Just back this morning from a quick week in Bali for my daughters 25th birthday. Flew Jetstar via Darwin. Flights on time, good service. Only hitch was Darwin ground staff mislaid daughters suitcase in Bali but it turned up before the flight and all good. Our only concern was that she had packed her medication in the bag and were concerned that she would not have for a few days. Always take some in your carry-on I said and then remembered that I had packed mine in my suitcase!
Stayed 5 nights at Swastika Bungalows in Sanur in deluxe room. Large rooms with a good size balcony. Good location right next to Hardy's. Had showers one day but otherwise weather was perfect, not too hot and lower humidity. Power went off in Sanur one night (her Birthday) so we ended up having her birthday dinner at The Village as it was one of the few places that still had power, food was nice but probably wouldn't bother eating there again. Spent a few dollars at Jennys at the Sindhu Markets, her fixed prices are still reasonable. Had a lovely birthday lunch at Benno's on the beach. Lazy days just relaxing by pool, massages and shopping.
Taxi Board at airport still saying Sanur is 90,000R but we were charged 115,000 from memory so it hasn't been updated since fuel hikes. Had an easy run from airport to Sanur 9pm at night, in fact the traffic was good coming back to Kuta later in the trip. Quickest trip I have had either way.
Moved to Kuta Paradiso for last 3 nights. Great location and price was reasonable. A large hotel but the staff are very friendly and the breakfast buffet is excellent. Located right between Kuta Square and Discovery the hotel is ideally located for shopping. Only issue was that there were no powerpoints for use by guests in room. We had to climb under desk and unplug the kettle which was a nuisance. Wifi was great and other than having to log in frequently it worked well.
Daughter got some great Converse shoe bargains at a couple of the sports stores near Matahari. The other treat we had was the bakery at Carreforre, I had the best fruit tartlets from there. Much better than anything we would get at home. Shame I only got there once to try.
Australian dollar averaged about 9425 while we were there so hadn't dropped much from last visit.
Only issue I had was when having a massage at one of the chain spa places. I had a male masseur and he had wandering hands. Not sure he really needed to massage my bottom for so long and I had to remove his hand when he clasped my cheek at one stage! Daughter was in another room and she reports that she didn't get the bottom massage. I keep thinking I should have reported him but I wasn't sure if he just thought my big bottom needed extra work or he was offering something else!
Exhausted after the night time flights home to Cairns. This was my 13th trip and daughters 4th... not sure when I will get there again but as usual we had a great time.