Kids,
This school year is the year of revisiting the places that we loved. With an extended duration in India we have delayed the clock for returning to the US, and as such have more time to hit our list of locations on this side of the world.
For fall break we re-booked a week at the Movenpick Jimbaran Resort and Spa because our first trip was so amazing. The one key change from this year is that we planned to do nothing but lay by the pool to relax and spend time as a family.
The trip there was great and we have this overnight flight thing figured out. Don’t let me fool you, by that I don’t mean that we all got a full night sleep on the plane, but rather we all know the processes and how we react to sleep deprivation.
This year was special because the first leg of the trip we traveled with some great friends Andy, Megan, and JD. We all arrived at the airport at basically the same time and sat down for a good dinner and great conversation. Honestly this experience has us rethinking the lounge in the Mumbai airport.
The lounge is usually packed and the food is not interesting to you three in the least. We stopped by the Olive Bistro for a great dinner and you three devoured two margarita pizzas.
After landing in Singapore, we quickly said goodbye to our friends because they had a very short layover. Our layover was 8 hours so we then took time to explore the airport, which is one of the best in the world. We visited the movie theatre, butterfly garden, playground area, and food court. After all was said and done we probably had six hours left to go.
The Singapore airport is large, so they have several lounges spread out among the three terminals. We decided to visit the lounge in our arriving terminal, spend three hours, and then walk the long way around the airport to our departing terminal and spend the rest of the time.
The flight to Denpesar was good and we arrived around 7pm, collected our visa’s on arrival, and gathered our luggage. In the past we’ve really tried to carry on since we have five carry on bags to spread out our things, but on this trip we decided to check two bags and free up our hands for the long layover in Singapore. I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be checking bags more often moving forward.
After arriving at the hotel we had planned to meet up with our friends, who were also staying in the same hotel before boarding a flight to Lombak the next morning, but the limited sleep and timing just didn’t work out. We ordered room service and went to bed.
The rest of the trip consisted of waking up with our internal clocks, getting breakfast, 6-8 hours at the pool, visit to the kids club, and dinner. Usually we have more to write about but this trip was planned out as a relaxing vacation after a typical crazy start to the year.
Since we’d been here before, this vacation was very relaxing. The only thing that caused some stress was getting a shipment delivered to our house in Mumbai while we were laying in the sun. Luckily we had some great friends who stayed in town and offered to be at our apartment for the delivery. Everything went off without a hitch, or at least one that we heard of, which let us truly enjoy our time in Bali.
Since we didn’t have much planned for the trip, and I tend to get restless when I don’t have enough to do, I took the boys golfing at the New Kuta Golf Course close to the hotel.
We left the hotel around 9am to get a round in before it got too hot, and the course got too busy. Arriving at the course I could tell this would likely be the nicest course I’ve played at, which was scary because it had been at least five years since I’d golfed. Even worse, I found out that they had caddies included in the green fees so now I was going to have someone watching my sorry excuse for a golf swing.
Since we paid for three people we had three carts and three caddies assigned to us. It was a really neat experience, and the boys loved it.
After golfing we inserted ourselves back in the typical day activities before surprising your mother with a private dinner by the pool. To make this work we had to get a babysitter through the hotel to watch you while we were out, which worked out great.
Dinner was good, but the dessert was amazing. This was the first time we’d done something like this since our honeymoon, and kept our Wednesday date night steak alive.
On Thursday we surprised everyone with an incredible activity booked through the hotel. We released baby sea turtles into the ocean. The hotel is located a short walk from Jimbaran Beach and by partnering with a local wildlife conservation group guests at the hotel could release a turtle for a small donation to the cause. It was magical.
We checked out of the hotel on Saturday and made our way back to Mumbai. We again had a good layover in Singapore, which was extended due to an AC issue with the plane that was scheduled to take us back to Mumbai. After a four hour delay we boarded the flight and landed close to 1am. This is why we don’t schedule return trips on Sunday.
Overall the trip was exactly what we wanted it to be, and time will tell if we schedule another trip back. I’m thinking somewhere more secluded like Lombak next time.
Love,
Mom & Dad
The Hotovec's 