We were informed that the world bank as the scholarship provider would bear the expense on Aji’s ticket to Indonesia. In the request form from YNU (yokohama national University) Aji wrote down that he preferred flying by Garuda Indonesia Airline (GIA) as Ibu has got the one year open return ticket. We thought the form would be forwarded to the world bank but life just is not simple.
Thinking that the world bank would care to grant our wishes, we naively bought GIA ticket for both Wisnu and Akira. GIA could not accept credit card so that we asked Tante Niken to lend us cash . Tante Niken was returning to Indonesia and we could return the money by the time we got there.
About the second week of March, Aji found out that the world bank through American Express Travel Agent has reserved him a seat by Korean Air. Aji immediately informed the administration of the YNU but to our despair they insisted that Aji contact the world bank directly. They said ,” It’s strictly between you and the world bank”.
We did manage to contact the Amex Travel Agent through e mail and they mentioned that they are responsible to book the ticket with the lowest fare and so far Korean Air fare is the cheapest they could get and if Aji requested another airline, aji had to bear the expense. They also stated that the Korean Air only costed 1400 US but GIA is 1800 US which means that we’ll have to pay 400 US if Aji still wants to choose GIA. Moreover, they can’t guarantee that Aji would get the ticket as the GIA could only put Aji’s name on the waiting list.
We checked with the travel agent referred by GIA in Tokyo that the ticket would cost 40,000 yen with a waiting list status. Then we were waiting for the green light from the AMEX Travel Agent in Washington DC and trying to negotiate the possibility of getting a reimbursement if we buy the ticket from Tokyo as it happened earlier (when aji was leaving for Japan, he had to buy his own ticket but got a reimbursement in Japan). The AMEX came up with the reply that there was such thing like reimbursement and they said the seat from GIA for March 26 was full but they came with two options on our : flying on March 26 with business class for 900 US or fly with GIA by 400 US on March 28. Somehow, they said the Korean Air is reserved for Aji.
Paying for 900 US for being on the same plane with the whole family seems to be out of question because there is no way that we could afford it! To go by March 28 means that ibu and the kids have to pay cancellation fee for the ticket issued plus we had to contact the apato agent to adjust the bills as we need to delay our departure and prolong our stay in the apato. Both options are not affordable.
To let Aji fly by Korean Air means that we do not have to pay for Aji’s ticket with the consequences that Ibu will have to fly alone with Akira and Wisnu. Difficult? Just imagine a 6-month-pregnant woman on the plane with the 9-month energetic infant and the almost-three-year old unstoppable toddler for 6-hour flight and 30-minute transit in Denpasar plus one and half hour flight to Jakarta. NO WAY!
Then we decided to reserve the ticket from the Travel Agent in Tokyo. The thing is Aji could only get the ticket for Narita-denpasar as the Denpasar-jakarta is fully booked. The agent offered that the last flight from Denpasar to Jakarta at 10.40 PM. Here is another intricacy.
It was confirmed that Ibu and the kids would fly by GIA from Narita to Denpasar by 11.00 Am and arrive at Denpasar at 4.30 PM and then continue with GIA to Jakarta at 5.30. to be able to fly together with Aji means that the kids have to wait longer time in Denpasar and got to Jakarta by midnight. At first we thought that it would be too tiring for them to do so, therefore we asked the possibility to stop at Denpasar and stay there for couple of days before continuing the trip to Jakarta. But then, to have such plan means we will have to pay for the cancellation fee (30,000 yen) for the issued tickets.
The travel agent said they need to talk to GIA first and we found out that it was possible for Ibu’s ticket as it is one year open ticket with open status valid until April 20. However, we’ll have to pay 15,000 yen for each kid if we want to do so. It means, like it or not we should take the last flight from Denpasar to Jakarta by 10.40.
Another thing is the travel agent does not accept credit card, therefore we have to borrow some more cash!!! The cash we have would be spent for the last bills : electricity, gas, water, HP and internet disconnection. Ibu lost her ATM from Mandiri Bank and we could not withdraw any cash from credit card before we paid all the last month debt.
After chatting in the YM, Aunty Fia was trying to help by sending money through Western Union Money Transfer on Monday afternoon, but the bank had already closed. The following day was national Japanese holiday so it won’t be possible to take the money. Still unsure which bank in Yokohama provides the Western Union service, ibu asked Aji to find out some info from the campus staff. Unfortunately, on Wednesday Aji had Aikido exhibition for the whole day and the campus staffs did not have any idea or never heard about Western Union at all. On Thursday, we had to attend Aji’s graduation ceremony from 9 to 4 pm. Friday morning Aji had to go to Tokyo to report to Indonesian Embassy about our departure and legalize his certificate , around 3 PM Aji finally found out that there is one bank in Sakuragicho providing Western Union Money Transfer but it was already close. The security guard said we could try on Saturday at 10-12, but when we went there it was closed.
Somehow, we managed to pay for the ticket on Thursday afternoon with the loan from another friend and received the ticket on Friday afteroon. PHEW !!!! Ibu had never been that anxious as we got the tickets confirmed only two days prior to our departure. Still, we had to figure out what to do with the money in the Western Union representative. In the website it says that the receiver could not the money , the money could be withdrawn by the sender under within 45 days after the money was sent eventhough the transfer fee could not be returned.
Those things make our life more exciting to live :)
picture:
www.microsoft.com
http://larnach.info/U120/images/eMM.png
