Our trip from Berastagi to Toba wasn't too bad. We decided to get here by taking public bus which meant 3 cramped vans/buses and a ferry - cramped meaning 15 seaters with 24 people in them leaving standing room only and two people literally hanging out the door! Luckily, all of our bus connection points went extremely smoothly. Whenever we got off one bus, another was waiting to take us to our next destination. In Parapat, the ferry boarding town for Tuk-Tuk, we met a local named Roman who asked where we were headed. We had been recommended a guesthouse by a friend in Berastagi, so we told him MAS Cottages. A huge smile came across his face and he exclaimed “That's where I work!”. When we got to the island he got us some free ... read more

As Rebecca's Grandad would say “Oooo Heck!”. Where to start with this one?! The beginning is usually the best place to start so we'll give that a shot... The last few days of our life have been like living in a David Attenborough documentary. We were in the jungle, surrounded by birds, insects, primates, fauna and flora etc. It has been absolutely unreal! Warning: The pictures we will show you and the blog we are about to share are not even going to come close to justifying what we experienced in the last few days! Our first night in Bukit Lawang we stayed at a guesthouse we had read nothing but rave reviews about, Greenhill. The reviews were all accurate; it was great! We had a private room pretty much directly in the jungle with a ... read more

So nice, they named it twice... okay not really, that's just me. But it was a fantastic little beach town that we could have definitely spent another day or two in. How many times have we said that? It is extremely hard to leave each of these gems we find along the way, but moving on to see more of them is just as exciting! Kuta, Lombok: surf town, friendly locals, weird sand. The sand was not tiny stones like we are used to in Canada, it wasn't powdery like the Gili's, it was more like little balls. Must have something to do with the coral reef that is about 300m from shore. We had one whole day in Kuta and we spent it walking around looking for a monkey forest. There are little kids everywhere ... read more

It's been just over a full month since we got to Indonesia and there are a couple of milestones that should be acknowledged. Tyler has been travelling for about 32 days and has not had a single injury! Yay Tyler! This is definitely the longest either of us has been travelling. Every day going forward will be a new record for us and if our trip goes as planned we will have been away from home for over 240 days. (sorry for the reminder Mom, I love you – only like 200 more days until I book my flight home!) I cannot believe how much we have learned and accomplished already. We have climbed active volcanoes (as in more than one), partially learned a different language, witnessed once-in-a-lifetime sunrises and sunsets, walked on ancient bricks that ... read more

Yesterday, Tyler and I had to leave Nusa Lembongan to move on to our next destination, the island of Lombok. I'm going to give you the most accurate description I can of the looooooong day we just had. There are so many amazing things you get to do when you travel, but I wanted to tell you about this experience to show you that our trip isn't all beaches and sunny days. Some days aren't the most pleasant... First I will tell you our plan – boat from Lembongan to Sanur, bus from Sanur to Padangbai, ferry from Padangbai to Senggigi, find a place to stay. Busy but doable!! For days we had been watching people leave Lembongan thinking “those poor suckers” but that day had now dreadfully come for us :( we said goodbye to ... read more