Birthday Turbulence

Sunday, September 16, 2018

After my extremely exciting birthday, where we had to check out at 11 am and our flight was scheduled for 1:20 am the next night, we were a bit exhausted from so much boredom and sitting around. Unfortunately, with a 20kg backpack, you're not really willing to explore half the city!

We sat comfortably on the beach and had fun with the street dogs 😬

For birthday meal #1, there was NO Nasi Goreng (!) but Banana Milkshake and a large portion of Quinoa! Gianna had a Veggie Burger with Sweet Potato Fries.

Now it's time to say goodbye beautiful Bali! We will definitely come back, there's still so much to discover! 😃 We especially loved the sensational and very diverse food, the diving was incredibly beautiful, and the scenery was breathtaking!

The culture is completely different, the traffic is dangerous, but the people are incredibly nice. :) To top it all off, Indonesia is incredibly cheap if you want it to be! But if you want, you can also spend a lot of money.

But since we have set a rough budget for each country, we always check at the end of each country if we still have reserves!

Bali & Singapore (about 3.5 weeks):

Accommodations 867.—

Excursions 321.—

Diving & Surfing 516.—

Cash withdrawals (food and shopping) 930.—

With a total budget of CHF 1,330.— per person, I slightly exceeded it (without diving, we spent 1,059.— per person) because I got my diving certificate!

There is still room for improvement in terms of accommodations, but it wasn't worth it to us. You can find exceptionally nice accommodations for as little as CHF 10.— per person. We always booked these usually 2 days in advance through an app (Airbnb) and everything always worked out fine.

Our communication 30 minutes before the flight did not go well!! When I had to do my obligatory pre-flight anxiety ritual on Indonesian soil, Gianna was supposedly waiting in front of the bathroom..10 minutes later, she was naturally nowhere to be found, so I assumed she was in the women's restroom, as we always wait for each other in front of the bathroom. I started to get really worried and imagined Gianna lying in a Balinese backyard without a kidney and liver 😬 (https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.n-tv.de/panorama/Organhandel-in-Indonesien-article41388.html)!

Heaven, what should I say at home, hello I lost your daughter 😅!!!

When my name was announced at the airport, I decided to run to the gate and was warmly welcomed there! Mister Benz, you're almost the last one...To my great relief, I saw my pearl of the south waiting in the bus that would take us to the plane 😱😃! We vowed that we wouldn't allow such panic to happen again!

Well, we made it and even survived the flight (it was only 2.5 hours) to Darwin! My fear of flying is getting a little better each time, and in the end, I even paid a visit to the pilot in the cockpit and had him explain a few things to me! ✈️

Well, there we were - AUSTRALIAAAA!!! 🇦🇺🙂

As the first official act, I treated myself to a new GoPro (underwater camera) so we can take good photos in Australia too. Price-wise, it's even much cheaper than in Switzerland, let alone in Bali, where prices for brands or especially Western goods are extremely high (like sunscreen)!

After dealing with the super friendly but barely understandable customs officers (many Aussies, as the Australians call themselves, have a strong dialect), we were even allowed to bring in our 2 packs of Oreos! That's not a given, as Australia has very strict import regulations.

No guns is understandable, but no nuts 🥜 can enter the country, and if your camping chair still has dirt from the last country on it, you can leave it behind! This is to protect Australia from diseases that could destroy the local flora and fauna.

The first day went by quite uneventfully. We arrived at 5:30 am and had to kill time until we could check into our accommodation at 3:00 pm!

After a few naps at the airport, we took a taxi to the city and went to a small park, where we had lunch and took a nap.