We are back from Bali and whew – what a whirlwind! To say that this vacation was much needed would probably be the understatement of the century. We had been looking forward to this trip for almost a year and had no idea that the months leading up to our departure would be so stressful – good timing, God. I see ya! 😉 In any case, today is just going to be a super brief overview of some of the highlights, because for anyone who has been to beautiful Bali before, you know that each and every sight, restaurant and destination deserves delving into detail (try saying that five times fast…YOW!). So in the coming weeks I will definitely be breaking the trip down into manageable posts for anyone who may be trying to plan a trip or is just daydreaming!
But for now…let’s get on with it!
We flew from Honolulu to Taipei and from Taipei to Denpasar on China Airlines. I will never, ever fly China Airlines again (and that is putting it mildly…there were tears), but perhaps that is a different story for a different day. The short version is that we thought they would be reliable given they are a SkyTeam (Delta) partner, but let’s just say they don’t meet the standard in more ways than one. Every leg was delayed and on the way home we spent nights in both Taipei and Tokyo. GAH!
We stayed at:
Sthala, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel in Ubud
Four Points Sheraton in Kuta Beach
We are SPG people, so we hunt out Starwood properties whenever possible ☺
I would stay at all the hotels again except for the Four Points in Kuta Beach. The location is great, but it is a non-stop party disco, so the noise levels are unreal (think 3AM club music) and it wasn’t clean. If I am being perfectly honest, I wouldn’t stay in Kuta Beach at all when we go back. We fell in love with Seminyak and only wished we had booked a hotel there for at least a night or two. If you are also planning a trip, Air BnB is insanely popular there and there are homestay options on nearly every corner, if that’s something you are interested in.We visited so many amazing temples, coffee shops, restaurants and markets. It seemed like every place we turned was something new and even more beautiful to look at or learn about. I couldn’t stop snapping photos and if you were following along at all on Instagram you might have noticed my Instagram Story overload. Whoops!A couple highlights for me included:
The Sacred Monkey Forest, Ubud
Uluwatu Temple
Daily flower baths
Kynd Community
The Viceroy (literally every single thing. I have a full post just on our time at this hotel because it was MAGIC!)I hope you’ll stay tuned for more posts and photos about our time in Bali! We are already planning our next trip! If you have any questions already, feel free to send them my way!