My international to domestic transfer at Denpasar’s Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali was a bit odd, but overall quite smooth.
International To Domestic Transfer At Bali Airport (DPS)
After arriving on Aero Dili, I had to buy another visa, fill out another customs form, and go through the same immigration formalities I had done the day before, when I was in the country for a grand total of 15 minutes.
This time, I bought the visa the counter. Indonesia no longer puts in a visa sticker, but processes visas on arrival in the same manner in which you would request them online before arriving (last year, when Augustine and I were on our SAS Million Mile trip, we got two large visa stickers in our passports).
Thankfully, the immigration hall was empty and I got through very quickly.
Outside, you wind your way through coffee shops, SIM card kisoks, and ground transport desks before you come out into the public arrivals area. From there, I followed the signs to domestic connections. Although I’ve flown out of Bali many times over the years, I’ve never flown domestically within Indonesia until now.
The signs took me down a hallway and to a parking structure. There, I was told to wait. Presently, a golf cart pulled up and I was told to sit inside (there were a few other passengers at this point as well).
We traveled through the parking garage, out onto a road, turned left, and followed the road until we reached the domestic terminal. It was definitely walkable from the international terminal, but a 15-20 minute walk and it was very hot and humid out, so the ride was appreciated.
I hopped off the golf cart and headed into the terminal, where I found a special check-in area for my Garuda Indonesia flight up to Jakarta.
I’ll share about that flight next and save the lounge reviews for the full trip report after the journey.
I’m sharing about my whirlwind trip through Asia.
I kinda miss stamps and stickers in my passport. The day is coming, I suppose, when we won’t be issued actual travel documents at all, and will rely on biometric data. Sad.
Agreed!
It seems like at @PeteAU would be Australian (AU). You must be the only Australian I know in the whole world wishing stamps for your passport. For the rest of the world readers, the Australian Government, of the radical left-wing persuasion, imposes a circa $500 tax if you are an Aussie for the privilege of getting a passport. It should be a right of passage and free. But these greedy little bastards insist on charging us the highest tax in the world for a passport and to top it off, it automatically increases every 6 months. So fuck your stamps. I want my 32 pp passport to last the full 10 years.
The Australian passport fees were also high under the right-wing government just prior to the current center-left government.
At some point (I forget when) I stopped paying for the visa on arrival in Jakarta.
It was my Singaporean colleague who said to go straight to immigration and don’t say anything.
It worked so well that I told my wife to do the same thing and she never paid, either.
Have you ever consider an APEC Travel card? Based on your business traveling back and forth to Asia, it might be worth it. It allows you to get the VoA waiver for Indonesia.
Thank you so much for the detailed photos. It’s almost like we were there!
If Indonesia no longer uses a visa sticker, they should lower the price! If we have to pay, we should at least get a stamp. I got a thick version of the passport this year but I fear that it will expire with just 3-4 pages stamped.