Day 2: Bali Adventures and Crazy Shopping Bargains

Good morning (or whenever you are all reading this around the world)! Day 2 of my Bali adventure was definitely happening when I woke up at a lovely 5am here this morning. Bali is 3 hours behind Australian time (where I live anyway) so it was still weird adjusting to the time difference.

After waiting what felt like forever for it finally to be an appropriate time to have breakfast, we went and ate and the food was amazing.

After breakfast we knew we wanted to experience some of this Bali shopping everyone goes on and on about so we got our hats and went out to the streets we had looked at the night before. It is a very different experience than shopping in Australia, obviously. I usually like to take my time to look in stores and see what’s around before making any choices but this became increasingly difficult when all the people on the streets are so in your face trying to make you buy stuff. Kieran bought a couple of things and then we were just too hot we left the streets and came back for a swim.

Swimming, drinking and eating was the next thing we did (big surprise there). After relaxing in the pool for a couple of hours we walked up the street a bit and had some lunch and then we thought that we would give this shopping thing another try. So we covered ourselves in sunscreen, grabbed our hats again and headed to Kuta to do some shopping.

It was insane. Kieran and I got used to bartering prices and saying no thanks and moving on in places that we had no interest in. In the end though we ended up walking away, wallets slightly lighter carrying as much stuff as we could.

More swimming, more relaxing and more eating were called for for the rest of the day. We also went shopping again at night and I bought more stuff (if possible). I love a good bargain so shopping here is definitely way more fun than at home.

Another ‘early’ night before another busy day. Tomorrow is our last day staying at the Melasti Beach Resort in Legion before moving onto our next resort in Seminyak and I am way too excited.

Follow my adventures on my Instagram and Snspchat (both usernames are @krristelley).

Tomorrows adventures I am sure will involve more shopping, lots of picture taking and exploring and who even knows what else?

Thanks for reading,

Kristelle xx

Day 1: Bali Adventures

Bali adventures: Day 1

So, for this little blog post series I am going to be writing daily posts (but as I have mentioned in the last few posts, the probably won’t be posted daily). I have already written a “What’s in my Suitcase” post (which you can check out here).

Day 1 of the adventure starts the second you wake up for the day ready go. We had a 10am flight to Depsnar, so naturally you have to wake up at 4am like we did. Usually I am the grumpiest person in the mornings but today was different (probably because I was way too excited for what I knew lay ahead).

We got to the airport (probably just before 6am?) we had some breaky, got a coffee to wake ourselves up and then checked our suitcases. After all this was done we had to go through customs blah blah the usual airport stuff and then came the duty free shopping. You are only allowed to take 1L of alcohol (per person over 18) into Bali and you’re allowed just over 2.25L on the way back. We purchased our alcohol for both (you can pick up the ‘way back’ alcohol when you come back into Australia.

Next came the plane. Its almost a 7 hour flight here today from Sydney, so we had to be prepared for a lot of sitting down. I brought my laptop with me (and surprise, surprise) I am catching up and planning ahead my blog posts. I am currently writing this an hour after take off (748km from Sydney and 3868km until Denpasar, Bali). I am travelling at 397km/hour and am roughly 40,000 feet above Australia. I haven’t been on a plane since I was 10 years old (which was 10 years ago), so it is all quite exciting.

Arrival

We arrived finally! Took forever to collect our bags but finally we were off into a ‘cab’. I was so shocked at the complete lack of road rules! They drive all over the place here but somehow it works so well for them that no one crashed. Motorbikes everywhere, people without helmets and 3+ people sitting on one tiny bike!

Arriving at the resort was interesting, the first thing I wanted was a mixture of “I’m starving let’s eat” and “let me jump in this heavenly pool”.

We opted for food and a cocktail first and I was amazed by how cheap everything really is here!

After a meal we headed straight to the pool and Kieran, of course, was extremely pleased with the pool bar. It was so warm and so relaxing I can not even put into words how at ease with life I was.

After a swim, we showered and decided to wander the streets and look at the shopping that we knew we would encounter the next day. Although everyone tries to sell you everything, it was overall a fun experience. Buying alcohol from the local ‘mini-marts’ every 100m and experiencing the craziness of it all was amazing.

Eventually we made our way back to the resort and finished the evening with a pizza, drink and a shower before collapsing into bed awaiting the second day of our adventure.

Keep up with my travels on Instagram and Snapchat (both usernames are @krristelley )

Day 2 adventures up next,

Kristelle xxx

What's in my Suitcase: Bali Trip

What’s in my suitcase: Bali trip

Hey everyone! Once again, its been a while since I have written anything here (I am forever sorry about this) but so much has been going on and I am about to be in for an amazing trip with my boyfriend and his family. I am going to try and post daily with my adventures, but I am not sure how my wifi connections are going to be, so the posts might be a little delayed.

27^th December, 2015

Flight to Bali: 10am

Landing in Bali: 1:30pm

Flight: 6 hours and 45 minutes

This morning I had to wake up at 4am (yes 4am) to get ready for the trip to the airport (oh joy). In typical fashion I packed my bag the night before so I thought I would start the holiday blogs off with a little bit about what to pack when going to Bali.

So firstly, it’s probably important to note that I am going to Bali for 10 nights/ 11 days. Travelling to, I have one suitcase in checked baggage and a smallish backpack for my carry on luggage.

Carry on bag:

·      Travel diary:

o   Pen (necessary for filling out all the annoying documents)

o   Passport (if you want to leave the country lol)

o   Money $$$

o   Headphones

o   Lip balm

o   Any medications

·      Laptop w/ charger

·      Camera w/ charger

·      Small make up bag (I only brought 4 make up items- wow for me that’s impressive)

o   BB cream (and brush)

o   Concealer

o   Mascara

o   Powder (and brush)

·      Sunglasses (for when you’re off the plane)

·      A book (my choice today was ‘The Marriage Plot’

Suitcase: (you really don’t need to pack heavy for this one as everything is so cheap over in Indonesia you can just buy a lot of the stuff over there. This is what I packed for an 11 day/10 night trip.

·      5 bikinis (I like variety, its probably overboard and I’m sure 2 would have been fine)

·      Enough underwear and bras

·      1x dress

·      4x tops

·      1x denim shorts

·      2x cotton shorts

·      2x gym outfits

·      3 pairs of shoes (thongs, sandals, converse- I’m wearing my gym shoes on the plane)

·      1x set of pajamas

·      1x cap and 1 floppy brimmed hat

·      1x loose long pants (to cover up when going and visiting temples etc.)

·      4x pairs of socks

·      1x book for the trip/flight home (my choice was ‘The Power of Now’

·      Toiletries (only because there are the certain brands of things that I prefer and I didn’t want to not be able to find what I like when I’m over there

o   Shampoo and conditioner

o   Sunscreen

o   Toothbrush + toothpaste

o   Razor and shaving gel

o   Deodorant

When you first read the list, you may think that I have packed a lot (or a little I guess depending on your definition). But considering and I am that person who always packs way too much crap every time I go somewhere so this is a really good effort for me. When going camping for 2 nights this would be the amount of items I would take (lol). I am planning on buying my remaining outfits when I am over in Bali as I really only have enough outfits for half the trip (being mindful that I will probably be wearing more than one outfit each day).

You can follow my Bali adventures on Instagram and snapchat and I will also be trying to post daily blog posts (based on my ability to get a strong enough wifi connection, and depending if it is for free or not haha).

Instagram: @krristelley

Snapchat: @krristelley

Thanks for reading until next post,

Kristelle xxx

Merry Christmas 2015

Just want to start off with wishing all my lovely readers out there a Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a beautiful day however you spent it.

For me, Christmas is all about the enjoying the good food, good company and having a few (or more) drinks. This year I spent Christmas with my family and my boyfriend.

I was a little chef and helped my mum prepare a heap of the dishes as this year was our year to host. We had way too much food, but then again I guess that’s how it is supposed to be.

We had a beautiful lunch including salads, ham, pork, turkey, chicken and baked veggies.

This year our regular old Kris Kringle was changed around a bit and it only involved the kids. I dressed up as Santa (but shh if anyone asks Santa wasn’t me and I was just going to the bathroom the whole time) and gave all the kids presents out. I really don’t know who had more fun with this- me or the kids who didn’t know it was me under the fake beard and Santa suit.

Dessert came after presents and I always say this is my favourite part of the day- but let’s be real, everything I’m writing about I will always say “this is my favourite part” (I think I secretly just love Christmas). We had a beautiful selection of fresh fruits, cheesecake, trifle and pastries. I was in heaven (literally). To me Christmas is the one day a year that you can eat like crazy without feeling a single shred of guilt or shame (that’s what New Year’s resolutions are for).

The night ended with some cheese platters and alcoholic drinks whilst we sat around watching my youngest cousin dance to some house music (my boyfriend was a good dance teacher- or was it the other way around?). After the family all went home, the usual group of us watched American Pie and played the Christmas Drinking Game (place a Santa hat in the corner of the screen and every time someone ‘wears it’ you have to take a drink.

I’ll end this blog post with a couple of photos from the day. All up I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas (or just a wonderful day in case you don’t celebrate).

And a special shout out to all retail/hospitality/food industry workers that had to put in a lot of time and effort, blood, sweat and tears in the month leading up to Christmas that allowed everyone to have such wonderful days. You guys (and gals) are the real MVP’s.

Follow my Bali adventure (which I leave for on the 27^th of December) on my Instagram and snapchat accounts:

Instagram: @krristelley

Snapchat: @krristelley

Thanks for reading and until my next post,

Kristelle xx

(side note: I am posting these in Bali and my wifi connection isn't strong enough at the moment to be sending myself pictures to my laptop so I will edit those in later)