Departure

Today is Thursday, the 20th of July 2023, our departure from Amed.

Yesterday we had already packed our 7 things, so we only had to pack a few utensils.

We reluctantly left our room and went downstairs to our breakfast table.

Erry had changed shifts with Made so she could say goodbye. It was somehow depressing, not really realizing that we were leaving today.

Although, if I'm being honest, saying goodbye wasn't that difficult for me, since I knew we would come back in November.

We enjoyed our breakfast, then bought a bag for myself in a Balinese shop, and waited until 12 o'clock. At 12 o'clock, Nghuran was supposed to take us to the airport.

In the meantime, Yeni came to give me small gifts for Fabian, Maxi, and Swantje. She was really sweet and caring. She has almost become a friend or little sister to us. We also said goodbye to her, and finally I gave her my barefoot shoes. She could use them better than me. They were a size too big, but it didn't bother her. She put them on right away and had a lot of fun with them.

One good deed a day, my budget was already fulfilled for today.

When it was time, we said goodbye to everyone. Even to the manager, we said goodbye until November 🤣. Our plan is to spend our 30th wedding anniversary in Bali, in Amed.

Once we had said goodbye to everyone, including taking photos, we headed towards Denpasar.

Ngurah was very excited to drive us to the airport. He would be the only one who could spend an extra 3 hours with us. We had a lot of fun on the way and bought a small gift for a dear friend. But that wasn't the only stop.

About 1.5 hours into the car ride, Rainer and I got a little hungry, and a little later Ngurah stopped at a street food place. We both wanted Chicken Bakso, and that's what we got. It was delicious, this time the lady served us sliced rice with the soup. We had never seen that before 🤣. With full stomachs, we continued our journey.

I didn't really feel like I was going to the airport. It felt more like we were going on a day trip.

When we arrived at the airport, we took some pictures and said goodbye to Ngurah, with the intention of having him pick us up again in November.

We already checked in online, so all we had to do was drop off our suitcases, go through passport control, and go through security. And we were done. We did a little bit of shopping and relaxed in the smoking lounge for a while. We both felt like we were in our home airport. Nothing felt strange or tense. Everything was easy peasy.

Only Nicole's call made us very sad. She told us that our Carlos had passed away during the night. We had been expecting it for a while, but when it actually happened, we were very sad. He had always been a loyal companion and an important member of our family.

With a 10-minute delay, we took off towards Dubai. Just before we had to take the turn to our plane, Rainer said, "Let's take this exit, not the one to the plane." That would have been something 🤣🤣🤣.

We were in the air for 8 hours and 35 minutes. We slept, chatted, watched movies, and ate and drank during that time. When people ask how long it takes to fly to Bali, it always sounds like a lot, and when we say: pure flight time about 15 hours. Then another 2/3 hours for layover, it's about 18-20 hours in total.

The nice thing is, you don't have to do much, just sit on your butt and be pampered.

After all, Bali is not just around the corner.

We arrived in Dubai at 12:30 am, German time, and anyone who has been to Dubai Airport knows how big it is. It was already almost disappointing on the outbound flight. We arrived at Gate B back then and stayed there. We did take a bus ride for 18 minutes, but I had already forgotten about that.

But this time we had to go through a security check, take a train, use elevators, and probably walk for about 45 minutes. It was a marathon march. We saw 5 duty-free shops on different levels. Although the word shop doesn't really do justice to the whole thing.

At 3:00 am, we had boarding, and at 3:45 am, we flew to Frankfurt. It was a quiet flight, most of the passengers were sleeping. I wrote my blog and then watched a film about Whitney Houston. The film was called "I wanna dance with somebody". I didn't know it. It was Whitney's story, from signing the record contract to her death.

While watching the film, and it being dark around me, I compared the airplane to a hotel room a bit. Except that you had a few roommates. But it was dark, you were covered, had a pillow behind your neck, and watched a film. Such a flight doesn't have to be long and terrible.

After that, I tried to sleep a little as well. But I couldn't manage it. I thought about Amed and Bali. about everything we had experienced and seen. The smell of Amed is still present in my memory. The smells on the main road, mixed with the incense sticks that were everywhere in front of the houses and shops with the corresponding flower baskets. All the warungs that usually smelled like garlic when you walked by.

I thought about the evenings we spent comfortably in our hotel, smoking cigars, the diving events. I thought about all of that as I closed my eyes.

Just before landing, I put my sneakers back on, which had been under my seat for 6 hours. It was already a catastrophe to put on shoes on the first flight from Denpasar to Dubai. We hadn't worn closed shoes for 3.5 weeks. Only barefoot shoes or flip-flops. I hate shoes... I always have, but now I realized it again. Why do you always have to constrain your feet. Cruel.

We landed in Frankfurt on time at 8:47 am, German time.

Just in Bali, now already in Germany. Too bad.

At 11:42 am, our ICE train to Duisburg departed, and the wonderful vacation was over.

Amed, we will come back, promised ♥️🇮🇩🤍