I get to go back to Bali for two nights. It was the perfect option I could book, since I have to take my return flight with Qatar Airways from Bali back to Amsterdam. I booked a luxury place to stay with a private pool. That sounds great!
The flight is short—only 4 hours—but it’s a bit chaotic. There’s a kid sitting behind me who keeps kicking me in the back with his feet. I decide to say something about it, because by now my back is sore. I also realize that I didn’t visualize my day at all before departure, so now I know for sure that it really works. Every other time I visualized how my trips would go, 90% of the time it turned out that way—I wish I’d done that this time. I’ll definitely visualize again before my next flight.
I arrive at the airport, and I’ve arranged for a driver from the hotel to be waiting for me. That saves me about 200,000—the first time I realized I’d been ripped off, it wasn’t a big deal. These people earn less than we do, and you just have to know that when you’re in another country, you have to assume you’ll get ripped off.
The ride goes by pretty quickly; the driver drives carefully, and we chat a bit. A little while later, he asks if I’m tired or if I slept on the plane. I tell him I never do that, otherwise I can’t fall asleep afterward. He said, “If you want to close your eyes for a bit, I’ll wake you up when we get there.”
When we finally arrive, he tells me to wait in the taxi for a moment. Someone comes over in a small car to take me to the hotel. Two minutes later, a golf cart arrives, and I’m invited to get in with my suitcase. He drives me down a narrow road and tells me there are rice fields to my left. I can’t see them in the dark right now. I can’t wait to wake up and see everything.
I check in, and what I can see of the complex so far is absolutely gorgeous and next-level. Even now! Before I can even really see where I’ve ended up. There’s a gate, and with my own key, I’m allowed through a door—house number 11. That bodes well. A path leads from the door to my room—a wooden cottage entirely made of glass with an illuminated pool. Wow! The bathroom is sort of outdoors, with a beautiful bathtub and an outdoor shower. I’m going to get some sleep soon so I can wake up early tomorrow and take it all in.
When I wake up the next morning, thankfully my head isn’t itchy. At my previous accommodation in Bali, my head was really itchy—it really felt like there were bugs crawling all over it. I scratched a lot and spent a lot of time in the water, hoping they’d swim away. Eventually, it went away, and I haven’t had any trouble with it in Australia. And now, it’s gone again!
My accommodations are next-level! This is soooo amazing! I have a private pool with a view of the jungle. I have my own entrance and garden, and it’s completely secluded, so I can enjoy my private pool in total peace and quiet. The peace and quiet, the animals I see—big and small—the sun shining… Today, I’m going to have breakfast first, then do some writing, and enjoy some massages. It’s my last day on the island, and here’s my traveler’s logic: you spend €1,000 on a plane ticket so you can get massages for €22 in a cheaper country. Makes sense, right?! Haha.
Breakfast is a hearty spread; I order a dish with eggs, fruit, and a delicious smoothie. It’ll take some getting used to when I get back home and have to start making my own breakfasts again. I book a massage right away, hoping there’s still an opening. Luckily, it’s still the off-season, so I’m sure it’ll work out.
I book a massage—one offered by the hotel—a combination of Balinese and a few other types of massage. Followed by a scrub treatment. The massage takes some getting used to. She pulls me apart in all directions, puts my legs in unusual positions, stands on my back, and pulls my arms apart. It actually feels pretty good, but it’s definitely unusual. For the scrub treatment, I chose one with tea—it’s supposed to be the best for my skin. It’s very cold, but pleasantly refreshing. Afterward, I’m going to enjoy a delicious Balinese nasi. I enjoy my pool for a little while longer, then head into town. I take a walk around, check out some stalls, and eventually have dinner at my favorite little restaurant, Zest. One last visit there to make it a habit. I take some treats back to my room so I’ll have a delicious breakfast tomorrow morning. I’m leaving for the airport early, so breakfast isn’t an option, and I actually have to eat as soon as I wake up—otherwise I get really nauseous. We can’t have that happening on the drive to the airport.
There’s still some fruit in the room; one of them looks really unusual. When I cut it open, the fruit looks a lot like a lychee, but the taste is different.
My alarm is set for 5:30 a.m.—it’s an early start—but what really puts my mind at ease is the fact that my driver messaged me a lot yesterday. I found my driver through a kind of Uber service. The difference is that they contact you themselves. He wanted to know where he needed to be so early—that puts my mind at ease, because then I know for sure he’ll be there waiting for me.
And that’s true. As I’m checking out, I ask the security guard on the night shift to drive me to the road in a golf cart—the road is extremely narrow, and you can’t get there in a car; a golf cart barely fits through. I take one last look at the beautiful surroundings, and a sense of regret wells up inside me. It’s a shame I have to leave—a shame that I’m heading back to a cold, rainy Netherlands. But it’s also motivation to escape the Netherlands even more, because that’s how it feels to me. The weather, even before I left, had been terrible for a month and a half: cold, rainy, and very windy. I’m finding it harder and harder to cope with it; after 35 years of this weather, I’ve had enough. I’m already thinking about my New Year’s resolutions for 2024: to spend more time in warm, sunny weather.
I take a moment to look around; the ride will take a little while longer, so I can still fully enjoy everything Bali has to offer. I think back on the island—I’ve had a really wonderful time here. I have to say, though, that I found it hard to find some peace and quiet. The roads here are so busy; the island is so crowded with people, tourists, cars, mopeds, and so on. Everywhere there’s hustle and bustle, honking, people, and loud noises—I’d imagined Bali, and Ubud in particular, to be a bit different. It’s supposed to be a spiritual place, and although I feel that all of Bali is almost like one big temple, I haven’t really been able to discover the spiritual aspect in Ubud yet.
There are plenty of retreats, yoga classes, vegan spots, gurus, and the like, but I still haven’t quite figured out what draws so many people to this spiritual place. I think I’ll have to go back again to explore it more thoroughly, but if you ask me, I connect more with Ibiza than with Bali. Maybe it would be nice to combine the two: summers in Ibiza, winters in Bali.
