Well, here we go..hopeless with dates, but our first visit to Bali we saved with friends weekly for a year with Teachers Credit Union (defunct- 5% discount) and stayed one week at Nusa Dua Beach Hotel (?) which turned out to be nightmare as we were there the same week as PRESIDENT Ronald Reagan LOL. We did love the place tho(playing tennis in who knows what temperature (who plays tennis in Bali??!))
2nd week at Mandira. Our friends had top storey beach side next to ours and we played bridge every evening and my husband wore a sarong for the first time and our friends got a birds eye view of his "bits" when he had "inhaled" a bottle of duty free ouzo and forgot to keep his legs shut (which stills comes up at parties, the memories, not his bits LOL))
There was a Hotel "skeleton" that had obviously been there for a long time next door with cows grazing amongst the girders.
We have a video of hubby diving into surf a la WA only to emerge in 6" water, and our rather short sighted friend being only 2" from a naked ladies boobs before he focused!! (his story LOL)
My Father (crayfisherman) visited Bali for a month every year (alone, my Mum couldn't take the sad dogs after a couple of years....pommie vet nurse). He flew home early 8 years ago feeling "off" amd died 2 weeks later with lung cancer.
He had a Bali room in his house in Geraldton (WA) and the furnishings now are divided between his kids.
Stayed at Mandira a couple of years after our first visit, liked the location, and Hotel next door was just the same..(you guessed it....turned out to be "Padma")
Since then returned to Patra Jasa (year Dad died) loved it but not too expensive then.
We gradually travelled North (Mercure, Ramayana)and dived Amed, Lipah. Nusa Lemgongan and now frequent Kumala Pantai on a regular basis.
Hubby not too nimble any more due to haemachromotosis (10% of Aussies suffer with this disease and many don't know it, email if you want more info..we are very well informed!!) but due to huge accumulation of FF points from when Hubby was was a bricklayer we still get to visit Bali on a reasonably regular basis.
So much better/worse than when we first visited on so many levels. We probably caught the beginning of the aggressive street vendors. For those who complain about timeshare people, in those days the watch, silver etc etc sellers were so bad that we used to dive into restaurants to escape and they used to follow. We were forced off the streets often (such as they were!!!) and hated the whole thing...it is so much more laid back now !!!
In between Bali we travelled to US, Thailand, Singapore. Northern Qld frequently (pommie chasing the sun thing). I doubt is we will ever go anywhere else other than to Bali now. We have already booked for 3 times this year. Does cost come into it? Considering our circumstances..YES. But the familiarity....PEOPLE....(believe me, we do not wear rose coloured glasses) SMELL, general ambience, soooo many factors come into reckoning when we book.
OK, I guess I'm moving on from the original Blast from the Past theme, but hope this continues in a very interesting thread!!
Sue;~)