Banda Neira, my home in another life :) - Part two -

This is the second part from my previous post, story of my days in Banda Neira.

It was a beautiful morning in Banda Neira. Abba told us about good spot nearby the airport that has a great sunrise view from top. We all so anxious on see the view, yet we love the bed even more (lol). Though we were too late to catch the sunrise, most of us still wants to see the "view from above". Hop we go, 12 of us, with our pillow face, on.

Off we go

The pillow faces :p - Photo courtesy +danny ramadhan 

Gigantic Abbey Road - Photo courtesy +danny ramadhan 

Banda Neira, my home in another life :) - Part One -

It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I come from
It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong
(Feels like home - Chantal Kreviazuk)

The song is really suite this trip I had. A memorable trip, a trip to this tiny piece of heaven on earth, called Banda Neira. The view, the people, the experience, it was definitely a full package of happiness.

Banda map. Photo courtesy @sofyanard

There were 13 of us, head filled with the image of a beautiful island. We've been planning this paradise trip for quite sometimes, 6 months to be exact. Idea of going to this island was popped out during our joyful trip to Komodo island, well not all of us. This trip can be considered as a though one, as there's no direct flight whatsoever. The easiest way to reach Banda Neira is via Ambon, either by a small plane (pioneer aviation by NBA) or ferry crossing (by Pelni). It took only 45 minutes for flight and about 8 hours for ferry crossing. NBA fly 3 days (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) each week, and as for Pelni, only God know their fix schedule. I, personally have this "small plane paranoia" prefer to go there using the ferry crossing. Unfortunately, until 1-2 months before departure, I still can't get the fix schedule. I started to gather the courage and went there by flight. And since it's only a small plane, there's only limited seat available on each flight, so we have to be divided into 2 groups. I joined the first group.

Nusakambangan, an Indonesian version of Alcatraz?

Cilacap, everytime i heard that city, all i can think of is Nusakambangan prison, one of the famous prison that located in the island of Nusakambangan, about 5 mins ferry ride from Cilacap harbour.

Having a group of friends who love to travel is a gift for me who also tends to love travelling. The idea of going to Cilacap, one of my friend hometown popped while we're discussing our next trip to Banda. Since there will be a-4-days-off in May, my friend, Mas Danny ask us to join him "pulang kampung" to Cilacap. He planning on going to Cilacap with his wife, Mba Terry and daughter, Kande. At that time, I'm still influenzed with one serial about Alcatraz, replied "YES" right away. I thought the prison might be the same with Alcatraz (yeah, rite!). Beside me, there's one other friend, Attriya who willing to join the trip, so you can say me and my friend escorting the "lil fam" back to their hometown (LOL).

Our trip itself actually start from 16May and ended at 20May, yet 9-10hrs drive between Jakarta to Cilacap made us spent 1 day on the road. After a hard day at the office, me and Attriya waiting at a mall nearby my office waiting for Mas Danny to pick us up. We're using a 150K-cost travel that day. Due to an extreme traffic, we decided to pich the travel to a-less-traffic-location, that would be Gelael, nearby tebet. After 1 stop by at the restaurant for a super late dinner (or maybe an early breakfast), we finnaly arrived at 8AM, the next day.

Saya Jatuh Cinta dengan Taman Nasional Komodo

The Map

Akhir Oktober tahun lalu salah seorang teman mengajak berkunjung ke Pulau Komodo, dan tanpa berpikir panjang saya langsung meng-iyakan ajakan tersebut. Wow, Pulau Komodo! Kalau tidak sekarang ya kapan lagi? Berhubung biaya yang harus kami sediakan tergolong banyak, maka trip ini kami jadwalkan di bulan Maret, tanggal 22 - 25 tahun berikutnya.   

Berdasarkan penelitian (ya kali deh), salah satu cara termurah dan memuaskan untuk menikmati keindahan kepulauan komodo adalah dengan live aboard. Informasi mengenai live aboard ini banyak sekali terdapat di internet, dan ada beberapa tipe trip yang ditawarkan dan kebanyakan adalah diving trip yang pastinya lebih menguras kocek. Kami memutuskan mengambil regular live aboard (2malam menginap di kapal dan 1 malam menginap di Pulau Kanawa), pick up/drop off point di Airport Labuan Bajo untuk 20orang. Biaya yang kami keluarkan juga tergolong murah, hanya 1500K IDR tiap orangnya. Dikarenakan jadwal penjemputan di Airport Labuan Bajo agak pagi, saya dan beberapa orang teman memutuskan untuk menginap semalam di Bali dan berangkat menuju Labuan Bajo menggunakan pesawat keesokan paginya.