My husband Kerry and I got back from a wonderful 18 days in a hot and humid Bali last Monday morning and before it all begins to fade, I'll start to put down a few notes. We had last been up there together in 1990 when we took our then 4 year old daughter and spent 4 nts each in Candi Dasa, Lovina, Ubud and Sanur. We really enjoyed it but wanting to see other places in Asia and also here in Australia, we didn't ever get back to Bali for a family holiday.
I work in the travel industry and had a hectic 5 nights split between 3 hotels (Patra Bali – Tuban, Le Meridien – Tanah Lot and Nusa Dua Beach) on a work trip last November and that really got me enthused to get back to Bali as soon as I could. Work commitments – and the now 18 year old daughter doing her HSC this year conspired to make it nearly a year before we could do it – but hell the wait was certainly worth it – and now we are already starting to work out when we can go again
We left on Garuda from Sydney on Thursday 21st October – unfortunately not one of their finest flights - on the Airbus A330 – 300 (PK-GPF) with a mainly 2-4-2 configuration in economy. The entertainment system wasn't working, so no music and no movie and certainly where we were seated (row 14 H and J) a major problem with air flow/cooling. It was uncomfortably hot throughout the flight and many people seated around us mentioned it to the cabin crew – but nothing altered. BTW – this row – the first over the wing does not actually have a window – so not to be recommended. The crew didn't seem as pleasant as on my two previous return trips with Garuda – but maybe that was as a result of having to work on an aircraft with such obvious problems. Food was fine though and really on such a relatively short flight (6 hours) the problems didn't worry us too much
VOA worked like a dream – no doubt because we were the only flight at the time, and being close to the front of the aircraft, we were very close to the front of the queue so we were processed in no time
NB – when you go through this process, along with the receipt for your payment and the sticker in the Passport, they tear off and put back loose into your Passport, a part of the immigration card you fill out on the plane, which acts as an embarkation card when you leave. DO NOT LOSE THIS SMALL BIT OF CARD – major hassles and delays occur if you don't have it with your Passport when it comes time to leave Bali
We had pre-booked the first 3 nights at THE PATRA BALI (IN TUBAN) and then 4 nights at VILA OMBAK ON GILI TRAWANGAN (LOMBOK) as part of a prize I had won at a Bali promotional night in Sydney earlier in the year.
We flew to Lombok and back on Merpati – quite an experience – but only 20 minutes – literally 10 minutes up and then 10 minutes down. We bought the tickets in Bali giving a saving of close to 50% over the price of buying them independently as tickets only here in Australia – although if you book Lombok as part of a package here in Australia, the wholesalers generally have fares virtually the same as we paid
After that we had 5 nights revisiting Candi Dasa where we found our own accommodation when we got there (ended up AT FAJAR CANDI DASA – AKA CANDI DASA SUNRISE) and then 4 nights at PEMUTERAN where I had pre-booked PONDOK SARI by email (no deposit requested) after a bit of research on the net. We then returned to Tuban and had 2 nights at the BALI DYNASTY – 1 full night and the 2nd for day use before we headed home on Sunday night 7th November
The homeward flight was pretty good – again the Airbus A330 – 300 (this time PK-GPC). It was delayed for around 50 minutes but everything worked this time (on screen – the hang down ones – this month to Australia, an edition of Becker and the movie The Notebook) and the crew seemed to be much happier. We had seats at the rear of the plane - row 41 – in the middle (the last 6 rows - 37 to 42 only have 3 seats across the middle instead of the 4 further forward) and we got the two aisles – D and F leaving an empty seat between us.
Meal after take off was fine again – including the final Bintang till next time, but I was surprised not to be served any food before landing – just a glass of water or juice – especially as we did the now seemingly obligatory 4 or 5 circuits over Wollongong before we landed
On disembarking – still around 50 minutes late, as we are still travelling on Pommy Passports, we joined the Other Passport Holders queue for immigration just north of Wollongong I think – or so it felt anyway!! Actually it was way up past the arrivals area duty free shop and took us well over an hour to get through as there were so many other flights arriving around the same time disgorging foreigners aplenty. Certainly a good incentive to pull our fingers out and get Naturalised after 23 years in this wonderful country. It took so long that when we got to the baggage carousels the flight had completely disappeared from all the monitors so we had to search out the right one and finally found our bags circulating forlornly with a few other unclaimed bags and boxes.
Then we joined the Goods to Declare queue – thought we'd do the right thing as we'd taken advantage of the 2 litres per person grog allowance (so long as you declare the 2nd litre) and also had the usual things from Bali made from wood and plant origins. This was another doozy – with 3 huge lines filtering into 1 channel and took another good hour to get through. Had no problems though – the large can of Indonesian Baygon equivalent we'd bought at Matahari and sprayed madly on anything suspect obviously worked
I'll break up the rest of our JBR into the individual areas we visited and then post them as and when – if there is anyone still with me!!