A Trip to Batam (Prologue)

BATAM TRIP PROLOGUE

I am sure there are a large amount of blog reviews regarding trips to Batam, Indonesia.
So after reading up on all the blogs and what to do over in Batam, I decided to go over with my partner to see how fun it really was.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with bulk order and purchase websites such as Groupon or deal.sg, they offer a
large array of Batam trips, most of which are 2D1N, and honestly it's quite a good deal. We got ourselves a $55 dollar deal for a 2D1N trip in Batam inclusive of a two-way ferry ride with a hotel stay and city tour.

extracted from www.groupon.sg

After purchasing the vouchers we had to make our reservation with a travel agency called 'aircebu' located at Lucky Plaza, Orchad Road. Personally it was quite an upsetting procedure, firstly when I called to check on how should I email them for the reservation (Voucher said Book by Email), I was greeted by an extremely rude Philipino/Indonesian operator which was not helpful and told us to go down an book, if not they are not going to care about it(She had a MAJOR Attitude Problem), after much debating, her colleague came to rectify the situation and clarified that they made a mistake and booking through an email will do just fine.

After mailing them our booking details, we received our Tour Voucher the next day, you have to print our the Tour Voucher for verification when collecting your Ferry Tickets, checking attendance with your Tour Guide and checking into your Hotel.

So off we went to collect our ferry tickets at Harbourfront Ferry Terminal level 3, you can collect the ferry tickets in advance which is highly recommended so as to not join in the long queue for collection on the day of the trip itself.

We presented our Tour Voucher along with our passports and the SGD 20 departure tax per person, after which they provided us with our Tickets and Tour Stickers.

We received a Best Batam Tour Sticker which is supposedly one of the largest tour agency in Batam, on our trip we saw countless hordes of Best Batam coach and minibuses. You have to fill in the White Card with the address you are staying and so for us we filled in "Jalan Engku Putri No 1", as there wasn't enough space to write the full address.

As for the Ferry Tickets it's a 2 way travel ticket so do not lose it after you reach Batam, you will have to hand the White Card and Ferry Ticket to the Tour Guide so that they can arrange your Ferry back to Singapore. You are also required to pass the SGD 8 departure tax to your tour guide.

Stay tuned for my update on Day 1 of my Batam Trip.

Side Note : Honestly, that SGD 20 dollars departure tax is sort of the "ferry ticket price", I'm saying so since I saw several promotion stating that ferry rides to Batam are at SGD 0 excluding departure tax.

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