Adventure in Surakarta (Solo). My Actifit Report Card: February 14 2026

Well, Surakarta/Solo is actually a two day write-up but I'll get started. The fastest way from Surabaya to Surakarta is by the train so that's me at the train station bright and early at 10am.

However, I don't travel well and making sure I have a good washroom nearby is really important to me. Yes, there is a washroom in the train station but I found an executive lounge.

Since we were really early, and the executive lounge people can notify me when the train arrives AND show me where it is? I figured it was money well spent.

Nice drinks. Light snacks. Clean washroom. Fast internet. Comfy chairs. Quiet area with good air conditioning? Well worth the $6 entry fee.

Then it was onto the train. It was clean and spacious. Part of that was because I went into the executive car but honestly even the cheapest seats were pretty good also. Each car also had two decent looking washrooms which was super important to me.

The train left right on time and the announcements were very clear that we were on the right train. Horray! As for the view? I will admit that the houses by the train tracks in Surabaya weren't exactly elegant. Also the train kept blaring the horn for a large part of the trip. Probably because there were people and houses along much of the route. I guess that's because of all the agricultural land along the rail line.

After 3 hours and a few minutes were were in Solo. It was a bit disorienting trying to figure out where the exit was. However, when the train departed it got really obvious where to exit. So, we left the train station and got a Grab (ride) to the hotel.

The hotel was another Marriot brand...The Moxy brand. Now it isn't bad but it really isn't my style.

The welcome drinks were nice

The hotel has little inspirational things written around on the walls

The room itself wasn't bad but finding the safe way challenging. There was no fridge. The room had twin beds so I can't sleep with my wife... And they gave a welcome bottle of herbal tea but without a fridge to chill it? Hmm.... Nah....

The pool and the gym on the rooftop were excellent though.

Now we had a choice of $5 worth of points OR free breakfast for two every morning for three days. Of course we chose the breakfast. However, the room wasn't available on time (20 minute wait) so the operations manager offered us a second choice: $20HBD worth of food each night of the stay of $5 worth of points.

Of course I chose the food (I'm a sucker for free food). Now the food here in the hotel is horribly overpriced. A burger in town $4. A burger in the hotel $16. That's a pretty big difference. However if I'm not paying? Well, that's a big difference :)

And that was my day travelling to Surabaya. There are images of the town to post of course but I'll save that for tomorrow after we visit the Prince's palace.

Thanks for dropping by...

Until tomorrow
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

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