Hello there!

Apologies to you all for taking so long to update the first journal entry but as you can imagine things have been pretty busy the last couple of days! To be honest i'm writing all this on the 12th of November as this is the first internet cafe' we have found since touching down in Denpasar on the 7t so I will try to update you all on the events of the last three days...

7/11/06

Woke up feeling very excited, with only half our bags packed. We were up until 4a.m. but the time flew by and we were still not fully finished preparing before bedtime. Neither of us are looking forward to saying goodbye to our families. It will be hard not to see the people we love but not many people have the opportunity to travel so far and for so long, so we feel blessed to finally be realising our dreams.

After a tearful farewell to our families we started our journey across the M25 (a lovely place to start, don't you think?) to Heathrow. Leaving at 3:30 p.m. meant we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to check in, which was a good thing on reflection as it took us an hour just to get through the line of people waiting to check in. Finally we got through the queue only to spend another 25 mins having our tickets checked with the slowest clown you've ever seen! I was sure somewhere we were being filmed on hidden camera and someone was goingto have layed a trick on us! Finally we got through security and made our way to gate 9 and boarded the plane only to be told as we're making our way to the runway that we were going to have to sit there or 2 hours because the battery that controls the aircrafts air conditioning had broken and was going to need replacing! Finally 2 hours later we were airborne and on our way to Singapore with a fear in our hearts that we were going to miss our transit flight to Bali. Food on the flight was good for airplane food and we both managed to get about 5 hours sleep, which was great. Had some really recent films on the flight too including Super Ex-Girlfriend and Pirates of The Caribbean 2 which gave me some inspiration for my beard for the rest of the year!

12 and a half hours later we touched down in Singapore and luckily enough we were told that the ongoing flight had been delayed because a lot of the passengers were on our flight. The next 20 mins involved a run to the check in desk at Singapore airport and then an olympic sprint to the departure gate! Linford Christie would have been proud! 2 and a half hours later we found ourselves touching down in Danpasar, exhausted and looking forward to getting to the hotel. Unfortunately the idiots on the airplane had not given us our visa form, which meant an embarassing wait as paid for the visas and correct forms that we should have received in the first place! Upon collecting our luggage we were then scammed out of 10 pounds by two guys just for the priviledge of carrying our bags to the taxi rank! 10 pounds over here can feed us for 6 days!

Taxi to the hotel was a more reasonable 3 pounds and we finally arrived at the Bakung Sari at midnight. The hotel gardens were beautifully lit and found our room to be very reasonable for the money despite having a peculiar shower room with no curtain or deviding wall meaning the toilet got completely soaked every time you had a shower. Food in the hotel was nice also and very cheap, only 1.50 a meal in our currency!

Day 2: 9th Nov 2006 (missed a day due to time difference)

Woke up early to meet a rep from STA travel called Sammy who was from Bali and he was friendly and helpful. We booked 2 tours through him, which would allow us to see some culture and get to the North of the Island. After our meeting with Sammy we made a 15 minute walk down to Kuta beach. During the walk to the beach taxi's toot you all the way down the road trying to get your business and hundreds of mopeds whizz past each carrying at least 2 or three people, not necessarily all wearing helmets either! Roads here do not seem to have any system other than traffic should keep to the left but even this rule doesn't seem to be adhered to all the time. Kuta beach is beautiful, with golden sand and lots of people surfing in the waves that continuously buffet the beach. The biggest nag here though is the continous hawking from the street sellers trying to sell you their wares. After a while it becomes hard to remain polite. I think they might be trying to sell so hard because the beach is incredibly quiet here probably due to the terrorist activities here over the last few years. After watching the sunset we made our way back to the hotel and had something to eat in the restaurant while they played Spiderman 2. Fell asleep early as really tired. Will update you with more soon as we have run out of money for internet connection.