First of all thanks to everyone who posts on this forum as i learnt so much, makes planning for our trip so much easier.
A bit about who travelled, myself (9th trip), partner (his 6th trip), 5 year old son (3rd trip) and our 10 month old (1st trip). I will try and write this in sections so hopefully it makes sense. This was our first trip where we had a month, normally we go for around 10 days to 2 weeks. Thought it would be too long with the baby, but it was not long enough.
Strategic Airlines
We thought we would try this airline, it was cheaper then others from Brisbane or Sydney (we live half way) and being full service we thought why not. Been a while since we have used a full service airline, would definitely fly with Strategic again. On time, flight attendants friendly and attentive. The food and drinks service was great. Only problems - i wasn't aware i needed to pre-order a kids meal, so my 5 year old couldn't have anything to eat. Other problem was i had pre ordered the bulk head seats and bassinett and when we got on board i was offered the bassinet. I wasn't quite ready and when i was ready it had been given away. But the attendant offered me a row of 4 that was spare and some pillows and blankets from business class, so i was happy with that. They weighed our carry on bags at check in in Bris, but not when we left Bali. Denpasar airport was not busy when we arrived and we were out in 15 mins. Our driver/friend was not waiting as we had told him not to get there too early in case it took us a while to get through, wont be doing that again.
I will post seperately the accommodation, as we stayed in 4 different hotels.
Travel with a baby
Will mention a few things about this as i noticed many people ask questions on this subject, as i did before we left. I found it very easy if you are organised. I took everything i would need for the month, enough formula, huggies (used Mamy poko for day), swimmer nappies, jars of food, milton tablets, panadol, weetbix, kettle, snacks, wipes, stroller, mozzie stuff (will write about that later), plastic cutlery, disposable bibs - absolutely everything i would need for the baby. I used everything, had enough and only had to buy the day nappies and yoghurts. Some might think i am crazy taking so much stuff but i wanted to make sure i had what i needed. I bought vegies which i cooked and blended as we had a kitchen. Then i froze in ice cube trays. Taking a baby was much easier then i thought, even though i bottle feed. I boiled bottled water and sterilised all his things with milton tablets, i took over a large container for this. Nothing came back with us. My kettle was plugged into an adaptor which blew up and melted onto my kettle so i had to throw that out. Where we were staying at the time had a new kettle so i just used that one. The place after that had a horrible looking kettle so i just used bottled water. Next time i probably wouldn't even boil water unless it was a younger baby.
Other Stuff
My partner buys things from Bali to sell at our local markets as a sideline to what he sells. He shipped most of this back, about 60 kilos. It was about $3 a kilo for sea mail, will take up to 12 weeks. We used our entire baggage allowance as well. Which is 23 kilos with Strategic.
I had read on the forum prior that mosquitoes were becoming more prevalent. So i went crazy on ebay and bought patches, bands and a thing that i hung on the pram which makes a noise that mozzies dont like. I also took repellant for us and bought the Johnsons Baby lotion which contains repellant in Bali to use on the baby. I bought mine from Carrefour, but i did see it at other supermarkets. I used all of these preventative measures for the first week and then used nothing, got lazy or i forgot, but we didnt come across a single mozzie the whole month.
I had my driver buy us each a Mentari sim card which we always use. Cheap to ring and sms home, had no troubles.
We got 8400 Rp for our A$1 at the airport when we first arrived, by the end we were getting 9025. Brought a bit back ready for our next trip.
One of our favourite restaurants was Tommys on Rum Jungle Road as i had read on here about the iced milos and caramel slice. We mainly went there for those, however my partner went there for breakfast on a few occasions. Was nice to have a meal not Indonesian a couple of times. We went to many restaurants, my favourite food was at a Thai one near KTH, think it was called Basil Leaf, so cheap and delicious. Partners favourite meal was noodles at the Safari Park from a little cart near the animal show, once again read about that on here. My favourite restaurant for drinks is Black Canyon Coffee, located at Seminyak Square and at the Discovery Mall. Also noticed one outside the airport when we left and they are also building one near Maccas at Kuta Beach.
Mostly used Blue Bird taxis, never a problem. Had a few issues with other taxis taking us to the 'wrong place' on purpose.
We used the Hallo delivery service for a few meals while we were staying at the Jayakarta. Fantastic service. I obtained their magazine containing menus from heaps of restaurants from their outlet in Legian. Not sure of the street though. Good way to try restaurants without the hassle of going there with kids.
Bought all the usual stuff, kids billabong clothes, dvds, table cloth, table runner, sunglasses, hats, spices, bags. Found lithium batteries were cheap, so stocked up on them. Also stocked up on Garnier products and a few other toiletry items. I also had some canvas prints done upstairs in Matahari, very cheap, quality ok, not as good as in Australia. I had 5 done and put onto wood, took 2 days. No problems getting them back into Australia. They are really good to edit out any imperfections, date etc. Also went to Biarritz and got a few things and also went to Erlangga 2 (sp. ?) in Denpasar. I loved this shop, full of everything you buy at the markets but fixed price.
Thanks for reading....next JBR will be accommodation.......