BALI - March 2025 - Day 1

 Arrival Day

After our delay in Melbourne we arrived in Denpasar at around 2:00pm, As I had pre done all the paper work it was fairly quick and easy to get through the air port and collect our luggage.

Where you walk out there is an area where drivers are waiting holding signs and you find your name and they get their car and take you to the hotel. This process was fairly straight forward and went well. We tipped the driver $10

We arrived at our hotel and while we were checking in we received a welcome drink in the lobby.

We were shown to our room where I disinfected everything. We then had to get our interconnecting room configuration changed as it was set up as a king bed and a trundle instead of 2 twin beds and a trundle as requested. The staff were lovely and attended to this straight away.

We decided to go for a walk around the area just outside our hotel to get our bearings and see what was around and become accustomed to the locals trying to sell us things and come into their shops.

I had spent a lot of time preparing the kids for this so they knew what to expect and so they weren't over whelmed and afraid when we went out in the streets. They did very well.

We purchased 3 large bottles of water from the mini mart across the road from the hotel for a total of $2.70 but didn't buy anything else.

We returned to the hotel and the boys decided to go for a swim, Kayleigh wanted her hair braided so I decided to brave it and go out by our self and bargain to get her hair braided.  A few people had offered us hair braiding the first time we went out and I had already chosen which one we were going to go to. Her coloured hair braids cost $25 and took about an hour to do

While I was waiting for her I had some ear candling done for $7 and then got my hair done in 2 braids for $5

When we came back she had a swim in the pool and I enjoyed my first cocktail

We had dinner at the hotel at one of the restaurants, the Cafe' Piazza which is an Italian restaurant. We all had a main and drinks and the kids had dessert and the total was $100

We went for a walk around the gardens which were beautiful and night before heading to bed.

Approx Total Cost for Day 1 $150

Airport Transfer driver tip $10

Coloured Braids $25

Ear Candling $7

My 2 braids $5

3 x Large water $2.70

Dinner / Drinks / dessert $100

(nb: changes to the room at the hotel are not included until the end)