Problem
How do I enjoy Bali without paying for expensive flights, car hire and a five star hotel?
Answer
My family has stayed in one of the top hotels in Bali (when we were younger and employed and well paid and saved all our money for top holidays). Now we are looking for more trips and cheaper trips.
The latest holiday by one member of the family was a short side trip to Bali. Yes, first you have to pay for a flight to Bali. We are members of Star Alliance loyalty scheme which includes Singapore Airlines. For long haul flights, when you want to sleep in comfort, we like Singapore Airlines. However, if you are based in Asia, or want to add on a trip to your existing trip, to Bali or Java, in Indonesia, here are some alternative and cheaper options using the cut price airlines.
Cheap Airlines
Using Skyscanner you can come up with dozens of options, the equivalent of the UK's and Europe's Ryanair using local small airlines such as Air Asia, Garuda, Jetstar, SilkAir, Lion Air and Tiger Air. Instead of paying about £600 return on a regular large airline route, by doing short hops you can do two outward bound and two back home hops for about £40 each section. For example, for return from Singapore to Bali, a return flight in June cost 4223 Singapore dollars for a two hour flight each way. We also booked a family member on a trip to Java.
Light Luggage
Taking just a backpack for a long weekend, you not paying extra for checked in luggage. That means quicker check in, plus you are out of the airport first and fast. You have extra time, time enough to take slower and cheaper transport to your destination.
Travel By Scooter
On Bali you can hire a scooter. Petrol for the scooter was cheap. The engine is small and you need to keep filling up. A long weekend cost £5 for the petrol.
Home Stay
You don't have to use airing to get a home stay. Using booking.com, produced a home stay for about £16 in a back street in the main tourist areas in the south near the airport and the centre. It was even cheaper, only about £9 up north where you find the black volcanic ash beach.
Showering Under The Sky
What do you get in your home stay? My family member had a single room, a big room with double bed and a shower room - with part open air (no roof), but partly roofed over the toilet so you are covered when it rains.
Kupu Kupu Barong
The topless shower rooms are common in Bali. We had one years ago on our first visit to Bali in the upmarket hotel called Kupu Kupu Barong, meaning butterflies.
The wet room shower room gets all the floor wet, but has the advantage that you get the floor cleaned every time you have a shower.
Breakfast on the balcony
At both of the home stays cooked Western style breakfast was included. The evening before, the host or hostess asked, "What time do you want breakfast? How would you like your eggs cooked?"Next morning at the appointed time, up came coffee or tea as requested, on a tray, with eggs, sausage and toast. To eat breakfast on the bedroom's balcony.
A l o s m e n is a very basic hotel, with wooden chairs, a trestle table, no heating, no air con, and probably only cold water. If you are used to camping, sleeping bags and trekking, you'll probably be happy. If you are used to 5 star hotels you might not be so happy.
To Like and Not Like
Apart from good prices, what else is there to like or not like?
Days in the tropics are hot, hot, hot. Up on the black sand beach, hot as hell. The days are short. Day lengths are the same all year, twelve hours of sun, only twelve hours. In Singapore daylight is about 7.15 am to 7.15 pm. Bali is further east so it's about 6.30 am to 6.30 pm.
No long light evening (which you would enjoy in summer in London, England). On the other hand, if you were thinking ahead, of planning a Christmas or winter trip, Bali won't get dark at 4 pm in winter the way it does in Scotland.
Language
In the tourist hotspots such as Ubud the shopkeepers speak English. However, going north on Bali, or off to Sumatra you might find locals speak only Indonesian. Your vital words are:
English - Indonesian
basic - accommodation - l o s m e n
makan - food
room - r u m a h
restaurant - r e s t o r a n
hotel - hotel
r u m a m a k a n - bistrot, cafe, small restaurant (room food, or food room, adjective after the noun)
hostel - a s r a m a
guest house - r u m a h t a m u
accommodation - l o s m e n (memory aid - like lodging for men)
shower - mandi
Use google translate. List a few words you are likely to need.
Use duo lingo.com which is free on the internet to learn Indonesian. Indonesian is the same as Malay - with just a slight additional vocabulary - like American English and British English.
Indonesia consists of lots of island
Extra Costs
Bali is like a top heavy figure of eight, or an eyeball with a hanging tear drop, with the airport at the neck.
Flying back to continental Europe where weather is cooler, you might want to wear a lightweight cowboy or cowgirl shirt. Take with with a vest to put on underneath when you are on the air condoned flight home, or to don at the airport before coolly venturing out into the relative cool.
TIPS
Flights
To compare flight prices, eg from New York to Singapore, including non stop and others such as Singapore Airlines; Emirates:
FareCompare.com
google.co.uk/flights
skyscanner.com
Hotels
booking.com
TripAdvisor
Tourism, Sights, Attractions
bali tourist board
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
How do I enjoy Bali without paying for expensive flights, car hire and a five star hotel?
Answer
My family has stayed in one of the top hotels in Bali (when we were younger and employed and well paid and saved all our money for top holidays). Now we are looking for more trips and cheaper trips.
The latest holiday by one member of the family was a short side trip to Bali. Yes, first you have to pay for a flight to Bali. We are members of Star Alliance loyalty scheme which includes Singapore Airlines. For long haul flights, when you want to sleep in comfort, we like Singapore Airlines. However, if you are based in Asia, or want to add on a trip to your existing trip, to Bali or Java, in Indonesia, here are some alternative and cheaper options using the cut price airlines.
Cheap Airlines
Using Skyscanner you can come up with dozens of options, the equivalent of the UK's and Europe's Ryanair using local small airlines such as Air Asia, Garuda, Jetstar, SilkAir, Lion Air and Tiger Air. Instead of paying about £600 return on a regular large airline route, by doing short hops you can do two outward bound and two back home hops for about £40 each section. For example, for return from Singapore to Bali, a return flight in June cost 4223 Singapore dollars for a two hour flight each way. We also booked a family member on a trip to Java.
Light Luggage
Taking just a backpack for a long weekend, you not paying extra for checked in luggage. That means quicker check in, plus you are out of the airport first and fast. You have extra time, time enough to take slower and cheaper transport to your destination.
Travel By Scooter
On Bali you can hire a scooter. Petrol for the scooter was cheap. The engine is small and you need to keep filling up. A long weekend cost £5 for the petrol.
Home Stay
You don't have to use airing to get a home stay. Using booking.com, produced a home stay for about £16 in a back street in the main tourist areas in the south near the airport and the centre. It was even cheaper, only about £9 up north where you find the black volcanic ash beach.
Showering Under The Sky
What do you get in your home stay? My family member had a single room, a big room with double bed and a shower room - with part open air (no roof), but partly roofed over the toilet so you are covered when it rains.
Kupu Kupu Barong
The topless shower rooms are common in Bali. We had one years ago on our first visit to Bali in the upmarket hotel called Kupu Kupu Barong, meaning butterflies.
The wet room shower room gets all the floor wet, but has the advantage that you get the floor cleaned every time you have a shower.
Breakfast on the balcony
At both of the home stays cooked Western style breakfast was included. The evening before, the host or hostess asked, "What time do you want breakfast? How would you like your eggs cooked?"Next morning at the appointed time, up came coffee or tea as requested, on a tray, with eggs, sausage and toast. To eat breakfast on the bedroom's balcony.
A l o s m e n is a very basic hotel, with wooden chairs, a trestle table, no heating, no air con, and probably only cold water. If you are used to camping, sleeping bags and trekking, you'll probably be happy. If you are used to 5 star hotels you might not be so happy.
To Like and Not Like
Apart from good prices, what else is there to like or not like?
Days in the tropics are hot, hot, hot. Up on the black sand beach, hot as hell. The days are short. Day lengths are the same all year, twelve hours of sun, only twelve hours. In Singapore daylight is about 7.15 am to 7.15 pm. Bali is further east so it's about 6.30 am to 6.30 pm.
No long light evening (which you would enjoy in summer in London, England). On the other hand, if you were thinking ahead, of planning a Christmas or winter trip, Bali won't get dark at 4 pm in winter the way it does in Scotland.
Language
In the tourist hotspots such as Ubud the shopkeepers speak English. However, going north on Bali, or off to Sumatra you might find locals speak only Indonesian. Your vital words are:
English - Indonesian
basic - accommodation - l o s m e n
makan - food
room - r u m a h
restaurant - r e s t o r a n
hotel - hotel
r u m a m a k a n - bistrot, cafe, small restaurant (room food, or food room, adjective after the noun)
hostel - a s r a m a
guest house - r u m a h t a m u
accommodation - l o s m e n (memory aid - like lodging for men)
shower - mandi
Use google translate. List a few words you are likely to need.
Use duo lingo.com which is free on the internet to learn Indonesian. Indonesian is the same as Malay - with just a slight additional vocabulary - like American English and British English.
Indonesia consists of lots of island
Extra Costs
Bali is like a top heavy figure of eight, or an eyeball with a hanging tear drop, with the airport at the neck.
Flying back to continental Europe where weather is cooler, you might want to wear a lightweight cowboy or cowgirl shirt. Take with with a vest to put on underneath when you are on the air condoned flight home, or to don at the airport before coolly venturing out into the relative cool.
TIPS
Flights
To compare flight prices, eg from New York to Singapore, including non stop and others such as Singapore Airlines; Emirates:
FareCompare.com
google.co.uk/flights
skyscanner.com
Hotels
booking.com
TripAdvisor
Tourism, Sights, Attractions
bali tourist board
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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