Amsterdam and Bali! 2024

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Amsterdam – what a day. Started with a surprise mini family reunion at Jackies’ nieces place. Seeing everyone warmed our hearts. We had a whirlwind tour of this amazing city and it left me wanting more! In total we walked over 10 km’s as a group of 10, and no sleep for about 30 hours for Jackie and I. Justin, Joyce’s partner, is a natural tour guide. Has the voice and everything. He was delighted to share the history of the places we walked and knew so much about the city. A little Ironic as he is actually from the USA and has lived in Amsterdam for about 10 years. We saw Anne Franks house (the outside of it) of course. Several canals, The Dam, and amazing tasting bar (Wynand Fockink) that creates any flavour you want with delicious alcohol as well as many other amazing streets and buildings. the architecture was incredible and diverse. I loved how they build around or expand the old with new. There were also several leaning buildings which cause one to pause and take in. What a beautiful day to spend together for our 11 hour layover. I hope we can return soon and lean into all the things to experience.



We arrived in Denpasar the evening of Feb 10^th. By this time we had been traveling since 0800 Feb 8^th. The airport has been renovated and quite lovely. We did not pay for our VOA (Visa on Arrival) on line (mistake!) so instead of breezing through in about 10 min’s it took an hour and standing in a very long line. Lesson learned! We finally got through the maze and stepped outside into the familiar humid air at 28 degrees C. I love this part. We have arrived and the stress of life seems to melt away instantly as Bali welcomes us back. Our lovely driver Rio was waiting for us in his usual place outside though all the chaos and yelling ‘taxi, Taxi Miss”. The chilled Bintang’s await us for the drive to our villa in Sanur. There is a lot of construction going on and recovery from COVID is still ongoing.

After a good sleep (finally) we get up and go for a walk to see how things have changed. We find the locals market, massive, bought a fresh Mango from a lovely lady for $1.29 Canadian and then head back to meet up with Jackie’s sister and Brother-in-law who are here with us for a week. So privileged to be sharing breakfast with them in another country and catching up on all the news of each other’s lives. We linger over breakfast and then stroll along the beach. Stop for a small bite and fresh juice and head back to chill more by the pool. We look forward to having dinner at the night market and it did not disappoint! The satay was incredible, the soto Ayam (chicken soup) was good as well. The four of us ate 3 orders of satay, rice, 1 soup, 2 beers, 1 water, 2 fresh mango juice for the grand total of $20 Canadian.

Today, we woke to warm showers and enjoyed a 3 km walk along the beach at 0600am. Beautiful. Once the clouds break open it’s going to be a day at the beach!

(The pictures won't line up but there are some below 😊)

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