David McGlamery
Registered
I just got back from Raja Ampat and I will share what we did. We arrived in Jakarta about 1:30 PM and stayed over night at FM7 hotel about 10 min from the airport. They were great about picking us up and giving us a ride back to the airport. The hotel was clean safe and the food was great. We took the 5:30 AM flight to Sorong the next morning, this way we got a nights sleep before flying. On the way back we again flew back to Jakarta and stayed at FM7 before flying out the next day. I just e mailed FM7 our arrival and departure times and they were great about picking us up. We flew on Batik Air and had to stop in Makassar both ways. We had to get off the plane , go down stairs and get a new boarding pass, they already had them printed out, you tell them who you are and they just hand you the new boarding pass. This happened both ways even though they say the flight back was non stop. But, I do have to say Batik Air is nicer than any American based airline. You get a meal on both legs. And by the way, good choice on Raja Ampat, best diving I've ever done, you won't be sorry.Hello Everyone.
Next January (2020) we are going on our first trip to Raja Ampat. I think I have the flight schedule worked out I am going to use but I do have a few questions that someone might be able to answer for me.
It looks like we will fly Cathay Airlines out of JFK thru Hong Kong to Jakarta. We would arrive in Jakarta around 1:30pm local time. We would then fly Garuda Airlines from Jakarta to Sorong. That flight leaves around 12:30am so we will have a pretty long layover in Jarkarta. I'm assuming we will need to get our bags and clear customs in Jakarta and then check-in with Garuda.
Here is what I need help with. There are a couple of hotels in the airport itself so you don't need to leave the airport at all. Will we have access to the area where those hotels are? I was thinking that they might be past security. If so, unless Garuda allows you to check-in way before your flight, you wouldn't be able to get to them and do one of those 6 hour room rentals.
Also, while I am looking at flight options from JFK because we live on the east coast, I am open to leaving from pretty much anywhere in the US if there are better options.
My plan is to arrive in Sorong on a Saturday morning. We board the boat on Monday morning. That would give me all day Saturday and Sunday to rest up and allow for any flight issues.
Thanks for any help with this.
Ash