Well here goes my 1st ever JBR. Its is bound to be long as my friends say I talk too much and ramble on and on so why would this be any different I'm thinking !!
We had big drama's 48 hrs before leaving with my 8yr old having blood in his wee and abdo pain so I really didn't think we would ever get on this plane.
Just to get you in the picture ... there were 7 in the bed ... oops, sorry wrong story !!
We left Perth with the ole flying kangaroo (cause the other half refuses to travel with anyone different) on Jan 8th, for 15 days, right on time at 12.55, service and food great and even some smiles and happy faces rarely seen on Qantas !! (Sorry for garuda 9 am people who should have got there way ahead of us).
We were myself, and ‘Pa' and 5 boys.. 8yr, 10yr and 3 x17yr olds. I invited 2 of my son's best friends in the hope that they may catch the travel bug and decide to take off and explore the world a bit more after this little experience. I wanted to achieve that and to show my younger 2 a little bit about the ‘other side' of life, the coin, or whatever way you want to describe it. I consider my kids spoilt (in a nice way) just like most others I know in the western world, and I knew they had no real idea that many parts of the world don't live to the same standards.
We had booked into Jayakarta private apartments found on the web as we wanted lots of loo's (well what do you think, a lone female among 6 men) and few TV's and lounge to escape to.
Of course it's only a 3 hour flight and cheaper than going to Queensland so of course Bali won the holiday ballot and I had been hanging out to go back for 10yrs.
It was my 3rd Bali visit and pa's 2nd and kids 1st so I decided months ago that I was going to be well prepared this time and get as much as I could out of my hol. Therefore, I joined forums and read and read and read and wrote my 'Bali bible' as the boys called it.
They even nicked it the 1st night and wrote that on the front of it.
It had everything in it that I had read about over last 6mths that was relevant to us from drivers, shops, DVD lists, dentists, Drs, language/ words translated, activities and costs and at least 60 different restaurants with addresses and phone no's and comments about their food types.
So, was I prepared enough ?? No of course not, but it was 70% helpful and I consulted it at least once every day. I realise now after this trip that I think Bali is just a place that you have to ‘learn as you go' type place and experience it to be wise over there but write it all down and remember it for next time.
This trip was planned as more of an activities trip (with 5 lads to entertain) so not really a shopping trip for me or a cruising / relaxing pool holiday either. However, we all sure got in plenty of shopping. It is amazing how relaxed you can be shopping when you know that you have lots of kilo's of luggage space as each of the younger two wouldn't be shopping and using it up !!!
Well the day started as a rush and I am so glad I was not on an early morning flight as I am sure I would have missed the plane. I was informed by ‘Pa' many weeks prior that I was not to concern myself with the airport driving arrangements, they were sorted I was told.
So I thought, ok, I have done all the hard yards with bookings and preparing my ‘Bible' so you can figure out how to get 7 of us there with luggage and several very large ‘stripy' bags of clothes/donations for Smudge.
Anyway as I am madly still packing my stuff the younger 2 boys are shouting at me from front door to quickly come and see. My god I nearly died ... the other half had booked a HUGE limo to take us to the airport (must have got a real good xmas bonus I was thinking !!) this was not just a limo but a very long, large HUMMER limo that seats 14. Of course the 17 yrs olds thought it was just the bee's knees and wanted to get under the bonnet, and half the street was out for a gawk so I felt mighty embarrassed but the treat was terrific just the same.
As they are trying to shove me out the door into this thing I am realising that I haven't packed any of my toiletries - nothing at all so that was a hold up while I jam some bits in and then off we go. Yes it is a really nice way to start a holiday so I thank them all for managing to keep that secret as the older boys all knew about it apparently.
So obviously parking at Perth airport was NOT a problem!!
The customs and all the security stuff was quite an eye opener for all of the boys having never left the country before so lots of explaining went on. My 8 yr old never took his eyes of the emergency card the whole flight except to eat!! I think he was trying to memorise it.
Arrival was interesting to say the least.
My gosh have things changed in the airport in the last 10yrs. It is looking positively modern and clean and fresh.
We would have been thru quite quickly as there were no other flights except that Qantas didn't have the customs cards to give us on the plane so we could not have them filled out and prepared prior to landing. So, after the long walk we then had to sit down and fill out 7 of these things and wanted the teens to do their own for the experience so we were one of the last to get thru.
Paid our VOA in US dollars just for the simplicity for my head and it was not a drama getting any at my local bank a few days before we left.
With so many kids to keep track of, I forgot to check if we had got white chalked, but we had. The bag with my 8yr olds cordial was chalked & checked and we were asked if it was wine but I laughed and made my boy tell them that it was his special wine that he takes everywhere and they loved that and then they were all over my little blondie and passed us thru with ease.
Out side to the heat, but surprised to find that all the smells that hit your senses (and that I had prepared the kids for) were not apparent. They had been having a lot of rain and really, we didn't feel any impact of our senses unlike last visits I feel they may have been washed away somewhat.
We had booked a driver to meet us from the net and ‘he' had a sign with our name on it and said he was Wayan but I was very confused as he sure didn't look like his picture on his web page and looked a lot shorter. Oh well.
Into his van we go and that was a real squeeze and not at all comfortable. It really only seated 6 plus driver not 7 so we squeezed 2 skinny ones onto front seat and piled luggage on our laps. The seats were lumpy and worn and not at all nice to sit on and the boys all complained but I tried to hush them up.!!
So off we go and even the drive to hotel was just sooo different. Everywhere we passed looked way more up market and developed and clean and my god millions more shops everywhere than had been 10yrs previously. Amazingly different, but It was just great to be back.. It is weird but I felt instantly in holiday mode and relaxed.
Jayakarta booking in was a breeze and the apartments were wonderful and so nicely decked out. We had 3 adjoining 1 brms as we missed out on the bigger ones all taken already months ago. This was fine, 3 toilets/bathrooms and 6 TV's and 6 DVD players between us were going to keep 5 lads and 1 mummy very happy I thought. We were all happy and wanted to get out and explore after drowning our free welcome drinks. Our driver didn't have any for us !!
We were on the top (5th) floor, which was ok until day 7 but that is another story...
Our 1st night we decided to head to the beach for our dinner and already the humidity had hit us so we welcomed the lovely sea breeze that was blowing strongly and plonked ourselves down at the first restaurant we came too (after checking the ‘Bible' of course for verification) which was Seaside. Lovely place, great food, great service and very nice singers on stage. We went back our last night as well and almost couldn't get in it was jammed packed.
Cant remember what I ate but all 7 meals were excellent, good sizes, tasty and no complaints all round. I was too tired to take notes but I remember the cocktail was good and we gave the 17yr olds their first taste of Bingtang which of course they slurped up with no effort.
Boys got their first taste of the ‘other side' of life on the way back up the beach when all the children kept approaching wanting money and our boys - all ages - didn't know what they were supposed to do !! So we had a little talk about it back at the hotel and then all crashed for the night. I don't think the 17yr olds had been to bed so early for years !!
But God I could not sleep and had to sit out on the balcony and just pinch myself to make me realise I was really there. I could have done with a wine or two about then.
Along comes Day 2... it wont all ramble this long I promise....
Cheers Deb