Well hello my dear readers! We are back from our first trip a tad sunburned, but had a great long weekend.
Where do I start? A 4 day weekend in Bali, Indonesia means either one longgggg post or a couple broken out posts. While I’d love to have your opinions I think it would only prolong me getting out my review of the weekend so I’ve gone ahead and chosen for us. The verdict- you will get a few different posts recapping various aspects of my Bali weekend.
Getting to Bali
Friday morning our crew headed to Changi Airport and arrived with plenty of time to grab a coffee and find our gate. Well unfortunately our flight was delayed by an hour, which turned into us not actually leaving the ground until an hour and 30+ minutes after our initial departure time. But no worries, we were headed for paradise! We took a budget airline which means no drink service or snacks. Not a huge deal as our flight was only 2.5 hours. Upon landing in Bali (make note it looks like you’re going to land in the ocean but you don’t), we were greeted with a 45 minute wait to get through customs! Once through customs and getting our visitor visa, we started the hunt for our driver. We were greeted by TONS of other resort driver services and I immediately became overwhelmed with the amount of people around shouting at us, pointing, trying to get our attention. Due to our flight being delayed our driver was not waiting for us. We found our way to the information booth where they would call our for our hotel to get our drivers attention. While we were waiting taxi drivers kept coming up to us and offering to drive. Most got the point and walked away, but one was INCREDIBLY pushy. Uncomfortable, annoyed Laura + persistent taxi driver = MAD, rude, you’re messing with the wrong person Laura. I repeatedly told this guy to leave us alone and tried to ignore him but he just didn’t get it. Thankfully our resort driver showed up, an hour later, and took us to our resort.
Driving in Bali
It took me about 1 minute after buckling my seat belt to realize that there are very few rules when it comes to driving in Bali. As long as you don’t hit anyone, anything goes. We were whizzing in and out of traffic, motorbikes flying in between cars, getting into a rotary was petrifying, but somehow we made it to our resort 15 minutes later unscathed. WHEW!
The Resort
We stayed in the Nusa Dua area of Bali at the Sol Beach House Benoa. It was a very nice and safely guarded resort. The grounds were well kept and our room looked over the garden. It was small to feel cozy and not overrun with people and the all-inclusive deal is definitely the way to go. Once we arrived on Friday afternoon (much later than anticipated) we grabbed a quick “lunch” and headed to the pool to enjoy some cocktails at the bar. The night was fun as we chatted with a nice couple from Australia and some American’s on their honeymoon.
The resort had a few different spots we could choose to eat at which was very nice. There was a mix of buffet style spots and a la carte options. Overall the food was adequate, nothing to go crazy about, but I think we all felt like we were able to find something we liked at each meal. The drinks were STRONG. Mostly too strong for my taste and I tried to ask for less alcohol in them but by the end of the weekend I preferred just ordering beer or wine instead.
When we saw the beach for the first time it was low-tide and far from the amazing Bali beaches I had read about. Was the beach nice? Yes, but it wasn’t this amazing paradise beach you’d expect. At high tide the beach looked a bit nicer and the water was fine to swim in, until we noticed a huge jelly fish and decided the pool would be a better option for us. Though our group didn’t get bothered by it too much, we did have locals trying to sell kites, fans, sunglasses, watches, even knives to the tourists on the beach. Not the greatest thing to deal with when you are looking to relax but unfortunately with a country whose main income seems to come from tourism you can’t be too shocked. On Sunday, Niles and I did barter down a beach front massage from some locals to a total of $15 USD for the two of us (not too bad). Granted it wasn’t a top notch massage you’d get in the US but it was still relaxing, especially after I tell you about what we did Saturday morning.
Friday night we went to bed quite early as we had our big excursion for the trip planned in the wee hours of Saturday morning. My next post will tell you all about what we did!
Getting to Bali
Friday morning our crew headed to Changi Airport and arrived with plenty of time to grab a coffee and find our gate. Well unfortunately our flight was delayed by an hour, which turned into us not actually leaving the ground until an hour and 30+ minutes after our initial departure time. But no worries, we were headed for paradise! We took a budget airline which means no drink service or snacks. Not a huge deal as our flight was only 2.5 hours. Upon landing in Bali (make note it looks like you’re going to land in the ocean but you don’t), we were greeted with a 45 minute wait to get through customs! Once through customs and getting our visitor visa, we started the hunt for our driver. We were greeted by TONS of other resort driver services and I immediately became overwhelmed with the amount of people around shouting at us, pointing, trying to get our attention. Due to our flight being delayed our driver was not waiting for us. We found our way to the information booth where they would call our for our hotel to get our drivers attention. While we were waiting taxi drivers kept coming up to us and offering to drive. Most got the point and walked away, but one was INCREDIBLY pushy. Uncomfortable, annoyed Laura + persistent taxi driver = MAD, rude, you’re messing with the wrong person Laura. I repeatedly told this guy to leave us alone and tried to ignore him but he just didn’t get it. Thankfully our resort driver showed up, an hour later, and took us to our resort.
Driving in Bali
It took me about 1 minute after buckling my seat belt to realize that there are very few rules when it comes to driving in Bali. As long as you don’t hit anyone, anything goes. We were whizzing in and out of traffic, motorbikes flying in between cars, getting into a rotary was petrifying, but somehow we made it to our resort 15 minutes later unscathed. WHEW!
The Resort
We stayed in the Nusa Dua area of Bali at the Sol Beach House Benoa. It was a very nice and safely guarded resort. The grounds were well kept and our room looked over the garden. It was small to feel cozy and not overrun with people and the all-inclusive deal is definitely the way to go. Once we arrived on Friday afternoon (much later than anticipated) we grabbed a quick “lunch” and headed to the pool to enjoy some cocktails at the bar. The night was fun as we chatted with a nice couple from Australia and some American’s on their honeymoon.
View of the pool and pool bar
View from our room
Our Room:
Friday night we went to bed quite early as we had our big excursion for the trip planned in the wee hours of Saturday morning. My next post will tell you all about what we did!
That's a happy, relaxed blogger!
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