This trip started 12 months ago, when we got back from Phuket. That trip should have been to Bali but due to a friend wanting to go but not able to commit in time we couldn't get a flight on the day we wanted to go.Welucked in on a better deal, 2 extra days for the same price in a new destination. I started to devour the forum for tips, trips,tours and best hotels etc. planning for our trip. In November I decided that we would stay at the White Rose for a change. It was a compromise between where we stayed last(Ramayana) and where our friends stayed last time they were there(LBH). We paid for our tickets early (7Feb) so all was arranged early with no hassles.Start the countdown, 120 days 119..118...117. Alls well till we got to 14 days, then Garuda had schedule changes which affected our homeward flights. Gerri and I got the late flight, the others got the morning one on the same day, even though we were all linked as a group. Our agent tried her best to change it, then we started. We rang the Garuda rep. and talked nicely to him. Ryan said he would do his best for us but no promises. We got the name of Garudas manager and fax #, sent her a fax each explaining our problem, plus the fact that I would HAVE to put in a JBR on return which wouldn't look too good for Garuda. We received a reply apologising for the muck-up and eventually got the right flights prior to leaving.
Our trip started out with 2 couples and a single from Perth. It ended with 10 from Qld, 8 from SA, 1 from NSW and 7 from WA. All at the White Rose. It was great meeting so many nice people, loosely tied together for one reason or another. Made the stay all the more interesting. Our flight over was on time and uninteresting but for the seat maintenance. Our seats kept reclining, our friends' seat bases kept slipping out from under them. Someting nuttin you say?
Interesting observation! Air Paradise(better service last time) park way down the end of the tarmac and took a while to get through customs /immigration(prior to VOA), Qantas are a bit closer to the terminal, but Garuda pull in AT the terminal, and we were through in no time, picked up the case and out to the taxi window (Thanks to the forum for this tip) and away to the hotel within 20 minutes of landing.
The White Rose is in an excellent location, just a short walk to almost anywhere. Next to the memorial, across Jl Legian from Poppies Lane 2. Great pool area, rooms starting to get tired, well cleaned daily and we liked the communal loungeroom which linked three rooms so we could have "elevenses" and plan our evenings assault on the town. Our disappointment was we got 2 king single beds, not a double as requested, bugger he said!(too faint to hear what she said).
First cab off the rank was a "bloody cold Bintang" at the Bagus Bar. And they were, all holiday.
Thats enough rambling for today. I'm off to freeze at the footy now, but tomorrow we head to the massage shop made famous by Shazperth and the bike ride to hell(almost).