Since I do shrimp farming on the island of Sumba, located east of Lombok, I sometimes bring shrimp back to my home (Jakarta) to share with acquaintances.
And one of the local specialties that can be purchased in Sumba is lobster.
It is a lobster with a slightly different appearance from the lobster we generally know.
The exact name is Spiny Lobster.
The spiny lobster is characterized by the absence of large claws, but instead has long and sharp spine-like tentacles on its body.
Due to these external characteristics, it is distinguished from lobsters that generally have claws.
The lobster you see in the photo below is the spiny lobster.
Since there is a farm not far from my farm that I operate, I occasionally purchase from them.
The problem is that in order to bring fresh shrimp and lobster to Jakarta, I have to fill an ice box with ice and take it as airplane baggage, but this process is unpredictable.
When checking in luggage at Sumba airport, sometimes it passes if I just remove the water from the ice box and repack it.
However, the proper procedure is to receive an inspection from the quarantine office (located in the airport), obtain an inspection approval certificate, then remove the water and repack.
This process is also unpredictable. There are times when documents are prepared as if being interrogated very meticulously, and some quarantine officers handle it smoothly.
If I may give a tip... when leaving the quarantine office to repack, handing over about 100,000 Rp saying it's for coffee or cigarettes makes a difference in how you're treated.
From packing to checking in baggage... and even for airplane seats which are 4-row seats (2 rows on each side of the window), if there are empty seats, they change it to a seat where I can sit alone and
they even re-ticket me.
These cases are based on my fragmentary experiences that happened in Sumba. I'm not sure what it's like in other areas.
There was also a case like this. Flights from Sumba to Jakarta were sold out, so I took a bus to Lombok and went to the airport to go to Jakarta.
Of course, I thought I could check the ice box with shrimp as baggage. But this too varied by airline.
Lion Air didn't make a big deal out of it, but other airlines said I couldn't bring fresh items as checked baggage.
As a result, I have had experiences where I had to send them as separate cargo instead of checked baggage. This meant that there were cases where the cost was higher than buying and eating them in Jakarta.
What I want to say is... the process of moving between islands in Indonesia is different from moving inland in Korea.
Especially for air baggage, the procedure can be complicated, so I recommend that if you have any unusual luggage or items, you should definitely check with the airline in advance.
