First Blog from Bali

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Is there anything more difficult than traveling? I don’t think so. First there is the ‘getting ready to go’ stage. I always give myself about 10% of the time I need to get all this shit done. When I realize I don’t have enough time, I start to waste time by making lists of the stuff that needs to get done. Cancel the newspaper subscription, finish that project at work that has been sitting on my desk for two months, visit my family and my friends. Each item on the list is not difficult or time consuming but there are like 400 hundred of them.
Next comes the ‘packing’ stage. Of course I figure I will pack ‘light’ so I hallucinate that I can pack in something like two hours. The absurdity of the hallucination hits me when it takes two hours just to find the charger for my battery camera.
When I dream of a vacation and a trip, I see myself sitting under a palapa sipping a cold beer and munching on chilled shrimp with some sauce dripping down my chin; or I’m surfing a 6 foot right point with three friends, the wind is offshore and the sun is shining; or I might be strolling down a wide avenue poking in and out of art galleries and stopping to sip cappuccino while watching folks walk by.

I most certainly don’t anticipate how difficult it is to get up at 3:00 AM to catch a 9:00 AM flight out of JFK. I don’t imagine just how much anxiety there is sitting on the Hutchinson Parkway, traffic stopped, and the first snowflakes from the much anticipated Noreaster starting to accumulate on the windshield.
I forget just how small those seats on the plane are and just how annoying the asshole sitting behind me can be as he keeps pushing his knees into my back.

If I did remember all or any of this, I would never take another trip. I would just stay home and be comfortable watching Law and Order reruns. And I would never ever go to Bali because the first leg of the trip is a 14 hour flight to Tokyo. The second and shorter leg is a puddle jumper of only 8 hours.
If I did give up travel though, I never would have arrived at the Lazy Dog Villa in Sanur, Bali. I wouldn’t have met the owner, Ray, who picked us up at the airport and asked, “what time tomorrow would you like the maid and cook to arrive?” Maid? Cook??
The pictures are of the house we staying at. The driveway has tiles with molds of tree leaves; the pool is in the living room and the maid…..she comes at 8:00 and smiles as she says ‘Good Morning”.
So I am grateful that my memory is not so good because it allows me to get to some pretty cool places.

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Photos

Jack and Susan sitting by the pool
First day was spent lounging by the pool snoozing catching up on some rest.

Nancy heading out to the pool
The living area is open and this shot is from the kitchen towards the pool

Comments

[Frank Ferendo]

Keep em coming
Excellent! Keep the blogs coming. Very entertaining! Yesterday morning it was 8 degrees here in Westerly.

[mama C]

yo yo paradise it is
Loved your blog Mike and Nancy, you are such a good writer. you should write a book in your free time, keep a journal a going ya know with some sketches, travel logs as I do. and the places and things you see and your impressions and feelings and emotions. oh my this place is like gorgeous, and so like two couples in a castle and a maid ,no way. so where are da waves and all, Im sooo happy for you Mike, enjoy your dream trip, and enhale all the scents and sounds of your environment and do some quiet time, some yoga and then dance around hee hee, keep me informed and you have me dreamin. Im havin a shoulder replacement in february but will surf again. I wish I was still in some place warm for sure hugs to all Janice

[poppy bruce]

New York Death squad needs Capt. Chappy back
where are the surf pics?...or are you all just drinking around the pool... Glad you all are having fun and wish I was there... keep up the blog