We celebrated christmas and 2015 new year in Java and Bali. We will publish our experience in a series of posts. You’re on the first one.
The plan started in 2014 summer: how about an active vacation for the christmas and new year. This requirement led us to look for places around the equator. We chose Indonesia.
Here’s a snapshot of our 15-days itinerary.
| Day 0-1 |
Flight: Chennai - Singapore - Jakarta
Night at Changi Airport Explore Singapore during the day. Rest at Jakarta. |
| Day 2 |
Train: Jakarta to Yogyakarta
Spend the day in Jakarta. |
| Day 3-5 | See around in Yogyakarta. Transfer to Surabaya on 5th night. |
| Day 6 |
Train: Surabaya to Banyuwangi
Evening at Banyuwangi. Morning at Ijen Crater. |
| Day 7-9 |
Ferry: Banyuwangi to Pemuteran
Snorkel/dive at Pemuteran. |
| Day 10 | Day Trip: Pemuteran to Ubud via Munduk |
| Day 11-12 | Spend the day in Ubud. |
| Day 13 |
Ferry: Ubud to Gilli Trawangan.
Celebrate new years at Gilli Trawangan. |
| Day 14-16 |
Ferry: Gilli Trawangan to Sengiggi
Night at Senggigi
Flight: Lombok - Jakarta - Singapore - Chennai |
Prep checklist {#prepchecklist}
Here are some tips on things to take care of before you travel…
Stay
We followed a simple algorithm:
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Search for accomodations at Trip Advisor, Agoda, Booking
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Trip advisor provides a nice filtering capability based on preferences (Bed n Breakfast, Romantic and so on). Read the reviews (Booking/Agoda allow you to filter based on Single/Group/Couple travellers)
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Scroll through and concentrate more on the reviews during our time of travel: dec/jan (wish there were an easier way to do this :P). Good reviews is the first filter.
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As the second filter, narrow down the accomodations by nature of activities during stay (if shopping is the thing, choose the central area ;))
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Third filter is about amenities. A nice shower, fast wifi internet and what not :P
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Clarify/Ask for discounts, some accomodation owners provide discounts if you book daytrips/book a snorkelling trip through them!
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Book the accomodations at agoda.com or booking.com
Clothes
December, January is the rainy season in Java/Bali. We were going to spend all of our time outdoors, we packed light dressing and umbrellas :)
Do pack a pair of slippers, they make walking much simple on the beaches.
Be careful about amount of sunscreen you carry, international flight regulations don’t allow to take more than 100ml bottles of any liquid (We had to get rid of our 300ml unopened bottle before boarding :()
Travel light, supermarkets are everywhere in major cities in Indonesia, you can buy an item or two there.
Finances
None of the banks in India were providing currency cards in Indonesian Rupiah. We just flew in with our international Debit/Credit cards.
It worked pretty well. There are plenty of ATMs around in Indonesia, they spew out in the denominations of 100,000 and 150,000 (they have limits of maximum withdrawal per transaction).
Prior to the day’s travel, check for the entrance ticket amounts to tourist places and have the cash with you just in case!
Communication
We bought a Skype pack for calls. They were pretty useful for Indonesia-Indonesia calls as well (for booking taxis and so on).
Transportation
If there’s one word you will learn from your Indonesian trip; it’s got to be Bluebird. Boy, that taxi company is super popular and truly lives up to standards. We did use other taxis twice or thrice and almost cheated once; will share the story in future post :)
There are Bikes available for rent easily. Get your International Drivers License before you land in Indonesia. We took many day trips and biking has it’s own charm.
We used tiket.com to book our train travels in Indonesia. Carry a print out with you to the Train Stations and exchange the print out for a real ticket. Pretty easy, and no hassles.
See you in our next post on Singapore!