Like most first timers, we were very excited/apprehensive/nervous about the trip, and didn't sleep much the night before. Our car was packed and we were off by 5:30am for our 8:30 am flight with AP.
Checked in and stopped at McD's for brekky (one and only time for the holiday!), and we took off more or less on time.
Now, I would go into what we ate and did on the flight, but since AP are no longer flying (for the moment, anyway) there doesn't seem much point. Suffice to say that we were quite happy with the food and inflight service, and the kids enjoyed watching ‘Batman Begins'. We flew via Adelaide, and from Adelaide to Bali I would guess the plane was about 80% full.
My wife was very nervous after the second bombings, but by the time we flew, it was an even balance between worry about the bombs and worry about drugs in our bags. We had tampertelled all our bags, and had no real reason to be nervous, but that didn't stop that slight unease (from me) or wild panic... like a rabbit caught in the headlights (my darling wife) oops...look out for the whack behind the ear if she reads this!... as we approached the people at the airport. Obviously all with no reason.
Since we had three restless kids with us, they more or less just waved us through. The only query they had was that we had no ciggies or alcohol to declare. (We didn't have... we don't smoke, and planned on drinking Binnies and cocktails instead of duty free.)
Once we walked through, we grabbed our bags before the porters could... kept one hand on each bag and just kept saying 'no thank you', and we had no problems (thanks to advice from the forum!!), and looked for the taxi voucher window. Found it without much trouble, and bought our ticket to Tuban. Then the driver came and grabbed our bags (I wasn't sure if he was another porter, and was almost tempted to grab my bags back off him!)
The family piled into the taxi... me in the front, and Julie and the three kids in the back. They nearly passed out when Mum said 'Don't worry about the seatbelts'!! Not something they would ever hear at home! We are very particular about that stuff at home. The kids were dumbstruck looking out the window, and the short trip to Tuban was, as usual on the Bali roads, eventful.
We saw a motorbike with a whole family on it (no helmets). I had read many JBR's which mentioned seeing a similar thing coming from the airport, and wondered if the Indonesian Tourist Bureau paid a family to just drive up and down the airport road and thrill the tourists.
I pointed out to the kids that 'there is a motorbike wit four people on it!' Very excited, until the driver, in a bored, laconic voice said 'five'. There was a little girl (maybe 5 years old) perched on the handlebars!
Oh, by the way, the taxi to Tuban cost (I think...didn't write it down) 30,000 rp, fixed price on the voucher.
Also, with the time change in Adelaide, and the subsequent change to Bali, I had no idea what the ‘real' time was! Felt very out of sorts.
Got to the Dynasty, and the taxi driver dropped us at the security barrier. Our luggage was transferred onto the Dynasty minivan, and they drove us about 80 metres up the drive to reception.
Very warm welcome, and taken to our beautifully cool, air conditioned Kiddy suite. From the plane to our room was done in about 40 mins. Very impressed!
After opening all the cupboards, trying out the TV and PS1 and jumping on all the beds, we threw our bathers on and hit the pool.
Played in the pool... the kids club people were running a ‘slippery pole, pillow fight' competition, and we were welcomed and asked to join in straight away. AWithin 5 mins they knew (and remembered) all of our names. Very impressive again! Had drinks by the pool (1x draught Bintang, 2 x diet coke cans 1x OJ and 1X bottle water, 66,000 rp) and swam until dinner. Ahhh...this is the life!
Ate at the poolside café, had nasi goreng,(me) penne bolognese, (Julie) fish and chips, and spaghetti x 2,(kids) side of chips, satays to share, 3x large Bintang (first time I'd seen these big ones... impressed!!) 2x spiders 1x milkshake... total cost: 292,000 rp. (about $42 Aus). Sounds like lots of food, but we are a family of five, and it seemed the longer we stayed, the less we ate each day (Is this common? I didn't expect it.)
Back to our room and got the kids to bed by about 7pm (at home, the little ones (5) are in bed by 7pm, and Jamie, (9) is in bed by 8 pm). It had been a long. busy, exciting day. We had Jamie on the top bunk, and Ky and Tara (our 5 year old twins) top and tailed on the bottom bunk. Nice in theory, but they were kicking each other in the guts all night, and we changed things around after the first restless night.
Julie also flaked out on the bed while the kids went to sleep, and fell asleep by 7:30pm.
This was the night of the world cup qualifier soccer match in Sydney, and I was desperate for at least a report on what was happening. I continually flicked through the 37 channels (yes, I counted them!) of rubbish on our room TV, before turning it off in disgust and heading down to Gracie Kellys. They had it on their tellies, so I managed to see the last ½ hour or so. Very exciting, and quite surreal watching it there with a bunch of Balinese guys, mostly cheering for the Aussies. The result was good, and with a smile, I headed back to our room, and bed by about 9:30 pm myself. (Usually I am in bed about midnight at home, but it had been a busy day.)
Coming soon...Day 2... the kids wake up at 4 am, ready to get into it!! (damn that time change!!!)