, including Mandala, Adam Air and Lion Air. The planes used in these major airlines companies are commonly the plane made in the 1970s and 1980s. These planes are the flown ones from other operators, and unfortunately do not get a good maintenance. Among these companies, Garuda, Mandala, and Lion Air are the ones which just bought newest air craft directly from the manufacturers to replace the old ones in their fleet. Garuda and Air Asia are having the International standards, and are considered as the safest ones among many others. Taking a plane trip, even in the old aircraft, might be something much far comfortable regarding to the carnage of Indonesian’s roads. It is much safer as well, compared to taking the bus for the same distance trip.

Prices are low by international standards, with more or less any domestic return flight available for under US$100 even on short notice, and fares for a fraction of that if you plan ahead. The hardest part is often finding what carriers serve what route and making a reservation, as many companies have not yet discovered the joys of the Internet, much less set up online booking engines. When traveling off the beaten track, it’s imperative to reconfirm early and often, as frequencies are low and paid-up, occasionally even checked-in passengers are bumped off with depressing regularity if a VIP happens to show up. Make sure you arrive at the airport at least 2 hours before the departure time, because airline staff often sell your seat to other passengers if you are late.

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