For those of you that might be interested.
Bali trip 2005, #1 The win
Where do you begin with a belated JBR? The beginning I suppose. Well a little bit further back actually, so bare with me.
For those of you who know me or have read my reports over the years, you might recall what happened last year. My first instalment last year began with an account of a villa booking gone wrong at the last possible moment. Four of us were going, two being my sons, myself, and my trustworthy sidekick, aka best friend, Jenny. We suddenly found ourselves with no where to stay and $1000 deposit sitting nicely in some Englishman's bank account, or long spent, and his lovely parting words of 'sorry, have a nice holiday'. A horrible encounter with him in Bali and the tourist police and promises of the money being refunded (which of course, I still haven't seen to this day). Another day spent at a police station, then visiting him again with them, and with no water or food for about 7 hours and above all, no satisfaction! Time and money wasted. I must say that it took me a long time to write that JBR, not so much due to my tardiness but more to the bewildered feeling that I seemed to get whenever I thought about the trip. I had planned it so thoroughly. My son's year 10 Indonesian class was originally coming with us, which is why I chose the place initially and with recommendation from the forum. It was also for his 15th birthday. Without those students coming, I would never have booked that villa. It was too expensive for just four of us and I had a lovely villa that I like to stay at in Tanjung Benoa. Little did I know that the people at that villa would come to my rescue, in more ways than one. Well the kids pulled out one by one with the increase in travel warnings and I was left with the booking and then no deposit or accommodation.
So this year? Well, I've been going on holiday with my best friend Jenny, on some well earned respite leave, for a few years now. I can only go if my husband stays and looks after our daughter, as there is no one else who will. As she is growing older though, she is getting more capable of looking after herself but the habit has stuck and who knows that a break from the family with a close friend always makes it more fun and not half as costly! Come on it is a 'holiday'!
Jenny and I went to a local travel expo to see where we might like to go this year. Sabah? Chang Mai? Vietnam? As we paid to enter, they gave us a couple of coupons to fill in, one was to win a trip to Bali the other a cruise. It took us so long to fill in those forms, as everyone we must have known, stopped to tell us not to bother, as they were going to win. The draw would be at 4 pm that afternoon. That was a couple of hours away yet.
Where would we like to go? Hmmm we've been to Phuket (that was when Sept 11th happened, the day after my birthday). Other than that, it has only been to Bali, once was just before the first bombing but we have been back a couple of times since then, so where else? We got a couple of ideas but really didn't make a decision. As we left, we saw the people sorting out the coupons. Jenny tapped one of the guys on the shoulder and said that she would wait for his call. Well, four o'clock came and went and we looked at each other as if to say, oh well, now where?
Well that day went and Monday morning came as per usual. I normally go to the gym on a Monday and to my surprise Jenny decided to call in before I went. She was making some normal small talk and flicking through our countless brochures when she came to rest on The Aston hotel in Bali. We stayed there the first time we went to Bali when the hotel first opened. It was that holiday that made us return, not once, but many times. Jenny asked what I thought about staying there. I sort of looked at her puzzled. The Aston was the prize for the Bali holiday from the travel expo. I asked her what was going on... It ended up that she had received a phone call that morning saying that she had won the trip for two flying to Bali and staying at the Aston for four nights!!!! Well I was shocked! I thought that she must have been playing a trick on me. One look at her face and I knew. I burst into tears! Why? I hadn't realised after all those months, deep down, I had felt that I had failed her by; loosing our money that we had all delivered so many pamphlets to pay for the trip; time wasted over there trying to get it back; and the horrible taste that it left in our mouths for the rest of our holiday and for a long while after. It surprised me to realise just how much it had affected me and how bad I felt about it until then.
So...., 'when shall we go?'. There never really is much question about that as both of our birthday's are in September and this was a big '0' for me. So we booked! That win paid us back that $1000 lost deposit, plus interest!
Well, I'm an organiser and I like to have things pretty well organised before I go anywhere but after last year, I didn't want to organise anything! Hadn't I ruined it last time? I didn't want that kind of responsibility again. But as most of you would understand, you just can't help it. Jenny doesn't have a computer (by choice!) so really, there is no question as to who can check up on the best deals and suggestions. The forum becomes all time consuming, even when you don't have the time! Before I knew it, I was back on the Net organising yet another trip to Bali.
The first four days were accounted for. The Aston. There was no doubt about going to Ubud and staying at the wonderful villas that we found last year. Then there was the one place that we had promised that 'One day we'll stay there!' Ubud was easy, a quick email and it was settled! Now for the hard part. We had of course saved the money from yet again more pamphlet deliveries knowing that we had a goal and since we now didn't have to pay for our trip, we had the money to spend on our dream. The Legian in Seminyak. We had checked out this hotel a few years earlier and we new that it was a dream place to stay. I searched high and low looking for the best price. Everyone was saying that they were fully booked. The hotel wasn't giving me a very good price and booking agencies were coming back with good prices but no availability. In searching the forum, I came across a name...Mida.
Mida is a local booking agent in Bali. Many people had written about her on the forum and there were names of people that were familiar to me who had booked through Mida before. I didn't find one bad word against her. Well not only did she get me a great price but the hotel wrote to me and confirmed the booking but only for two days. I wrote to the hotel and not only did we get in but I managed to get the four nights that I wanted. The best bit was that Mida didn't want our money until we got to Bali. With the hotel confirmation, I couldn't see how I could go wrong this time. I told Jenny to decide and she did! That was it, Organised, now for a few day trips!
White Water Rafting? Do it every time, maybe something else instead. Quad bikes? Yes if we can. A bike tour? Wasn't there one called the Eco tour that you can do from Ubud that I had recommended to me? Yes. O.k, we were finally ready.