I got so much help last year from FT members who helped plan our China trip, I wanted to seek help from the with the beginning stages of a trip to Indonesia and Malaysia next year. I'd like to have a route mapped out before I try to get award seats. Ni hao to Jiejie and moondog!)

Here are some specs to work with:
I am planning to travel in Sept. 2013, after Ramadan, before the rainy season in Indonesia.
I will be using AA miles to fly on CX in J or F so we will pass through Hong Kong. If I have to stopover here for 1 or 2 nights inbound or outbound due to flight connections that would be fine. I have not been to Hong Kong since the handover.
I'd like to fly into DPS and out of KK, or the other way around if possible. I'd buy flights for cities in between.

So let's say we flew to DPS, stayed on Bali 5-7 days, then flew to Yogyakarta for 2-3 nights, then flew to KK for 2-4 nights. In Sabah I'd like to go to one of the eco lodges for a few nights.

Is this too much to cram into 2 1/2 weeks? Should we stick to Bali and Java?
Should I save Borneo for another trip?

I've done some checking on how one flies between KK and either DPS or YOG. I'm not finding any direct flights.

Thanks in advance for any help in the preliminary stages of another of Susie's excellent adventures.

The 5-7 days in Bali and 2-3 in Yogja sounds about right. Flights are all direct and plentiful.

Any travel away from the usual tourist spots takes time. 100km drives take 8 hours. Stuff stops working for no reason. Flights are canceled. If you head over to KK, 2-4 nights is probably not enough, you'll waste most of your time in transit. If you decide to give it a go (hey it's some adventure!) be sure to do it first in case something happens.

Make sure to push your trip at least a week after Ramadan. Everyone in Indo goes home and they'll be coming back to work after that so transport can be congested. Ramadan isn't a bad time to travel either, Bali is empty of most local tourists (although August is high season for the Aussies), and you'll get a different slice of life in Java and KK.

Your total trip is 14 days, that's about the minimum you'd want to spend after the 36 hrs it'll take you to get here from the US.

Peace!

I've been looking at flights from Yogyakarta to KK. I would have to transit through Jakarta or KUL. I cannot find any direct flights to KK from anywhere except CGK. It looks like this would chew up a good portion of a day. What would be another place on Java to spend a few days? I can end my trip to fly KA back to Hong Kong from DPS, Surabaya, or Jakarta.

Would it make sendose to stay on Bali the first 3 nights near a beach, then fly to Java and spend a week there between 2 cities, then fly back to Bali and spend 3 days at Ubud, then fly home form DPS?

Should I save Borneo for another trip? I have found out since the OP that I cannot stopover in Hong Kong or anywhere else if I use AA miles for this trip. Bummer. Hong Kong is out.

Why waste a day in transit when you're already going to be in Bali at the start of things? Do you really like the idea of flying on Indonesian puddle jumper flights that much?

I'd probably do AA portions of the trip as a (in effect) an open-jaw of USA-HKG-DPS//SUB-HKG-USA.

And as I mentioned, if you're willing to spend a relatively small amount of BA miles (12.5K in Y pp, AMEX has a MR->BA bonus right now), you could bake in a HKG stopover on the return by having BA handle the SUB-HKG segment. (You may also need to do this on your MCI-AA hub segment; I very much doubt there's an MCI-DPS AND SUB-MCI through fare; AA awards need a through fare to redeem an award. I think the easiest way to get around that is redeem 4.5K BA miles pp for MCI-ORD or vv.)

The other possibility is timing your flights such that you can get close to a full day in HKG. I've sort of done that on an upcoming AS redemption where I wanted more destinations than I could reasonably squeeze in one redemption:

SEA-SFO(AS)-HKG(CX) in F
a day in HKG
HKG-BKK on CX in C, BA redemption @ 15K miles (but in effect 10K AMEX MR because of a bonus )
day or two in BKK
a week in the Andaman coast of Thailand and Malaysia, I'll fly into Penang, Langkawi or Phuket, this is TBD
end up in Penang, fly back PEN-HKG(this is back on the AS CX F award)
overnight in HKG
HKG-SFO//OAK-SEA (yes, I actually have to take BART to OAK to fly home without a 7 hour layover in SFO )

You are right about the Indonesian puddle jumpers. I will try to plan my exit from java from SUB or CGK to save time.

AA has a fare MCI-DPS and SUB-MCI. The US flights are on AA and the TPC and into/out of Indonesia are on CX. I would be doing it like an open jaw, with 2 one way redemptions.

I'll look at the BA avios idea for getting the Hong Kong stay. I have plenty of MR points I can transfer to BA and already have an account set up that is empty of avios.

Thanks eponymous. More good ideas. FT people always have the best advice.

Given that you aren't travelling until September 2013, you should by then also have the option of getting from Bali/Java to KK via Malaysia Airlines, which should be in Oneworld by then, though obviously one won't be able to redeem points on them until they formally join sometime around the end of this year.

well that's right, you don't need to waste the time to transit everywhere if your first 3 nights and you end your last 3 days in Bali before going home.
you can just adjust whether you will stay in Bali from the beginning or the end of your days-trip

I probably wouldn't use Malaysian for the TPAC flights because the flight from LAX-KUL-DPS has a stop in NRT where the CX flights are nonstop from LAX or SFO. And as I will begin the trip in MCI and have to stop in DFW to connect to the west coast, the less total travel time the better.

Malaysian doesn't fly KK-DPS direct, only through KUL. That would use up a full day of traveling. Air Asia has 1 flight a day on T, Th, Sat to KK from Jakarta, AK 6713 leaving at 7:20 pm. I'd have to find a flight from DPS or YOG on another airline that wouldn't have too much time on the ground transferring. I'd have to claim the luggage in Jakarta and recheck on to KK. I imagine I'd need to allow at least 2 hours as the departing flight is international.

Any suggestions of airlines to do this? Is it worth spending some time in Jakarta, maybe 1 or 2 nights?

You can get to Brunei nonstop from Surabaya on Royal Brunei...

Looked it up. Plugged in April dates. Here's the schedule SUB-KK
BI 796 6:30am-9:40am Brunei stop
BI 823 11:35am-12:15 pm

Reverse KK-SUB
BI 826 7:30 pm-8:10pm Brunei
BI 795 9:40pm-11:50pm

Price on their web site is $225 one way now. I can leave KK for the US on CX as part of my award ticket. I have to think about whether I want to spend all of the 2 1/2 weeks in Indonesia or combine with Sabah.

What alliance is Royal Brunei part of? Maybe I can get a separate award to cover the flights.

Not part of an alliance.

I agree!

If you're desperate to see Borneo - what about... Indonesian Borneo

It's 2/3 of the island, far less touristy than Sabah & Sarawak. And you can schedule in an easy trip, From Yogya it's an easy trip to Semarang where you can fly to Pangkalan Bun, then head up to Camp Leakey Orangutan Sanctuary, perhaps staying in a Klotok in the middle of Borneo overnight. I think now there are flights from Surabaya as well.

Lots of amazing things to see and do, research needed though.

OK, there are no 500+ room 5* hotels like in KK, but are these the reasons why people go to Borneo

P.S Who did you find KK-Jakarta flights through - I didn't think there was anything non-stop? Also, look at MI for connections from SUB to BKI. Or even Air Asia....

Availability of comfortable accommodation & tourist infrastructure would determine which side of the border most tourist would go to. Trust me, I would rather spend an extra day flying, if I can be assure of 4-5 star accommodation and all the conveniences of a modern living rather than stay in some dusty cowboy town.

I wouldn't. I'm into dusty cowboys. I can be comfortable after I'm old.