For those readers who have blogs, most will know I’ve been in Bali for a week. I try to limit ‘advertising’ my holidays prior to going, you know, just in case I have a crazy maniac stalker and all.
My younger brother of the two has been teaching in England for nine months. (Oh, if you have any ‘9 month’ jokes none would be as poetic as the fact my BF’s ex is pregnant… alas, his London sojourn means he’s not the father). Anyhow, a year ago my parents suggested a family holiday in Bali in Sept 2015, no matter where they and their kids had scattered to.
Sadly, one brother didn’t make it, but it was great from the littlest to fly 16 hours to join us for a few days in our uncle’s villa in Bali. The BF and I flew Friday evening, and were offered an upgrade a week out, which we jumped on! My parents flew the same flight a night later. The brother came on Tuesday and then we all left on Saturday – my parents for Singapore to London to ‘visit’ the brother, my brother to Doha then London and we had a direct flight to Sydney.
It was an incredibly lazy holiday – the villa’s pool was well shaded when needed, and meant lily skinned Sarah didn’t get burnt. Things were ridiculously cheap. I did plan a ‘crazy adventure’ but my mother had recently had her students present on a canyoning disaster, which was the activity I’d been keen to do. In light of that, we didn’t do it, and instead will try it in the Blue Mountains, complete with Australian health care nearby.
Bali is known as a cheap destination for Australian families, but also backpackers. From Perth, our Western city, it’s only a 3 hours flight, so closer than flying to the East coast of Australia. From Sydney it’s about 6 hours.
I feel somewhat uncomfortable about getting massages, pedicures and the like overseas. I always feel like it’s an exploitation of the cheaper labour rates. And they are hardly ‘nice’ service tasks to do for others. Nonetheless, I had two foot massages whilst away.
What else? Here’s a shot of our in house pool:
This was the re-screen right before boarding. For reasons I cannot understand, Aussie flights get a second screen, manually. No x rays. Perfunctory pat downs of women only. Oh and a reinforcement of the LAG rules (no more than 100ml etc) even though you’ve passed passport control, immigration etc. We spent $5 on two waters, to then have to skull them. There wasn’t even a fountain to refill the bottle I BYOed. Tired and cranky – grr!
Bali was steamy and tropical – much like recent trips to Japan, Vietnam and Thailand. I’m hankering for another wintery or chilly trip next. The US was a lovely cool reprieve from the Aussie summer.
Great that you got to see family in a vacation spot! Ours has never done that. I just checked our nearest hot destination (Florida) and it is 6.5 hours flight, so not so different from Sydney to Bali. I had to look up canyoning too! Are you back to work relaxed or tired?
We're lucky to have pretty competitive carriers to Asia, so it is often cheaper than flying 'locally'.
Back to work, ready to go. I was a little hungover with jetlag yesterday. No alcohol, just tiredness…
What a great idea, to meet as a family at a holiday destination like that! A shame the other brother could not come. It's always a strange transition when siblings start to move away for work or partner and the entire original family dynamic changes.
How did the BF go with the time away with the in-laws? I always think it's a really great thing to do, to spend extended time with your partner's family to really get to walk a mile in their shoes.
I've never been to Bali and I guess it's been a bit tarnished for me with the reputation of Aussie drinking and misbehaviour. Also we lived in Coogee where there's a large memorial over the beach to the many locals who were killed in the Bali bombings. But it does look absolutey beautiful for that kind of relaxing, poolside holiday.
What was with the double-screening? The perception that Aussies are involved with drugs?
It worked well – better for us than little bro though!
We happened upon the memorial a few times. Weirdly, someone at work today said 'did you go to the Sari Club?' and I was like 'wasn't that one that was involved with the bombings?'
The double screening – I have no idea. They didn't worry about liquid limits at the first one where there were x rays. Perhaps I should have realised when they said 'you can pick up your duty free at the gate' – but again, it belies belief you can't take a full water bottle on, after a week in a nation with no drinkable plumbed water, and a budget flights?!
Great adult family holiday. And lucky you have an uncle with a villa. I would like to visit Bali but Mr S won’t go. I’ve contemplated going with my sister. But it is unlikely to happen for years.
I understand Mr S not wanting to go – a sister holiday might be the only way. It'll be there for a while, and will only get more and more western as time goes on, so no hurry.
Wow, your family is spread out! I've never lived more than about 1.5 hours from my parents and brothers. I'm glad you had such a wonderful time! I would love to visit Bali 🙂 Everyone I know who has gone has stuck to the beaches so it's cool to see a picture of their streets. I'm trying to convince my parents to do a family vacation next summer. I think my brothers will go for it (as long as we don't share sleeping quarters in case the baby decides to have a party at 2am!).
We aren't always spread out, but now that we are, and it's becoming a new normal, my parents are innovating (and love a great holiday!). We're predicting a US based 'reunion' next year if the other brother moves there as planned.
The heat and sun scare the lily skinned (me!) so I tend to veer away from beach time. I don't mind it early in the day or as the sun sets, but on holidays I'm often to lazy to coordinate to the clock! We did wander a handful of steps on the beach, and that was enough for me.
The villa worked really well – separate rooms but free space in between (like open air hallways). It would work for a baby I think! But I understand your anxiety with a crying baby and people who aren't the parents!