Considering too many times of spending weekend in Bandung, I decided to try a different route and city. Then Lampung came into my option.

Lampung, with Bandar Lampung as its capital, is the most southern province of Sumatera Island. From Jakarta, the quickest way to Lampung is by car for 7-8 hours ride. Flight to Lampung’s Raden Inten Airport is definitely a waste of time from Jakarta, considering effort to CGK airport and 2 hour prior check-in time.

To visit Lampung, you need to spare at least 2 full days. Day trip is not recommended, just calculate your travel time (7 hours each way).

The Journey

How is the route to Lampung? You don’t need a map for this, but for your peace of mind, grab one as your guide. First, take toll-road from Jakarta to Merak. Then ferry cross Sunda Strait to Bakauheni, and continue by car to Bandar Lampung.

Jakarta-Merak toll fee is IDR 38,500 for private car, journey time is 1 hour and 20 minutes from Tomang for average speed of 90 km/h. Be caution on several section of the road that may have some cracks and road works.
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Choosing hotel to stay in Barcelona is practically not a big problem. There are a lot of good hotels to choose at your preferred location.

Eurostars has many hotels in Spain, at many big cities like Madrid and Barcelona. This time, I am writing one of them, Eurostars Gaudi.

Located not far from Gaudi’s masterpiece: La Sagrada Familia, Eurostars Gaudi offers great view to it. Choose a standard room, we’ll get view to the in-progress church. Get an upgrade to junior suite, with a balcony, at the highest floor, the view will get better. The location is very convenience, at the corner of Consell de Cent street, just only 50 meter outside Monumental Metro station exit.
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As advertised by Indonesia TV channels, as well as Euronews TV across Europe and TV cables, Java Jazz is getting bigger this year.

Java Jazz Festival is an annual event in Jakarta to attract and satisfy jazz lovers with so many International Artists in the line up. This year in 2010, sponsored by Axis GSM, we’ll have Eric Benet, Babyface, Jason Mraz, and also previous years performer such as Chaka Kan. One of the highlight is The Manhattan Transfer and John Legend. Local jazz artists will also satisfy local flavour, from veterans like Barry Likumahuwa and Bubi Chen to younger generations like Ecoutez. Check daily schedule on their official website for artist line-up and those special performances.

This year, Java Jazz Festival venue is moved to Jakarta International Expo at Kemayoran. From 5-7 March 2010, we’ll have biggest names in Jazz world come and play at Jakarta with a special theme: tribute to Michael Jackson.

Entrance ticket is referred as daily pass since you can hop on and off any playing stages at any time during a day, priced IDR 300,000 (~USD 33) per day, or IDR 800,000 for 3-day pass. Online purchase will be cheaper, only IDR 220,000. For special performance like The Manhattan Transfer, you need to buy additional special show ticket, ranging from IDR 220,000 to 1,500,000 for John Legend’s best seat. Tickets are sold at several ticket boxes across Jakarta, but if you are foreigner, ticket purchase can be done using money transfer or online credit card payment (see official website here).

Where to stay

As it is moved to JIExpo at Kemayoran, staying at Semanggi The Sultan Hotel like previous years will not be the best spot. The nearest hotel to venue is Sheraton Media Hotel at Jalan Gunung Sahari. It is a bit old but still offer luxury.

Your best bet and also great location should be Novotel Mangga Dua (Agoda link or Accor official website). It is located in Mangga Dua Square, shopping and dining should not be a problem. The other one is 4-star Le Grandeur Hotel at Mangga Dua shopping complex. Both hotel offers affordable luxury from around USD 50-80. Java Jazz venue is 5-10 minutes taxi drive from Mangga Dua.

Transportation

One of the drawback of holding event at Jakarta International Expo Kemayoran is its location and access. Although it is still categorized as city center at North Jakarta, as an ex-airfield, only few public transportation passes this large complex. The only reliable solution is by taking taxi or private car to the area. While going to Kemayoran is easy since you can hail any taxis near your location, getting back to home or hotel was a bit problem. Taxi queue is long but supply is rare, but I don’t know if there will be improvement for this.

As one of Jakarta best hotels, Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta offers luxury and Indonesian hospitality in the very heart of Jakarta CBD.

Located just behind Jl. Jendral Sudirman, Jakarta busiest main road, this 5-star rating hotel practically is serving business oriented customers in weekday, while on weekend left for leisure seekers.

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Biasa kalau mendengar kata travel planning, kita asosiasikan dengan tempat tujuan wisata. Mau ke mana saja mulai dari hari pertama datang sampai pulang wisata. Jika menuju negara yang sudah pernah dikunjungi, atau yang bahasanya masih bisa dimengerti mungkin memang cukup mudah. Namun kalau mau tamasya ke negara yang Inggris bukanlah bahasa yang dimengerti penduduknya maka Anda akan kerepotan.

Banyak hal-hal kecil yang perlu kita rencanakan (setidaknya diketahui) supaya kita tidak kebingungan saat tiba di tempat tujuan.
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Reaching end of 2009, travelers around the world are getting more problems in this December.

Heavy snow in America and Europe delayed almost half the scheduled flights in major airports like Washington DC, Frankfurt, London Heathrow and CDG Paris. Those airports became very crowded and almost like chaos.

For those still plan to travel in this season, consider using train as first option. Train schedule is more reliable although in bad weather like heavy rain and snow.

Exception is on EuroStar trains, which connect London with Paris and Brussels via Channel Tunnel. Last week, 6 trains freezed in the middle of tunnel for more than 10 hours because of electricity problem. Thousand of passengers left without electricity and food supplies in those trains and thousands more in each stations are unable to depart for several days.

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Melaka / Malacca is a historic city located on south of Kuala Lumpur. Its position facing Malacca straits has made it an important city during eighteenth century and until now.

Transportations

• From Kuala Lumpur
  Take bus from Puduraya Bus Station, there are many bus companies offer this route, so nearly half an hour you can have a bus to Melaka. Journey time is about 2 hours.
• From Dumai or Pekan Baru
  Take boat from city port and will be arriving at Malacca port. It is quite a distance, so have a good sleep during journey
• From KLIA / LCCT Airport
  There is a direct bus from airport to Melaka Central or Melaka Mahkota Hospital. The bus company is Transnasional, it is located on stop #6 outside LCCT. Bus fare is RM 22/adult, journey time is 1 hour 30 minutes.
• From Singapore
  Take bus from Lavender St bus terminal and directly arrive at Melaka Central. Journey time is about 3.5-4 hours

Melaka itself has limited city transportation means. There are several bus lines serving this city. You can take city bus from Melaka Central (this is central bus terminal) to Mahkota Hotel and Hospital for only RM 1.50-2.00. Bus is not well maintained but quite reliable. But for tourist your the best bet is to catch tourist panorama bus. It is a double-deck bus (I believe imported from London), red color, and traveling across tourist spots.
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