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Four days and counting until the four hour harrowing drive…Tools for staying organized…

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We printed all the paperwork and documents we could possibly need for multiple upcoming flights and visa applications which will be required on paper at the embassies. Placing each in its own unique envelope seemed to be the easiest way to find what we’ll need. Also, included are the necessary documents for us both of us to apply online for the renewal of our Nevada driver’s licenses, Tom in six months, mine in eight months. The blue envelope contains extra passport-type photos we purchased here for use in applying for the three visas in Singapore.
“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”
Kids on the beach, making sand castles. This is universal worldwide.

Originally, when we booked two separate two month stays in Bali at the same property, we were hesitant, asking ourselves, “What if we didn’t like it? What if for some reason we were miserable?”

At the time, with the commitment to finalize the booking imminent, we decided to take our chances. If we didn’t like it, we’d find a way to make it tolerable. In most cases, if a location isn’t a favorite, we end up spending a good chunk of our time making plans for the future while we stay busy enjoying the location as much as possible.

Fluffy flowers.

That concept is predicated by a good wifi signal, allowing us to do research while the time whittles away. Although we totally loved the house and the staff in Marrakech, Morocco in 2014, we stayed a little too long for the venue, a total of two and a half months. 

But, here in Bali, in this lovely villa, we feel comfortable and at ease. Certainly, the WiFi signal could be better. Gede hopes there will be a resolution by our return. If not, we’ll live with it. We haven’t been unable to post something each and every day during these past almost two months. 

This flower design is commonly used at the ends of posts in Balinese construction.

Sure, there’s always nuances we’d prefer to be different; no flies while we’re dining is probably the biggest one. But then, it’s a reality of life in many parts of the world. 

While living in Australia, we quickly realized that the flies bite so we had to leave the screen-less doors closed in the heat of the day. Here in Bali, only on a rare occasion do we feel a nip from a fly, perhaps from a different variety. I’ve been able to use only a tiny amount of repellent to keep the mozzies at bay, especially early in the morning and late in the day during dinner.

A wide array of tropical flowers bloom in each location we visit.

No English speaking TV?  No big deal. Four hour harrowing drive from Denpasar to the villa (each way)?  Annoying. Visa extension requiring three round trips at a total of four hours of driving time along with hours of waiting time on each of the three days in order to complete the process?  Bothersome. Poor WiFi signal? Frustrating. No opportunity in this remote area to dine in a restaurant from time to time?  Unusual.

On the flip side, we’ve loved so much about this location; the fabulous staff and their attentive care; the outrageous food; the exquisite accommodations; the infinity pool; the ocean views including daily wonders on the beach; the local people and interesting culture; and the unusual experiences we had almost daily in one way or another.

Birds and beasts are symbolic in Indonesia designs.

A few nights ago, there was a crab in our bedroom. That made us laugh. When does one find a crab in their bedroom? With a handful of paper towels I picked it up, depositing it back to the beach.  Buffalo on the beach every evening? Where does one see this? We’ve never lost interest in watching them meander along the shore. It goes on and on which we’ve shared in post after post.

So now as we wind down the remaining four days at the villa we smile with the knowledge and the acceptance of the few obstacles, while for the first time in our travels, we know what to expect upon our return…another two months in Paradise. 

Neighboring villas also have neatly trimmed landscaping.

Will are readers be bored when we’re back here with “same old, same old?” We hope not and, we have a plan. During the upcoming two whirlwind months of activity after traveling to Southeast Asia we’ll be thrilled for a little downtime while back in Bali to begin sharing stories we’ll have saved for our readers. 

We’re planning to save many of our Southeast Asia cultural stories especially from the Mekong River cruise (to eventually be posted when we return to Bali), writing the stories as they occur while the information is  still fresh in our minds. 

Bus stop in the neighborhood.

Of course, we’ll prepare a shorter daily post in “real time” while on the Mekong River cruise as we experience Vietnam and Cambodia both by land and water since we’ll be out on tours most days during the cruise itinerary.

As for Singapore, starting in five days (we’re spending one night at a hotel in Denpasar, Bali before the flight), where we’ll be for one week, we’ll prepare our usual posts with photos as we visit three embassies for the required three visas we need, incorporating sightseeing along the way. This should be quite an experience it itself.

The Hindu temple often has scary statues to drive away evil spirits.

Today, we’ll both pack and weigh our bags, pay the online excess baggage fees and be done. Once again, this will give us peace of mind allowing us to thoroughly enjoy our remaining few days at the villa. 

May your day bring you peace of mind!


Photo from one year ago today, June 23, 2015:

Shopping in Trinity Beach, Australia was as unique as it has been in most new locations.The AUD 227.57 for Woolie’s Grocery Store, (aka Woolworth’s) translated to US $175.86. This total didn’t include the veggies at US $32.77, AUD 42.41 and Italian sausage at US $13.45, AUD  17.40. For more details, please click here.

Part 1…A long ago story to tell…Beginning in 1972 – Jess’s story…Tom’s story follows…

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Beautiful colors and scenery at high tide.
“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”
Today, dozens of school kids walked along the beach while on the equivalent of a field trip to celebrate the end of the school year. In the next few days school will be out for a one month holiday. When they return, they’ll enter the next grade as they continue their studies. Wearing school uniforms is required with a color change on different days of the week.
The kids were happy and playful as they chatted with one another on their field trip.

In 1972, as a young mom, I got my first “corporate job” working in a small real estate investment firm in Edina, Minnesota. I’d be hired as an assistant to the president of the company. Within a few months, I became property manager and a few months later I received my real estate license to begin working in the process of acquisition and sale of both residential and commercial real estate. I was 24 years old and was excited to have landed a career.

One day, when the owner was leaving, he asked me to enter the day’s transactions on the computer system. I’d often wondered about the room with the locked door, filled with floor-to-ceiling machines with endless reels of tape, as daunting and untouchable.

“I have no idea how to use that,”  I said in a panic.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I’ll show you!”

The colors and shadows change in the constant daylight sunshine.

Thirty minutes later he left me with handwritten notes as to how to operate the complicated computer system.  I was the only person remaining in the office. I nervously stared at an extra-wide keyboard with the documents at my side, knowing I had to enter the vital information. 

As a poor typist (still today), I began picking away at the keys frequently referring to the handwritten instructions hoping I wouldn’t make an error. Making corrections in those days wasn’t as easy as it is today. 

My knees were knocking, my heart was pounding. But soon, I realized it wasn’t from fear but excitement. After I’d entered the information, I noticed a file folder labeled “Computer Entry” noting numerous files had yet to be entered. Immediately called home to tell my then-husband to make dinner, put the kids to bed, and expect me home at a very late hour. I was hooked.

This breathtaking view never ceases to amaze us.

At 6:00 am I pulled my car into the driveway, exhausted with bloodshot eyes but excited beyond belief. I was anxious to shower and dress, make the kids breakfast and head back to work to see how my boss reacted to my self-imposed additional project. As soon as the babysitter arrived at 8:00 am, I was out the door, alert and surprisingly awake.

As soon as I walked in the door of the office, he was standing there, obviously waiting for me. He shook my hand as a wide smile spread across his face, “Well, kid,” he said, “You have an even brighter future ahead of you than I thought. I’m impressed.”

Less than 18 months later, I owned my own real estate company, was the youngest broker in the State of Minnesota, and on my way to an interesting and illustrious career as a business owner. 

Each day, we’ve rescued many grasshoppers who are drowning in the pool.  Once we take them out, they dry off for a while and then fly off.  Some appear dead but often come to life after a while.

Unfortunately, the cost of filling a room with computers was outrageous at that time and beyond my reach as a fledgling company. I knew in time it would change, as other technology had been changing in the ’70s and later in the ’80s and ’90s. My first microwave was US $800, IDR 10,640,000. Our first VCR was US $1200, IDR 15,960,000 and it went on and on.

Divorced during this period, my kids and I glommed on to anything to do with technology; movies and video games especially at arcades where we could play pinball machines, more fascinated with the technology than the game itself.

Our first at-home video game, Pong, was pricey when purchasing the complete Atari set.  \My kids and I spent hours together and with each other, staring at the rounded-faced TV screen as we bounced the imaginary ball back and forth. It was all just the beginning. 

This grasshopper was lethargic after I rescued him/her from the pool but soon flew away.

A decade passed as more and more technology became available. In the 1980s I had my first personal DOS-operated IBM computer, more fascinated than ever over the ability to keep valuable records for the business.

It was in 1991, the year Tom and I met, that I purchased my first modem which was the size of a large word processing machine (which I also had) along with a new 100mhz personal computer. 

My friend Brian, married to my dear friend Lisa, was a nerd like me.  \He gave me a phone number I could call telling me to be patient, using the phone handset attached to the modem to gain access to the Internet. I had purchased a designated phone line for this sole purpose. 

Over the past few days, we’ve seen the highest tides since our arrival.

I’d often dial that phone number over and over for many hours in the middle of the night, attempting to “get in.” When I’d finally gain access, I’d often be “kicked off” in minutes. I devoured the “library type” information that popped up on the screen, in awe of how this whole thing worked. I was obsessed, to say the least.

As my and Tom’s relationship developed, eventually, he became interested along with me in an online  BETA game, called Netplay. This was one of the first online interactive multiuser games on the Internet. It took eight hours online to download the game which we did overnight. When updates occurred, it required an all-new eight-hour download.

As the technology improved, we purchased a second 500 MHz PC, giving Tom my older PC, again downloading the game. Subsequently, we installed another designated phone line, spending hours (in our off time) playing that game. We lost an entire summer in 1992 playing that game in the breakfast room at our individual desks/workstations.

The view directly in front of our villa as the tide rapidly washes closer to the edge of the infinity pool. Logs and ocean debris often accompany the incoming tide which later disappears as the tide rolls back out to sea.

The game required the user to snail mail the company, then Broderbund Software, a headshot photo of the player which they scanned on one of the first scanners that were the size of a ping pong table. A week later an avatar popped up in the game with each of our faces atop a cartoon-like character. Wow, this was impressive! We couldn’t help but show it to anyone who came to visit. For the era, it was hard to believe. Today, it’s commonplace.

The game was simple although advanced for its day and age, a place where one’s avatar could play a variety of card games. We choose to play poker in any of a few poker “rooms” which included green felt tables, chairs for eight players, and a picture on the wall of dogs playing cards.  \We were able to communicate with one another via word balloons.  \We were totally hooked.

In a short period, we embraced the Internet, even going as far as in 1997 when each of us purchased new 1998 model cars all online, choosing all the options, negotiating the pricing while awaiting the email notifying us the cars had arrived at the dealership ready for pickup. It was fascinating to both of us.

A praying mantis on the glass door.

I was one of Norwest’s Bank’s (no longer named) first online BILLPAY customers in the early 90s when all the kinks had yet to be worked out. I had no fear of the technology and we continue to use this service today, which is vital to our world travels.

We’ll continue this story tomorrow as we moved into the next technological era, day by day, piece by piece, making every effort to stay abreast of the latest innovations. 

Today, we read about technological advancements online in computing, science, and medicine, finding it helps to keep us informed of what’s transpiring in the field and how and what will be available to us in the future to aid us in our ongoing travels and daily lives.

Tomorrow, we’ll be back with Tom’s introduction into the world of computing and how he’s adapted in the process. See you again soon!

Photo from one year ago today, June 10, 2015:

A passenger on the ship became ill and had to be airlifted off the shop.  He was wrapped in exterior covering over the basket with a paramedic holding onto him. Looked scary to us. For more on this story and photos, please click here.

Tripping up a trip…Staying calm and cool…

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An elaborate Hindu temple at the beach.

“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”

Yesterday’s walk on the beach.

A year ago while living in Trinity Beach, Australia we booked a Viking Mekong River Cruise for July 8th upcoming in a little over one month. Over these past years with 13 cruises behind us and with 10 more pending, we’ve had tremendous success and satisfaction with Vacations to Go.  

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go through our regular cruise rep when river cruises are handled by another department. The river rep we received didn’t seem as knowledgeable as our regular cruise rep, but we didn’t complain and forged ahead.

Tourists walk along the beach area to shop at the many reasonably priced shops.

Cruise documents from Viking are not sent by email whereby other cruise lines readily make all necessary documents available online. As we’ve mentioned in the past, we haven’t been bringing paper documents to check in on cruises for the past few years when we discovered that only our passports and the reservation number are required to check-in at the port. 

When we discovered the river cruise rep has been out on medical leave off and on over these past few months, with nothing specific required until now, we hadn’t requested another rep. Now, only one month from the sail date, a new rep has taken over handling our booking.

Motorbikes line every road and highway, mostly owned by locals with some rented by tourists.

We’d asked many times via email and phone that the cruise documents NOT be snail-mailed to us to our mailing service in Nevada, USA. Alas, based on a Skype call we received from VTC during the night, the documents have been mailed to us in Nevada. What will we do with them? Pay to have them shipped overnight internationally for huge fees? That makes no sense.

Actually, the only reason we wanted the documents sent to us via email was for the confirmation for one flight included in the cruise fare. We’ll need proof of an airline ticket for the Vietnam flight when we apply for the visa in Singapore when we arrive in 24 days. Most immigration offices require proof that the visitor has a prepaid “way out of their country.” 

These little umbrellas are often used in decorating worship areas. Here, they are, outside a little restaurant at the beach.

Today, with a new contact person at VTC, we hope we’re on track to receive a document we can use when applying for the Vietnam visa. Once we have this, we’ll rest easy. In the worst case, we can have the mailing service scan and email copies of the itinerary but there again, we’ll have to pay for the scans as required by the mailing service.

Yesterday, we completed the documents for the three visas for which we’ll apply in Singapore.  Today, we’ll apply online for Cambodia which doesn’t require that we mail in our passports.

Hamburger night!  Tom had homemade burgers with cheese, fries, veggies, coleslaw while I had everything minus the fries. We’ve noticed he coughs from acid reflux at night after eating fries. No fries? No cough. Humm…what does that tell him?

This may all seem very confusing and we apologize to our readers for the redundancy and perhaps unclear representation. If you find yourself in such a pickle, please feel free to email us with questions. We’ll do our best to answer them clearly based on our experience and/or point you in the right direction for assistance.

Dolphin statue at the beach.

A dear friend wrote to me a few days ago saying, “most people would give up with all of the challenges you often face n continuing to travel the world.” That may be true for some. But, for us and perhaps others, it’s better than mowing the lawn, raking leaves, or shoveling the snow in the winter.

The beach in Lovina.

Our attention, our interest, and our enthusiasm remain constant as long as we have each other, good health, and the love and support of those who follow us along the way.  Thanks to all of you for that!

Photo from one year ago today, June 4, 2015:
“The International Date Line (IDL) explained:
The International Date Line (IDL) is an imaginary line of longitude on the Earth’s surface located at about 180 degrees east (or west) of the Greenwich Meridian.

Illustration image
One year ago, as we crossed the International dateline, we posted this map illustrating where this imaginary line is located.  For more details as we made the crossing, please click here.

Planning for the future…Back to work…

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Houses along the river in the village of Malaya.

“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”

Low tide at the beach on a cloudy day.

Today, we need to get “back to work.” Enough of this lazy lifestyle we’ve had this past month in Bali. With all of our record keeping and expenses logged and up to date, including the cost of last night’s dinner, it’s now time to look toward the future.

With the necessity of getting three visas while in Singapore for Vietnam, Thailand and Bali’s second visit in September, we have some paperwork to prepare before we arrive. After all, our one week in Singapore begins in 27 days. We’d better get moving.

A small shop next door to the ATM we use in the nearest village.

Each of these country’s visa applications requires proof of airline or cruise tickets showing our departure dates.  These countries want to ensure we high tail out as planned. No lingering illegals allowed.

Luckily, there’s an old printer here (soon running out of ink) that I’ve been able to use with my laptop. I can’t recall the last time we needed to print something other than the documents for last week’s visa extension, now completed.

Watermelon growing in a field, covered to protect it from the heat of the sun.

Travelers often perceive they need paper copies of tickets, boarding passes and cruise documents. We no longer keep any of these in our possession, instead keeping copies on my phone of online documents we’ve either scanned or photographed. 

Ensuring the photos include clear and easy-to-read reservation numbers, we’ve never had a problem with this. On a few isolated  occasions we’ve been asked for paper copies to which we shrug explaining we haven’t had access to a printer which in most cases, we haven’t. This is only the second vacation property where we’ve had access to a printer.

Muddy river we crossed in Malaya.

Isn’t printing becoming somewhat obsolete these days? Isn’t it mostly lawyers who continue to shuffle around hundreds of pages of documents in front of their clients? Oh, yes, and government agencies throughout the world always require paper as we’ve experienced thus far, many still using obsolete operating systems.

This is the reason we’ll need to bring printed papers with us to Singapore when we visit three embassies during our short stay. For each location for which we require a visa, we have an email with a list of the required documents. Ugh, this reminds me of my old working life, always bogged down with paperwork. We’ll be happy when we’re done.

As old as much of the architecture is in Bali, it maintains a style befitting its rich Hindu history.

Also, we need to begin looking for an RV to rent for next summer’s (2017) visit to the US. We’re hoping to pin down a suitable vehicle in Seattle, driving it across the northern part of the US to Minnesota. 

Having an RV prevents us from imposing on family members during the extended visit to Minnesota. Our kid’s bedrooms are full in their homes and with all of our luggage it would be a huge inconvenience to stay with others for six weeks. 

Tiny bananas for sale at a local farmers market.

Nor would we want to impose upon any of Tom’s siblings or our friends who may have available space. Six weeks is a long time. My way of eating, in itself, would be a gross inconvenience for which we’d never expect anyone to prepare. 

Nor would I want to be shopping and cooking meals trying to figure out how to cook for everyone since as a house guest, I wouldn’t feel right cooking only for ourselves. (I’m an awful house guest, feeling as if I need to “earn my keep” by cooking and cleaning. As a result, its more work for me to be a house guest than one can imagine, all by my own design, of course).

We spotted these sardines in the early morning for sale at the local farmers market that most likely had been caught that morning. They weren’t on ice and could spoil quickly in the heat.

We’ll be eating lots of gluten-free cooked chickens from Costco, preparing basic meals in the RV and dining out a few times a week. We’d considered a vacation home or hotel in the metro area but prices were beyond the cost of an RV.  With a small RV we’ll be mobile, can see everyone, go camping with the family and park wherever we can find a suitable spot. 

We plan to keep the RV during the six weeks in Minnesota, dropping it off before flying to Nevada for the last two weeks of our US visit before heading to Costa Rica and then…back to our world journey.

Minnows for sale at the farmers market.

Yesterday afternoon and last night it rained for hours. Surprisingly, the flies aren’t as prevalent today as they’ve been after other periods of rain. I’m trying not to use the repellent as often as during this past month which doesn’t seem to keep the flies off of me anyway. 

We’re feeling well, feeling grateful and ready to get to work. We hope you’re feeling well and grateful, too!


Photo from one year ago today, June 1, 2015:

This is the interior of a lifeboat which tendered us to the pier in Moorea, one year ago today. For more photos and details, please click here.

Part 3…Visas…Not a good day for Tom!…Visited Proyek Penyu Turtle Hatchery!…Check back tomorrow for my embarrassing cultural experience!

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For more information and details on the Proyek Penyu Turtle Hatchery, please click here. The cost to visit the site was a donation of IDR $50,000, US $3.68 for both of us.
Stats were a little outdated, but the efforts of the staff appeared dedicated to the project from what we could observe.

“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”
It wasn’t Tom’s favorite day.  As a matter of fact, it was his third less than a stellar day since we arrived in Bali almost one month ago. The first was the four-hour harrowing drive from the airport in Denpasar to the villa, with the remaining two to Lovina this week (four-hour round trips ) for our visa extensions.

We arrived at the Reef Seen Resort, the location for the Proyek Penyu Turtle Hatchery in Pemuteran Village, Gerokgak, Singaraja, North Bali.

As an aggressive driver, albeit a good driver, not being at the wheel for long road trips leaves him with a degree of angst only he and others like him can understand. Surely, many of our readers can relate to this.

This is the sandbox where the recovered turtle eggs are placed while they mature.  There were 126 eggs maturing in this enclosed area.  Once hatched, they’ll be moved to the pools and later released to the sea. Turtle meat is a delicacy in Bali.  Fishermen are paid to bring the eggs and baby turtles to the hatchery, more than they’d be paid as “food.”  This hatchery isn’t as natural an environment as we’d like to have seen, the intentions are good and the concept suitable for saving the lives and further preservation of many sea turtles.

With him in the back seat, upon his insistence, allowing me to take photos from the front, I can feel his discomfort especially when the cautious drivers we’ve had drive too slowly or someone darts in front of us, a common occurrence here in Bali. He doesn’t need to say much when the faintest of sounds escape his lips, perhaps only audible to me.

Looking closely at the sand, there was no indication or sign that turtle eggs are incubated here. Often, dogs, other predators, and humans dig up the eggs on the beaches for food. This is a good alternative for the turtle’s eventual survival. The optimum temperature as would be in a natural environment is between 30 and 32 degrees. If the temperature is predominantly 30 degrees, it’s like the eggs would all be male. At 32 degrees they’d be female. 

Oddly, his angst doesn’t make me anxious although I do feel bad that he can’t relax and enjoy the drive, regardless of where we’re going. Of course, the purpose of yesterday’s second trip to Lovina in three days only added to his discomfort of visiting the immigration office for trip two in the three, five-day process. 

There were over 100 baby turtles maturing for future release attracting tourists to the venue.

No doubt, it’s not a pleasant concept…spending an entire week, out of eight weeks, messing with this process.  Then again, as we sat there with others who’d also chosen to abide by the country’s immigration laws, we both wondered why such a process isn’t observed and respected (by many) throughout the world, let alone in our own USA. Following the “law of the land” isn’t all that difficult.

Baby turtles that had hatched in the hatchery, not quite old enough for release. We’d hope to release a few but they weren’t quite ready.

For tomorrow’s third and final trip, we’re waiting to hear from Gede that a driver will go to Lovina to pick up the final documents with a letter from us in hand authorizing him to do so.  The immigration officer explained this is acceptable for this third trip only.

There were three mature turtles on display (not the parents of the baby turtles) which we’d preferred were instead out to sea but were used as mascots to inspire donations for the baby turtle release program.

Luckily, we were photographed, fingerprinted, and out the door within about an hour before lunchtime began, after paying the required IDR 710,000, US $52.14 in fees for the two visas. 

The other two confined turtles used as mascots to promote the hatchery.

We’d planned to visit two points of interest on the return drive but I was willing to forgo that idea if Tom would have preferred we immediately begin the drive back to the villa (considering another two hours on the road).  He insisted we continue with our original plans to visit the Monkey Temple (shown in tomorrow’s post) and the Proyek Penyu Turtle Hatchery, both on the return drive to the villa.

The hatchery is located on the beautiful grounds of the Reef Seen resort, known for its scuba diving and snorkeling.

It was an hour’s drive from Lovina to both venues within minutes of each other. Over the next several days, we’ll continue to post the many photos we’ve taken this week, still leaving us with dozens more we’ve yet to share. There’s certainly been no shortage of photo ops in Bali.

Religious statues on display at the resort.

Today, we’re blissfully staying put. The weather isn’t as humid as usual, the sky is clear and the crystal clear pool awaits us. We have a bit of “work” to accomplish for future planning that we’ll tackle in the afternoon while sitting in the cabana after our exercise and fun in the pool. 

There’s a variety of flowers blooming at the Reef Seen Resort.

We started our day as usual in the chaise lounges at 6:45 am savoring Tom’s perfectly brewed French press coffee, watching the activity on the beach and the sea including dogs howling and playing, passing boats and barges and who knows what else may come our way today?

The road we drove to the Reef Seen Turtle Hatchery,

Tomorrow, I’m sharing an embarrassing culturally motivated event that occurred to me yesterday, one I hesitate to mention but, let’s face it, life’s not always a “walk in the park.” Sharing such experiences are all a part of the reality of traveling the world which isn’t always pleasant.

May your day be pleasant wherever you may be in the world!


Photo from one year ago today, May 26, 2015:

One year ago today, we boarded Royal Caribbean Legend of the Seas in Honolulu on its way to Sydney, Australia with 1400 Australians on board for one of the most fun cruises we’d experienced. Here’s our balcony cabin before we messed it up with our stuff!  For more photos, please click here.

Part 2…A cultural day…A mixed bag of pleasure and red tape..

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While shopping at the Carrefour market, I couldn’t resist stopping to admire these colorful Dragon Fruit.

“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”

In yesterday’s post, we shared a photo of two buffalos wandering by during dinner and here are four buffalos on a hike from the river.

Upon returning to the immigration office for the second time in one day, again we took a number and waited our turn. We’d arrived about five minutes prior to the end of lunchtime at 1:00 pm hoping to have a short wait. 

Alas, “island time” prevails as the various officers mulled around behind the service desk until they close to 1:30 pm, although the posted sign clearly stated they’d be open for business at 1:00 pm. Again, we waited patiently with nary a comment about the time. The next number up was 025.  Our number was 027.  Certainly, we wouldn’t have to wait too long.

A room was offered for rent at this property for IDR $150,000, US $10.97!
At 2 pm we were called to the desk. With our copies, passports, and documents in hand, we were fully prepared. Fifteen minutes later we were out the door with a receipt for our passports. We won’t get them back until Trip 3 on Friday.

And again this morning, we’re heading back to Lovina for Trip 2 (two hours each way) for fingerprinting and photos. We’re not looking forward to the four or more hours on the same road. 

If time allows, we’ll stop for a few photos after we’re done at the immigration office. Again, we’ll wear long pants as required to enter government buildings bringing shorts along for any sightseeing stops we may make on the return drive.

As we drove past this decorative wall, I asked Gede to stop for a close-up photo as shown below.

On Monday, after the second visit to the immigration office, we stopped at the largest supermarket in Lovina.  For the first time since our arrival in Bali, we found a few grocery items we hadn’t been able to locate during other outings. These included a ball of gouda cheese, cheddar cheese, and two little bottles of baking soda.

We’d hoped to find baking soda, an important ingredient in making homemade toothpaste since last night we’d run out of the organic nonfluoride toothpaste we’d purchased at the health food store in NZ. 

So beautiful.

We’d already used the entire batch we’d made while in NZ. When we ran out of baking soda shortly before we left we purchased the organic toothpaste as a backup from the store. Unless kept cold, the toothpaste is runny and could make quite a mess in our luggage thus, it doesn’t travel well.

We’d never seen a flowers-only farmer’s market.  Flowers are commonly used as offerings to the Hindu temples and at many of the resorts and villas.

Yesterday afternoon, I made the new batch of toothpaste, enough to last during our remaining weeks in Bali.  Here’s the link with ingredients, photos, and instructions for making the toothpaste if you’re so inclined.

Simply lovely.  I could smell them from across the street where I stood taking these few photos.

On Monday, we didn’t return to the villa until 5 pm. Gede stopped at a few worthwhile points of interest which greatly attributed to the 100 photos we took that day. Also, he asked if we could stop so he could eat his lunch. 

Goofy us!  We may not eat breakfast or lunch but most people do. We encouraged him to stop anywhere he’d like for as long as he’d like. As it turned out, he stopped at the beach where we were able to get out, walk and take photos, one of the highlights of the day.

When we entered the villa, two Ketuts were busy in the kitchen preparing dinner. By 5:45 we were seated at the big table for eight, facing the sea, both of us starving after the busy day with lots of walking and riding in the car.

We stopped at the curb on the outskirts of the village so I could take a photo of the flower market. Instantly, we were approached by a “traffic cop” asking for money for parking and two others asking for money, unrelated to the traffic.

Today, providing we’re done with time to spare before “rush hour” in Lovina we’ll make several stops hoping to see a few sights that Gede had suggested and particularly appeal to us. 

We crossed a modern bridge in Lovina. Many bridges and overpasses are marked by Hindu statues although this newer bridge was not.

Again, our goal is to return to the villa around 5:00 pm so the “girls” (as they’re so-called by other staff) can get home to their families at a reasonable time. Most tourists dine at 6:00 pm but we’ve chosen to dine at 5:00 pm to allow them to be done with the cooking and cleanup and out the door by 6:00.

Tomorrow, we’ll be back with the update on today’s Trip 2 journey to immigration in Lovina, and we’ll see how plans for Trip 3 rollout for Friday.

We hope our US friends/readers have safe and meaningful plans for the upcoming long Memorial Day weekend. And also, safety and well-being for all of our friends/readers worldwide. 

Photo from one year ago today, May 24, 2015:

When we were back in Honolulu, we took the Ala Moana bus to the mall to purchase a pair of white jeans for me. Before dark, we arrived at our favorite restaurant in Honolulu, Cheeseburger in Paradise, for another great meal; burger, fries, and onion rings for Tom and fabulous Cobb Salad for me.  For more details from that enjoyable day before we sailed on the cruise to Australia, please click here.

Not a perfect day in Paradise…”Keeping it real”…

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This bird appears to be a Blue Kingfisher. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”

Yesterday, Tom took this distant photo when he spotted this peculiar boat which appears “sunken” in the middle. We had no idea what type of boat this is.  Any comments from our Indonesian (or other) readers who may know?

As previously mentioned in other posts, most tourists traveling to Bali (and other countries we visit) are staying in a resort or hotel of some sort, not a private single family home. The conditions for comfort are very different. 

Also, they may ony stay only one or two weeks and challengingconditions may not present themselves during the shorter period. Today, is aday, where weather and other conditions are challenging, to say the least. 

The heat and humidity is as high as we ever experienced in Africa on the worst of days. On these hot and humid days and nights, especially after its rained there are lots of flies.

It’s too hot to shoot the wall of glass doors, but, with the many flies already in the house, even that would do little good. The only safe respite is in the master bedroom where we keep the door shut constantly, where’s there’s AC if we finally decide to hide away for an hour or two. 

At the moment, I am sitting outdoors, unable to get online due to the poor signal and there are dozens of flies hovering around me. I am covered with 30% DEET, the only possible product I can use to keep me from getting many fly bites.

And yet they still find a way to attack any unreached spot on my back or behind my legs. None of the “natural” repellents (I’ve tried many) actually repel flies or mosquitoes from biting me.  om, on the other hand, seldom gets bit.

With mountains in Java obstructing the final setting of the sun, we relish every sunset photo we see.

Since we couldn’t get online as I wrote this, I’m using “Live Writer,” a MS app that enables me to write and then, once able to attain a signal, I can upload it to the Internet.  Thank goodness for this option.  Otherwise, I could spend the entire day trying to get a decent signal. We’ll have only a few photos today due to the poor signal.

When the sun comes out, we’ll have a reprieve from the flies. They seem less bothersome on sunny days. We imagine the number of flies is certainly due to the rain we’ve experienced over these past several days.

We continue to spend time figuring out the visa situation for July’s upcoming cruise. It appears we can get a visa for Cambodia online.  But, on Viking’s Mekong River cruise documents, it states we cannot get and use an
e-visa for this particular cruise. We must use a service to apply which requires snail mailing our passports which we will not do. 

In the past 24 hours we’d been attempting to reach Viking but with the huge time difference and poor signal it had been difficult.There’s a 15-hour time difference. Finally, this morning, we got through on Skype before they closed for the day. 


Explaining our situation they agreed we could apply for the Cambodia visa online. Only a few online services offer this option, one we’ve used in the past, VisaHQ.com which is located in Washington, DC and is safe to use. 

I asked Viking to send us an email confirming they’ll accept the e-visa for Cambodia so we won’t experience any issues when we present the e-visa at the time of boarding in Hanoi. We’ve since received this confirmation email
Which, if necessary, we’ll present at boarding.

There are many visa companies out there in cyberspace that are scams.  One could easily be giving their personal passport information to a scamming visa app company. Please beware in doing so and feel free to contact us for names of valid companies we’ve used.

The reflection on the sea is particularly appealing.

Today, we’ll apply for the Cambodia visa and once we arrive in Singapore we’ll only have to apply for the visa for Vietnam (not available as an e-visa), a plan we can easily accommodate. If we’d had to apply in person for
both visas while in Singapore it could have taken a significant amount of time during the one week stay. Most likely, in this case we won’t lose more than a single day.

Enough about flies and visas. We share these details not only to express that at times, traveling the world is not as easy as it may seem but also for those who may consider this lifestyle, to use a little of which we’ve learned in the process. 

It’s easy to become stressed on hot, humid, fly infested days such as today when there are tasks we need to accomplish in the background that add to the frustration. Surprisingly, both of us remain calm and determined to figure out solutions.

Now, as the sun begins to peek out at almost noon, I’ve begun to feel confident that we may have comfortable day after all. 

May your day be comfortable and relatively easy.

Photo from one year ago today, May 12, 2015:

Locomotive and coach formerly used for tours at the Kilauea Sugar Plantation, now closed for many years. For more sugar plantation photos, please click here.

 

A bit of a worrisome situation we had to figure out…It all “goes with the territory!”

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We’re thrilled to be able to see sunsets from the veranda. The long stick to the right is actually the vine of a plant.

“Bali Sightings on the Beach”

With few tourists on the beaches here many interesting shells and mollusks remain on the beach which is nice to see.

We can only control so much in our lives. We try hard not to make errors when the consequences in planning our lives could result in added costs, time and undesired stress and frustration.

When we get into a “pickle” we reflect on what we could have, should have, done to prevent it. The lame excuse, “Well, I didn’t know,” doesn’t serve us well. We should have known every step of the way, especially as we become more experienced in traveling the world.

As we review the circumstances of our most current dilemma, in a quandary as to how to get a visa to Vietnam for the July 8th Viking Mekong River cruise, we can’t seem to embrace what we could have done differently.

The facts to accomplish this remain a hard reality: In order to apply for a visa for Vietnam with multiple entries in a 30-day period, one must send their actual passport to a visa service in the US or their home country or directly to the Vietnam Embassy.

As the sunset progresses, we’re in awe of its beauty.

How in the world would we allow ourselves to be in Indonesia without our passports in our possession, especially when in two weeks we have to drive two hours to another village to the Immigration office to extend the 30 day visas we have now, repeating this same action when we return in over three months?

Also, if we didn’t need to extend our Indonesian visas, we’d never allow ourselves to be without a passport in our possession while in a foreign country. What if one of us became ill and had to be airlifted out of the country or any of dozens of other possibilities? We’re never going to allow ourselves to be in such a position.

For citizens living in their home country, they can easily prepare the necessary documents, including their passports, mail them to a visa service and wait for the return of the packet with the new visa and their passport. 

Not us. Not only will we never leave ourselves in a foreign country without a passport in our possession but, we’re in a remote area of Bali. Receiving the return packet would take weeks to arrive, most likely never in time for our departure. 

Almost gone.

Nor would we have been willing to be without a passport while in New Zealand had we started this process earlier. Thus, we don’t blame ourselves for not starting this process sooner, two months generally is plenty of time to get a visa. In most situations, we’re easily able to acquire “visas on arrival” (VOA) at any given airport or cruise terminal.

Over the past several days we’ve made many phone calls on Skype: to Viking Cruise Line; to the river cruise representative at Vacations to Go; to the Vietnam Embassy in Vietnam; to the online visa company we’ve been using of late, CIBT. 

There is a such a thing as a “visa on arrival” at the airport in Vietnam through any of the dozens of unknown vendors online that provide a visa letter but the problem with this is twofold:
1.  Do we want to give such personal information online to what may be an unscrupulous company of which there are many? Of course not.
2.  “Visa on arrival” only applies to single entry visas for arrival exclusively by air travel at the airport. Our second entry will occur while we’re on the ship and the first visa would be useless.

The US State Department has considerable warnings and information about the difficulty of getting a Vietnam visa. Click here for details.

Me in the pool waving at Tom when he insisted on a photo. We spend lots of time in the pool, especially on days like today, hot, humid and many flies after last night’s heavy rain.

After hours of research, we came to only two possibilities:
1.  Take the risk on the “visa on arrival” single entry airport only arrival using what may prove to be an unscrupulous company and figure it out once we’re in Vietnam. Not an option.
2.  Wait until we get to Singapore on June 28th (late in the day arrival) and head to the Vietnam Embassy (a 40 minute drive from our hotel) the following morning, documents in hand and apply in person. A rush order takes three business days. Luckily, we’ll be within this window. 

The Singapore option provides us with peace of mind. No doubt it will have a bearing on our one week stay when we’ll certainly have a degree of concern over getting this accomplished. But, yesterday we called the Vietnam Embassy in Singapore and its sounds doable. They’re only open for visa applications from 9:00 am to noon weekdays.

We’re well aware of the fact that should we run into any unforeseen obstacles along the way, we could lose the IDR 92,989,424 (wow), US $6598, (plus the airfare we’ve already purchased) we prepaid at time of booking the cruise to take advantage of the “two for one/paid in full” promo at the time.

Yesterday afternoon, after we finally reached the Vietnam Embassy in Singapore, we sighed in relief knowing we had a plan in place. Once we arrive in Singapore we’ll stop at an ATM to get the appropriate amount of cash US $369, SGD 540 for both visas. 

Tom at the edge of the infinity pool while I took the photo.

Adding the cost of two round trip taxi rides to complete the transactions (returning in three business days to pick up the visas) which we hope to double duty to visit a few sites of interest along the return, its a much more expensive and time consuming proposition than we’d expected. 

As it turns out, Vietnam is one of few countries that makes it difficult for US citizens (and others) to obtain a visa which includes such countries as China, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and others. Click this link for more detailed information if you’re planning to travel or simply curious. It’s rather interesting.

The difficulty of acquiring certain country’s visa is totally predicated by reciprocal agreements between the two countries.  As a result, Vietnam is on that “difficulty” list.

In the past few days, we also applied and received the renewal of our one year visas for Australia where we’ll be in and out of over the next year on many occasions (only can stay 90 days per visit). 

The back of Tom while in the infinity pool at high tide.

Today, we’ll apply for yet another required visa for Cambodia (easy online application) again for the Mekong River Cruise  and then we can put this out of our minds until we arrive in Singapore in 48 days, except of course, for the upcoming trip to the immigration office here in Bali within a few weeks.

Gede, our houseman and driver is out of town for a religious holiday returning late Friday. We’re scheduled to go sightseeing with him on Saturday morning at 10:00 am. We’ll prepare and upload the post before we depart and look forward to sharing new photos the following day.

We hope you aren’t faced with dilemmas today. But, if so, we hope you find solutions that put your mind at ease as well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 11, 2015:

Could this Yellow Candle flower we spotted in Kauai be more exquisite with its white blooms? For more photos, please click here.

We’re back in Singapore!…Cruise is ending….Disembarking the ship early tomorrow morning…

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Sunset out to sea.

Today has been a busy day. We’ve packed and will place our bags outside our cabin door for a late evening pickup. Once we disembark early in the morning we’ll collect our bags and be on our way, looking for the prearranged driver for the ride to the Singapore International Airport. 

We’ve left out clothing and toiletries for tonight and tomorrow morning and of course, all of our digital equipment, computers, and documents which we’ll keep in our possession.

Sunset moments later.

Also, today, we’ve prepared two posts, today’s and tomorrow’s, with all of our final expenses for the entire cruise, including the cruise fare, all ancillary cruise-related expenses and miscellaneous spending along the way.

The floor in the casino.  We never played!

Time has moved quickly over these past two weeks. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed every single day aboard Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas, as we always do on all cruises. The social activities have been over-the-top as we’ve met hundreds of wonderful people, most Aussies, some Kiwis, and a handful of others from a variety of countries. 

We still haven’t encountered the reported 15 other American passengers on board the ship, although we did meet a few Americans that have lived in Australia for decades, their American accents interspersed with the delightful Australian dialect.

The Promenade at night,

Of course, we welcome interaction with people from all over the world, especially after our growing worldwide travel experience. As time marches on, we’ve both become more adept at understanding thick accents from many countries and enjoy the varied perspective of many travelers whether they’re on their first or 25th cruise.

Cosmetics shop on the Promenade where I made a purchase.

Amid today’s tasks, we went to the movie in the La Scala Theatre at 2:30 for a much-enjoyed respite from the usual activities. Even there, while waiting for the movie to begin, we often meet yet more people, all making an effort to be quiet when the movie begins.

We’re anxious to be settled in Bali by tomorrow evening around 6 pm, providing all of our travel plans go smoothly. As for Singapore today, we’ll be back for a week in 60 days when we’ll see the sites and explore this amazing country.

A portion of the art gallery.

Hope your day will be productive, leaving you with a sense of accomplishment in whatever you decide to do.  Happy day!

No photo from one year ago due to the poor wifi signal. Thanks for your patience!

Handling business matters from afar…Not always easy…

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A single beautiful lily in the lily pad pot in the yard.

Today, we had to make several business calls and had set aside our early morning, during which we can only reach some of the companies due to time differences between the US and New Zealand.

Thank goodness for Skype. Otherwise, such calls would incur monstrous charges. With our Skype phone account any call we make to the US is only NZ $.03, US $.023 per minute plus data charges which add up quickly.

We’ve discovered using Skype with video for an approximate 30 minutes results in a cost of one gig. Of course, when we’re calling a phone number without the recipient using Skype on their end, there’s no possibility of video.

Beach on a cloudy evening.

A few of our readers and Facebook friends have suggested we use “What’s App” for making face-time calls.  Doing so requires a phone with a capacity for making calls and using data. Using only Skype for phone calls with no data connection on our phones, using such an app isn’t possible.

If we needed to use the phone, we could swap out the SIM card, we have on the Spark hot spot from which both calls and data could be used. However, using that NZ SIM card would incur expensive charges when calling anywhere outside of New Zealand.

One of our business accounts requires a few signed documents in order to make changes requiring an original ink signed document. In today’s day and age, this concept of signing in ink is becoming obsolete with the availability of documents easily be signed online. 

Lots of seagulls at the beach in New Plymouth on the Coastal Walkway.

When we have to send a signed document we run into the problem that we no longer have a portable printer when ours quit working over a year ago. It wasn’t worth replacing it when we seldom need to print anything. 

We still have our portable Doxie scanner which continues to work quite well when we use it for saving tax-deductible receipts. Scanning the receipts prevents us from hauling paper receipts all over the world.

We’ve been unable to access one of our business accounts online since we arrived in New Zealand, one we easily accessed in Fiji and all other countries in the past. We’ve contacted the company by Skype and apparently, there’s nothing wrong on their end. 

Similar to Australia, many of the beaches are uneven and rocky.

We can only assume there’s an issue with the Internet here in NZ blocking our ability to access that account for some reason or another. This is a unique situation we’ve never experienced in other countries.

With our good knowledge of the use of the Internet, we can’t find any other reason that particular account is blocked. We’ve spent considerable time working on a solution only to discover after calling, there’s nothing we can do.

These types of scenarios are a part of traveling the world over which on occasion, we have no control in creating a solution. But, we’ve found a “workaround” as is always the case…today’s phone call on Skype answered all of our questions.

We often stop at this favorite spot for photos of Mount Taranaki.

Another issue we had today, is regarding a new credit card we received over six months ago. It’s a card that provides “extra perks” for grocery shopping and fuel, a great adjunct to the cards we already use. 

When the card arrived in one of our “mailed-from-the-US” shipments, we immediately attempted to use it only to discover it was declined. How embarrassing! Immediately upon returning home (we’d just arrived in Fiji and had picked up the shipment from customs at a local post office) we called the credit card company asking, “What’s the deal?”

They explained that the US-generated card had to be used in the US for six months before it would be released for use in other countries due to fraud guidelines when many credit card thefts transpire outside the US.

Frustrated by the inconvenience, I marked my online calendar to remind us to call in six months to “request that the card be made available for use outside the US” per their requirements. The only way to do this was to make the call as required this morning. In 24 hours, the card will be available for use outside the US. 

These noisy pesky birds are magpies, which tend to keep other birds away.

We’re required to call back to list the countries in which we’ll be using the card again in another six months, after listing today each country where we may use it in the upcoming six months. 

This company requires a phone call whereby our other cards are available by entering “travel notifications” online which we’ll be updating today, again noting on the calendar to do these again in another 60 days as required.

Often, many assume that handling one’s personal business can be relatively easy while traveling the world.  For short periods, that may be the case. For us, traveling for the “long haul” we must stay in touch and in tune with changes, updates, and processes required for banking, investments, and other “paperwork” related transactions.

View of cattle from the highway.

At this time, we’re also working with our accountant in Nevada, US, to complete our 2015 tax filing, due by April 15th. We had all the necessary paperwork sent directly to her from our mailing service in Nevada. Once she received the docs she scanned everything sending us (by email) copies for our records.  We’ve already sent her all of our calculations. Filing taxes is another one of those tasks that must be done from afar.

With both of us sharing in these tasks; Tom the investments; me the banking, payments, and taxes, we manage to get it all done in a timely fashion. Once we have these types of responsibilities behind us, we can return to our relatively carefree lifestyle of enjoying our world travels.

Today it’s very windy here in the Taranaki Region, not uncommon this time of year. After I’d hung one load of laundry this morning, I went outside to find that one of the clotheslines had broke in the wind and our laundry was lying on the ground. We brought everything inside to finish drying. With all these other tasks behind us today, that’s the extent of today’s concern. We love that!

Happy day!

Photo from one year ago today, March 11, 2015:

One year ago, we attending a senior event in Princeville, Kauai for food, fun, and bingo. We actually had a great time. For more details, please click here.