The Sandi Phala Beach Resort (28 April - 1 May)

Coming out of the airport building, there were so many people waiting, it's hard to imagine how anyone finds anyone ... but I spotted our hotel driver in less than a minute. Yesss! ;-) A small local bloke, Budi, welcomed us with a huge smile & took us over.

In less than 15 minutes (but quite some transpiration), BARB was sitting in a car with airco, hitting extremely busy streets around the airport & heading towards Kuta. Ride on the left (we'll need to get used to it) and zillion motorbikes & scooters on the road. Well, street would be the most accurate description. ;-)

It was dark, so we couldn't see much. Although, as it was Saturday evening, the buzz was of the one when everybody gets out and nobody stays home. Loved it, but as we were exhausted, we were only glad to have chosen a hotel so nearby.

 

Welcome to The Sandi Phala Beach Resort, BARB!

Preparation ● Departure & Arrival

Preparation? C'mon ... We both cherish a simple "go with a flow" type of travelling, with as little planning & scheduling as possible. Mention "travel agency" to BARB, and we'll roll our eyes, for sure. ;-)

Although, I admit: since I've bought our flight tickets, there were few times when doubts arose. Precisely, I was asking Berry whether this time, as going so far for the first time, it wouldn't be wise to at least decide whether we'd travel with suitcases or we'd pack rucksacks and trekking shoes ... ;-) Basically, we were both working too hard and until late hours over past winter & into this spring, so we simply didn't have energy to dwell deeper into that kind of decisions. Therefore, we didn't.

When a date of our departure was getting closer, we decided to book only our first three nights on Bali, in Kuta (very close to the airport). To be on a safe side and to allow us to distress & loosen up in a complete peace after landing. As well as to be extensively pampered at the same time. And few weeks before, when I realised I could tick off another one from my bucket list (!) on Bali, I booked additional two nights for us, in Lovina (North of Bali).

Go figure, out of all recommended vaccinations, we decided for and managed to take first shots against hepatitis A few days prior our departure! BARB!?! "Better than nothing", said our family doctor. "Next & final shots in October." Fine with us! ;-)

27 April!!! My precious daughter's 22nd birthday & our departure day! We were packing the whole morning (there was no time nor sense for it before), chatting with Sara (I love you to bits, Princess!), obvious chores before a longer absence ... We could have easily missed the plane on that pace. ;-) Two delicious sandwiches from Pulp next to ours, and we're ready to go.

We took a train to the airport. Piece of cake as we live close to the North railway station, from where a train ride to the national airport takes only 12 to 16 minutes. Came, checked-in (no, no upgrade possible), passed all check-ups, bought a bottle of water, ready for boarding - all on time.

Friday 27 April 2012 | duration 6:30

Dep: 16:00 Brussels, Belgium | BRU

Arr: 23:30 Doha, Qatar | DOH

Time between flights : 2:55

Saturday 28 April 2012 | duration 11:35

Dep: 02:25 Doha, Qatar | DOH

Note: includes 1 technical stop | Singapore

Arr: 19:00 Denpasar Bali, Indonesia | Ngurah Rai DPS

Travelling time: 21:00 hours

All on time & without unpleasant surprises. Yep, it was a long one but we managed. True, it was easier on me as I can sleep literaly everywhere (if I'm not cold or hungry or both). And believe me, after a new perfume bottle in Doha and quite decent meals on board, I slept as a baby. ;-) I woke up right on time for breakfast; well, dinner. ;-) My Precious one has checked & seen quite some movies, managed to sleep a bit too. And he took a great care of me, all the time!

Quite small airport (they're building a new building next to the old one), warmth, humidity & happy buzz around us - WELCOME to BALI!!!

Decision Making Process & Initial Steps

One autumn evening, we were into memories & photos of our new big family vacation on Hvar, Croatia (in August 2011) ... and consequently, we found ourselves making a wish list of our long vacation destinations (of approximately three weeks), short vacation strolls (of one week), and long weekend ideas we intended to make happen.

Bali (Indonesia) was our first choice for our next long vacation. Not only while Berry's father was from Java, it somehow felt right. Family vacation last summer was great & much fun, but we've promised to each other we would go somewhere far & all alone for the very first time since we "found" each other (in 2008 ;-). Well, we have a not-so-hidden agenda for our long vacation destinations too: we'll only visit & explore warm & sunny places for which we feel we might like enough to built our new home & life there once; sooner or later.

Decision taken. Bali, here we come! ;-)

Well, it took me few reminders to come up with eventual time frame for it. End of April & May 2012, with so many public holidays, seemed to be a perfect fit. 

Berry's agreement was not hard to get. ;-) Yep, he loves me and he always repeats that "all he ever wants is that I'm happy". Second, I needed to check that my boss would agree with this initial plan. See, where I work, long vacation outside of usual July-August frame are not so frequent, as well as they're subject to prior approval. Mission accomplished! My boss want me happy too, n'est pas? ;-)

In early November 2011, when I started to browse & search for as cheap as possible flight tickets, my smile started to vanish. We decided we'd take off Brussels, as any other option would only present us with unforeseeable additional costs & arrangements. Guys, Brussels - Denpasar and back costs a lot of money! With a bit of luck (I believe this travel was indeed intended to happen) and quite of desperate searching, Qatar presented their "followers" with a special 2-days offer on few destinations. 775,70 € per person from BRU to DPS? Master card, where are you? Hurray! ;-) My smile restored! As well as my hope we wouldn't get bankrupt because of it. ;-)

PS: Abbreviation BARB comes from our names: Berry Aida Ruperts Bibar.