Leaving on a Jet Plane
Final day was spent doing a bit of last minute shopping (although, I thought we did that 2 or 3 shopping trips ago). Dynasty kids club is great for this. Drop the kiddo's off, then head into Kuta and Legian and 'power shop' ... Just get in there, take no prisoners, take no sh1t, get in and get out again shopping !!!! ... I have to admit, Jen and I are pretty good at this. I tend to let the team down when it comes to buying clothes etc. but with everything else, we're a lean-mean-shopping-machine !!
Back to the Dynasty and my beloved pool bar for a few last Binny's and possibly a Love Bucket or 2. We've left the actual packing a bit late, and bugger me if those suckers aren't bloody heavy ... this could get ugly. As the time arrives to vacate the room (we had a late checkout at 6pm), I drag the luggage up to reception where they have a set of scales to weigh this stuff (not much else you'd use a set of scales for I suppose). Now, we've never had any problems with 25kg per person on other trips, so we're not really that worried that the total of our bags is just under 100kg. The bit that's bothering us at this point is that one bag is 33.5kg, and another is 35.8kg ... No one we asked knew if there is a maximum bag weight. I guess we'll find out at the airport.
Even though we've checked out of the room, the Dynasty are letting us book our remaining time (dinner and drinks at Gracies) to the room, and we'll fix up the total bill later. Beaudy !!!! A nice feed and several last Binny's (didn't we do that at the pool? ... oh well), then its time to say goodbye to everyone ... This is the bad bit. No one likes this bit ... this bit sux. Big time !!! Doesn't help matters that Artboy has requested the band play 'Leaving on a jet plane' for the multitude of Melbournites that are leaving tonight (end of Melbourne school holidays) .... He's a bugger !!!
Time to go.
We've decided to leave a bit earlier than what we'd planned because we'd heard of other having problems with seating etc. So, at about 9pm (fight is just before midnight) we head off. We've decided to use the Dynasty's cars for the transfer to the airport. As resturnee's we get a good deal on this, and the cars are really nice. Quick trip to the airport, breeze through security and onto check-in ... Our two big bags (remember the heavy ones?) are overweight. Maximum of 32kg per bag ... DOH !! Jen's remembered that she has one of those big stripy foldup bags in one of the suitcases. Here we are, at check-in, bags open, transferring dirty washing etc into this other bag ... after several minutes of frenetic activity, airing our dirty washing in public (literally). The bags are checked in and we're off ... we wish !!! Now they're saying we're overweight (well, not us, but the bags). We have to head off to the Garuda office, where they reckon we're only allowed 60kg's total. We argue strenuously that because there are 4 of us, it should be 80kg's, but we were told by Garuda that we could have 25kgs each. He um's and rrr's and say he'll let us off with 5kg's over (keep in mind, its US$16 per kg) ... We are pretty much over it all by now, and this fact is not lost on our new Garuda employee friend, who kindly agrees to waive the penalty just this once, 'but don't do it again' ... Woo Hoo !!!
Off to the Premier club that we've heard so much about on the forum.
Entry is by invitation only ... DOH !!!! (we think they may have seen the kids and quickly changed the rules .. oh well).
The lady there informs us that there is another one of these lounges down the other end of the airport. So, off we trot to the Dewi something lounge. Rp. 100,000 per adult (kids are free). They don't take Visa, and I had no cash, so Artboy came to the rescue and shouted us all in. It's a good way to spend a couple of hours in an otherwise boring airport (they all are). Beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, nibbles, soft drink all included in the price. And they call you when your plane is boarding.
No more hassles, quick trip back to Oz (just under 5hrs to Melbourne ... a record for us).
EOT (End of trip)
Final thoughts
In spite of all the attitude we got before we left Oz for returning with the kids in the current international climate, I can honestly say we never even thought about bombs and kidnappings etc while over there. It was as it always is, and unless things get really really bad, we'll never have a problem with going back. Whats that slogan that I see so much of over there? 'A life lived in fear, is a life half lived' ... That's pretty much it.
Highlights of the trip overall? ... Visit to the school and the kids there, and the quad bike tour. As usual, one of the great things about Bali is that you leave there with a bunch more friends (both Aussie and local) than you had when you arrived. Bali people are great people !!!
Actually, now that I think of it, one thing I don't remember seeing this trip was the ugly Australians ... The loud, obnoxious, w@nkers that we all try to avoid when we see them in the street.
I'll include the details of some of the drivers we used over there. I know everyone has their favorites, and there are usually always good drivers outside every hotel, but if your in the Tuban/Dynasty area these guys are tops. They work out of the Dynasty carpark.
Yasa Witayasa 081 236 98877 Email yasatransport@yahoo.com
Wawan Kariawan 085 237 049927 Email wawan_kariawan@yahoo.com
Yasa is Wawans Uncle. He's been a bit crook recently, and could probably do with a bit of work.
One guy we used both this time, and the last trip when we stayed at the MBR is
Wayan Adiarsa 081 647 47220 Emailwayanaditransport@yahoo.com
Wayan lives and works just near the MBR.
So that's about it. Back to the hard slog (well, I'm in the IT business, and haven't really worked a hard day in 20 years) so we can get back to our beloved Bali next year.
See you all there ...