Have just returned yesterday from my first trip to Bali. I met many many lovely people and many Aussies who had travelled to Bali several times before so from tips from them and now from my own experience, The following tips might be of some interest to some people.
DONT NEED TO BOOK AIRPORT TRANSFERS WITH YOUR TRAVEL AGENT BEFORE YOU GO, IT IS A MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE WAY TO DO IT. BETTER TO JUST GET A LOCAL TAXI TO YOUR HOTEL FROM AIRPORT
We stayed at RAMAYANA RESORT & SPA IN KUTA and had booked and paid for airport transfers before we left. We were charged $25 each US dollars both ways thru our travel agent. After speaking to many previous travellers and having our transport not turn up to pick us up when we left, we found that our taxi fare to airport between us cost only approximately $6 in aussie dollars.
TAXIS IN BALI
The legitimate taxis in Bali are Blue Coloured Taxis and they use their meter so you will pay proper price and not get ripped off.
We used these taxis all the time and never had any problems.
AIRPORT PORTERS AT DENPASAR AIRPORT,
As above, we had booked and paid for airport transfers through a travel agent. When we arrived in Bali, it is a bit of a hike thru terminal to front of airport. We did not see a luggage collection area anywhere and we were greeted by 2 porters in official uniforms which had airport porters embroidered above the pockets of the shirts and they had our luggage on a trolley. Naturally we figured this was the pre-arranged transport to take us to our hotel. We then found that when we got out the front of the terminal our actual hotel transport was out the front with a board holding up our surname and he was waiting for us. The airport porters then put our luggage into the car of the hotel transport. The airport porters then wanted us to pay them.As we didnt know any different, we gave them a tip.
We now know they are official airport porters and they are permitted to do what they do legally.If you are being picked up by your own hotel transport which has been pre-arranged and you find that you are greeted by an aiport porter in a uniform wanting to take your luggage out to the car, Tell them No (that is of course unless you want them to do it for you. At the end of the day, it doesn't cost much but we got ripped off big time cos we hadn't familiarized ourself with the money and exchange rates and we paid them way to much).
CHEAT SHEETS FOR CONVERSION RATES
I am useless with maths and even with a calculator found it to be a pain trying to convert money especially when you are trying to get bargain a price and you have to keep entering different amounts into a calculator. BEST AND EASIEST THING EVER is to get what is called a CHEAT SHEET before you go. If you do a google search and enter Cheat Sheet Money Conversions, it will bring up a few different sites with them on and you can print them out. I printed my copy and took it with me everywhere and it was such a big help and made thing soooo much easier.
MONEY CHANGERS
There are money changers everywhere in Bali. Before we left we were told best and safest place to change money was at official Money Cahngers in Kodak shops. We changed our money mostly at 2 different places close to our hotel and never had any problems. The conversion rates are displayed on a board, We did conversion on our calculator, money changer did their conversion on their calculator. We then showed each other the total which was always the same. They counted money in front of us then we took money from them and counted it again. Never any problems. Conversion rates do vary tho from money changer to money changer but not by heaps. We generally checked conversion rates with 2 or 3 money changers and changed no more than $100 Aussie each at a time.
GET IN WRITING FROM YOUR AIRLINE BEFORE YOU GO, THE COST OF LUGGAGE EXCESS (Just in cae you go over)
We flew from Perth with Garuda. Just out of curiosity before leaving Perth airport we asked about cost of excess luggage. Garuda in Perth told us excess luggage would be $10 per kilo excess for first 10 kilos. When we left Bali we asked garuda at Bali airport about excess and they told us excess was $10 US per kilo which makes it nearly double
THE BALINESE WILL ASK YOU IF IT IS YOUR FIRST TIME IN BALI.
It was my first time and I said 'yes'. Apparently so I have now found out....The reason they ask you this is to find out if you are aware of how much things cost cos if you haven't been to Bali before and have not experienced the bargaining for shopping then you get absolutely ripped off when buying stuff or having massages at beach.
According to some previous travellers to Bali.....We got ripped off with a lot of things we bought but at the end of the day, Everything we bought was soooo cheap and although we paid more than experienced travellers did, We were very happy with what we got and we still condsidered it to all be very cheap so we did well and were happy.
MASSAGES
Everywhere you go in Bali, Beauty treatments and Massages are available at very varying prices. We had massages at the beach, the hotel and at beauty/massage salons. The massages are soooo much cheaper at the beach and massage salons than at the hotel and are of the same quality. Definitely worth comparing prices as there is a hge difference. The best place we found was a places called EVE'S which was in Kuta not far from Waterbom Park. The staff and services were excellent, speak good english and are just soooooo nice and so very welcoming. They have both male and female staff and have a huge huge range of massages, beauty treatments, hairdressing, along with accupuncture and detoxing. The place is just awesome and I would highly recommend going there. We found out about eve's through people from our hotel who had been there before.
HOTEL TOUTERS AND SO CALLED OFFICIALS FROM THE TOURSIT BUREAU.
Nearly on every second corner in Kuta we came across very firendly locals who were always trying to stop us to chat. Their first words are....Do you speak English and when you answer yes then the speel starts. They start by telling you that they are not trying to sell anything and then they hand you something like a scratchie encouriging you to scratch it. You then find that you are a winner (Everyone is always a winner). You then get told that you have to go to their boss at the hotel to collect your prize which is where the scam starts. You get a taxi with the touter free of charge to the hotel and once at the hotel you get a tour a nice cold drink, get offered to be shown around the hotel and then you get a hard sell from a hotel sales rep trying to get you to book into the hotel for either this holiday or your next holiday. When you say, you are not interested you then can leave with your free gift which is usually a t.shirt and you have to find your way back to your hotel yourself.
We even once came across a lady with a clipboard in the Matahari shopping centre in Kuta who had a name badge and a clipboard stating she was doing a survey from the tourist Bureau and that by completing the survey that a donation would be made from the Tourist Bureau to an orphanage. As it looked all official, we completed the survey which included putting our name and name of hotel we stayed at. We then received a phone call at out hotel getting same crap on the phone about being aken free to a nice hotel to have a look around and be offered a free nights accomodation. The whole thing is an absolute scam.
BEST ADVICE EVER IS TO TALK TO OTHERS WHO HAVE BEEN TO BALI BEFORE. WE FOUND THE BEST PLACE TO DO THIS WAS WHILE KICKING BACK AROUND THE SWIMMING POOL.
We stayed at the RAMYANA RESORT & SPA and absolutely loved it. Had an awesome time and met soooo many wonderful friendly people and the staff there are awesome. Check out my foum on RAMAYNA.
Hope that this has been insightful for those of you who haven't been bto Bali before. As stated this is from my first time experience only and this may differ enormously from someone else's experience so like everything..... do your research first and find out as much as you can