As I sit in my bed at the Hyatt Centric in Kuala Lumpur, I’ve decided I’m going to visit Dili, the capital of Timor Leste…tomorrow…on Aero Dili.
I’m Traveling to Timor Leste On Aero Dili…I Hope?
I’m on a long-term quest to visit every country in the world, but my pace has slowed down dramatically in the last few years as other aspects of my life and career have required greater priority. In fact, over the last few years, the only two new countries I have visited are Nepal and Bhutan.
I hope that will soon change, because I just booked an Aero Dili round-trip from Bali to Dili, the capital of the small island nation of Timor-Leste (recall, I recently toyed with this side trip before leaving for Asia).
But it’s complicated…
The reason I held off on booking until the absolute last-minute in booking this is because I’m flying Malaysia Airlines on an A330-900neo from Kuala Lumpur to Bali, which is scheduled to arrive at 12:05 pm. The Aero Dili flight to Dili leaves at 1:25 pm and is the only flight of the day.
There is no airside transit in Bali for international to international connections and I have not been able to check in for my Aero Dili flight online:
That means that I’ll have to hurry off the plane, rush through immigration (I’ve purchased my Indonesian visa already), and rush upstairs in 25 minutes, since the check-in cutoff is one hour before the flight. I’ve flown through Bali many times and this will be difficult even if there is no line in immigration.
The alternative, which is also appealing, is an extra night at the Park Hyatt Jakarta, which looks great.
I booked my tickets (two one-ways) on Trip.com, the only major online travel agency that appeared to have a ticketing agreement with Aero Dili.
- Outbound (DPS – DIL) – Aero Dili A320 economy class – $232.160
- Inbound (DIL-DPS) – Aero Dili A320 business class – $386.00
(ticket prices do not seem to change whether you book in advance or the day before: the price is the price, and the price is fairly high for a 708-mile flight)
I paid Trip.com an additional $90 ($40 on the outbound, $50 on the return) to make the trip fully refundable, my insurance policy if my Malaysia Airlines flight is delayed.
So it will be a photo finish in Bali, but I’m hoping for the best…stay tuned.
Hopefully, I’ll have a better experience than Josh Cahill! 😉
top image: Aero Dili
I’m sharing about my whirlwind trip through Asia.
You should be fine w/ the new eVisa gates, they let you through in like 30 seconds. Just fill out your customs form as well in advance and you’ll have a decent shot
Have fun.
When is Belize?
You should be able to make it if you do your Visa online and your customs online you will get a QR code for custom’s
With the online visa you walk up to the E gates and it was pretty much no line for us in March
Hmm. MH715 has been 15+ min late most days this month (and at least 5 min late every day), so this seems extremely risky.
Really looking forward to this as i was playing with the same idea but maybe overland crossing from Indonesia. One of the 2 countries from Sea i never visited.One commenter mentioned its expensive. Sitting in Ha to Rar amd I think cant be more expensive than cook islands. Did i missed the article about being pickpocketed in Ethiopia
Seems like the Bali airport website mentions that there is a International transit option.
I’ve struggled in Jakarta and expected sommething simliar in DPS.
I really hope that you can still make it to PH Jakarta for fun comparison w PH KL.
Hoepfully, just two nights instead of three.
Park Hyatt Jakarta is close to the National Library of Indonesia, the tallest library building in the world. You can take the lift up to the top floors and get a great view of Monas (National Monument).
Travel Insurance is for suckers, I figured you knew that.
Hopefully it works out!
Go get ’em, Cowboy. Dili is fun and you won’t regret the visit. Brownie points if you take a bemo from the airport to the city. Should be about a Dollar. Tap your Timor minted quarters on the rail when you’re ready to get off.