Fly with me to Indonesia- Bali, Ubud and Lombok

10 days in Indonesia: June 2017

Started our journey from Dubai. We took direct flight with Emirates to Bali, Indonesia. 

First night in Bedrock hotel, airport hotel since we arrived super late. Paid $30 for such a comfortable room with breakfast. It's literally a 5-10 mins ride from the airport and of course the drivers will try to rip you off. They started out with 200,000idr. We lowered to 70,000idr even though we knew it was still a rip off. 

Next day we took Uber to Rimba resort in Jimberan. DONOT tell the hotel receptionists that you're taking Uber. Obviously Uber is legal in Indonesia so therefore the app is there but you'll see signs such as: no Uber, no Grab,... everywhere. They don't like Uber drivers bc they took away the business from taxi drivers. You'll get those Uber drivers in troubles if the hotels know. When they asked if we need transportation, we always told them we have a friend who takes us around. 

Ayana is such a beautiful resort even though it's packed with tourists. You can use all the facilities in Ayana and Rimba resort if you stay in either one. Trams are available every 10 minutes to Kubu private beach and between 2 resorts, as well their villas. The Rock Bar is quite famous and you shouldn't miss it during your Bali vacation, the sunset view is amazing. The Rock Bar is opened to non hotel guests as well except the wait can be long while hotel guests have priority access. Although, that's the place to be, we think the cocktails were just alright while Martini Bar in the villas area has the most amazing drinks. We had a few and none failed us. 

                                                          Welcome to Rimba Resort 

                                                 

                                                   Lobby in Rimba

                                                      Infinity pool in Rimba

                                                  Kubu beach (private beach in Ayana)

                                               Infinity pools in Ayana

                                                          The Rock Bar

                                           Martini Bar at Ayana Villas

Off to Ubud! It's a 1.5 hrs from Jimbaran. We stayed in Kupu Kupu Barong, jungle retreat. It's a very nice resort however the 3 pools they have aren't that nice. Unless you stay in their villa then you'll get a private pool. We didn't. Make sure to bring insects or mosquitoes spray. My whole body was their free buffet. 

Free shuttle to Ubud town from the resort. There aren't much to do in town beside restaurants and bars. 

Activities in Ubud: hired a driver for the entire day. We went to Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple, tegalallang rice terrace, and Tegenungan waterfall (it wasn't impressive at all plus you'll have to walk about 100+ steps to go down which mean you'll have to take the same steps to go up so don't go there.) 

The last day in Ubud, we went to a "hideaway" place to use their jungle swing. Such an amazing experience!!! A Must Do!!! 

Our driver was Yuni. She's lovely. She took a great care of us. If you need her number, drop a line on my post then i'll pm you her number. 

Kupu Kup Barong resort

Swing into the Jungle

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple

Tegalallang Rice Terrace

Tegenungan Waterfall 

A night in Kuta: 

We actually went back to Kuta for a night from Ubub before heading out to Lombok (another island in Indonesia). 

We decided to stay in the center of kuta, where all the actions are. Our hotel, NEO+ was walking distance to all the bars and restaurants, 10 mins to beach walk mall, and right next to sky garden club. Which was a very bad idea! You can hear the loud music from the club in your room. So do not stay there if the noise bothers you, which it was to us. 

Be careful while you're in kuta. It's a very touristic area with lots of shops and tour booths try to sell their products aggressively to you. BE VERY CAREFUL when exchanging money! Boy friend and I couldn't find any legit places so we went into one of those corners with "money changer" sign. The guy distracted us with many questions so we left with 500000idr shortage ($40ish out of $100). We came back right away when we realized we were short. The guy knew right away we're back for the rest of or money so he said he can only give us 350000idr back. While argued back and forth he offered to give back my $100 and take his idr back. The trick is he's going to give us a fake $100 bill. Thank god I knew the trick. There was a mark on my $100 bill so I asked to either give me 500000idr or my original $100 bill and threaten to call the police. He did give us the shortage amount. This happens a lot in Asia and we were just unlucky that day. However we got the money back! 

                                        AVOID this place or count your money 10 times if you need to 

Off to Lombok:

You can find cheap flights to Lombok from Bali or speedboat, which was our option. $32/person one way from Padangbai to Sengigi. Keep in mind that padangai is 1.5 hrs from the airport. It's closer to Ubud. We booked on komodowisata.com Transportation from your hotel to the port is free. There's a list of pick up areas on their website. They do arrange pick up in sengigi for a fee, which we took and it was expensive. It's harder to find taxi at the port though. Always bargain if you want to pay a fix price or ask them to do meter. 

Padangbai port is dirty and unorganized. Just be aware! The ride from Padangbai to sengigi is 1hr30 to 1hr45. The speedboat has 75 seats, toilet, and room for big luggages. The ride was comfortable. 

We stayed in a villa in Puri Mas beach resort. The resort itself is very nice. We are very satisfied with our villa with private pool. The service wasn't great though. We were left waiting for half an hr before anybody came to get our orders. Breakfast was a la carte, not buffet and yet it took 40 mins for us to get our breakfast. If service is important to your stay then I don't recommend to stay here. Otherwise it's a very nice place on the beach and Infinity pool. The drinks aren't too great. Always ask them to make it strong otherwise it's pretty Water down.

 Since it was the end of our vacation, we chose to relax in the resort. You can take a tour to Gili islands which not too far away or kuta beach. There were many men from the "travel agencies" walked along the beach in front of our resort to offer tours.

Pool in our Villa

That was the end of our trip in Indonesia. Enjoy my post and safe travel!

Fly with me to Greece- Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, and Zakynthos

May 2017
I had such an amazing 10 days trip to Greece with my best friends. From Dubai I took EK203 to Athens. We stayed at Athina's airbnb for a night before we headed to Santorini. I highly recommend her place  if you ever wonder for a place to stay in Athens. It's a small apartment with fabulous decorations and very unique. It's walking distance to the Acropolis.
We walked to the acropolis from our airbnb around 5pm on a gloomy day so that's why the pictures aren't too bright. Entrance to the Acropolis itself is €20 for summer and half price for winter.

The next morning we took the ferry to Santorini from Piraeus port. There is another port called Rafina that you can as well depart to Santorini from. We book the ferry tickets online at  https://www.letsferry.gr/ There was a booking fee per booking on this site while http://ferrytickets.seajets.gr/ has no booking fee. You can as well book tickets at booking offices in town. You'll reiceive your paper tickets at the counter at the port before departure.
In Santorini, we stayed in Fira, the town itself is very similar to Oia, - picturesque town with blue domes. I think it's best to stay in Fira where all the bars, restaurants and shops are but cheaper than Oia. Fira is in the center of everything. From Fira, we took the local bus to black beach, red beach and it was super cheap. It was around €2 one way. Public buses in Santorini are quite cheap and very clean. We took the bus to Oia from Fira for €1.80/way and it took a good 25 minutes. The view in Oia is breathtaking. So don't forget to stop there for sunset. It was very busy so try to squeeze yourself in to catch that view for a bit. Just like any other tourists, we took millions of photos there
Don't take the last bus back to Fira. The bus are quite full at night and trust me there are no taxis! So try to catch the bus before or even earlier. Fira  bus station is right in the center of town. You can ask the friendly Greeks and they will point you to the right direction.

                                               Black beach, Perissa

                                                         Red Beach

                                                      Oia, Santorini

While in Fira, we went for drinks at Momix lounge. We loved the creative drinks there. We also tried out Tango lounge, the drinks are pretty tasty and lastly, Two brothers. This place is more like a pub with some good music. In terms of restaurants, I don't remember much just remember to AVOID a restaurant named Don Angelo/Don Donna or cactus. This place is a scam! TripAdvisor it then you'll know why. There are many many restaurants with the sunset view in Fira so please stay away from this Don Angelo restaurant! I found that food aren't too expensive in Santorini despite the fact that it's a very touristic island.

                                             Jelly shots from Momix

                                           Pool in Kastro Suites

                                                     

Fira/Thira, Santorini

Our next island was Mykonos! It's well known for being a party island in Greece. I did a good research of where to stay and decided to stay at Tropicana Hotel right on Paradise beach. Tropicana beach club is 3 minutes walk from our hotel. We had a blast there with very good music and not too expensive drinks. If you're allergic to the loud noise then don't stay around there because you can actually hear the music from the club in your room. The next day, we took the bus to Mykonos town. It was a 15 minutes ride cost €2 one way. The town is pretty small so you can walk around easily. We checked out the windmills and little Venice. We didn't have time to check out other beaches.

 little Venice

Mykonos town

                                                   

Windmills in Mykonos town

party at Tropicana beach club

Then off to zakynthos we went, my favorite island in Greece. From Athens, you can either fly to Zakynthos or take the bus+ferry. Flights are not daily so we took KTEL bus from Kifisou St. Come early to book you ticket bc it can get quite full quickly and the bus runs every 2-3 hours. It was a good 4-5 hours bus ride and 1 hour ferry. You can purchase both bus and ferry tickets at Kifisou Station or you can as well buy ferry ticket online or at ferry port after the bus ride.
Keep in mind, there's no "city center" in Zakynthos. Near the port is where everything is. So book your stay in that area. Once you get to the bus station in Zakynthos, there are absolutely no taxis! you'll be lucky if you can catch one. No uber or any sorts of transportation beside taxi. Taxi does not go by meter so don't forget to ask them how much from point A to B. They're very honest most of the time. From the bus stop, make a left turn, after a few mins of walk, take the steps down to the port direction to where everything is.
How to get to the Shipwreck Beach: You have 2 options, do the tour or rent a car or ATV to get there yourself. Tour is around 20 euros but they DON'T take you to the top with that beautiful view you've always seen on the internet. It will only go to the beach itself and some more places like olive oil factory,..
The view from the top was our priority so we rented an ATV (quad bike) for 40 euros for the whole day (last min price, it's usually only 20 euros or so) We drove to the Shipwreck view point and OMG it was amazing! There's no way you'll go to Zakynthos and miss this view. It was a little more than an hr go get there from town with our offline map (i'm a slow driver). Then from there we drove to the port for the ferry to the Shipwreck beach itself. We rented our ATV and bought our ferry ticket with Isala Travel. I highly recommend them for your rentals or tour. They're very helpful and friendly.

Shipwreck Beach top view

                                          Port to take the ferry to Shipwreck Beach

                                                        Our ride <3

On Shipwreck beach

Sunset view from Zakynthos town

That was the end of our journey in Greece! Enjoy my post and Safe travel!