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 last instalment here.
Welcome to Part Four of my Gap Year Travel Journal! Today, we continue with the Balinese adventure! After this, we’ll move on to Australia!
14th October 2017
Kieren and I had a chilled day at the pool with Meg, Shep (Jay) and Timon*. The others left early to either go home or for further travels. The 5 of us met up with Alicia* for an early dinner – we went to the food court in Beachwalk Shopping Centre where I had my final Indonesian meal (chicken and rice, obviously).
(a) + (b) An intense game of beer pong. (c) Chilling by the pool at Ida Hotel, Kuta.
We booked a taxi from our hotel to the airport for 7.40pm. I didn’t expect it to be so difficult to say goodbye to everyone but it was actually really sad!
{Continued in next post}
*Friends we met during our Bali trip
Bali Fact File
This sums up my time in Bali so in the journal, I stuck in a load of photos at this point (see photos). I then wrote this ‘fact file’, which is kind of my advice for other travellers.
(a) Photos that I stuck in the journal to show my favourite group shots during my time in Bali. (b) Gili Air.
- Fresh juice is everywhere – pineapple and mango are the best!
- Nasi goreng = fried rice, mie goreng = fried noodles
- Food/drinks/accomodation are incredibly cheap
- In most places, shoes are optional
- Taxi drivers will bombard you (especially in Kuta)
- Pineapple pancakes are a popular breakfast cuisine
- Cocktails are very strong – BE CAREFUL
- Be prepared for many bad showers
- Don’t flush toilet roll
- Try to avoid going to the toilet on a boat (it’s just a bucket)
- Homemade Indonesian spring rolls are beautiful!
- Local beer = Bintang
- Bintang Radler = Bintang + Lemon or Bintang + Grapefruit
- Many people in the street offer Bbc serious drugs – obviously refuse, you literally have no idea what this actually is and consequences could be severe
(a) Summary page for Bali, including a map showing where we went, the names of people in the Bali Intro group, a group shot and a label from a Bintang Radler. (b) Gili T. (c) Me at Uluwatu Temple. (d) Scuba diving shot and my ‘Bali Fact File’ from the journal.
Check out the next instalment here. We continue with 14th October 2017 but we’re heading to Sydney, Australia.
Wow, you had reached in 4th part of your Bali series. So far, it’s going good. I had started reading your Bali journey from 3rd part itself. I had also tried series for the first time with the Goa series on my blog.
Thank you!! I’ll check out your Goa series.
It is great that you got to explore all around town! Though, it’s crazy that there are drugs out on the streets! I really need to make a trip to Bali one of these years!
Nancy ✨ mdrnminimalists.com
Haha yes there were SO many people offering drugs (also the death penalty still exists for drug trafficking so it’s crazy to me!). It’s such a beautiful place though and I’d love to go back!
This is such a cool idea and a fun way to look back on your experiences! I can’t wait to read more! 🙂
Aww thank you – this is so sweet! I’m looking forward to posting more because I’ve been getting such lovely feedback and I’m really enjoying sharing my experiences!
You’ve had experience that so many of us have always wanted, it’s so fun to read! I’m really looking forward to more of these! Especially now when no one can travel, it’s fun to read about!
I’m so glad you like it!