8 weeks before departure

Airline Ticket Purchase – Special requests such as meals, seats, frequent flyer numbers, and passport information should be provided directly by you to the carrier. Carriers can lose this information and long delays can happen (recently, 14 hours on the tarmac in a dust storm at Abu Dhabi) so pack foods and buy liquids at the gate (liquids will be taken at security screening).

– Keep the baggage stub you receive when you check your bag – you will likely need to show it in Indonesia when exiting the baggage area.

Clean out your bookshelf to donate books to our BOOKS DONATION PROGRAM.

– Buy a ‘universal power adapter’ with usb outlet. About $15 on Amazon. Buy 5-10 cheap flash drives with small memory ($25-$50 on Amazon). DO NOT place your usb drive into other people’s  computer and then back into your own, especially a private computer. A lot of software in Asia is pirated, has viruses, and can crash your system. Save the work, give it to your Indonesian colleague, and have them keep the usb.
– Leave hair dryers and curling irons at home and buy one at destination.
– Your laptop will be smart enough to know what voltage it is plugged into.
– If you want to use your cell phone in Indonesia, well before you go, check the rate for Indonesia with your carrier.  The rate may be as high as $5.00 per minute for calls and for voice messages and $1.00 per minute for text messages. Instead, call your provider and tell them you want your phone unlocked. Then buy a sim card on arrival. Some US Carriers (T Mobile) has good international data coverage. Check with your provider.

  • The least expensive way to maintain contact with family and colleagues is email and Skype
  • Wifi and internet connection generally works in hotels.
  • International Direct Dial calls from hotels are exorbitant. Don’t use it.

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