The tradition of taking more than a month to write/post my final blog post continues! *sings Fiddler on the Roof to herself* Tradition! Tra-dish-on! It seems if I don’t use my time on the flight home to type this up, then I don’t get around to it. But here I am, finally with a spare Keep reading
Post monkey forest, Sarah and I had a lovely relaxing mid-day (while Jen got her “art museum fix” in town), and were invited to a complimentary afternoon tea at Alena. My younger self very much believed one should never take a break when traveling; go go go. See everything. Who knows when you’ll be back, Keep reading
Man, the last two-and-a-half days have been so great. I feel like we’ve seen and done so many things, yet it’s never felt rushed and we’ve had lots of relaxing down time too. Just perfect. When we landed at Denpasar Airport, my friend Gusti was waiting to be our driver to take us to Ubud. Keep reading
The poet Robert Burns has been reminding us for many centuries, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley”. But if your plan is to allow for more than adequate travel time and to have a looser itinerary, then you are in a much better mood when the inevitable “going awry” happens. Keep reading
So, a crazy thing happened mid-August. This summer I learned about Scott’s Cheap Flights, an email newsletter that announces great international flight deals. They send out a few emails a day, and I quickly decided that the paying for their subscription premium service was worth it. At only $39 for the entire year, it seemed Keep reading
ellenI sit here, sipping an excellent lychee caipirinha and watching the waves, and trying not to laugh at the two earnest young men singing acoustic Bruno Mars & Katy Perry covers. They’re decent musicians, but such super serious faces. (I’m just glad it wasn’t the quartet from Sulawesi who performed two nights ago. Felt like Keep reading
My back continues to be messed up from a weird twist/climb into the boat after snorkeling. Happily walking around is fine, but sitting in many chairs is bad. So I’ve booked a massage for this afternoon. *fingers crossed* And Jessica is really not feeling well today. We ended up asking for her breakfast to be Keep reading
We’re in Nusa Lembongan right now, and it’s a lovely little beach town on the island. Very walkable. Very chill vibe. Doesn’t have the scores of touts around constantly offering you taxi rides or asking you to buy souvenirs. I mean, folks here still have a lot of ambition and energy spent towards tourists (most Keep reading
There’s been so much we’ve done already, but at the same time, rarely have we felt rushed. Which is the perfect way to vacation. The Alena Resort in Ubud was beyond amazing. We extended our stay there by two nights, we liked it so much. And they upgraded us to a villa with private pool!!!! Keep reading
My ability to speak a few limited phrases in the Indonesian language has been the greatest thing ever! Many folks continue to react like I’ve performed a magic trick, when I’ve just said “good afternoon,” but apparently my pronunciation is good (or more likely, possibly just better than some tourists, and/or they’re being polite). When Keep reading