We all woke both excited and nervous as we were embarking on our first ever trip overseas. The girls understood we were going to another country and were going on a plane trip. We tried to show them a little about Bali, showing them pictures and hearing their different language through this really cool app on Marty's phone. Was really cute and surprising seeing them learn a new language, they remembered more than us.
So we gradually started packing up three months of our stuff lying around and we double and triple checked that we had packed everything. One good thing was that we didnt have to be at the airport till after lunch to check in, which meant there was no real stress to get up and hurry the pack up. I received a phone call mid morning from the reception people at Free Spirit stating that l hadnt paid up full and owed them three days rent. I was extremely annoyed as l had checked everything out the other day when l paid our last site fees. This sort of bulls*** is what we had to put up with at this disappointing run caravan park. Another annoying thing is that l had chucked out our receipts the other day thinking that we were done with the money side of our stay here. After packing up and saying a farewell to our new found mates, "The Chapmans", who were our neighbours for three months, we set off down to reception to finally say good riddence to Free Spirit Holiday Park. When l went to hand in our boom gate key l shared a few home truths about how poorly run the park is and the lack of consistency the staff have with running the place, l think l nearly made the manager cry. I begrudgingly paid the money the thought l owed just so l could put this experience behind us and vowed to them that l would never recommend or stay here again. With that, l headed out and was greeted with excited screams from the girls that we were finally on our way to a new adventure.

We dropped the caravan off at the storage place, which was actually a cattery business which did caravan and car storage on the side. Was pretty cheap that it was only costing us $12/day to store it there. Not bad considering that was including power hook up for the fridge and also drop off to the airport. We were greeted by a nomad who was quite a character and was well known as the Barra King due to his record breaking catches up in Darwin. After monies were paid and things sorted we were taken to the airport where the nerves started. I was feeling quite nervous and had butterflies in my tummy whilst Marty became snappy showing his stress about checking in on an International flight. Lucky for us everything went smooth and was less complicated than we ever thought it would be. The girls were very well behaved considering how excited they were at the airport and allowed Marty and l to concentrate at the job at hand. Marty was very disappointed that we had to chuck out our mozzie off cream, which cost us $16 as was brand new, seeing we couldnt take lotions on board over 100mL. After his mini spit we got through custums easily and then arrived at Duty Free. There was no doubt what we were going to buy, 2L of vodka for me and 2L of bourban for Marty. The girls got smarties!!! Lol. After some deliberation we both decided to get a 1L bottle each to take to Bali. It was all so cheap, l think it was 2L for $40. Dont think out livers will like us over the next month or so....

The flight was on time at we were boarded and ready to go by 4:30pm Darwin time. The girls were hilarious, they were reading the accident instructions and looking at the diagrams with confusion. It was Meg's first plane trip that she would remember and her excitement was priceless. The girls started doing a rocket countdown 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, blast off as the engines of the plane started up, the people around us were in hysterics. We took off in the sky and soon we were in the clouds, the girls watching a movie on the supplied iPad for $10 whilst Marty and l had a beverage or two. Coming into Bali took no time at all, the flights went really quick. Gradually we decended into the airport which looked spectacular. The sun was just setting and all we could see was this landing strip with the ocean out to the side. Once we landed, the butterflies returned as l got anxious at being in a foreign country and having to go through chick in at the airport. Marty too showed his anxiety through being snappy again. Quite funny that this is the first time l have noticed his reaction to being stressed, in all our 20 years l had never picked up him being snappy and uptight was his way of handling his stress or anxiety. Going through the airport felt like we had been sent back in time, it looked ancient with old statues and culture hitting us quickly. The check in process again went smooth and surprisingly quickly. We were out of the airport by around 7:30pm their time. We got our bags and walked outside to find a guy with sign "Beesons" being held up. We were greeted by Carlos, our driver and tour guide for some of the trips we had prebooked in Australia. He wasnt very welcoming and seemed a little shady in that he didnt talk to us much. We got to the carpark and Carlos called up a girl who welcomed us to Bali and placed a frangipani necklace around our necks. The girls were amazed and just kept looking around at this hectic and busy place we had landed in. We got in the car and made our way through Kuta to get to Hard Rock Hotel. OMG!!! Thats all l could think. What had we done? The place was so busy with scooters and motorbikes lining the streets and zigzagging through traffic. Even the cars were pushing their way through, honking of horns heard continously. The town itself looked so dirty and it was so crowded. I, being the nieve person, couldnt believe we had chosen such a hectic place to come to for holiday. All the while Carlos spoke to the driver in Indonesian and only spoke to us to confirm our booked trip dates. Bit pee'd off seeing we had paid money for this bloke to pick us up, he could have been a bit more welcoming or told us about the place we were driving through. We eventually arrived at Hard Rock Hotel in the centre of Kuta and were greeted with friendly staff. As we got out, Marty went to unload the bags and straight away was told nicely by the bag boy that he would do it. Marty was like, "I'll give you a hand, the bags are heavy", were he was told by the bag boy that it was his job and could do it. Was pretty funny to watch. The place was lit up with this huge guitar out the front. Again, we were so over whelmed by how big the place was and in the darkness of the night, even though we had never been here, we felt very disorientated. We checked in and said our goodbyes to Carlos, who informed us of the dates and times we would see him again. A young Indonesian woman showed us to our room, it again felt a little disorientating, felt as if we were walking through a maze. We got to our room, 2311, and opened the door to find this huge king size bed filing the room. I felt like l'd died and gone to heaven. A king size, inner spring bed. That is enough to win this chicky over these days. The girls ran around excitedly checking out the room and picking which day bed was theres, naturally Boo was thinking ahead and chose the one facing the huge tv!!! Meg saw our safe in the room and yelled out "Look Dad, we even have a microwave!", Marty and l laughed so hard. The girls found there way over the day beds and opened the doors and headed out to our little balcony. We could see over parts of Kuta and of the Hard Rock Resort, amazing. The girls, as well as me, were so happy to have a toilet, shower and even a bath that were in the same room as where we were sleeping. We didnt need shoes or have to walk 500m to go to the toilet for two whole weeks!!! Again, doesnt take much to keep us happy anymore. After getting over our excitement we decided to go for a walk down the street a little to find something to eat for dinner and see if we could find a little shop to buy some snacks, etc. When we walked down the hill from Hard Rock Hotel (HRH) we were all of a sudden in the middle of a sea of crowded people walking down the street. Marty and l both thought, "What have we done?". We eventually agreed to go into this restaurant called "Rosso Vivo Lounge" and ordered our meals. The girls got these full plates of chips and nuggets with salad in which case they could have shared as they only ate a little. After our meal and a glass of wine and beer, the bill was given to us for $70! OMG, is what l thought. How are we gonna afford to eat out every night? Hopefully we just picked a ritzy place and we can find something a little cheaper along the way. Surely this isnt what people pay for meals here? Will definatley have to investigate over the next few days cause otherwise our spending money will be dedicated to feeding us for the next two weeks. We made our way back to the HRH and got the girls to bed, they were exhausted. Marty and l settled in comfortably on our king size innerspring bed and watched a little tv before calling it a night. Big day today, and am sure it will only continue tomorrow........

Bell XXX