Introduction: An Indian Subcontinent Extraordinaire

Raymond

We. Are. Back. Having finally wrapped up our last trip report: An Emerald Farewell, I’m very pleased to announce our most exciting journey yet! This time we’re finally heading to the Indian subcontinent after years and years of yearning to visit this amazing part of the world. While initially envisaged this to be a simple two-week trip, constant uncertainty truly moulded this into one of our most complicated journeys yet. With 30 reviews, this is Jakarta Potato’s longest trip report (so far). As excited as we are to share with you the details of our journey, we ask for your patience as Raymond takes his time to chronicle each entry.

Planning the Journey

India

I love Indian food! Combined with my longstanding fascination with India, I decided it was about time I paid a visit! Having found and booked a Suites award on Singapore Airlines to Mumbai on a whim, I started planning my journey. Without thinking twice, I booked a stay at Mumbai’s incredible Taj Mahal Palace Hotel – only fitting to experience India’s city of dreams.

Singapore Airlines Suites
Taj Mahal Palace Hotel

While I had intended to combine this trip with a visit to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, I realised that would leave me too little time before I embark on my next planned trip. Instead, I decided to do the next best thing and visit Nepal! While Nepal Airlines has direct flights from Mumbai, I quickly found out that the airline flies their longhaul Airbus A330-200s from Delhi. Given how irrational we are here at Jakarta Potato, I decided to position myself for a night in New Delhi – giving me a chance to fly Air India’s latest Boeing 777-300ER.

Air India Boeing 777-300ER Business Class
Nepal Airlines Airbus A330-200 Business Class

Nepal

Disregarding all advice, I then booked a daytrip to Lumbini from Kathmandu on the appropriately named Buddha Air. As had been told by numerous people who were against my plan, my outbound flight was delayed for 10 hours. Regardless, I managed several hours exploring Lumbini before heading back to Bhairahawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport.

Buddha Air ATR 72-500
Hotel Yak and Yeti Kathmandu

Sri Lanka

Things took an unexpected turn when my return flight to Jakarta on SriLankan Airlines was cancelled. After numerous fruitless exchanges with the airline’s customer service to get rebooked on an alternative flight on the same date, I finally relented to a reroute to Singapore. This ultimately allowed me to experience the airline’s long-haul Airbus A330-300 product.

Vivanta by Taj Airport Garden Colombo
SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330-300 Business Class

Singapore

Needing a new plan to go home, I ended up booking a Flying Blue award to fly on Garuda Indonesia’s Airbus A330-300 Super Diamond Business Class. As this flight departs the day after I arrive Singapore, I then scoured to book a hotel for the night. Despite Singapore’s absurd hotel prices as of late, I managed to get a room at the Dusit Thani Laguna near Changi Airport.

Garuda Indonesia Airbus A330-300 Business Class
Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore

Let’s fly.

Overall, our final itinerary looked like the following, which just goes to show how chaotic it was to plan this trip. 😛

I’ll be sharing with you all the reviews from this trip as soon as possible (and there are a lot!). Please refer to the following list of reviews to check out the written and upcoming reviews from this trip! As always, the list will be updated with links to the reviews as soon as they are ready.

Thank you so much and please stay tuned~ ♪

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