I couldn't find what I needed on the internet, so I will share my travel experiences for Mount Bromo/ Kawah Ijen here so somebody might find it useful. What we wanted was to not follow a tour there to both places and to be able to scale both volcanoes within the limited time we had. 

Rough plan:

Singapore - Surabaya - Mount Bromo - Kawah Ijen - Surabaya - Singapore.

We flew in from Singapore on Thursday night at about 7.30pm and reached Surabaya's Juanda Airport at about 9.10pm. Our flight out was on Sunday, 6.50am. So we had less than 3 days to complete our itinerary. 

Ideally, we would have liked to take public transportation to Mount Bromo upon touchdown, taking the usual route of traveling to Purabaya Bus Terminal -> Probolinggo -> Cemoro Lawang. However, we wanted to catch the sunrise  on Friday morning. I had no idea what time the last bus leaves for Cemoro Lawang from Probolinggo and from what I read, it seems like the first bus is 7am and even then, they will only leave when the bus is full? Short of time and anxious to not miss the sunrise, that left us with the option of taking a taxi we got from the airport straight up to Cemoro Lawang. 

We managed to get to Cemoro Lawang in about 3 hours. The driver was crazily confident of his driving skills. I swear, we overtook every single vehicle in front of us. If there was a vehicle ahead of us, it will be overtaken. We passed by towns and small villages before ascending upwards where it was dark and a bit scary because there was no signs of life and the roads were just dark. 

We got the driver to stop at Cafe Lava Hostel which was closed. We didn't make any bookings as we had no plans to stay there since we would be only sleeping for about 3 hours before setting off for the viewpoint on Mount Penanjakan. But apparently if you are willing to pay, they can give you some rooms. As everything seemed to be closed (not surprising considering the time) we wandered around a little and planned to start an early trek to the viewpoint. 

We were asked to pay a fee before we could enter the park. Apparently the price is negotiable if you know how but the official price on the board was 220,000 rupiahs. We also used the toilet opposite the ticket counter before going on. The guy at the entrance warned us that the trek was 21km and I think he was implying that we were mad and it was bloody far. But we did our research on the internet, and they said they completed the trek in 2 hours and we saw some map that said it was only about 5km? So being suspicious that they were out to cheat us, we ignored them and insisted that we would walk. So he led us to this road pass a few pavillions and told us to walk straight for about 1km then turn right. Or something along those lines. 

We got ready our torches and set off down the slope. What the internet did not mention was that the entire place can fog up at night! It was difficult to see where we were walking and it was really dark. It was quite a bit of a challenge for us because we are city girls, hardly can you find a place without light in Singapore even in the middle of the night. When I go to sleep, the light from the next HDB block illuminates my room. Anyway, we freaked out after 10mins. There were a lot of trees in the area and I was so afraid I will shine onto some supernatural being hanging from the trees or standing by the side of the road. Casslynn and Wanpei on the other hand were afraid of being robbed or attacked by humans. We have very different concerns my friends and I. We were scared, so we backed up. 

We went to sit at this pavillion where this wonan sold drinks and this man sold gloves. And so, we sat in the dark and the cold for about 2 hours. We bought milo from the nice Indonesian lady who cannot speak English. I need milo at night even if I an not about to sleep and it really warmed us up. Look, there is also a choice of instant noodles if you are hungry.

This is what we got off the internet. Looks pretty straightforward right? Go straight, turn right and walk all the way. Apparently not when you are going into it in the middle of the night and have no idea where anything is. It might be different if we had reached in the day and scoped out the terrain, getting a feel of what and where we were walking. But no, all we saw was dark and darkness. We are such noobs at this. I can see where army training can come in handy at times like this.

After we turned right the fog started to return again. And after we turned right, we were in the sea of sand, where there was no obvious trail, just a whole series of tyre tracks. Since, we had absolutely no idea where to walk, we just picked a set of tire tracks and decided to follow them. Along the way, jeeps with tourists would pass us. We are very thankful for the jeeps cause they had such powerful lights which showed us kind of where we were going. 20 minutes into following our set of tyre marks we saw another jeep in the distance going in a completely different direction. That was really a holy shit moment for us as we then realised we could have been completely and utterly lost in the dark. We could have fallen down a slope, met something dangerous or I cant even... So we hurriedly scampered to where the jeep was heading. All along as we were walking a motorbike would appear behind us at moments asking if we needed a ride. Once again, we thought they just wanted to make money out of us tourists since the internet said it is possible to walk. First there was one motorbike, then two and eventually when we made our way back to the right track, there were three motorbikes asking us if we needed a ride. 

By then it was really quite foggy. We were scared and we wanted to see the sunrise so we caved in and hopped on. With our torches we could barely see a metre in front of us and it really is quite terrifying to think that we are three girls, armed with nothing but weak torches in the middle of a vast desert. We could be walking in an entirely different direction or could get knocked down by a passing jeep. Whatever the case was, ensuring our survival was the most important thing. 

The price they quote was actually quite resonable at that point in time. 100,000 rupiah is like S$10? I have taken cabs for much shorter distances than that. And safety first. By now, we were finally convinced that the trek was indeed 21km and not 5km. 

I am glad we took the motorbike ride or ojek as it is known. It was my first time on a bike and it was a really great and fun experience. Although we weren't wearing helmets, it is a lot safer than dying in the dark, lost and cold out there. As we drove past the desert and went up the mountain, it was pretty amazing to look up into the starry starry night. 

And in that moment, I swear, we were infinite

That was exactly how I felt. How I could now truly appreciate Charlie's thoughts. 

With the wind in my hair, gazing up at the stars and speeding away, I did think, it was kind of an infinite moment. 

Again, our bikes had the amazing ability to overtake any vehicle that was ahead of us. I would totally recommend ojeks to anyone who is going up Mt Penanjakan to see the sunrise! Not only is it safer and less tiring than walking, it is a great way to view the stars and experience the cool night air on the way up. Another perk, while jeeps had to park along the road forcing their passengers to further climb up to their destination, our ojeks could expertly weave inbetween the traffic to get us to the top. The top is where we could use the toilet and buy souveniers and eat breakfast. To reach the viewpoint, we had to climb a bit of steps. But that was easy. 

It was already crowded when we reached the viewpoint but we managed to find a sweet spot. I know how some people say the other viewpoint is better because there is less people and all that. But beggars can't be choosers. And the view we got was already pretty damned amazing. 

Even with the ojeks we reached at about 4-ish in the morning. And then we set up camp at out sweet spot and waited. 

Taken with my SJ4000 or my pinky.  It takes really awesome selfies, the cheap and tiny camera of mine.