This was my 4th trip to Bali and they get better everytime. I did my homework before going and i read up heaps on this forum. Thanks for all your reports. It certainly makes planning a memorable trip easier.
Most accomodation/travel etc was booked before i left.
This time we stayed 4 nights at Sanur then 4 nights at Gili Meno, 2 nights at Lovina and finally 3 nights again at Sanur before returning home.
We flew virgin from brisbane. It was a great trip- I love the fact that it is straight there. The VOA queue was much better this time with only a 30 minute wait. Customs was strange. We ticked the box to declare some DVDs we had but no one seemed slightly interested and we went straight through.
As we left the airport my friend met us to drive us to the hotel. He is fantastic. This guy will meet you and drive you to your hotel cheaper than any Taxi. I think it was 75,000 to Sanur. Not only that but he also organized all our DVDs. I hate wasting half a day sifting through DVDs at the shops. I just went through the list he emailed me and picked 150 of them! He has them all sorted and boxed. For the next 2 weeks we had our choice of any movie to watch. I always take my own portable player which is great on the plane and plugs straight into the hotel TVS.
At Sanur we stayed at Sekuta Condominiums. It's set on the wrong side of the bypass from the beach and close to McDonalds. I had prepurchased accomodation through a $99 voucher that came through work. It was $99 for 7nights staying at one of 3 different resorts- one at Sanur and another at Gili Meno.
The 4 days at Sanur were a great way to start our holiday. My wife and daughter went to the Safari Park on the first day and absolutely loved it. The next day they went and did the Aneka cooking class and had a great time. I booked these online and saved a heap. They did the leopard ticket at the park. They caught the free shuttle bus from Sanur. For the cooking class the price included return travel.
In those first 4 days we also went to the dentist and it was a wonderful experience. She is directly across the road from mcdonalds at Sanur.
I met my tailor who I had organized before I left Australia. She has a small factory and can produce almost anything. I had ordered 10 polo shirts with my company logo on. I also got her to make cushion covers for my outdoor furniture, a table cloth, 3 pairs of business trousers as well as business shirts. She also organised to copy 4 pairs of shoes for my wife. The quality of these was exceptional snd i highly recommend her. Her name is Cintya and if you want her contact details then let me know. She will even drive to your hotel to discuss your order. This is not a backyard operator. She is geared up to make uniforms very cheaply.
After 4 days we got picked up from our hotel and driven to Padang bai for the fast boat eka jaya to the gilis.