In Reply to: travel between Bali, Lombok & Gili Meno posted by Cornelia on Sunday, 26. February 2006 at 05:24 Bali Time:
There are no direct boats from Bali to the Gilis anymore.
As everyone else says, you can get the ferry from Padang Bai on Bali to Lembar on Lombok, then get transport on to Sengiggi/the Gilis, but this takes an entire day. It is cheaper, but is a very long and tiring journey - the boat often actually takes five hours, and the ferry isn't the nicest in the world (i.e. stinking hot, often very rough with people being sick everywhere). If you do take the boat, pay a few extra thousand rupiah when you get on board to sit in the VIP section. Here you get comfortable seats, air con, a tv etc. It is worth it.
The best way is to fly from Bali to Mataram in Lombok (approx 300,000 one way) then get a taxi to Sengiggi/Bangsal and get a boat to Gili Meno. If you are going to be staying in Sengiggi anyway, get a boat from there (saves the hassle of touts at Bangsal), but if you are just interested in getting to Gili Meno, go from the airport to Bangsal - even though you'll be hassled at the harbour, you'll be guaranteed of getting a boat straight there. It takes a bit longer to organise from Sengiggi (a lot of tour places will bus you up to Bangsal anyway to get across rather than organising a boat directly from there).