Day 1: arriving in Bali

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After setting up food and litter trays for the cats, we made our way to the airport. It’s not long since our last trip in July. After a year of no holidays, 2015 is certainly the year for travel. Unlike last time, we left the mains power on as we like to come back home to a working fridge :-)

What a pleasant surprise to bump into an old colleague at the airport. The lovely Melvin, who used to be a concierge at National Australia Bank, is now a flight attendant for Virgin and was rostered on our flight! He looked after us beautifully – thanks Melvin! After a 6 hour flight, we landed in Denpasar and I must say I was relieved to have pre-booked our airport transfer. It’s absolute mayhem at the international airport, so it was refreshing to see our driver’s smiling face and the board with my name on it.

We quickly realized that everyone is out to make some money, starting with the chap who wheeled along our suitcase and then, to our surprise, turned out not to be with our driver. Our driver was a pleasure to spend the 40 minute drive to Seminyak with. The traffic, of course, was nuts but we could already see the beauty of this island: lush flora and stunningly adorned buildings. There is however no mistaking that it is a third world country with serious poverty.

Once we arrived to our hotel villa (Bali Yarravillas which I had seen advertised in Seddon, Melbourne) we were shown our room for the next four nights – the tiniest hotel room that I have ever seen and not quite what I had expected! There was no way I was going to spend any time in a dark and dingy 18m2 room during my birthday, so we upgraded to the next level. It was a bit like upgrading from economy to first class – we ended up with a spacious villa-style apartment. The large sitting room and kitchen, bedroom, walk-in robes and especially the semi outdoor bathroom were lovely. Happy smiles all round.

After settling in, we spent the evening walking around the streets of Seminyak and down to the beach for a drink. Bali's local beer is Bintag which Dean very quickly developed a relationship with. Seminyak Beach is quite an experience. countless bars are dotted along the shore, all set up in the same style: with bean bags and Balinese umbrellas. It's the perfect spot to watch the sun set and chill out with a glass of rosé.

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