How we planned our unplanned holiday to Bali, Indonesia:
A quick, little background if you’re new to my blog/IG { candibod } – This was my very first overseas trip, and if you are looking for inspiration to incorporate into your own journey, I truly hope that my experience will help to guide you around this perfect piece of paradise.
Let’s start from the very beginning…
Our tickets were finally booked after an endless search, and comparison of prices, via Singapore airlines. We managed to bag a return flight for just over R9000 each, which is pretty decent {the price changes according to the time of the year, and I’m assuming the layover time between each airport} We had a crazy 1 hour layover time between Cape Town and Singapore. Singapore to Dispenser airport, however – I am positive that the actual traveling time was so quick that it took us 15 hours in total, as opposed to 25 hours, to get to Bali.
Okay, so we got the tickets, now what?!
I guess we needed a place to stay? But what if we booked into a place that we didn’t end up loving? What exactly is a “good” price for accommodation? Can you tell I’ve never traveled before, ha ha …So, I did what any indecisive human being would do – I only booked our first week in a place that appeared to be foolproof {Canngu} and decided to wing it from there.
Best advice I can give: Don’t go booking all your accommodation at once or in the same place, and book self-catering places or an Airbnb instead of hotels, where you will probably just get lazy and order unnecessary marked-up room service.
Cool, so now it’s the day before leaving and we need to get packing!
Here are some quick packing tips that might help:
- If you are going to Bali you WILL want to buy everything there – so pack around ¾ outfits max, and do your summer shopping there. Of course, if you’re on a budget, then still pack only what you cannot live without, and it’s only about R50 – R150 { depending on where you stay } to get A LOT of laundry done – so it’s up to you but I still stand by taking as little clothing as possible, and even less shoes.
- Bug spray – I got an amazing one off Faithful To Nature
- Roll up a bigger bag inside of your suitcase for all of the goodies you’ll probably bring home with you.
- If you have any dietary requirements or medications that you need to take on the reg, make sure that you pack enough for the trip, and maybe some premix breakfast meals/snacks for emergencies.
- ZIP-LOCK BAGS! Honestly surprised at how much I used these.
- Follow up from that previous tip, put some laundry detergent in a zip-lock bag for when you run out of underwear or get a nasty coffee stain.
- Reusable bag for laundry.
- Roll up clothes instead of folding them.
- Pack a similar clothing color palette so that you have more options to mix and match outfits. All 3 of them. #winning
- Double bag toiletries {especially fake tan} to avoid spills. Had to say goodbye to my favorite pair of nude sneakers for this EXACT reason.
- Pack enough toiletries to last you a week; then buy the rest there. So many people invest in those mini bottles for their shampoo and conditioner, etc.
- Don’t forget at least one set of active wear – you never know; you might enjoy the hike life.
- When getting a travel case, be mindful of your way of traveling because the heavier your bag, the heavier your scooter commute.
Oh and some sneaky airplane tips:
- Bring sealed snacks that suit your dietary requirements.
- Don’t forget bubblegum or sucking sweets for when you takeoff and land.
- Fun fact: the sodium in airplane food is roughly 10 times higher because of how your taste buds change at high altitude – just try an unsalted nut up in the air, ha ha; will blow your mind.
- Bring along some sleeping tablets, or embrace the 3 days of not knowing how to function.
- Tie a bright ribbon on your luggage.
- Get up at least every 30 mins to walk around when safe to do so.
- Take off your shoes when you are allowed to and get comfy!
And some landing tips that saved us big time:
- Get a sim card asap – also, a sim card and R450 airtime lasted me the entire 4 weeks holiday.
- Draw money at the ATM.
- Get a taxi to each city. Don’t try and load your scooters, unless you plan to live out of a backpack the whole time.
- Get a scooter once you are settled. It’s way cheaper and you have far more independence.
- Not a landing tip really but this did help; use google translate on your phone when struggling to communicate.
Budget:
Before getting into how much you need, lets first understand the exchange rate and how to work with the Indonesian Rupiah:
R10 = Rp10 000
Easy way to work it out: 1:1 and take three ‘0’ off everything you see OR
If they give you a ‘K’ with the total; example:
10K = R10
Okay cool now that we got that under control lets move on!
So we didn’t budget, as this was my first overseas trip, and I didn’t want to feel restricted. However, if we were to guess, with eating out for every meal and shopping most days, we’d suggest R25/R35k after your tickets so as to enjoy the experience without feeling restricted.
That being said, the beauty of Bali is that you can have a very similar experience for around R15k – R20k for the month by using some budgeting tips:
- Book through an Airbnb and get a place to sleep in that is both comfortable and affordable, thus leaving the rest of your money for adventures/food/shopping.
- Walk or get a scooter.
- Eat local food like Nasi Goreng, and if you are seriously on a budget, share each meal with someone or half each meal and have it later because the portions are crazy big here.
- Leave your shopping for the side of the roads and certain markets where you have room to bargain. For example, most places I went gave me R100 off clothing if I bought 3 pairs { presents for friends in the bag #winning }
- If you’re going to drink, drink local {Bintang}
- Head to random massage parlors rather than insta worthy ones, you will get the best 1 hour foot massage for R100.
- If you stay for a long time, go grab some local goods and cook at home – this is where, again, a self-catering Airbnb will save you money.
- Wear a helmet. We got fined R250 per person because we were lazy one day, ha ha. That’s basically 2 meals for a dumb mistake.
