the endless summer: July 2013

We arrived in Bali with the sun out, water shining blue & white sandy beaches calling our names! We walked clear out of the airport in order to avoid the more than double taxi fare to Uluwatu. We stopped at a place called Thomas Homestay and, at $15 a night & an amazing view of the Bali coast from our room, our search for a homestay was over. Priority number one: find Andrew a surfboard! Once that was done, we explored the private beach at our homestay. Shells, coral, driftwood, rocks galore! Uluwatu is on the southwestern tip of Bali & is almost secluded from a large, impacted city like Kuta or Denpasar. Although we learned that development has almost tripled in the last 3-5 years & prices of food ($2-3 a meal, the most expensive this trip) & home stays have at least doubled, it fit our needs quite perfectly.

We met some other travelers staying next door to us & we went out to a reggae concert being held at Padang Padang with a fresh-caught fish barbecue. So good! A lot of our time was spent at the beaches in Uluwatu, surprise surprise. But we did spend a day in Kuta shopping & haggling - we were very happy not to be staying there, way too much going on up there! It was good for a night out though. Things are pretty spread out so renting a motorcycle is a typical mode of transportation. Our last day we unfortunately had a minor motorcycle accident. VERY minor. We must have slipped on some gravel on the way to return Andrew's rented surfboard - he wasn't able to move his foot as the board was in the way & it got wedged between the bike & board as we fell down. I was able to jump off the bike & ultimately lift it off his leg. He's fine, a quick doctor's visit to make sure all is in order at home should do the trick. We also visited the Uluwatu Temple, which was filled with plenty of monkeys! They keep tourists on their toes, snatching whatever they can off their face, feet, hands, etc. We saw a guy get his glasses taken right off his face & right into the monkey's mouth! (I actually got it on video, too!) A trip to Southeast Asia wouldn't be complete without a good ole massage. We found a nice resort next to our homestay that had a spa - $10/person 60min couples massage, aaahhhhh. Just what we needed!

Our last night in Bali was spent at the Laguna Resort & Spa in Nusa Dua - on the southeastern tip of the island. My dad treated us to a night with his points. This property is part of the St. Regis' Luxury Collection - it was immaculate! A perfect location, beautiful Balinese design, incredibly nice staff... to the nines. It was great to get cleaned up with a hot shower, sleep on the soft mattress & have more pillows than you know what to do with. Oh & a TV with a DVD player! Needless to say, it was definitely THE way to end our amazing Southeast Asian trip - Bali we will definitely be back!

Three weeks was short for this type of trip and, yes, we may have tried to pack way too much traveling for the time we had off, but we wouldn't have done it any other way! We enjoyed each place as much as we could, not skimping on any experiences! It's definitely bittersweet coming home - bitter about leaving paradise, but sweet to come home & celebrate the start of our lives together - and to get that ring back on my finger!!! ;-)