This journal was written as a physical diary by me during my gap year. I am typing this up to share my gap year experience. At the beginning of travels I was 22. I travelled with a friend (Kieren) and anybody else involved will be introduced during the journal. For more details, check here.

For the Bali part of the trip, we decided to do Bali Intro 12-day adventure. Find more information here. This has changed slightly since 2017 and no longer goes to Kuta.

Check out the previous instalment here.

Welcome to Part Two of my Gap Year Travel Journal! Today, we continue with the Balinese adventure!

Backpacking around Bali.

6th October 2017

We had breakfast on the beach then went out on a boat to see the dolphins. We saw a load of ‘spinner dolphins’ (they sometimes jump out of the water and spin around). We then went snorkelling and it was amazing!

We carried on to Su’s family house (NOTE: Su owns the Bali Intro villa in Lovina), which is a plantation – they grow coffee and various other things.

  • Had coffee made at the plantation
  • They showed us the spices they grew
  • Chilli challenge
  • Coffee face mask
  • Basket weaving
  • Homemade Indonesian lunch – beautiful spring rolls
  • Adorable puppy!

The entire family were so friendly and I loved it!

(a) Dolphins of Lovina. (b) Cute puppy! (c) Coffee face masks. (d) Basket weaving.

We returned to the villa and chilled in the pool before going back to the beach for dinner. Then, it was massage time (only £5.50 for 60 minutes of full-body massage!). The evening was chilled in the villa, where we played Cards Against Humanity (personal favourite: What’s your superpower? Being fat and stupid).

7th October 2017

We left the villa early for a 4-hour coach trip so that we can get the ferry to Gili Trawangan. We sat on top of the ferry and got absolutely soaked! When we arrived on Gili T, it was pouring with rain so we took our stuff straight to the Irish Bar (the accommodation we stayed in). Nice double room but no pool.

(a) Blue waters of Gili T. (b) Bali Intro group on Gili T.

We went out for dinner and cocktails – £10 for a steak and a cocktail! We wandered to another bar to play beer pong, then went back to the hotel where I had my first good sleep!

I sent Kieren out for new flip-flops (his were literally falling apart) but instead he came back with a new ukelele. The first ukelele was bought in Kuta on Day 1 but then broke on Day 3 as he decided it was a good idea to take it into the pool.

8th October 2017

Scuba diving! This was my favourite activity so far! We dived at Turtle Point 12m under and saw huge sea turtles, a couple of sharks, clown fish, and plenty of other fish. After this we went for lunch on the beach.

(a) Boat trip to dive. (b) Sea turtle. (c) Scuba diving. (d) Dive certificate.

The afternoon consisted of a bike ride around the island and it’s so beautiful! Amazing white beaches and sparkling blue sea. It only takes around 45 minutes to cycle around the entire island! We saw the famous swing in the sea and got some cute photos during the sunset.

(a) Bali Intro group on Gili T. (b) Sunset on Gili T.

We had a meal in the Irish bar then went to a shisha bar. The night ended by spending time in another group members room where we chilled, and Kieren constantly played ukelele.

9th October 2017

We had breakfast at the hotel then headed out on a glass-bottomed boat for snorkelling! There were 3 snorkelling spots that we stopped at –

  1. Turtle Point
  2. Underwater statues
  3. Turtle Heaven

We saw a lot of turtles and my favourite one kept sticking his head out of the water to breathe. They are so tame and you can get so close to them!

We also headed to Gili Air (another island) for lunch.

(a) Clear waters of Gili T. (b) Getting ready to go snorkelling on the glass bottomed boat.

Later, we did paddle boarding on the beach at Gili T. Surprisingly, I wasn’t bad at it and managed to stand quite well. Kieren wasn’t great but managed to stand in the end! I think Kieren preferred playing the instructor’s guitar…

We had some free time so had a little wander and found the Turtle Conservation Centre where they have a load of baby turtles!

We had pizza on the beach for dinner – probably the first filling meal I’ve had since I’ve been here!* It’s Kat’s** birthday tomorrow so the waiter’s brought cake and sang Happy Birthday to her. Meg** got attacked by a cat who jumped up and grabbed onto her stomach. During the meal, me and Meg headed to the toilets and the cubicles were so tiny we couldn’t stop laughing***.

At another bar, there were a few guys breakdancing. The bar was so hot that we sat on the beach for a bit – so nice! We headed to Blue Marvin Dive, which was pretty cool – not everybody could fit inside so it was like a huge street party!

*Food portion sizes are small in Bali!

**Other members of our Bali Intro group.

***I’m guessing we were drunk…

Check out the next instalment here.