Day1
I woke early. It must be the anticipation of the trip. I had lots of second thoughts (as Martin aka Rumpster did too) . Were we mad? Going on holidays with a complete stranger? Even though we had 'dated' for a little while now, we were still not telling our friends and family about the real way we met and how this whole trip eventuated. This holiday was still a big deal for us . We both had 'baggage' from previous relationships, so we knew this wasn't going to be easy, and we were both wary of being ripped off again.
We agreed to meet for breakfast at a Bondi Café and thought that would be a nice relaxed way to start this holiday. I was there first, but soon I saw Martin coming my way. Stella came too (Martins Mum). Sh wanted to wish us well and was very chatty and knowldgable about Bali. She was asking about the VOA and US $ or AU$. I asked her if she had even been there and she said no (this may seem irrelevant now, but later on you will understand).
I finally got back to my unit at 11 am and patted the cat, did last minute checks and double checks, left a long note to my flat mate. Martins voice came over my intercom that he was downstairs with the car to take us to the airport.
He had got a stretch limo to take us there, I was impressed! Pulling up at the international terminal I felt like a movie star. We got through all the officialdom and went to the Qantas Club to have some drinks nibbles and things before we left.
Finally got on the plane and yes star class is nice, but both Martin and I agree that it isn't as nice as Business Class on Qantas. The flight arrived on time and was smooth. Luckily Martin had read on the BTF about some kind of VIP VOA and had arranged this for us. We were taken into a room and then 'walked through' the VOA process and were out the doors long before the rest of the flight came through. We got our luggage, no white chalk marks. Went through the doors to the throng of humanity that is the arrivals section. We soon found our driver with his 'Martin & Sally' sign. We went to his car and found he had bought his son with him for the ride, his name was Wayan. It seems that our driver Ketut's wife was very sick and he knew he had to pick us up and didn't want to leave his son with his sick wife. That's nice. I had some travel lollies in my bag, so I gave them to his son.
We had a good trip to the Laguna Nusa Dua, it's a very nice place and I recommend it to anyone. It was pretty late so we had some drinks and then got some food and off to bed. Big Bed too! It's the first time alone - with No Stella to drop in or Kylie banging on my door needing my car moved.
We drifted off to sleep like two newborn puppies, exhausted from the day (and the nights activities).....tomorrow day 2!