Before leaving for college in Boston in August 2013, my friends and family told me that I would have the time of my life. Prior to departing for Jakarta they wished me well and told me that my trip would be an adventure. I spent 5 months in America and needless to say my friends were right, I had an amazing time. I have been in Indonesia for 17 hours and to say that it has already been an "adventure" is a slight understatement...

January 1st, 2014: Happy New Year and welcome to Indonesia; where you are greeted at the airport with a sign reading, "Welcome! Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers!"... at least we were warned!

I flew from Melbourne to Bali on Garuda Airlines and enjoyed the luxuries of the "World's Number 1 Economy Class Airline." After demolishing my complimetany mango flavour Weiss Bar I find it diffcult to disagree with that title. My flight from Melbourne had a 2 hour stop-over in Bali where I had to change planes before progressing on to Jakarta. At most airports this changeover would be simple, however they like to keep you on your toes in Denpassar and as a result, this is where my adventure really begins.

Let me set the scene by getting you to imagine an episode of the Amazing Race where contestests are in an Asian airport, saturated with sweat, running through the terminal, yelling, crying and racing against time as they tow their 30kg suitcase, backpack and handbag through a crowd of people that don't speak English.

The imigration process in Bali took an hour and a half, leaving me with half an hour to collect my luggage from my previous flight, change airports from International to Domestic, check in for my next flight and board the plane. 25 minutes before my plane was due to depart I was still waiting in line to check-in for my flight. To my initial relief, the line to check-in for my flight was quite long so I assumed that the flight was going to be delayed as half of the passangers were yet to check in! Ten minutes before my flight was due to depart, the line for check-in had barely moved. I asked the woman in front of me if she was waiting for the same flight. She replied, "No, my flight is in an hour". NOTE TO ANYONE TRAVELLING ON A DOMESTIC FLIGHT IN INDONESIA: Appartently you just check in at whichever line suits you regardless of which flight that check-in port is designated for!! I pushed to the front of the queue and explained my situation to the adminstration hostess. She told me that my flight had already boarded, was departing in 5 minutes and to RUN!! With all of my luggage, including my suitcase in tow, I sprinted the length of Denpassar domestic terminal to gate 20 yelling "Permissi!" (excuse me) and "Maaf!" (sorry) while moving through the crowd as though my life depended on it. Skipping to the front of the customs line, I sqeezed my 26 inch suitcase through the handluggage x-ray and did not wait to see if security would question the scissors and countless other prohibited items that I had in my suitcase before grabbing it and continuing to run towards my boarding gate. At gate 20 I watched as my Garuda flight 413 began to reverse away from the airport. Face stained with tears I managed to exclaim between gasps for air "I need to be on that flight!"
Next thing I know, the plane had stopped and I was being driven out to the plane with all of my luggage. I made it.

Once safely in my seat I knew that I had two choices:
1. Go to the plane toilet and cry my eyes out as I came to terms with what had just happened.
2. Get out the personal journal that mum had bought me for christmas and write my feelings out. I went with the journal option.

After a relaxing swim in my hotel pool and a long phone call back home retelling my days events I can appreciate my mums conclusion that my "adventure" was a great learning experience, although I do wish that it was a lesson that I didn't have to learn!

With such an eventful start to my time in Indonesia I can only sit back and contemplate what the next 6 weeks has in store for me! One thing is for sure, I doubt that I will be bored!