7 posts tagged “indo”
This is the best use of leftover footage I've ever seen. Take leftover footage of the Hobgoods, Taj Burrow, and Yadin Nicol (w/crazy haircut) from Secret Machine (same photogs, same trips), mix with a well paced and synchronized Sasha soundtrack, blend in artsy underwater shots, behind the wave shots, good editing, scenery shots and BAM! you have this DVD. I have a strong affinity for surf movies with great music & great waves. This one has both. I wish my trips to indo had this Sasha soundtrack playing while I was there.
If you really hate electronic music you should probably give this a miss. If you can tolerate or enjoy electronica then this is very well done and you will find it highly re-watchable.. If you had a big TV and a good sound system you could put this DVD on as background at a party and be psyched. The disc automatically starts playing about 20 seconds after you stick it in (more like a CD than a DVD) and automatically loops back to the beginning when it's done.
Taiwan-based China Airlines has one of the most convenient sets of flight schedules to and from the US west coast to Bali and Jakarta. They are consistently one of the lowest-cost options. The reason they have to charge less is that until about 5 years ago they had one of the worst safety records of any significant international carrier. I read an article (subscription required) in today's WSJ that indicates perhaps positive safety changes have been afoot at this airline, and it's probably still safe to fly despite the recent fiery (but not deadly) incident on Okinawa. Here's an excerpt from the article:
I like what I'm reading in the article below re: process and dedication to safety. I felt a little wary flying them last time around but would be more comfortable flying them to Indo again for my next boat trip. Of course they still have board bag charges and not-quite-Singapore-air service levels, but what do you want here, fast, cheap, AND good?
From Wall Street Journal:
"Analysts say China Airlines has posted a marked improvement in safety and operational performance since 2002, when a China Airlines Boeing 747 crashed while flying from Taipei to Hong Kong, killing 225 people. That crash became a catalyst for an overhaul in its approach to safety, analysts and company officials say.
China Airlines now has one of the youngest fleets in Asia, with an average age of six years for its aircraft. It has hired former executives from Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways, two of the world's best-run airlines, to advise it on engineering and maintenance. Derek Cridland, Cathay Pacific's former director of engineering, now works there as a consultant.
"I have actually been quite impressed at the turnaround at China Airlines over the last five years," says Damien Horth, an analyst in Hong Kong with investment bank UBS. "I do get the impression when I talk with the company that there has been a big change in the culture."
Indeed, China Airlines' efforts to improve its safety record echo the earlier success of Korean Air Lines Co. in salvaging its reputation after a series of crashes in the 1990s. Like China Airlines, Korean Air broke with tradition, seeking advice from foreign experts and revamping its training procedures.
In addition, China Airlines passed a rigorous operational safety audit conducted by the International Air Transport Association in 2005, and it was recertified this February."
This is better news than you'll be reading about any Indonesian carriers and I'll have to fly them on my next indo boat trip no matter what.
This itinerary gets you to Padang (Where all mentawai and many Northern Sumatra boat trips depart from) in the least amount of time with the best in-flight service and entertainment and the least board bag charges. You could substitute China Airlines and it might be a little cheaper on airfare but no seatback TV's and $100 more in board bag charges. Friday night after work - grab your board bag and head to SFO AIR SINGAPORE 1 COACH CLASS 744 LV: SAN FRANCISCO 120A ONE STOP AR: SINGAPORE 1140A ARR DATE +1 AIR SINGAPORE 958 COACH CLASS 772 LV: SINGAPORE 1250P NONSTOP AR: JAKARTA/CGK 125P AIR GARUDA INDON 164 COACH CLASS 734 LV: JAKARTA/CGK 420P NONSTOP AR: PADANG 550P Just in time to see the sunset and get on the boat! Get shacked for 13 days and 14 nights Sunday morning - arrive back in port before 7AM or you'll probably miss this Garuda flight. Remember, if you miss this flight, you miss your connection in Jakarta and you'll have to spend the day in Padang, Jakarta, or Singapore. My picks would be Padang at the Hotel Batang Arau or Singapore. AIR GARUDA INDON 163 COACH CLASS 734 LV: PADANG 900A NONSTOP AR: JAKARTA/CGK 1040A This is a bit of a tight connection here, but you should be OK since Garuda arrives back in the international terminal. Non-Garuda indo airlines fly into the domestic terminal and it's non-trivially hard to get your board bag on to the shuttle that goes from the international terminal to the domestic terminal AIR SINGAPORE 957 COACH CLASS 773 LV: JAKARTA/CGK 1220P NONSTOP AR: SINGAPORE 255P SUNDAY AIR SINGAPORE 2 COACH CLASS 744 LV: SINGAPORE 500P ONE STOP AR: SAN FRANCISCO 725P And look at that by the magic of flying east and crossing the international date line you have arrived back in foggy SFO at 7:30PM on the same Sunday you got back into port. That's efficient! So if these are the best flights, what is the price and how do I buy it? You CAN book this itinerary on Orbitz, but the price they will quote is horrific. For example $3,909 for the ticket below, and just $1300 to get all the way to Jakarta. Screwy, eh? Instead I suggest one of two tricks:
Most americans get two weeks, or 10 actual work days off per year. If you don't have a job then skip this post because you won't care. If you get seasick and never take boat trips then also skip this post, you won't care. But if you value your time off then these free suggestions could save time off work, get you more time in the water, or both. This isn't rocket science, it just takes some knowledge of airline flight schedules and common-sense travel logistics. Here are three easy steps to get the same trip for fewer days off work.
Pick a boat trip schedule that lets you travel to and from Indonesia on weekends
Play this right and save two days. Here's an example. The same boat has a few different 10-day, 11-night trips available. Which one do you want? If you and your crew care about minimizing time off work, the most important consideration is that the trip starts on a Sunday or Monday night. That way you can work on Friday, leave Friday night, travel all weekend and be surfing in the Mentawais on Monday morning, or Tuesday morning if you buy flights with long layovers. If Tuesday is your first of ten surf days, your last surf day will be Thursday. You go back to port Friday morning and typically get back to California on Saturday. Then rest up Sunday and back to work Monday. But why rest Sunday in California when you can extend your boat trip for a day? Most operators are able to accommodate such a request. If you extend for one day at the end, then 10 days off work equals 11 potential surf days or 10 surf days and a jet lag recovery day before you're back at work.
For a negative example, a trip that leaves Padang on Wednesday night. A typical Padang flight itinerary has you flying Monday and Tuesday, sitting around on Wednesday, and your first surf day is Thursday and your tenth and last surf day is Saturday. You're back in Padang Sunday morning, back at home Monday, and back at work on Tuesday. You took 11 days off and surfed a maximum of 10 days. You wuz robbed.
Buy schedule-efficient flights
Buying the most efficient flights may cost you money, hassle, or both, but you will save time and potentially two work days. Again, whether or not you have this time to waste depends on your boat schedule. It is possible to depart on your boat from Padang two days after you leave the US but only if you connect in Jakarta. If you're willing to deal with Jakarta and buying a second ticket on an indo carrier, then you want to leave the US late Friday night and you can get to Padang sunday evening, and you're surfing on Monday. A more typical schedule has guys leaving the US midday Saturday, overnighting in Singapore on Sunday night, then arriving in Padang mid-afternoon on Monday, cool your heels for a few hours before the boat makes the crossing at night. Your first surf day is then Tuesday. Longer travel duration, less surf time, plus the extra expense of an overnight in singapore. China Airlines via Jakarta has the best flight schedule from SFO, with Singapore Air a close second. Cathay to Jakarta can also work from LAX, and Eva might also work from LAX but I'm not 100% sure.
Get back to Padang early in the morning
If you live in Southern California or the Bay Area it is possible to get home the same day you get into port, but only if you go via Jakarta and only if you get back to port early in the morning. There is one flight that isn't too early for port arrival and isn't too late to switch terminals in Jakarta. If you check out www.dohop.com from PDG to CGK you can see there is a daily garuda flight that leaves Padang at 9:15 AM and arrives Jakarta at 10:55 AM. To make a 9:15 flight you need to be at the airport by 8:15, leave the port by 7:15, and therefore be back in port and tied up before 7AM with your shit packed up and ready to unload. If you're all on the same flight itinerary fine, but if you need to be back in port that early, it might force a pre-sunset end to surfing activity on your last day to ensure the boat has enough time to make the crossing and arrive by 7AM.
Include a holiday weekend in your trip (Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day)
This one should be pretty self-explanatory but here goes: If the holiday falls in the beginning or middle of your trip, then you get the same trip with less time off. If the holiday falls at the end, then you get more trip for the same time off.
Cashing in Miles to get to Sumatra can cause Problems at Singapore Airport if you aren't arriving on Singapore Airlines
Real problems like ruin-your-trip problems with scary secret police carting you away? No, just the kind of things you wish you'd known about beforehand. Here's my example:
The Scenario
Ian cashes in a pot of AA miles for a biz-class seat on Japan Airlines. Like every other mileage program, this one can't get me to Sumatra, because Silk Air doesn't take anyone else's miles, so I'm going as far as Singapore, then I bought a separate ticket from Singapore to Sumatra (Medan in this case).
Arrival in Singapore
I Leave SFO at noon, flying pretty across the Pacific, connect in Tokyo, and arrive Changi Terminal 1 a little after midnight two days later. This is when I notice something is awry. The building looks similar to the Changi I know, but all the airlines are different. Ones I've never noticed, Qatar Airways, Sri Lankan, Vietnam Airways, never seen these guys before. On all my previous trips to Changi, I had arrived on Singapore airlines in Terminal 2, enjoyed the amenities, then connected to flights departing from Terminal 2 and gone on my merry way. I had assumed that Terminal 1 was just the distant south wing of the big ass building that I thought was the entire airport. Nope, it's a completely separate building. So anyway, I know I've got to get to Terminal 2 to check in for my flight on Silk Air. Problem is, my bag is coming out in Terminal 1, and I have to re-check it in terminal 2. This means I have to leave passport control, get my bag, then schlep it over to terminal 2 and go to the Silk Air check-in counter. Little automated train thing takes me to the other terminal
Arrival at Terminal 2
Recall earlier when I arrived: Midnight. So by the time I get my bag and get over to Terminal 1, it's about 1AM. I'm thinking, just get that boarding pass, get back behind security into Electric Changi loveyland where they have 24 hour food, $5 showers, $8 private nap room, and I'll be totally set. Except there's no automated check-in kiosks at Silk Air. Also, no people at Silk Air. Nobody at the counter, no boarding pass. No boarding pass, no talking my way past the nice security lady, don't even think about the baksheesh here, "pa una refresca", what do you think this is, Paraguay? I'm on the outside, man. OK, I'm a traveler, I can roll with the punches. I'll go get the airport hotel in Changi Village, noted home of transvestites, and crash out.
Who is that cheapskate guy crashed out in the cafe?
There's a 24-hour hotel desk guy just outside of baggage claim. He knows that the nearby cheap hotels are full. So I'm about to pop for a nearby hotel that's like $85. I make the reservation with the guy, and he wants $20. Singapore Dollars. I hand him the credit card. He says, no credit cards, cash only. No floggin way. This is the last straw. I'm not going to the ATM and getting Singapore cash to pay a $5 fee to my bank and then be stuck with Singapore dollars I can't spend in Indo. Cancel the rezzie. I spy a cafe outside the baggage claim area with a dude already sacked out in a plush-looking chair. I figure if I stash my board bag under my legs and sack out next to him, it'll look like we're together and nobody will make off with my stuff while I'm asleep. Plus what do I have to worry about? Singapore is a police state. All was ok when I woke up 32 minutes later. It was 1:38 AM, and I was wide awake thanks to jet lag. Silk Air ticket counter opens at 5:30 AM, and my flight to Medan leaves at 8AM. Time is really flying now.
"You're a dumbass. This would never happen to me...."
Silk Air flies short flights and short flights don't depart at 1AM, so why would anyone be at the check-in counter then? What was I thinking? Why didn't I figure this out before I left? Honestly, given the tickets I bought there's nothing more I could have done. If you had a hundred thousand American Airlines-brand magic beans that were depreciating slightly more slowly than the Zimbabwe dollar, wouldn't you trade them in for a business class ticket to Singapore? Hell yes you would. I'm just warning you, if you cash in your miles to go to Sumatra, and you aren't on Singapore air, this will probably be you. "No Way!" you say, what dumbass would buy a flight that arrives at midnight. If you're on United, Northwest, JAL or Korean, you're in Terminal 1 at midnight, probably without the boarding pass you will need to get in to Terminal 2 and crash out. And you can't NOT leave terminal 1 until after your nap, since unless you managed to check your bag all the way through your precious boards are outside passport control, circling around on the baggage belt. Overall, it's not terrible, I'm just warning you.
I consider myself an expert on travel logistics to Indo. I've planned flights for myself and a other people. I've spent hours on the phone trying to cash in frequent flier miles for Indo tickets with American, Delta, and United. I've worked all the angles. I know how much time and money it takes to get people from the west coast of the US to the Mentawais, and here's the scoop:
Buying a cash ticket to Padang
If you are in the US, traveling with surfboards (as opposed to bodyboards), and want to pay cash for your ticket to Padang, you should definitely book with Quiksilver Travel. That's right, a human agent, not a web site. I've worked for internet travel companies for years spending time building a better travel mousetrap but right now there is no website that can put together the itinerary that most surfers need at the best price. The itinerary has to be manually built by a human agent on one of those green-screen things. Bryan Pohlman and Debbie at Quiksilver travel are on the ball. That's really all you can ask for in a travel agent, just someone who's responsive and pays attention to detail. Wavehunters is also a decent alternative, but steer clear of Waterways unless you absolutely have to.
Pinching Pennies?
The major surf travel agencies have contracts with Singapore Air that will save you some money. There are two catches though: You have to pay by check (this saves the airline 2.5% credit card fee) and you DON'T get frequent flier miles for your 19,000 mile roundtrip. Nineteen thousand frequent flier miles is worth about $200. So for a $1500 published fare plane ticket you should save at least $250 by booking through Quiksilver. Sometimes the airlines offer the agencies contracts with an additional 10% off over the credit card and mileage savings so you pay about $1100 to go to Indo.
Book early to get on Singapore AIrlines
Singapore airlines flights from the west coast will totally book up, especially for Friday departures. They don't overbook, so when the plane is full you can't buy a seat at any price. Because Singapore Air is the poshest way to get to a bunch of cities in India without connecting in Delhi, lots of Indians fly this way. Expect your plane to be full of ethnic-Indian extended families who go as far as Singapore. Your flight to Indo will typically be empty.
Cashing in Miles to get to Padang - Airline alliances
Unless you oddly have a lot of miles with Singapore Airlines, cashing in miles means you will get as far as Singapore or Jakarta, then have to buy a separate, cash ticket to get you to Padang.
United - Best best - can put you on either United or Singapore Air - push hard for Singapore, get your own TV and save big on board fees.
Delta - Delta's ludicrously useless deal with China airlines will only get you to Taipei. Delta miles are good on Singapore air though.
American - Only Cathay Pacific or JAL can get you to Indo.
Northwest - They can get you as far as Singapore or Bangkok on Northwest planes. Expect less from Northwest, but free is free.
US Airways - You can definitely get tickets on United but I have no idea about Singapore.
Southwest - Rapid Rewards won't even get you to Mexico hahaha you have no hope, give up and pay cash
Upgrading for free?
If you fly a lot you may be upgraded for free from time to time on domestic flights. However, don't expect this on a long-haul transpacific flight. Transpacific flights frequently take off with empty seats up front because this is how they get business travelers to actually pony up $5K for the ticket.
Boat travel logistics is an unappreciated aspect of the trip that you don't really grasp until you've been there. This post assumes you're on a boat that cruises at 8-10 knots, and even fast boats can only go fast during the day.
The Crossing
First of all your prototypical 11-night boat trip leaving from Padang really only has 10 surf days. The first night and the last night has you crossing the channel between Padang and the islands. It really does take all night. if the wind is up for any reason, the crossing could get pretty bumpy.
Playgrounds/Northern Sipora
The shortest distance between Padang and the Ments is to the Playgrounds area between Siberut and Sipora. This area is densely packed with spots that work on a variety of conditions. Bank Vaults, E Bay, Rifles, Kandui, Burgerworld, Pit Stops, Chubbies, 4 Bobs, etc. Northern Sipora is nearby with also has 2 good lefts and one epic left, Telescopes. Because this is the typical arrival and departure point for the Mentawais and has consistent spots that work with almost any conditions, a boat could conceivably spend all 10 surf days in this area. This is a risk you take when booking the cheapest trip you can find. However, if you're scoring pumping Rifles, Telescopes, and Bank Vaults for a week straight you'll be too tired to care that you never made it down to Macaroni's.
Southen Sipora
About half a day's motor from Playgrounds, this area has HT's and Lance's, both of which are consistent waves that work on opposite wind conditions. Always lots of boats congregated in this area. Coming straight here on your first day is pretty unlikely since the guide wants to make sure you get some waves the first day and Playgrounds is a sure thing for rideable waves. You could conceivably surf this area on your last day but you'd only get a half day session because the crossing would take so long. Figure you get 8-9 surf days max at HT's.
North Pagai/Macaroni's
From Playgrounds, on a typical boat it takes a full day to get down to Macaroni's. Which means you either miss surfing for a full day or you drive there at night. No waves for a full day is a non-starter early in the trip for the guests. Motoring all night the night before or after the crossing is a non-starter for the crew, or at least a favor the guide can't call in very often unless he thinks it will get everyone a healthy tip. So therefore you cannot spend the first or last day of your trip at Macaroni's, leaving you with a maximum of 8 surf days as far south as Macca's on a typical 10 day trip.
South Pagai
The South Pagai area has heavy duty hollow waves like Rags and really consistent swell magnet waves like Thunders. A typical boat will spend most of a day getting to and from Thunders from Macaroni's, so you're really left with about 6 days max in this area, and those days must fall in the middle of your trip. The area south of Thunders is home to a number of semi-secret spots that require specific conditions, for example the spot where Dane Reynolds got the killer left barrel in Young Guns 2. Surfing magazine outed this spot as "Green Bush", but chances are you won't surf there without taking a longer trip with a motivated, knowledgeable captain. Most boats will not go south of Thunders because it adds a half day of motoring each way and the captains either don't know about or won't chance the spots that require specific wind and swell directions.
Breaking the Cycle
There are a finite number of boats, their schedules are published, and the only real flexibility the guides have is in the middle 5-6 days of their trip. Therefore although it may seem farfetched, it's not that tough for a guide who knows the boat schedules, the current conditions and the spots to guess where the other boats will go and go somewhere else to score uncrowded waves.
Even the lazy will score in the Mentawais
Scuzz of Sumatran Surfariis sold me on a Ments trip by noting that in spite of the 40-odd charter boats, "There are so many 'B' waves in the Mentawais". If you have pumping swell and no wind, then there will be 25 quality waves going off all over the ments, and even with two boats each on 20 top spots you'll still score more waves than your endurance can handle. Given their consistency, Mentawai B waves like Icelands, Bank Vaults, Lance's, or Thunders would be destination waves anywhere else in the world. Getting one of them with just you and your friends out will make for an unforgettable session.
