Background-Me(Tracy, 42 , Peter, 43) 2nd time to Bali for both
Hope this isn't too boring as hubby and I went over for our 20th wedding anniversary to do nothing but shop, relax and enjoy each others company without the four kids.
Flight over with Garuda was good, seemed to go quickly and smoothly.
It took about 45 minutes to get through VOA, we were second last people to leave the airport. Got to our bags with porters hovering over them, I tried to tell them we would handle them ourselves but Peter(hubby) in his wisdom thought that as they were in uniform they must be to do with security. They walked our bags about 5 steps to Customs where they then demanded a tip. I was not amused! I ended up giving them a $2 coin each. Finally out to the heat and smells remembered from last year, we were transferred to our hotel, Inna Kuta.
I had emailed prior asking for a ground floor garden room, was told this would be accommodated. No go, all booked. I was about to have a hissy fit as only I can, told we had been upgraded to a suite. OK, that's alright then.
Room was beautiful.
I had a few things to deliver for my cousin who had returned the week before, so headed off to Pub Bagus then Bali Bagia. We would end up at Bali Bagia nearly every day for Happy Hour, Bintang going down a treat with Barcardi even better. It's amazing how much you drink when you don't have to be responsible for children!
I won't bore you with every detail but I REALLY shopped a lot! Peter was the ‘pack horse', bless him.
We seemed to make a lot more friends this time, last year in July we had the kids so probably were nagged about being bored and didn't hang around talking to the locals as much.
We did go cycling, with the same co. that we went WWR with last year. Downhill was fantastic but as I hadn't been on a bike for probably 5 yrs, uphill was the pits! Luckily the scenery and our guide made up for the inclines. Definitely a highlight of our trip.
Another highlight was Jimmy Handsome from Bali Bagia. He is a very good friend of my cousin and family friends of ours and unfortunately we didn't find him last year. I'm not the best navigator (wouldn't admit this to Peter) last year I was looking in the complete wrong area let alone st. This year I was smart and directions were given straight to Peter so I couldn't be blamed. Jimmy is a delight, I was very excited to be there to share his very special news of adopting a baby girl on Thursday. As well as navigating, I'm also not very good with secrets so it just about killed me from Tuesday when he told us until Thursday when he picked up the baby. He messaged me to let me know he and Ketut had picked up their bundle of joy so I had the green light. Like the speed of sound I messaged all in Oz with the good news. For anyone who knows Jimmy & Ketut, they have named the baby Putu, he told me it means ‘ugly' but when he also says Ketut is ‘ugly' I'm assuming he's pulling my leg.
On leaving Bali, when we arrived at the airport we headed to ‘International Passengers'. Security guards called us over and wanted to open our bags to check them. ‘No Worries' I said. No keys for the locks on the cases I realize. Had to use boltcutters to open the darn things. Everything OK we proceeded to check-in. First bag weighed, 32 kgs. As the next bag was loaded on the lady says ‘these are Garuda tickets, we are Australian Airlines'
Great, now have to go through it all over again knowing that we are already over our limit with the first bag. No security at Garuda, total weight was 49 kgs which wasn't even mentioned. Hidden all my Aussie dollars for nothing, I was all prepared to give them whatever Rupiah I had left.
All in all, a wonderful holiday in Paradise. I loved spending some timealone with my gorgeous husband. Although, it's lucky I have a memory like an elephant as he really can't remember too much about our 23 blissful years together as I found out reminiscing on Anniversary night.
I had intended to buy a wedding ring for him whilst away but prices were a bit more than I wanted to pay. I did buy him a ring made from melted down Aussie $2 coins though. Tarnished already, it looks 20 years old. He's still wearing it though.
Sorry about the length of this report.
Tracy