Been home for 2 weeks now with time for the dust to settle and get my JBR written. Our family of 5 (Mum, Dad and 3 kids aged 14, 12 and 8) enjoyed a wonderful 2 weeks in Bali. Stayed in Kuta, Lovina, Safari Park, Sanur then back to Kuta. This was our 2nd trip with the kids (first in 2005) and my 5th.
We had a few days in Singapore on the way (which was wonderful) so flew from Singapore to Denpasar on Valuair (Jetstar Asia). After our many Air Asia travels Valuair seemed luxurious - even handed out delicious free muffins, kids assumed they had to pay for them so were checking with us that they were OK to eat. We landed at 10pm and were in the carpark 40mins later, much better than some of the horror stories we heard from friends we met up with over there.
We stayed in a deluxe 2bedroom at Kuta Townhouses. There's been plenty written about KTH here, and we certainly found it a great place for our family. Loved the location and the extra space of the living area to spread out it, but we did have a few dramas on checking in. I'd booked (& paid deposit) over 10 months ago, and had double checked our booking & rate a couple of times since (including the week before we arrived). Each time the email came back confirming $ as I'd said, but of course on check in the staff tried to say there was a 20% July surcharge payable + rates had gone up since we booked + they'd put us in a deluxe which was more expensive than the superior that I'd requested and been quoted for + if we wanted a bed for our 3rd child it was another 150,000rph/night. Thankfully I'd bought a copy of my email confirming and ended up getting them to agree to the price as quoted, but this whole process took 40+minutes, which is just what you need at the end of a big day. They wouldn't budget on the bed for the 3rd child though. Even thought I'd given the age of kids on booking, their email response was that if the 5th person is an adult it's an extra 75,000rph/night, but if a child (which she was) then 5th person is free (but they wouldn't get breakfast included, which we were fine with). I took this to mean the 5th person would get a bed, but according to them the 75,000 charge (for a 5th adult) only covers the right for them to sleep in the room - doesn't give them any bed or linen. Anyway, youngest daughter ended up sleeping on the lounge so we didn't have the extra bed charge.
Despite all this, KTH suited us very well. Eva's laundry directly across from the entrance is wonderful, we rocked up the next morning with a huge suitcase full of our 4 days of clothes from Singapore, her per kilo rate was such good value, all came back beautifully pressed and smelling of Bali. We found food prices on the main strips (incl. Poppies 1 and 2 etc) were much dearer than we remembered from 4 years ago. What we also loved about KTH was the many fantastic super cheap eateries on that lane they're on between Poppies 1 and 2. Tom Yum (Thai) diagonally across from KTH was great, curries AU$2, ice cold fresh juices for $1....just our budget! Also wonderful was a little further up the lane from KTH (towards Poppies 2), Gang's Corner and another 2 doors further along, both of which did a fabulous seafood platter (fish, 2 prawns, crab and fantastic home made type chips) for only 50,000rph. Gosh I wish I could get one now!! Another meal highlight (though not that same budget!) was the Ri jsttafel dinner at Poppies restaurant. Had a fab evening with 2 other couples (and our combined 10 children) there.
Did all the usual things - dvd shopping, Waterbom, massages and braiding, won't bore you with details. Part 2 to come with our trip north to Lovina.