RTW TP Run in Jan 2026: Day 14 – Tokyo Narita (NRT) to Jakarta (CGK) 

By Nige on January 31, 2026 at 11:00 pm
Type: Post
Story: Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026 Category: Travel
Tags: CGK | Hilton | Jakarta | Japan Airlines | NRT | Tokyo Narita

I arrived at Gate 93 whilst things were quiet and relaxed. I spoke to the gate staff and got my document checks done up front. They needed to see my D1 visa. It would save hassle when I was trying to board the aircraft later on.

Thereafter, the relaxed situation slowly turned into a chaotic mass of passengers crowding the gate area without any clear indication as to who was supposed to be where and why.

To be fair, the gate was not well positioned. It was relatively narrow and there was a busy walkway/travelator directly behind the gate area.

But that doesn’t excuse the gate staff for not taking control of the situation when a group of 30 young lads decided to form their own queue across the front of the three priority boarding lanes, which meant those lanes became inaccessible.

That meant Group 1 passengers had to gather either side of the three priority boarding lanes and the gate staff had no idea how to deal with the situation.

More and more people started gathering, further blocking access to the lanes. Eventually, gate staff had no choice but to reorganise the lanes, to react to the emerging chaos. Passengers were getting frustrated with gate staff for not taking control earlier.

If they had clearly defined the lanes sooner and proactively prevented the blocking of those lanes, things would not have gotten out of hand.

Boarding ended up being significantly delayed and when we were finally ready, we had a VIP ushered through to the front and on to the aircraft. They obviously didn’t receive the memo advising that I would be on the flight!

Finally onboard into sear 02A. I got the two welcomes from the cabin crew and I enjoyed a hot towel.

The captain made some excuses about why the flight was running late, but I was past caring.

As soon as we had taken off, I got myself into the sleeping position and tried to get comfy.

The Sky Suite wasn’t long enough for me and it meant that my feet were hard up against the very cold seat in front. I wasn’t entirely sure why it was so cold, but I found the same on the earlier flight up to Tokyo.

I woke up after a few hours because my feet were going blue with the cold.

In order to address the situation, I had to bend my knees whilst lying on my side, but the width of the suite didn’t really accommodate someone of my size, so overall, it was pretty uncomfortable.

The captain advised that there were storms around Jakarta and he was waiting for permission to land. According to flightaware.com we did a couple of loops in a stack and then progressed into our final approach.

That added further delay to my arrival and my bed.

We finally arrived into Gate G24.

Although I managed to squeeze past slower passengers arising from their seats to door 1L, for the first time whilst I have been in Asia, they decided we were all deplaning from door 2L!

Once off the aircraft, I hustled through the airport and this is where coming back to a place like this helps enormously.

I knew where I was going, which queue to get into and what I needed to show and to whom.

I reached immigration and there was no visible queue. When I reached a Border Control Agent, I had to show my D1 visa, but that was the only minor delay.

On to customs and I was waived through. Perhaps the guys recognised me?

I found the Grab Taxi pick up point, but GrabNow didn’t work. I think there may have been too much demand and passengers had obviously ordered pickups using the Grab Order facility.

Luckily, there was a young lady there to help stranded passengers like me. She effectively took over my phone and co-ordinated with various drivers to get someone to commit to taking my ride.

She had to cancel a number of rides because they didn’t answer her call. But she sorted it in the end – good lass!

It took about 30 mins to secure that taxi ride.

After I got into the taxi and the driver headed off to my hotel, the heavens opened up. We had a complete deluge.

All vehicles were almost stationery to minimise the risk of aqua planing.

It took about 20 mins to get to the hotel and I arrived just after 2am. There was one other guest checking in with his partner and he seemed to be chopping and changing which room he wanted.

It looked like he was planning a party, since he also bought numerous bags of crisps, drinks and the like from the hotel shop.

I ended up waiting another 10 mins for him and his partner to be processed.

I got my key to room 1202 and I was relieved when I finally settled in.

It was a corner room and it was very nicely renovated. There was also a lovely welcome present for me and the Vickster.

After a shower, I noticed Liverpool were about to kick off in their Premier League game against Newcastle on TNT Sports. I didn’t feel that sleepy, so I decided I may as well stay up to watch it.

After a thumping 4-1 win, I finally turned the light off at about 5am.

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Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026