ok all, I am a jbr virgin so i hope to be informative and give you an insight into our experiences without waffling on too much....
We (my husband and I) arrived at Perth airport at 5am ,feeling a little apprehensive about our excees weight as I had packed lots of donations to take over for friends on the beach as well as school books ,school shoes and lots of pencils coloring in stuff etc.I had sent Garuda an email requesting extra allowances and they said 5kilos each.(better than a 'no' I suppose).
Well we struggled up to the check in desk with a look of plea on my face and on went the bags :{ Yep, I was way over by 22 kilos!!
Miss check in lady said that there was no way we could take it all unless we wanted to pay $450!!
My husband looked at me with that "I told you so" look that I was ready for. Don't stress I said,just let me re-arrange a couple of things.So, off to the side of the queue i went,grovelling on the floor unpacking and re- packing,shuffling this bag to that and there you go all sorted!!
I pushed aside one huge stripey bag that could fit a dead body in it, and asked hubby to take it back to the car(we were leaving our car at the airport). Off he went for the long trek back to the car with 20 kilos on his shoulder.All our other bags went through and our overhead bags were a bit weighty, but no problem we just carried on as if they were light as a feather!!
We went upstairs for an overpriced breaky, a last ciggie and through to do all the formalities.Then to stock up on alcohol for the bar at home.So much to choose from.I thought I might try the Lemoncello and some American Honey.Hubby got the usual Turkey and tequilla.
Flying with Garuda was the same as usual,pleasant and nothing to write home about.For some reason the flight seemed really long,I just wanted to get there now!!
Finaly we arrive at Bali airport,we paid our VOA with Aussie dollars and got change in Rupiah.I wasn't too fussed on working out the cost but hubby said it worked out to about $31 each???
We managed to get our bags fairly quickly and needed some porters to help and off to the lovely assault on our senses outside...the warmth ,the scent of Bali, all those welcoming faces. Yippee we are back in paradise.
we paid the porters 50,000 and hoped they would split it between the two.Got a taxi to the Melasti Beach resort in Legian,which would be our first time there.We were shown to our room, opposite the doughnut pool. As we were settling our bags in, I relised that we had two single beds!!Now ,I left 5 kids at home and there is no way I was gonna sleep in a single bed!
So,I scurried back to reception and asked if we could have a double bed as requested on our booking.Nothing available for two days,with much giggling from the staff commenting that "not good for second honeymoon".We weren't fussed as the single beds are big and we are little people (both around 60 kgs) so we fitted nicely in a giant single bed!!
The rooms were nice and spacious, very similar to the Jayakarta self contained units we stayed in last year and not much different to the Bali hai when it was open(so sad :( to see it is still in ruins,no renos and wont be open any time soon!!)
After pottering around the hotel checking were everything is and a swim and cocktails,we showered and got ready for our first night out.
Thanks to this forum I was armed with a list of places to eat ,drink and shop.
Glory's was our first stop,happy hour was on so we indulged in a couple of jugs of Long Island Teas...drink number three went straight to my head so some food was next.We had snack at Glory's and moved on when we finished the 2nd jug.
We found Legian Pub as we wondered around familiarising ourselves with the streets of Legian once again.I have NO sense of direction at all so everything always looks unfamiliar and new,much to hubby's dismay.I spend too much time looking at my feet trying not to trip,fall in a hole and manouver up and down those enormous footpaths.
so between my head being down most of the time ,only to look up and say a quick "no thankyou" every two seconds,I think I have a legitimate reason for not knowing where I am all the time.It has nothing to do with being blonde!!
This pub was our kind of atmosphere as Glory's was empty tonight.
Hubby ordered me a "sex on the beach"(I hope he wasn't trying to imply something adventuruos,cos there'd be no chance!!) We had a game or ten of pool with Jimmy and Agus.We drank and laughed and drank and laughed.Left around 1am and zig zagged our way back to our single bed.
Well, that was my first BIG mistake.Drinking cocktails with milk didn't agree with me last year and certainly didn't want stay down this time.Enough said ,I spent the night acquainting myself with the toilet bowl!!
Back to bed and hubby was comatosed in the middle, so a swift elbow to his ribs put in his spot and lotsa room for me!Boy,I just wanted to sleep after such an early morning and all the excitemnet of arriving,I felt like a little kid that had indulged too much at their B'day party!!OOOhh,my head was spinning ,my tummy churning and hubby's contented heavy breathing was starting to get on my nerves.(so much for a second honeymoon).Sleep eventually came...zzz
next...Tuban,centro,and a look at the hard rock hotel.