KIX Currency Exchange

Air Busan BX 123 flight path (sumber: https://flightaware.com/).

Air Busan is the 16th airline out of 28 different airlines I’ve tasted. This Low Cost Carrier (LCC) which come from “Ginseng Country” has a main hub at Gimhae International Airport. It wasn’t my intention to visit Busan, but because of the cheap ticket price offered by Air Busan, it was what made me decided to stop by in Busan before reaching my main destination, which was Seoul, the capital city of South Korea.

I myself got this cheap ticket seven months before departure at a price of less than 69.750 Won.

This was my story of riding an airline with three branding colors, white-blue-yellow…

—-****—-

“Sorry, sir….We don’t receive coins”, the KIX Currency Exchange clerk exclaimed with a smile.

“Oh, Okay…It’s no problem”, I pulled back my coins while waiting for the results of exchanging banknotes.

He nimbly pressed a few buttons on calculator then showed me a numbers in the LCD.

“Yes, Sir….”, I quickly agreed.

Successfully exchanging Yen for USD, now my mission was to spending coins to buy whatever supplies I could use for lunch, if necessary until dinner…. Was it bad?, That was a my way to saving budget.

I managed to find a FamilyMart in a hallway, entered it, hunted for onigiri and candies, paid it with my coins at cashie and saved it in my backpack. I never underestimate candy, two candies can meet 10% of the calories of an adult’s meal, that means it can hold your stomach for a while until you find a cheap food stall. This time I didn’t mince words by walking around the airport, my time was short, I decided to immediately go to check-in counter to exchange e-tickets with boarding pass. The main standard of airlines for passengers who will cross different countries is to check visas and return tickets from the destination country. But didn’t worry, my visa was perfectly attached to my passport and an Air Asia e-ticket to return from South Korea had also been ordered.

“Can you speak English, Sir,” a female check-in counter lightly asked.

“Yes, sure Ms. I Can”

“Do you want to sit in the emergency exit row?” she asked.

“Oh, yes, with pleasure”, I happily answered, when you are paying cheaper but get a row of seats which is more spacious, that is your prize.

“Ok, thank you Sir”

“You are welcome”.

I quickly got my boarding pass. Heading to immigration counter, I handed over my passport as soon as it arrived. The stage of leaving a country is what I like the most, because it’s fast and without questioning. Of course immigration officers will be happy and is helped if their country guests are disciplined to leave their country on time. After getting a departure stamp in my passport, I immediately headed to the gate to wait for Air Busan, which was about to arrive, maybe even ready. Arriving on time, indeed, the Airbus was standing proudly on the apron preparing to load all its passangers.

Well, given a coupon of 10,000 Won for gambling….Hahaha.

Towards half past eleven, boarding calls filled the airport ceiling, the queue line began to open and several ground staff started lining up at the gate to do final checking for each passenger. I steadily walked through it, showed my boarding pass and passport, then was allowed to board the plane. I walked through the aerobridge and was greeted by two flight attendants with typical faces of “Ginseng Country”.

“Annyeonghasimnika”, one of them smiled with a slight bow, asked for a boarding pass, briefly checked and then asked me to find a seat.

“Gamsahamnida”, ahhh, only a few Korean words I understand. I started looking for my seat.

I sat in the aisle seat in emergency exit row. Shortly after that three columns of seats were filled, a flight attendant came to say hello. The flight attendant explained in Korean about the regulations in emergency exit row, after knowing that the two passengers next to me were Korean nationals. After explaining to both of them, then that flight attendant explained again, this time in English, it was clear for me. While explaining that, we both looked at each other. Because of the ignorance of my heart, I never listened to the rules she said, instead I focused more on enjoying the beauty of her pure white Korean face. I understood, she felt that she was being watched by me, so she occasionally explained the rules with a smile, she got even more clumsy when I responded her with a smile while keeping my eyes on her eyes….I was really naughty.

After half an hour of completing boarding process, the aerobridge finally started to be pulled from plane door, flight attendants started to tightly close the door, passengers began to wear seat belts, the plane began to leave the apron while exhibiting flight safety demonstrations by several cabin crew. The demo ended when the plane was already on the runway and ready to take off from Kansai International Airport.

“Flight attendants, please prepare for take off”, were last words from flight captain who broken the silence in cabin.

The plane did a brake release, the engine rotated with full power, and finally airborne went smoothly, the plane quickly drove from Osaka. I was quite impressed with this plane because this was the first time I could see the plane’s presence in a earth map at an LCD.

When it was time to serve in-flight meal, I prefered to put an packaged food and drink in a folding bag. “Just make lunch,” I muttered to myself. I prefered to carefully read the inflight magazine to find information that might be useful for my adventures in South Korea.

Here it was…. A replacement for my lunch menu.

I didn’t realize that I had flown for 1 hour 30 minutes and the pilot gave an announcement to passengers that the plane was preparing to landing at Gimhae International Airport and informed the weather conditions in Busan which were sunny. Shortly after the announcement was completed, the cabin crew immediately checked every side of cabin and passengers to ensure a safe landing. Finally the plane smoothly landed in runway. How happy I was when I arrived in South Korea for the first time

Hmmm….I couldn’t wait to explore Busan. I still couldn’t stop my smile at my face.

I still didn’t expect that inside the airport terminal building, something serious would happen to me.

Welcome Busan….Welcome South Korea.

Alternatives for airline tickets from Osaka to Busan can be found in 12Go or the following link: https://12go.asia/?z=3283832

<—-Kisah Sebelumnya

Jalur penerbangan Air Busan BX 123 (sumber: https://flightaware.com/).

Air Busan adalah maskapai ke-16 dari 28 maskapai berbeda yang pernah kucicipi. Low Cost Carrier (LCC) dari Negeri Ginseng ini memiliki main hub di Gimhae International Airport. Bukan niatan mengunjungi Busan, tetapi karena harga tiket murah yang ditawarkan Air Busan lah yang membuatku memutuskan untuk singgah di Busan sebelum mencapai tujuan utama, yaitu Seoul, ibu kota Korea Selatan.

Aku sendiri mendapatkan tiket murah ini tujuh bulan sebelum keberangkatan dengan harga tak sampai Rp. 800.000.

Inilah kisahku menunggang maskapai dengan tiga warna branding, putih-biru-kuning…

—-****—-

“Sorry, Sir….We don’t receive coin”, petugas KIX Currency Exchange berseru dengan senyum.

“Oh, Okay…It’s no problem”, aku menarik kembali uang koin sembari menunggu hasil penukaran uang kertas.

Dia dengan gesit memencet beberapa tombol kalkulator kemudian menunjukkan angka di LCDnya kepadaku.

“Yes, Sir….”, aku mengiyakan cepat.

Sukses menukar Yen dengan USD, kini misiku adalah menghabiskan uang koin untuk membeli bekal apapun yang bisa kujadikan sebagai makan siang, kalau perlu hingga makan malam….Parah kan?, bagaimana caraku berhemat.

Aku berhasil menemukan FamilyMart di sebuah selasar, memasukinya, berburu onigiri dan permen, menyudahinya dengan uang koin di kasir lalu membenamkannya dalam-dalam di backpack. Aku tak pernah meremehkan permen, dua butir permen bisa memenuhi 10% kalori seporsi makan orang dewasa, itu berarti bisa menahan lapar perut beberapa saat hingga menemukan warung makan yang murah. Kali ini aku tak berbasa-basi dengan berkeliling bandara, waktuku sempit, kuputuskan segera menuju konter check-in untuk bertukar e-ticket dengan boarding pass. Standar utama maskapai terhadap penumpang yang akan melintas negara berbeda adalah mengecek visa serta return ticket dari negara yang dituju. Tapi tak perlu khawatir, visaku sudah menempel sempurna di passport dan e-ticket Air Asia untuk pulang dari Korea Selatan juga telah kupesan.

“Can you speak English, Sir”, petugas wanita konter check-in bertanya ringan.

“Yes, sure Ms. I can”

“Do you want to sit in emergency exit row?”, dia meminta.

“Oh, yes, with pleasure”, aku menjawabnya dengan gembira, kapan lagi bayar murah tapi dapat deretan kursi yang lebih lega.

“Ok, thank you Sir”

“You are welcome”.

Boarding pass dengan cepat kudapat. Menuju konter imigrasi, aku menyerahkan passport begitu tiba. Tahapan keluar dari sebuah negara adalah hal yang paling kusuka, karena cepat dan tanpa interogasi. Tentu petugas imigrasi akan senang dan terbantu jika tamu negaranya berdisiplin untuk keluar negaranya tepat waktu. Setelah mendapatkan stempel departure di passport, aku segera menuju gate untuk menunggu Air Busan yang sebentar lagi akan datang bahkan mungkin telah bersiap. Tiba tepat waktu, benar adanya, pesawat Airbus itu telah berdiri gagah di apron bersiap memasukkan segenap muatan.

Nah, dikasih kupun 10.000 Won buat berjudi….”Judiii….Teeeeet….Menjanjikan Kemenangan”.

Menjelang pukul setengah sebelas, panggilan boarding memenuhi langit-langit bandara, Jalur antrian mulai dibuka dan beberapa ground staff mulai berbaris di gate untuk melakukan final checking kepada setiap penumpang. Aku melewatinya dengan mantap, menunjukkan boarding pass dan passport, kemudian diizinkan menuju ke pesawat. Aku merangsek melalui aerobridge lalu disambut dua pramugari berwajah khas Negeri Ginseng.

“Annyeonghasimnika”, salah satu dari mereka bersalam senyum dengan sedikit membungkuk, meminta boarding pass, mengecek sebentar lalu mempersilahkanku mencari tempat duduk.

“Gamsahamnida”, ahhh, hanya sedikit kosakata Korea yang kufaham. Aku mulai mencari bangku.

Aku duduk di aisle seat pada emergency exit row. Tak lama setelah tiga kolom bangku terisi, seorang pramugari datang menyapa. Pramugari itu menjelaskan dalam Bahsa Korea tentang peraturan di emergency exit row, maklum dua penumpang di sebelahku asli berkebangsaan Korea. Usai menjelaskan ke mereka berdua, kemudian pramugari itu kembali menjelaskan, kali ini dalam Bahasa Inggris, jelas itu untukku. Saat menjelaskan itu, kita berdua saling bersitatap. Sebab kejahilan hatiku saja, aku tak pernah mendengarkan peraturan yang diucapkannya, justru aku lebih fokus menikmati keayuan khas wajah Koreanya yang putih bersih. Aku faham, dia merasa kuperhatikan sehingga dia sesekali menjelaskan peraturan itu dengan senyum, dia semakin keki ketika aku membalasnya dengan seyuman dengan tetap bersitatap muka….Parah habis ya guwe.

Setengah jam menyelesaikan boarding process, akhirnya juluran aerobridge mulai ditarik dari pintu pesawat, pramugari mulai menutup pintu rapat-rapat, penumpang mulai mengenakan sabuk pengaman, pesawat mulai meninggalkan apron sembari memamerkan demo keselamatan penerbangan oleh beberapa awak kabin. Demo itu usai ketika pesawat sudah di runaway dan bersiap take-off meninggalkan Kansai International Airport.

“Flight attendants, please prepare for take off”, begitu kata terakhir dari kapten penerbangan yang memecah sunyi ruangan di kabin.

Pesawat itupun melakukan brake release, mesin berotasi dengan tenaga penuh, dan akhirnya airborne berlangsung dengan mulus, pesawat melaju dengan cepat meninggalkan Osaka. Aku cukup terkesima dengan pesawat ini karena inilah pertama kalinya bisa melihat keberadaan pesawat di atas peta bumi dalam sebidang LCD….Guwe kampungan emang.

Ketika tiba waktunya menyajikan in-flight meal, aku lebih memilih memasukkan makanan dan minuman kemasan itu ke dalam folding bag. “Buat makan siang saja lah”, gumamku dalam hati. Aku lebih memilih membaca dengan seksama inflight magazine untuk mencari informasi yang mungkin aja berguna untuk petualanganku di Korea Selatan.

Tak terasa aku telah terbang selama 1 jam 30 menit dan pilot memberikan pengumunan kepada penumpang bahwa pesawat bersiap mendarat di Gimhae International Airport serta menginformasikan kondisi cuaca di Busan yang cerah. Tak berselang lama setelah pengumuman selesai, awak kabin segera memeriksa setiap sisi kabin dan penumpang untuk memastikan pendaratan berlangsung aman. Akhirnya pesawat mendarat mulus di landas pacu. Betapa bahagianya aku ketika untuk pertama kalinya tiba di Korea Selatan

Hmmhh….Aku sudah tak sabar mengeksplorasi Busan. Aku masih saja tak mampu membendung semburat senyum di wajah.

Aku masih saja tak menduga bahwa di dalam bangunan terminal bandara nanti, akan ada insiden serius yang menimpaku.

Selamat Datang Busan….Selamat Datang Korea Selatan.

Alternatif untuk tiket pesawat dari Osaka ke Busan bisa dicari di 12Go atau link berikut: https://12go.asia/?z=3283832

Kisah Selanjutnya—->

Tag: KIX Currency Exchange

Stare In Amazement: Air Busan BX 123 from Osaka (KIX) to Busan (PUS)

Bersitatap Kagum: Air Busan BX 123 dari Osaka (KIX) ke Busan (PUS)