Upon waking, I packed up my bags then returned to the main area of Ubud on the rented motorbike. Giovanna and I shared breakfast at Dharma, a cafe with astounding food and drinks. I had a delicious fruit smoothie bowl, pancakes, and iced matcha tea. Following breakfast, I dropped off the motorbike at the rental place and got a ride from Agung, our trusted Bali driver, back to the homestay. I grabbed my packs, checked out of the homestay, then returned to the car to head to the airport. Along the way, we dropped off Giovanna in Ubud where her friend was staying, and we said our farewells. For an unexpected extra week of rest and recovery in Bali, I couldn’t have imagined having a better time. I’m very grateful for getting to spend it in great company. Until we meet again, my bodacious Brazilian bunch. Following farewell, I napped all the way until we arrived at the airport about an hour later.
At the airport, I checked into my flight and made my way to security. At screening, to no surprise they found my bottle of holy water. They told me I can’t bring water through security. “Oh, but it’s holy water. It’s blessed. Please let me take it.” I said. “Where did you get it?” “I got it from a monk in Ubud.” “OK, next time check it. Go ahead.” “Suksami!” (Thank you).
I munched on a toastie sandwich and sipped a cold brew coffee before making way towards my gate. At the gate, shamelessly I pulled out my yoga mat and began my routine. “If I’m going to be on flights all day, it couldn’t hurt to loosen up first,” I thought. Little did I know, I would actually be traveling literally for the remainder of the day.
The first flight was from Bali to Kuala Lumpur, where we were scheduled to land at 4:05PM. Then, I would make a connection flight to Kathmandu scheduled for 6:05PM. The first half of the flight was fine. I was productively working until we hit multiple patches of rough air, forcing me to “stow the tray table and put away my device”. On, off, on, and off, the seatbelt sign switched. There was more turbulence than the average flight has, but I didn’t expect it to be a problem.
We began to descend towards Kuala Lumpur, passing through large storm clouds hurling rain and striking lightning. The wind continued to knock the plane around. We were closing in on the airport and preparing to touchdown, when all of the sudden we accelerated and began to ascend. “Hmm, that’s curious. I’m pretty sure we were about to land there,” I thought. Passengers murmured. An overhead announcement proclaimed, “We were unable to land due to bad weather. We are currently in communication with ground control on an alternate plan.” I began chatting with my fellow passenger with whom I shared a row with, a Nepali young adult named Karki. We both were scheduled for the same flight out to Kathmandu from Kuala Lumpur.
Another announcement came overhead stating that we would be rerouted to Penang airport and wait there until the weather cleared and it was safe to land in Kuala Lumpur. It was around 5:15PM when we landed in Penang, over an hour after our scheduled landing in KL. I checked the flight status of the connection to Kathmandu. It was on schedule. “It looks like we’re not getting to Kathmandu tonight” I told Karki. Eventually around 6:00PM, we took off towards KL. The weather was still uneasy and there maintained a fair amount of turbulence, yet this time were able to land in Kuala Lumpur around 7:30PM.
We deplaned and road a shuttle to the terminal. Here, a swarm of passengers with a variety of missed connections stormed the airline’s transfer counter. After waiting in line and giving the scoop to the airline staff, they told me I had to go to the ticketing counter. Eventually, I made my way to the other terminal and went to the airline’s ticket counter, where thankfully there wasn’t much of a line. They provided me an airline ticket for a flight to Kathmandu leaving at 10:30AM the next morning and informed me they would put arrange a hotel for the night. “Come back later for shuttle to hotel,” they said. “That’s kind of vague,” I thought. “OK,” I said.
Hungry, I searched for food and to my pleasant surprise I found a Taco Bell! I ordered an unhealthy amount of food and ate it all, needing the comfort food for the stressful day of travel. I returned to the ticket counter and waited about an hour before an employee escorted a group of us to a shuttle pickup. We were taken to a hotel, where we waited in another long line to be checked in by the counter. By time I made it up to my hotel room, showered, and was ready for bed, it was past midnight.
While the day was long and exhaustive, during the day and reflecting on it, I try not to complain. Safety is the top priority, and I would arrive to my destination safely the next day. Unexpected delays and challenges happen when flying, and with the frequency of flights I’ve done recently, it felt overdue. I’ve been mostly fortunate until now with air travel, and so I took this day as an opportunity to become more patient and adaptable.