Jogja will always have special place in my heart. No matter how many times I go there, it always gives me different experience. This time, I went there with family. Aldi, my husband, my parent, – I wish I still had a mother, but no, it’s just a father now, so a parent it is – my parents in law, sisters in law, brother in law, niece, and nephew.
Aldi and I planned this trip since a year ago. His mother had never been to Jogja so we felt obliged to take her there. I mean, Jogja? You have to be there even only once in a lifetime, particularly if you’re an Indonesian citizen or a foreigner but lives in Indonesia. It’ll be such a sin if you don’t. I mean it!
Unfortunately, the plan was canceled last year. Fortunately, we made it this year. Yeay. We took almost the whole family, minus my brother and his wife and my adorable niece. The preparation was kind of last minute but we managed to book train tickets for the round trip, a villa, and cars to go here and there while in Jogja.
Planning the trip for family isn’t easy! Like, at all! There are always argument, drama, and the feel to just cancel everything. My father opposed the idea to go by train. He had a bad experience of it. He went to Surabaya (or was it Semarang?) by train and he said it was totally uncomfortable. Of course! He bought the cheapest class! I really know how it is. When I went hiking often, I always took the cheapest train to go to the city nearest to the mountain, the seat was hard, – no soft cushion kind of thing – the backrest was vertically upright that made everyone’s back unable to relax, and the leg room wasn’t wide enough it made everyone’s knees touch each other.
I was still young (I am still now, though, in the heart) and was lack of money so I had no problem with it. But now? No, thank you. I love being on the long distance trains but not that sort of train. That’s why I tried to convince my father that he didn’t need to worry, the train I was going to book would be comfortable. As predicted, my attempt was not of much use. My father is as hard as a rock. He even tried to not come along! His wife couldn’t join, so maybe it also became one of the reasons for him to not want to go. But I insisted.
He then finally agreed. He didn’t have any choice anyway. He’s the only one who didn’t want to be on a train while the others were so keen about it, including me. Besides, I wouldn’t set a trap for us. I booked premium economy train tickets for us all. It cost almost Rp5.000.000 for 7 tickets. I didn’t pay for Aldi’s twin brother, his wife, and his 2 children.
So, off we went on 9th September. It was a sunny day. Perfect for a trip. We left home at around 4 am to Bekasi Station. I didn’t expect the station to be that big and nice. I wasn’t a fan of the city but after seeing the station, I think Bekasi is not bad. I didn’t know that we could go on a train out of town either from Bekasi.
The train was quite fast as well. There’s no delay. We arrived exactly as the time shown on the boarding pass. It was lunch time and everybody’s hungry so we stopped by a local restaurant with traditional vibes. I’m not a foodie so exploring restaurants and cafes is not my forte. I used to work as a journalist who sometimes filmed unique food in restaurants kind of thing, but that was a long time ago and I did that because I had to, not because I wanted to. So finding a place to eat for the whole family was quite a challenge.
There were some ideas coming from the youngsters but Aldi and I thought they weren’t suitable for the oldies. So I tried to find an alternative close to our villa. I happened to find one within 2 km. I was a little bit worried they wouldn’t like it but I was convinced by the rating on Google. It’s 4.5 stars by 35.8K reviewers. That’s a big deal.
Luckily, I chose the right place. It was great and everybody liked it.
I didn’t expect it to be so crowded, though. Turned out it was currently famous among the locals and tourists aka viral. No wonder. It’s cheap and all the food was yummy! Fun fact. I went to Jogja only for 3 days (2 nights) and I went to Klotok Coffeeshop twice. It’s a good place to have breakfast and lunch. Even though it closes at 10 pm, I don’t think it’s good to have dinner there since it’s surrounded by banana trees that based on Indonesian mythology, are the houses of ghosts. I imagine it’ll be dark and gloomy past sunset. I’m not sure it has good lighting. If you’ve ever been there in the evening, please tell me about it. Is what I think true or false?
Aldi and I only spent about Rp260.000 for lunch for the whole family. We’re full and satisfied. I was satisfied for being able to find the place. I was so concerned that my mother in law wouldn’t approve but she seemed like she enjoyed it. And, fyi, the pisang goreng there is dope! You’ve got to try!
After lunch, we headed to the villa. Usually, I’m the one who looks for accommodation and books it, but this time, Aldi did. He used Airbnb and after gathering several alternatives and discussed it with me and his sister, he booked one. His choice was right. It was a good place and it was very affordable. We only spent Rp3.470.000 for 2 nights.
The villa has 4 rooms, 3 bathrooms, 1 swimming pool, a pool table, and large space for family gathering. Everyone was happily surprised to see it all – including Aldi and me. Choosing something online is like a gamble. We don’t know what we’ll get until we get it. And that day, we won the gamble. Thank God. Otherwise, our family wouldn’t enjoy the holiday.
Every angle of the villa was so catchy. So I spent some time taking photos.
Since we stayed in Jogja for 3 days, there were still some places we went to. But I won’t spill it all on one article. They have to wait. See you in the next chapter!
To be continued.
