Sisters.travel

The specific relevant content for this request, if necessary, delimited with characters: I flew on the 17th of June 2023 the first time from Switzerland to Bali Denpasar with a short layover of 3 hours in Dubai.

First tip: Always check the regulations of your airline. For example, I was not allowed to take drones on the flight, not even in the checked baggage. Also, make sure you arrive early. I waited for about an hour to check in my bag because there were tons of families on my flight with a lot of baggage. Once I was through and said goodbye, everything was very quickly done and I was on my first flight, which was roughly 7 hours. I had really good experiences with Emirates and recommend them. Also, the food is very good and doesn’t disappoint, even for vegans and vegetarians.

Dubai Airport was very strange for me as I come from a western culture, and it actually made me very curious. My next flight was about 10 hours and went by quickly; I slept most of the time, which I recommend if you can get a night flight. Now I will tell you about the worst part of my journey. Once arrived at Denpasar Airport, the first thing you can do is buy a Sim Card, which I really recommend doing. Yes, maybe you will pay some rupiahs more doing it in the airport, but once done, it’s done. I actually don’t remember how much I paid without the 28GB package from Telkomsel, but it was roughly around $20. For that, they take a picture of your passport, and you can pay cash or by card.

If you haven’t applied for an E-Visa (30 days entry), which I highly recommend to skip the freaking long waiting lines, you have to cue for the visa on arrival.

My first stop was Canggu and I stayed at a surf camp the SurfWG, which is a German/Swiss-based company that offers a surf and stay package. I liked the stay overall, they offer private rooms and dorms and if you stay longer you can get a discount. The view is very nice it’s not in the center of the town so a bit quieter, which I liked and the vibe was great. The people overall were very friendly, and the staff was amazing and helpful. If you never tried surfing before I would probably choose a different location or a private teacher to not get overwhelmed by the group classes. You can find any food in Canggu, yoga classes or parties, there is not much you can’t do in Canggu and I have to say, ay sounding like a grandma, at times it was a bit too much. Too many tourists, too many choices, too many offers. It was still awesome to make friends and improve my surfing. Indonesian people also love to sing and make music, so be prepared to sing along and have some fun! What I also didn’t expect was the very crazy traffic, I mean I’ve heard of it, but to live it was something different. I didn’t dare to learn how to drive there, considering it’s hard to get around without a scooter if you don’t want to use Grab/Gojek, it might be a good idea to try it elsewhere first.

Another thing that shocked me was the trash situation. It is very dirty in Bali. The Hindus as well as the majority of the population don’t care and also don’t know how to deal with their trash. They even throw it into the river, which then ends up in the ocean, because the government also doesn’t provide a better solution. The EU can try as hard as it wants if third-world countries are not helped with their situations, all our European efforts don’t make a change after all (in my opinion).