Beautiful Bintan November 16-18

Friday November 16 – will just do this day then another post as the pent up demand keeps coming in!

Friday’s November 16 – typical last minute travel disaster avoided as usual but a bit stressful, also “as usual.”

So, we are booked on Bintan Ferries leaving at 5 pm from Singapore to Bintan Indonesia, 55 minutes away and home to a large number of resorts of different degrees of quality.

Susan has a late lunch and plans to just go from there to the ferry around 3 or 3:30 and I am to meet her at the ferry terminal. Since we paid extra for “Emerald Class” we are allowed early check in of luggage and expedited immigration as well as access to the Emerald Lounge with free drinks and plush top deck seating on the voyage.

I do my usual routine of sleeping late after waking up at 4 am and sending emails to some of you then going back to bed and heading down to free breakfast at 10:30 that ended at 10:15. But “as usual” I talk the staff into grabbing me a couple of yogurts and a banana and grabbing a tasty cafe latte from the machine that is open all day till 10 pm. I then swim 15 laps and come back to the apartment and watch CNN and Fox News (yes both) and go on Google Flights to try to book travel next week to Kuala Lumpur and back to Pittsburgh and Chicago over the holidays searching for December 14 and returning January 2.

I leisurely hit the restroom and bring my bags downstairs around 3 pm for the 28 minute ride to the ferry and we depart. The driver assures me he knows the way so after a few blocks I reach for my phone to text Susan and cannot find it so I hurriedly ask the driver to go back to the Pan Pacific Orchard apartments but that entails several turns and when we get there I run (I mean limp) upstairs and search for my phone finding it on the bathroom counter. I check the messages and there is a 3:08 pm text from Susan saying “Are you close?” (Yes this time she is on time and already at the ferry terminal.)

So the driver and I head out but he apparently is very conscious about the speed limit and the constant “drive carefully” and “stop light camera” warnings coming out if the navigation system so we slowly creep along and even stop on the side of the road to plug in the navigation to the ferry as apparently he doesn’t exactly know where it is. Around 4:30 I begin fidgeting and muttering “I’m going to be late! How much longer?”

He finally pulls into the terminal around 4:50 PM and I give him the 30 dollar fare with no tip and he apologizes to me for being late. But not to worry, Susan sees me pull up and she grabs my suitcase and rolls it into the terminal as I limp behind her into the terminal. She shows the ticket agent my passport and ticket and the agent says “gates to departure ship close in one minute.” So we rush to the boat which is actually quite a walk but we make it to the long hallway and Susan takes off saying I will meet you in Bintan. (Indonesia if you are new to the blog.) There is actually a couple with a baby in a stroller behind me which makes me feel better but I let them pass me but we make it to the boat entrance and “as usual” we are the last ones on, rolling the suitcase and lifting it upstairs to the Emerald Class area rather than using the expedited check in and lounge area. Somehow Susan was not amused when I said “I guess we cut that a little bit closer than we should have.”

But we sailed away for a nice 55 minute ride to Bintan Indonesia. And fortunately we stayed at the closest resort to the terminal called the Grand Lagoi Resort. It had a two day for the price of one stay and we soon determined that it was primarily a conference like hotel so they probably had extra rooms on the weekend so it met the “Hollingsworth Penny Saver Travel” criteria. We found out that it had reciprocal privileges at the Nirwana Resort about 10 minutes away so on check in we signed up for the 11 am shuttle after breakfast. As you can see from the attached pictures it was a very nice place and the staff was incredibly nice and attentive. We checked into the large room and headed to dinner (included in my package deal) where they cooked bbq tableside and it was great, chicken, beef, shrimp, vegetables and yes some chewy squid that we sampled but left. So it was a bit hectic getting there but very relaxing as we prepared for the next day which I will report on in the next posting, but check out the initial photos first showing departures from Singapore with its skyline and arrival in Bintan Indonesia, the hotel and the bbq dinner! And yes, Susan is smiling after the dinner and fried banana desert with the changing colored lights like our friends the Jarik’s in Chicago have and that we also bought for Jimmy Buffett concerts and John Puckett pool parties! Not a bad looking sunset from the hotel either. Jim H.