I've already written about my dislike for Bali airport. I can now safely say I like the airport even less. I was in Bali for a few days having just finished up a month in Bangkok. As I've mentioned, I've been to Bali so many times that I just don't enjoy traveling there all that these days. For this reason, I decided to hotfoot it to Penang for the George Town Festival.

Being the cheapskate I am and facing the prospect of a 6 am flight, I checked out of my hotel in favour of spending one night sleeping at the airport. For whatever reason, I arrived at the airport at about 6 pm and had something to eat and wondered around for a bit.

My first gripe was that to get into the airport, you have to show a ticket. Of course I knew this already, but I hadn't been able to print a ticket. Given that most tickets are E-tickets, all of this makes no sense. To get into the airport, I therefore had to get out my computer, turn it on and find the PDF download. I ended up going in and out three times. Other travelers also had this problem.

Inside the airport, it got to about midnight and I decided to sleep on the sorry excuses for seats. Ten minutes later, half-a-dozen security guards came and kicked me out. I protested, but it was no use. Outside, I realized that all the large, wooden benches had been removed since the last time I slept at the airport. People would sleep on those benches, which seemed acceptable for folks with early flights.

I then went to the bathroom and it dawned on me that I was no longer wearing a belt. I'd forgotten to pick it up after passing through the metal detector on my way into the airport, of course. I couldn't get back into the airport at this point, so I skulked around, beltless, and bought two cans of beer from the store.

Half a pack of cigarettes later, I curled up on the concrete floor next to a wall and tried to sleep. I woke up feeling as if I'd been hit with a spade. It was most unpleasant. Back in the airport, I explained to the security people that I had lost my belt, much to their amusement. It then took them an hour to locate the missing belt, which had apparently made its way to the other side of the airport.

All in all, I have no positive feelings left for Bali airport.