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| We stumbled upon the scene in Phuket. |
By the time you see this post today, we’ll already be at the airport in Phuket awaiting the flight to Singapore with a three hour layover until the final leg of the flight to Denpasar, Bail.
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| Colorful shrine in front of a property! Wow! |
Neither of these two flights are very long, the first only 1 hour, 50 minutes; the second under around 2 hours. These shorter flights shouldn’t be too hard on me. Once we arrive in Singapore, we’ll get a passcode for the free WiFi, find comfortable seating in a restaurant in the terminal and busy ourselves online while we wait.
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| Many fruit and coconut stands are found along the road. |
Although it will be a long day, expecting to arrive at the hotel in Kutu, Bali around 8:30 pm after departing the house in Phuket at 7:00 am, there is a one hour time difference resulting in a 12 hour travel day.
We’ll always recall the 34 hour travel day from Venice to Kenya in 2013 making this 12 hour travel day seem like “a walk in the park.” We don’t anticipate too many more lengthy travel days in the immediate future when we only have a few more flights until heading back to the US for a family visit via a cruise embarking in about 8 months.
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| In rained and was cloudy almost every day for a period of time. |
Once we arrive in Bali we only have a few more flights pending until we head to the US in April, 2017:
1. Bali to Sydney: October 30, 2016 (Yuck! A red eye)
2. Sydney to Hobart: December 3, 2016
3. Hobart to Sydney: February 28, 2017
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| Well care for wood boat tied to a tree in the bay. |
Now for the final Phuket expenses, keeping in mind that these expenses are less than expected and budgeted when we weren’t able to get out to dine and do much sightseeing based on my health condition.
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| Colorful shells from the Phuket Seashell Museum. |
Most tourists stay in resorts with minimal cooking facilities (if any), dine out for most meals, pay for a more expensive rental car or multiple taxi rides and go out on a number of tours and sightseeing adventures.
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| Blue-green water at a distance. Sandy beach at the shore. Beautiful! |
Here are the total expenses:
| Expense |
US Dollar
|
Thai Baht
|
| Vacation Rental | $ 2,603.19 | 89,994.51 |
| Airfare | $ 830.00 | 28,693.81 |
| Visa | $ 74.14 | 2,563.08 |
| Taxi (inc. tips) | $ 115.75 | 4,001.58 |
| Rental Car | $ 260.33 | 9,000.00 |
| Wi-Fi | $ 0 | 0 |
| Groceries | $ 948.60 | 32,793.92 |
| Dining Out | $ 0 | 0 |
| Miscellaneous | $ 24.12 | 833.85 |
| Tips (for cleaners) | $ 115.50 | 4,000.00 |
| Total | $ 4,971.63 | 172,196.91 |
| Average Monthly Cost |
$ 3,688.30 | 127,747.61 |
| Avg Daily Cost – 41 nights |
$ 121.25 | 4,199.60 |
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| Spiky colorful shells. |
In the next few days we’ll be writing an online review for the vacation rental at the owner’s preferred site. Soon, the cleaners will arrive and we’ll present the four delightful helpers with tips as indicated above.
Had I been feeling well, this 41 nights in Phuket would have been an entirely different experience. Hopefully, as we go forward and the healing continues, we’ll be able to return to our former more active experiences.
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| No disrespect intended. When I spotted Tom posing next to this statue, it was a LMAO experience. He’ll do anything to make me laugh during these challenging months of healing. I couldn’t resist taking a photo. |
Thanks to all of our loyal readers for hanging in with us during this very quiet, relatively uninteresting period in Thailand. I know you may be anticipating that the upcoming two months in Bali won’t be much different. But, we promise to make every effort to share great new photos and experiences as circumstances will allow.
Midway through the next two months, we’ll be spending four nights in a hotel in Lovina, Bali in order to acquire the necessary visa extensions. While there, we should have some new and exciting photos and stories. Please stay tuned.
Back at you soon!
Photo from one year ago today, September 1, 2015:
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| Clear blue skies contributed to our colorful beach photos of our final days in Trinity Beach. For more photos, please click here. |