So usually you don't accidentally end up to another country - especially to one that's located 5000 kilometers from your own. You plan, budget, buy tickets, book hotels and so on. But in our case one morning we found ourselves walking around the sunny streets of Tel Aviv, Israel. And this is the story explaining what happened and why our way home from Indonesia took almost a week when everything possible went wrong...
On our Indonesia trip we had bad luck with flying. Our first flight problem was actually already when we were flying from Bali to Yogyakarta - where we wanted to visit the Borobudur temple (post about the Borobudur sunrise: http://pieceoftravel.blogspot.fi/2017/03/the-sunrise-over-borobudur.html).
We love English books and had bought some from the airport with Arno and red them in the plane, playing candy crush on our phones and eating some ice cream flavored Oreo cookies (bad choice). The flight was supposed to last for like 45 minutes, but as life sometimes goes in tropics, Mother Nature comes in picture and shakes things a bit... Literally.
As we were getting closer to the Yogyakarta airport, this tropical storm broke out of nowhere. The sky was turning dark grey, clouds surrounded the plane and heavy rain fell upon us. The pilot tried to rush the landing to get the plane down fast - the tropical storms can get furious. But as he was steering closer to the runaway trying to make a clean landing the storm really hit. The plane was shaking. And all the sudden we feel a hard pull as the plane that was getting very close to the ground headed upwards turning away from the airport.
- Flyby, said Arno watching out the window as the airplane disappeared to the grey clouds. Non of us had ever experienced one. I think Arno was the most excited being a lover of aviation. He said that he couldn't wait to tell his dad. - The flyby is a call only the pilot can make if he feels it's not safe to land.
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| Prambanan Temple at Java, Indonesia. Visited before heading to the airport. |
And soon came the announcement of the flyby that confirmed Arno's statement. The pilot told that he would try to land as soon as possible but the storm was brutal. I hoped it would take 20 minutes like flight delays usually go because my stomach was turning - I bet the Oreos were riding roller coasters in my intestinal. And I for sure wasn't the only one. Luukas who was sitting on the other side of me was pressing his head against the seat, he was feeling nauseous too. Somewhere behind us people were gagging. And all the sudden my parents who were sitting across from us jumped up faster than I have ever seen a human move and called for help. The passenger next to them threw up - not into a paper bag. Without saying anything Arno took my book about the presidents of US from my lap and replaced it with a paper bag. I leaned against him and tried to keep the Oreos inside as the time went by and half of the passengers started throwing up. One of the bumpiest flights I have ever been on. And it seemed like there was no end. When we had been circling the airport for over half an hour Arno guessed that if the pilot can't make a landing soon he has to fly to another airport. I guess the gas doesn't last forever.
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| Tel Aviv, Israel |
After almost an hour of feeling sick and a few landing attempt the skilled pilot finally managed to get us down through the storm. As we got our luggage out and waited for a car to pick us up I was still feeling sick in my tummy. Arno did a caring boyfriend move and ran to a near by store to by water and nuts. I was stretching my back and all the sudden realized that my other leg was super swollen (swelling is typical while flying, but this wasn't normal swelling). But we decided to drive to the hotel first and look at the leg there.
The trip to the hotel took waaay longer than any of us thought because the storm was causing traffic. And by the time we got there the hunger had taken over and we remembered the swelling later on. Boy was that leg looking bad... A lot of swelling and blister kind of coloring going up from my ankle. The dangerous look of it made us google. It was probably caused by the scooter accident. I probably should have gone to show it to a doctor but there wasn't one in the village we were staying in. The nearest was over an hour away by a taxi so we ended up just doing a follow up the next day.
As we had seen the sunrise and the Borobudur temple we slept over and started making our way home on a Saturday morning. When we had packed the car and ready to head to the airport to fly Yogyakarta - Jakarta - Istanbul (Turkey) - Helsinki, mom turned around on her seat and told that our flight from Jakarta to Istanbul is cancelled. We had no idea why, but figured they could re-route us to Finland when we get to Jakarta, - nothing to be done before, - so we headed to the Yogyakarta airport.
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| Oh, Tel Aviv <3 |
After landing to Jakarta we had to say goodbyes to Arno who was flying home with ID tickets (=tickets that are given to people who work with aviation - and their relatives. Arno's dad works for an airline). Those are standby tickets so Arno and his dad had gotten info that all the flight are full and they would have to wait for couple of days. So as Arno went to check into a hotel with his dad we headed to the Turkish Airways desk to hear what is the plan B to get us to Finland. When we had finally found the desk the ground under us started shaking without any warning signs. The whole airport was shaking. For maybe a minute or two. I looked at my mom and we guessed it was an earthquake - common in Indonesia, so common they have signs all over of what to do in case of an earthquake. And as the shaking stopped we kept pulling our luggage down to the Turkish Airways office. There it cleared to us that there was no plan B, nor were we the only ones. The officers were sweating and running around taking our information up and telling us that there is a snowstorm in Istanbul. Yes... Snowstorm in Turkey, how often does that happen...
After some time they informed that it was very hard to re-route anyone. That there are floods in Thailand (if you remember the January floods that caused problems to many). That of course meant that all the people who needed to fly out of Thailand had to be re-routed and taking any leftover places. And as it was the end of Christmas vacation season most of the flights where fully booked already to begin with. So they transported us to a near by hotel to have dinner and wait for further information. My leg was still swollen, I was running out of antibiotics and really wanted to get to Finland to get some free medical care. Same with my mom, who had broke her wrist on our trip and booked a doctor's appointment for Monday because broken wrist should be plastered. And we couldn't head to a doctor's office in Jakarta not knowing when we would be called on a flight.
So we ate that free dinner and just held on waiting. For a phone call or even information of when we could get going. Ready to leave immediately in case we would get a call to come running to the airport because we got seats. A few people travelling to another destinations got those and they ran out of the hotel as fast as they could. We had to go to bed not knowing what would happen to us.
The next morning after breakfast, somewhere around noon came the officials. To help us re-route. And all the other people left behind. I think there were a few hundreds of us. Tens and tens of people going to different countries harmed by the cancelled flights in between Jakarta and Istanbul. So it was a jungle. Everyone trying to get tickets before those would run out. We got the information that the next plane to Istanbul was also cancelled so there would be 500 other passengers coming later on asking for re-routing. And the two officials booking were not really getting anywhere. They had probably been up all night and now fighting the impossible - with all the flights overly booked. We were not in such a situation for the first times so I gave some advice to a few other people to bring their passport copies and make a paper with the destination and some possible flights the could find from the internet, that's what my parents were doing. Searching flights from internet and showing the possible routing ideas to the busy officers. But the situation really seemed not to be going anywhere. I got a pen and a paper, sat next to one of the officials and started making a list of people that were travelling to Helsinki. Then I marked families and couple flying together, so that they would get on same flights.
The Finns teamed up. We took turns on having lunch. Mom called to Finnair and they said that due the Thailand situation the next flights from Asia with seats were leaving from Hong Kong on WEDNESDAY (it was only Sunday afternoon and I was planning on going to work on Monday). So we started listing as a group of passengers all the possible flights that could take us home within couple of days. Through Singapore, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, Malaysia... The officials called. No luck. Fully booked. Called again. No room. It seemed like routing us to a same flight was next to impossible. So we decided that in case they would need to separate us, me and mom should fly first due our injuries. Luukas and dad would follow. I send email to work that I am stuck in Jakarta and don't know when I will get home.
After five in the evening it seemed like we could have found something. A flight from Jakarta through Hong Kong and Tel Aviv to Helsinki. The officials started working and managed to route us and some other Finns to the same flight just when the clock pointed six pm.
We went for dinner knowing that next morning we would have to leave early to catch all our flights. But I was so excited to be home on Monday night and go to work on Tuesday! Little did we know that the problems had just started.
Arno came to sleep over in our hotel room and we hugged goodbyes again the next morning. I handed him the rest of my Indonesian cash for a cab and we jumped into a van that drove us to the airport around 4 am. There we got our tickets and went to a lounge. I was walking around the lounge area as I always do if we now it will be a long day flying (4 hours Jakarta - Hong Kong, 13 hours Hong Kong - Tel Aviv, 5 hours Tel Aviv - Helsinki). Yet we had no idea how long the day would actually be.
After arriving to Hong Kong we got our tickets for the next flight. Standby tickets. So it wasn't sure we would actually fit in the plane. On the gate we were pulled aside and asked questions like "have you packed your own luggage?", "have you left your bags without supervision in any point of the trip?" and "where are you coming from and why are you passing through Israel?". Yeah, there had been a terrorist attack in Israel just a day before so they were really extra on safety. And just before the plane was leaving we were called on flight.
On the long flight from Hong Kong to Tel Aviv my leg started to swell again. I tried to move, lift and walk it off but the swelling around the areas that were injured in the accident just didn't go down. I went to my mom who said that there was still over 5 hours of the flight left and gave me her long socks that were supposed to keep the blood circulating. So I just walked around the dark airplane and looked probably really stupid shaking my leg. After that I got a few hours of sleep before the landing.
When we arrived to Israel my leg really hurt. The pressure was getting unbearable. And I also really needed to use the bathroom but I thought we could do it after getting out of the plane. But then we were all closed into this room with no bathrooms and told that we will be let out when every passenger has gotten checked in to the next flight (some safety stuff due the attack). And then came a few officials to check everyone's passports and print tickets. I ate painkillers and sat on the floor, trying to lift my leg as high as possible to let the blood flow.
After an hour or so we were let out of the room all together and got to go walk around the airport. Luukas went to buy a bottle of Jägermeister from tax free before we headed to the lounge to enjoy some red wine (that was supposed to knock me out on the next flight that was supposed to leave at 0:45 and arrive on Tuesday morning at 6 or so.
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| The antique shops were full of everything so pretty and interesting! |
So yeah. The red wine worked. We got on the plane and I was trying to take a nap, leaning my head against the window. Following how the airplane rolled to the runaway. And to another runaway. And yet another runway. Like waiting for something. Dark night and the runway lights just flashing by my window.
And then. The pilot made an announcement:
"The Tel Aviv airport and the airspace is closed. The plain isn't allowed to take off and leave Israel."
The airplane rolled back, but we were not let out for another 30 minutes or so. Just had to sit down and wait for further information. In this point I didn't whether I should laugh or cry.
Once we were out, we noticed that the airport was closed. No planes leaving before 6 am. So tiredly we made our way to pick up our beloved suitcases. Yet, after half an hour of waiting we came to the realization that our bags were missing. As well as everyone else's who had flown from Hong Kong. They probably never left that airport. And in this point I checked the weather in Israel. 10 - 15 celsius... And I was wearing these yoga pants, t-shirt and one light sweater. And that was basically all I had in my hand luggage...
We made it outside and back to the check in -desks to get some information of what's going to happen. In this point everyone pretty much knew each other well enough to be talking in a big group since we had been stuck in the same room for a while and some of us even had flown all the way from Indonesia together. So to lighten it up we were joking about how we should put my brother's booze bottle going around.
After like an hour of waiting we got our tickets for the next flight that would take us (finally) to Finland. Leaving at 5 pm - so over 14 hours to go. We had to go through the customs, get visas and get to the hotel, but there was some problems with the buses. It took for so long to arrange them that it was closer to 5 am once we finally got on the road. My first view of Israel was driving through the dark night. And then getting lost. Yep. As if we weren't tired and slacking sleep already the bus driver couldn't find our hotel. And when we finally got to the hotel, the rooms weren't ready made yet. So it took like for forever to check all the passengers in. Such a long forever that the sun had risen and when the hotel breakfast opened at 6:30 am, we just headed straight there to enjoy some brekkie. And that was one awesome breakfast! I am a breakfast person, yet I can't remember when I last had that kind of buffet.
And then we just took our stuff to the rooms upstairs and decided to head out to experience this country non of us had ever visited. I mean everyone except my brother who appreciates sleep too much to walk around after like 30 or 40 something hours awake (yep, lost count going over all the time zones). So my mom stole his jumper and we ordered a taxi to pick us up. The driver had hard time believing that we were only going to stay for one morning but told us what to do and where to go.
He dropped us to the old town and we walked around the quiet streets - after all it was like 8 or 9 am. Beautiful streets, the deep color of sand and the historical buildings made a good first impression to all of us. And under the rising sun, it wasn't that cold after all. We bought freshly squeezed juice from this Belgian - Israel guy and it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g! I petted a few street cats and joked around with locals. We stumbled to this antique collector's tent and he sold mom some necklaces and me an old oil lamp - with no spirits inside (yet). And then I bough a big hat from this local market where people were so nice. And then, like a dream come through, we somehow ended up to a street where there was Max Brenner's restaurant. For you who don't know what I am talking about, it is just the best restaurant of all time. At least my favorite, for the good reason that they sell chocolate with everything. Yep, it is a chocolate restaurant and used to be my favorite spot in Philadelphia to dine when I lived in America. So for the old times' sake I had to go and buy a big milkshake mug for myself.
When we made it to the hotel, we drag my brother down for lunch in the hotel restaurant and then the bus took everyone to the airport. There Luukas had to give up his souvenir booze bottle since we had no check-in luggage to stuff it to and buy a new one from the other side of customs.
The plane departed. An hour late. But it did. And when the wheels took off from the runway everyone clapped and cheered to the pilot. We were finally on our way home. The I guess four or five hour flight took us back to Helsinki which in that point of the trip felt like super quick. We landed safely in the dark and cold Helsinki-Vantaa airport ust before midnight. Of course for there to go something wrong, our luggage had not found their way back to Europe yet so we just took two taxis to finally take us home, where I fell to bed knowing I would have to get up 6 am for work and find myself some substitute makeup to replace the one that was still travelling around Asia.
And what came to Arno, he was stuck in Hong Kong for a day and got to finally fly home through Moskow (and its' snow storms) Thursday night - so two days later. They had to buy real tickets because the IDs would have never gotten them home. After all he needed to do this important interview next Monday so there was no options.
But hey that's travelling. Everything can change in a split second, sometimes all the forces of the Mother nature (or Karma or whoever) turn against your plans. Nothing is solid or set in stone and you have to be flexible and patient. That's how the adventures come around - the ones that someday make the best stories.
Cheers!
Linnea
Ps. I will definitely return to Israel some day!
We made it outside and back to the check in -desks to get some information of what's going to happen. In this point everyone pretty much knew each other well enough to be talking in a big group since we had been stuck in the same room for a while and some of us even had flown all the way from Indonesia together. So to lighten it up we were joking about how we should put my brother's booze bottle going around.
After like an hour of waiting we got our tickets for the next flight that would take us (finally) to Finland. Leaving at 5 pm - so over 14 hours to go. We had to go through the customs, get visas and get to the hotel, but there was some problems with the buses. It took for so long to arrange them that it was closer to 5 am once we finally got on the road. My first view of Israel was driving through the dark night. And then getting lost. Yep. As if we weren't tired and slacking sleep already the bus driver couldn't find our hotel. And when we finally got to the hotel, the rooms weren't ready made yet. So it took like for forever to check all the passengers in. Such a long forever that the sun had risen and when the hotel breakfast opened at 6:30 am, we just headed straight there to enjoy some brekkie. And that was one awesome breakfast! I am a breakfast person, yet I can't remember when I last had that kind of buffet.
And then we just took our stuff to the rooms upstairs and decided to head out to experience this country non of us had ever visited. I mean everyone except my brother who appreciates sleep too much to walk around after like 30 or 40 something hours awake (yep, lost count going over all the time zones). So my mom stole his jumper and we ordered a taxi to pick us up. The driver had hard time believing that we were only going to stay for one morning but told us what to do and where to go.
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| This passion-orange-ginger-coconut-everything possible - juice!! |
He dropped us to the old town and we walked around the quiet streets - after all it was like 8 or 9 am. Beautiful streets, the deep color of sand and the historical buildings made a good first impression to all of us. And under the rising sun, it wasn't that cold after all. We bought freshly squeezed juice from this Belgian - Israel guy and it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g! I petted a few street cats and joked around with locals. We stumbled to this antique collector's tent and he sold mom some necklaces and me an old oil lamp - with no spirits inside (yet). And then I bough a big hat from this local market where people were so nice. And then, like a dream come through, we somehow ended up to a street where there was Max Brenner's restaurant. For you who don't know what I am talking about, it is just the best restaurant of all time. At least my favorite, for the good reason that they sell chocolate with everything. Yep, it is a chocolate restaurant and used to be my favorite spot in Philadelphia to dine when I lived in America. So for the old times' sake I had to go and buy a big milkshake mug for myself.
When we made it to the hotel, we drag my brother down for lunch in the hotel restaurant and then the bus took everyone to the airport. There Luukas had to give up his souvenir booze bottle since we had no check-in luggage to stuff it to and buy a new one from the other side of customs.
The plane departed. An hour late. But it did. And when the wheels took off from the runway everyone clapped and cheered to the pilot. We were finally on our way home. The I guess four or five hour flight took us back to Helsinki which in that point of the trip felt like super quick. We landed safely in the dark and cold Helsinki-Vantaa airport ust before midnight. Of course for there to go something wrong, our luggage had not found their way back to Europe yet so we just took two taxis to finally take us home, where I fell to bed knowing I would have to get up 6 am for work and find myself some substitute makeup to replace the one that was still travelling around Asia.
And what came to Arno, he was stuck in Hong Kong for a day and got to finally fly home through Moskow (and its' snow storms) Thursday night - so two days later. They had to buy real tickets because the IDs would have never gotten them home. After all he needed to do this important interview next Monday so there was no options.
But hey that's travelling. Everything can change in a split second, sometimes all the forces of the Mother nature (or Karma or whoever) turn against your plans. Nothing is solid or set in stone and you have to be flexible and patient. That's how the adventures come around - the ones that someday make the best stories.
Cheers!
Linnea
Ps. I will definitely return to Israel some day!
