Back yesterday morning to cold weather and rain, welcome home......
Girls trip with myself and friend Vic. Had a lovely relaxing holiday with shopping and massages, manicures etc in between lying by the pool and reading.
First 5 days were at All Seasons Legian. Great location, room, bathroom and balcony on the small side but still fine for the just the two of us. No lounge hogs which was great! Various reviews I had read on BTF said the pool area did'nt receive much sun and pool on the chilly side, there was heaps of sun for us and pool was just right for temperature. Would definitely go back to All Seasons but it would not be one of my first choices. I love the Kumala Pantai but we could'nt get in there this time. Breakfast was more than adequate. It always amazes me when people complain about not enough variety at breakfast, I'd like to see what they eat at home for breaky.....Staff very friendly and helpful.
Moved to the Vira in Tuban for last 4 days. Boutique hotel, average size rooms, good size bathroom. We were on the third floor, all rooms are pool view. Next time I would book a deluxe room as these are on the ground floor, can't beat walking straight from your room to the pool. Breakfast good, nice banana pancakes! Staff also very friendly, could'nt do enough for you. Very very nice hotel and will definitely try and book in there for maybe the first 3 days of my next trip (another girls trip, very lucky!), and then move to Kumala Pantai for the remainder.
Food was beautiful everywhere! Places we ate at were: Lanai (twice, this place is my absolute favourite), Kumala Pantai, Bianco's, Legian Snacks (fantastic prices, great food - we had 2 serves of chicken spring rolls and a juice each, this cost us 42 000 for both of us), Our's, Il Cielo, Ifiori (noisy but nice!), Bali Colada (next to Black Canyon at Discovery, can't remember all the others!
We both did quite a bit of shopping. I had only been in Bali 8 weeks previously and did'nt think I would shop much but I did! All the usual stuff - bags, table runners, cushion covers etc etc. My favourite buy was a square mosaic bowl from the Kuta Art Markets, heavy to bring home but well and truly worth it. Vic and I were both spot on for weight coming home but had to pay excess on Skywest Domestic when we flew home from Perth! This was due to the duty free stuff we picked up in Perth on the way home.
Flew with Garuda this time, good as always. On the flight home we had one of the newer planes that had the little tv screens on the back on the seat. Nice for a change to have a meal and drinks etc, my last flight was with Pacific Blue. I would still go with the no-frills airlines thought, we are lucky in only being 3 or so hours from Bali from Perth. Next trip I have booked with Air Asia ($200 each return, can't complain!)
Weather was nice, hot and very humid and only one night of rain, even then this only lasted about 20 minutes.
We walked through quite a few hotels looking, finally got a look at Bali Garden, beachfront area is nice but the rest of it looks just a little neglected to me.....just my opinion remember! My sister is staying at Puri Raja, so had another look there for her, great location, nice hotel. As I wroter earlier, Kumala Pantai is my absolute favourite and I find myself comparing other hotels to KP which I probably should'nt do.
All in all, we had a great holiday and will drive the girls at work mad talking about Bali when we both get back to work!
8 months now until I go back, seems such a long time..........
Hope you've enjoyed reading this and it was'nt too boring, please ask if you have any questions.
Thanks.