Hello Bali ☀️

3 days of travel are behind me, now I'm sitting in Bali, Keramas on the black sand beach!

I still can't believe it. It's still unreal and I'm still arriving.

Everything went smoothly, I was lucky again, and on the flight from Frankfurt to Doha, there were two empty seats and I could lay down to sleep🙏🏻 Unfortunately, I couldn't do the same on the long flight to Jakarta, but surprisingly I managed to sleep for a few hours sitting, even though my neck hurts and I'm pretty sure I snored 😅

The night in Jakarta was short, this time the time difference is affecting me more.. but it's not a big deal, I can just laze around all day.

The journey continues the next morning. In the evening, a "Uber" driver was waiting in front of my hostel and after a short consideration of whether I should really ride a scooter to the airport (at least a 30-minute ride), I thought, well, come on, you wanted to experience an adventure... so I negotiated the price and reserved for the next morning. According to him, leaving at 10 o'clock would be enough for the flight at 12:30.. well, trust him, he must know!

As promised, he was at the hostel at exactly 10 o'clock and loaded me and my huge backpack onto the scooter! Through the dense traffic of Jakarta, among 100 scooters, tuk-tuks, and cars, we honked our way through the stuffy streets to the airport. After 20 minutes, he asked me if I had breakfast - when I said no, he stopped 5 minutes later and got me 3 fried tempeh at the side of the road - that's also an option, having breakfast on a scooter while driving at full speed through the chaos, great! (He even sent me a link to a WhatsApp group where many German backpackers who are currently in Indonesia are🙏🏻)

At the airport, I checked in and walked to the gate, still one hour until departure... but my flight is not displayed on any board.. I waited until boarding time and when the flight is not called, I finally asked. Delayed - at least one hour delay.. okay, welcome to Indonesia 😅

Two other tourists are standing next to me and asking what's going on.. we sit together at the gate and wait. She is from Italy and visiting friends in Bali for 4 weeks. He is German and accompanying the Formula E as an audio engineer. Super exciting stories and my journey starts just as I hoped - not alone but directly connected and going through the maze at the airport together. Our flight was scheduled for Tuesday 😅

It will be fine, my trust in the universe is still there - the staff said the flight is going, it will be fine. And indeed, one hour later we are sitting in the plane!

Arriving in Bali, the scent of incense sticks awaits me, enveloping the entire island 🤩 It's wonderful ☀️

My taxi driver from last year is already waiting at the door and welcoming me. We drive towards Keramas and stop at a small warung because I haven't eaten anything except for the three mini tempeh. The first Nasi Goreng (fried rice) tastes fantastic! Let's see when I start to get annoyed by it, because it's available here at any time of the day and also very popular for breakfast 🙈 😅 we drive for 1.5 hours and it's dark when we arrive at my homestay. Exhausted from the jet lag and the journey, I fall into bed! Tomorrow, I will explore the area.

It all feels familiar and I'm glad I chose Indonesia as my starting point. Through my 3 weeks last year, I know the customs of how to get from A to B, and having a familiar face welcoming you feels good too.

Nevertheless, it still feels very unreal and my mind is still in the clouds. It will take me a few days to realize where I am and what I'm actually doing here.

Annika, whom I met at Birke and lives on Gili Air, immediately wrote to me saying she has a bed and a shower for me and she's looking forward to me visiting and I will definitely do that ☀️ another familiar face 😍 it doesn't feel like traveling alone 🙏🏻

For my spelling junkies:

Free commas to choose from and freely assigned by myself 😁🤣: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,