Leg Three: As it finally came time where we could pack up and leave the transit lounge, I was able to feel our spirits begin to lift. The final push to paradise was upon us. We packed up our stuff, got some more ice for our cooler bag ad headed out to the check-in desk. We waited for about five minutes before we made it to the front of the line. We were able to check our two large bags, our large cooler bag and a car-seat with no trouble at all. We had around an hour to spend before boarding, so we walked around and discovered some interesting perks at the airport. There is a movie screening room, which shows movies 24 hours a day, they have a butterfly room, koi ponds and a kid’s jungle gym. There may be even more stuff, but that was what we managed to see before we went to our gate.
"Bed" in the Lounge:Butterfly Garden:Koi Pond:Kid's Play Area:Airport Traffic: We had a little bit of a longer wait time to board, but once they started, it was all very smooth and we were seated in our economy bulkhead seats, with the only extra seat open next to us. We did get meals on this 2.5-hour flight, which was really nice, as we had not eaten much all night. While it could just be the cattle class talking, this flight seemed longer than our 13.5 hour JFK-ICN flight. Upon landing we were right of the plane and on to immigration. Recently US citizens stopped having to pay for a visa, which was an added bonus for us. After that, we were on to baggage claim and then to pass through customs. As we were travelling with a huge bag of food, we were a bit nervous for anything to happen. We walked up to the customs agents with our form and were waived by. We were out of the woods… or so we thought. There was then a line to scan every piece of luggage you were bringing into the country, which was bound to see our food. We put our bags through, didn’t hear anything and thought we had made it. Wrong again. We were then pointed out by a different group of customs agents who pointed to our bag and wanted to search it. Busted.
As I was opening the zipper, I suddenly saw tradition soups for every meal for the next few days. I wasn’t too happy. The first thing the customs officer said was something along the lines of “dairy for baby”? Well we did have the majority of our food dairy and the baby was going to eat it, so we just nodded. They started sifting through all the food and picking out random ones to see what each was. By some miracle, they kept picking dairy and opened only one item, which was dairy as well. We were then told we were good to go and we got away as fast as we could. For some odd reason, the exit is through a duty free shop, but we were just focusing on finding our driver and getting to the hotel. Once out the door, we saw a sign with my name on it, we made eye contact, nodded and started walking to his car. We loaded the luggage, changed a little money and went off to the hotel.
It is around 25 minutes from the airport to the Conrad, and it was never a dull moment. Driving in Bali is completely different than I have ever really seen. There are no real directions ass cars come from every angle and you just push your way through intersections. Arriving at the hotel was probably one of the nicest things we had felt for some time (or at least since finding out we had the whole F cabin to ourselves on the way to ICN). Once parked, we went to check-in and were pleasantly surprised by the upgrade to a suite. We made up with our driver to meet him back out front an hour later, so we can settle in a freshen up. After gawking at the room, showering and changing, we got our first warmed up meal and went out to meet our driver. The plan was to go to Uluwatu temple and possibly some other places.
Conrad Path:Conrad Walking Path:Suite Bathroom:Suite:Suite II:Suite III: The drive to the temple is close to an hour long. I slept a bit in the car, but had already decided this was going to be our only trip for the day. The temple is built along the side of a cliff and had some great views. Apparently monkeys roam wild there, but they were not out for us. After spending some time walking around, we went back to the van and headed back to the hotel.
View From Top of Temple: I am sitting in front of the suites only pool in a restaurant enjoying some drinks thanks to our Hilton Diamond status. There seem to be tea times and cocktail hours the whole day, so we will not go thirsty. I am heading out to prepare for Shabbat, but I’ll be back tomorrow night with another installment.
My Current View: