Hello all and as I promised I have a family jbr for you who are interested. Flew out from Perth on Monday Pacific Blue with Husband , 10 year old boy , 8 year old girl and 2.5 year old boy.Because plane was not jumbo, the queue for check in was not huge and we asked to sit together if possible as this was the kids first trip over. Plane was divided into 2 sides of three seats and everyone with kids were at the back. This worked out great and alleviated the stress of worrying about other passengers. The other great thing was that they called for passemgers with children and the elderly to board first which was a chance to get settled. Our kids were well behaved and very excited. Little one flew like a dream, never once taking his eyes off the screen in the back of the seat, except maybe to nibble at his maltesers. Great staff, lots of laughs etc.Free movies due to a malfunction. Last to exit plane but first to get baggage and everyone through and into that wonderful Bali air in about 25 minutes after landing.
We were met by our friend Wayan and my niece who is 11 but I did notice there was not the usual hassling of ten years ago and everything seemed orderly.
Headed to Griya Santrian in Sanur,now about 11pm and air still and laden with frangipani. Checked in to room 149 and 150 in Garden wing and was delighted to see how the gardens were very traditional balinese and manicured, with statues wearing the red hibiscus that we all remember. Although our rooms were not interconnecting we could not have cared less as Dad and Son ( Big ) and myself with younger two based ourselves at our room except for sleep time and it worked out great. The beautiful pool which apparently used to be a fishpond was directly in front of our room and surrounded by wooden decking and tall trees.The pool in the next "village" was about 50 metres away and kids swam there too. The large pool with swim up bar and ocean views was next to restaurant and kids pool. I loved the hotel and kids loved room service about mid afternoon. Their fave was ordering Le Bistro ( ham cheese tomato sandwich) and milkshake. They do have 4 sets of interconnecting rooms and I will list these later.The downside was the large amount of older Dutch guests who were quite forthright in their quest for relaxation. This meant they hogged pool chairs, and shouted at my 2.5 year old when he jumped into pool and his Dads waiting arms. Husband told him to "chill out mate" at which he repeated" no we don't like this here". Because of this it was a bit hard Hari Nyepi but we tried to be rfespectful of other guests and as I said before we are a normal family with great kids and some people are just rude. ( Sorry if you are Dutch and reading this, but this is not the first time I have encountered bombastic attitudes from there.) Its funny because we had every intention of never eating breakfast at hotel but it was easier to have and after the 3rd day they only charged us for 1 American and 3 continental even though we all had buffet. I think we were probably the politest visitors they had that week.I will come back soon, just very tired now. Cheers for listening.