An Enthusiastic Traveller

I have just returned from a 3.5 weeks unforgettable journey through Indonesia, from Jakarta to Bali. Our 3.5 weeks itinerary started in Jakarta , where we stayed for 3 nights . We were a bit dissapointed about the condition of the Indonesian capital, overcrowded and sinking. The highlights of this city were the stunning colonial-era buildings in the Old Town. In retrospective, 1 or 2 nights should have been sufficient, just for landing and continuing the journey towards more fascinating locations. From Jakarta we took the high speed Whoosh train to Bandung . The Woosh train was honestly “whooshazing” – super fast and comfortable! With 350km/h we were in Bandung in 40 minutes. The Grab from the train station to the hotel took longer. Get used with the traffic in Indonesia! While in Bandung we focused more on exploring the nature around. We had one tour to South of Bandung where we visited Kawah Putih crater, tea plantations, Rengganis natural hotspring and an old Dutch railway bridge wi...

November 11, 2024: Arrival in Bali Today, we traveled from Surabaya to our final stop of the holiday: Bali! First issue—there are street dogs everywhere, and since Mark is not a fan (just plain scared), that’s a bit unsettling. We had a smooth taxi ride to the airport, checked in, had a coffee, flew to Bali, took another taxi to Ubud, and finally arrived at our hotel. Fun fact: we got an upgrade and now have an ultra-luxurious mini-villa! After that, we enjoyed a nice dinner in Ubud and are now off to sleep, as tomorrow will be a long day! November 12, 2024: Snorkeling around Nusa Penida Today, we were picked up at 6:20 AM for another snorkeling adventure—the last one was such a hit that we wanted to do it again! We started the day with an exciting ride, as the speedboat took us racing over the waves. We spent the entire morning and afternoon together on the boat, though only Mark went into the water. At the first snorkeling stop, he spotted a manta ray and a whitetip shark. Later, at ...

November 9, 2024: A Long Travel Day and Off to Mount Bromo We woke up again at 5:00 for the sunrise… and once again, it was cloudy! Fortunately, we had to get up early anyway, as today was a big travel day: taxi to the Karimunjawa harbor, boat to Jepara, taxi to Semarang, train to Surabaya, and finally a taxi to the hotel. Luckily, everything went smoothly; we even managed to change our tickets to a cheaper option and arrived earlier. Lunch at Indonesian KFC while waiting for our train Very comfortable seats Trying to eat at the hotel turned out to be less successful: both restaurants were full, so we were directed to a strange spot at the front entrance. There, we had a mediocre meal at relatively high prices (and both Bintang and Coke were sold out—HOW?!). I even looked up how long Bintang stays good—9 months from when we drank it—making it even less excusable that they were out. After a quick one-hour nap, we’re already on our way for an excursion to Mount Bromo! November 10, 2024: ...