Hannah (15 yr old daughter) and I had been looking forward to this holiday for so long. She had been counting down in her school diary for about three months!!! Didn't sleep for the last couple of days before we went because we were so excited.
We flew Garuda business class and I'm still undecided about it. It is great because you have so much room (I think it is the only way my 18yr old 200cm son would be able to fly!!), but some of the service was crap. The inflight entertainment was almost non-existent apart from a strange Japanese movie (it was like watching the ones on SBS at home). Also we were not at all keen on the food and so on the way home apart from the fact that it was 1am we declined because of what we ate on the way over.
Got into Bali about 2.30pm local time and the VOA and customs was really quick (business class did help here because we were at the front of the line). There were 2 or 3 other planes at the same time but we seemed to just make it to the front in time. Were out of the airport and on the road within about 30 - 40minutes.
Got to the Niksoma which was really fantastic. Can't say too much bad about this apart from a small plumbling problem (which was NOT caused by my Bali belly!!!). If you were thinking about staying here, do so. Only 58 rooms so was fantastic. 2 pools and overlooking the beach. Absolute bliss!! Staff excellent and couldn't do enough for us.
Of course life isn't always this easy is it. Went to unpack because Hannah wanted to go for a swim so unlocked my suitcase, then went to unlock Hannah's only to find I HAD PICKED UP THE WRONG SUITCASE. God did I feel like an idiot. It was so bloody hot and I couldn't deal with it so went to front desk, explained and left it all with them. How embarrassing.
Being first timers (not having been there for 23 years qualifies as a first timer I think) we were a bit overawed and we both wished through the whole trip that we had bought Roy (husband) and Dylan ( son) with us. It took us a few days to stop counting the sleeps to go home (how weird are we).
Anyway we met a family from Melbourne(they can't help where they live can they!!) and this really improved things. We did lots of DVD shopping - this was to keep Dylan happy for not taking him. I was a bit apprehensive about how many we could bring home, but go your hardest. They don't get declared on the customs form and our luggage was not checked at all. I wish now that I had bought more. Got most of these from Baligong at 10000 each for DVDs and playstation 2 games.
Also bought them from other places and so far apart from Garfield (which is not at the cinemas here yet) everything seems ok. At $1.50 who cares anyway.
Bought the usual watches on the street, and had one break on the first day, typical eh. Sunglasses, t shirts etc. Hannah bought a few real surf things because a lot were $20 - $40 cheaper than here. Some seemed to be more expensive though.
Ate at a few different places. All were pretty good, except Poco Loco which we thought was really average. All the places we ate at were from recommendations from the forum so thanks guys they were great. Warung 96 was excellent, busy and very cheap. Full of aussies. Legian Garden on Melasti was also the same, Papas on the beach was good, but cost a little bit more. Ate at the Niksoma which was excellent. Of course a bit more but we didn't care on our first night.
I suppose I have to mention the bali belly. We thought we were fairly careful and I thought it would be Hannah who would be the worst but it was me!!! Spent a day or two fairly close to the hotel (for good toilets) and generally felt unwell until we got home but still didn't let that stop a bit of shopping.
Did a trip with Wayan Merta's offsider Wayan (he he) which was lovely - except for the walk back up from the waterfall. If that is only 500m!!!!!
Roadworks in Kuta were a bit of a pain but ok in Legian where we hung about most of the time. Taksis hated having to go right into Kuta and god how cheap are they. We would walk from Niksoma into Kuta (shopping all the way) and then when we got there all hot and bothered we would catch a taxi back. It would cost us 10-12000 but we usually threw them a 20. You couldn't even hail a taxi here for that amount.
The exchange rate stayed around 6500 the whole time we were there. I was only going to write a short report but you know women. Get us started and we can't stop.
Thanks to everyone for all their help on here. It certainly did help. We are talking about when we will go next so I guess I will have to keep reading the forum.