Our honeymoon trip to Bali!

My dream came true - we spent our honeymoon in Bali!

My husband and I have never used the services of tour operators, we always plan ourselves, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much. We decided to try a new service for us from Dreamers (dreamers.com.ua), we fell for an individual approach and the opportunity not to bother ourselves.

To be honest, until the very end of the trip, I was waiting for a catch - either with a flight, or with a hotel, or with services. And upon returning we write to you - we are delighted! We want to share our impressions of the trip.

The choice of destination for honeymoon fluctuated between Bali and the Maldives. The choice leaned towards Bali, because. my husband and I prefer outdoor activities and, after talking with the Dreamers manager, we finally concluded that Bali will be brighter.

The manager offered, without going beyond our budget, to also live on the neighboring islands of Indonesia, and stay for a few days in Singapore.

So our route looked like this:

Kyiv - Singapore - Bali - Gili Trawangan - Lombok - Bali - Singapore - Kyiv.

Our trip lasted three weeks - a real honeymoon :)

The flight to Singapore from Kyiv took 11 hours - if you sleep on the plane, time passes faster, and acclimatization and the hourly difference are easier to bear :)

We arrived in the evening, we were met by a transfer and taken to the hotel, which was located in the center of Singapore, a few minutes walk from Ruffles Avenue and 10 minutes from Marina Bay, where the famous Marina Bay Sands hotel is located. We enjoyed walking around Singapore at night, which lives until late at night, and people walk, eat in street cafes and restaurants and have fun. He shook the city with its cleanliness and consciousness of the locals. I can say that I could not live there, because. outwardly it gives the impression of a jungle city of concrete and glass. At the same time, Singapore left the impression of a very beautiful and powerful city, one of the world's business centers. I won’t bore you with details, I just want to say that we received a lot of positive feedback from Singapore over the three days that we spent there: we ate with pleasure in street cafes and good restaurants overlooking Marina Bay, visited the observation deck at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, just walked around the city, visited Sentosa Island with its attractions and entertainment, walked along the night Bagis Street and drank insanely delicious fresh juices and smoothies presented in huge quantities; bought new clothes in shopping centers ... in general! it was cool! Dreamers supplied us to the teeth with information about the city, attractions and a guide to restaurants, we were very comfortable relaxing in a foreign country.

Next, we had a flight from Singapore to Bali! The flight took 2.5 hours. We also arrived in the evening and took a taxi from the airport. A taxi to Sanur cost us about 8 US dollars, about 15-20 minutes on the road.

I really liked the first hotel with its lobby and territory! The hotel is surrounded by greenery and fountains. Located on the first line by the sea, a step away from the hotel restaurant is already the beach. We had a deluxe room. We spent the next day in a quiet rest on the beach, experiencing the remnants of acclimatization. The husband managed to burn out in 10 minutes without protective cream, forgotten in the room (despite the fact that it was the rainy season). In Indonesia and Asia, you need to be very careful with the sun, we always use a sunscreen with +50 protection, because. you burn in minutes without such protection!

The next day, a driver picked us up and took us to the first part of the sightseeing. Bali is a big island, it is impossible to see it in a day or two, and due to this, trips can be tiring if you try to go around a large area at once. In Dreamers, we were planned in such a way that during our stay in Bali we lived in several hotels and, based on the location, we made a route for visiting attractions. We traveled 2/3 of the island during our stay in Bali. Why only 2/3? We didn't manage to do the rest  Therefore, we decided not to try to cover everything in one visit and leave something else for the next time. We did not make it to the Lovina area - dolphins live there in their natural environment and did not make it to the northwestern part of the island, where the safari is located. It is recommended to go on a safari for at least 3 days. In Bali, we visited many nature reserves, were in the vicinity of two volcanoes, rice and coffee plantations, lagoons, a fish market, a village of craftsmen with their woodwork, many temples ... The most beautiful is the temple of Tana Lot, Ulan Danu, of course Besakih temple - its second name is Mother Temple, also Tirta Empul temple. There are a great many temples in Bali and the main large temples are insanely beautiful! It is forbidden to enter the temples with bare feet, but do not worry, because. everywhere they give out a skirt for free or for a couple of rupees. The only thing you should take care of before leaving the temples is to put on a top that will cover your shoulders and chest.

We had a very good driver, with whom we traveled on all routes, he also met us upon arrival from other islands. A very pleasant person is important, because this person accompanies you throughout the day.

We allocated a full day for a trip to the sights, from 9-10 in the morning, returning to the hotel by 8-9 in the evening. The next day after such a busy schedule, as a rule, was spent in a “lazy” mode  Such an excursion day cost us exactly the cost of driver services - from 30-40 dollars per day per trip, not counting the cost of entering the temples. From the tour agencies that we saw in Bali, the cost of one trip was from $ 45 per person.

After 5 days of staying on Sanur, we left for the port to move to Gili. Following the instructions, we bought tickets for a speedboat in the port and after 1.5 hours we were already on the cheerful Gili. Gili Trawangan is an absolutely youthful island, and it is moderately crowded, which allows you to relax. We rested in a stunning villa, which was located at a distance from the main street, hustle and bustle, and at the same time we could walk to "civilization" in 10 minutes. The choice of the villa hit the mark, because. when you arrive on the island, you realize that there is only one street along which there are restaurants, hotels, diving centers, shops, etc. ... and all this is accompanied by noise. We were pleased with the location of the hotel. By the way, there is no transport at all on the island - the only means of transportation other than two can be a bicycle or a horse with a team  This creates a special romance! You can go diving or snorkeling on Gili, we also took a kayak boat and swam to the neighboring island, literally "across the road". The underwater world in the bay near Gili is very beautiful - a lot of corals, thousands of colorful fish, there are turtles. The sand is white. There are a lot of restaurants with different prices. As an experiment, we decided to visit the local night market. It is a small square where merchants gather in the evening, who cook food on the spot, with their transportable kitchen or barbecue. These are freshly caught fish with a side dish, or banana pancakes or spring rolls (fried rice paper pancakes stuffed with vegetables). You can choose fish or seafood on the spot, they cook it there, serve it with a side dish and sauces. There are also plenty of communal tables where you can see international youth chatting merrily to each other and eating their own food. We were infected by the cheerful atmosphere of this market and we decided to try it. It is worth saying that the food was cooked no worse than in a civilized restaurant by the sea (certainly not art cuisine :) and much cheaper - and everything was very tasty and quite safe, and in a pleasant company of new friends.

After 5 days on Gili (which flew like one day) we went to Lombok, already on the ferry. There was a transfer waiting for us and took us to the hotel. I can say about Lombok that it is a Muslim island, so it's worth stocking up on your alcohol on the way there :) We bought a lot of inexpensive but interesting souvenirs there. It is very worth buying pearl jewelry in Lombok, there are many plantations and the prices for products are very inexpensive. On Lombok, the sunset is special - it's even a whole ritual - to have time to take the most advantageous place at a restaurant table by the sea and enjoy an extraordinary sunset.

A few days later we returned to Bali, already in another part of the island, to Amed and spent the rest of our vacation there, enjoying excursions, the sea, diving and local delicacies.

Later, from one of the tourists, we heard something like "I'm already tired of their fried noodles." We were very surprised by this - perhaps someone was unlucky with the choice of a restaurant or hotel, but we were convinced that Balinese cuisine is so diverse! And in Bali they know how to cook very tasty fish and seafood dishes! And the kinds of fish! Fish such as mahi-mahi and blue marlin we first tried in Bali. On Gili we met a lot of barracuda, and in Bali - tuna and sea bass were like sprats :)

Our driver took us from Amed to the airport. By the way, do not pounce on souvenirs for friends during the holidays. On the way to the airport, there is just the Ole Ole shopping center, 5 minutes from the airport - where we found a lot of inexpensive souvenirs - from magnets and T-shirts to local cosmetics and sweets! And the prices are much cheaper than street vendors!

And then a plane was waiting for us to Singapore, and then to Kyiv.

Prices for food and other goods in shops in Bali are equivalent to prices in Ukraine, although many local fruits and, especially fish, are several times cheaper.

The budget for our trip was $3,990 (not counting on-site expenses).

Of these, 2690 US dollars were air travel - 4 air travel one way.

A total of 5 hotels for three weeks cost us $1,300. Breakfast was included everywhere, they paid for the hotels at the place of stay, no reservation fee was charged in advance, although some hotels asked for a deposit, which was returned upon check-out.

I apologize for such a long review, but I couldn’t express my delight and describe my impressions in short .. We were very pleased with the way our vacation was planned, because it was a special trip for me and my husband :)

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