Welcome to week thirty-seven of the backpacking diaries. I’ll be updating you weekly on where I’ve been, what I’ve been getting up to, and most importantly, how I’m really feeling about this insane decision I’ve made.
As you probably know, I’m currently backpacking through Asia after quitting my job and leaving London for good.
I want to remember every moment of this experience, and document as much of it as I can, just like I’ve documented everything else in my life post-18 on this website.
You can keep up to date with my travels on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube but for now, enjoy week thirty-seven of the travel diaries!
If you missed the first thirty-six weeks of backpacking diaries, you can catch up here.
Top tip: for mobile data around Asia, we used the Airalo eSim. This was super handy and easily installed onto our phones as soon as we arrived in Japan! Get $3 off your eSIM package when you use my referral code: ORLAGH3.
Day 253: Monday 25th November 2024
Location: Canggu, Bali & Gili T, Lombok, Indonesia
Dear travel diary,
Today was an intense travel day.
Our flight to Lombok had been brought forward 90 minutes to 8am, meaning we had to leave even earlier from Canggu to get to the airport.
Our driver picked us up at 5am (ew) and off we went. Since it had taken us two hours to get from the airport to Canggu when we first arrived, we didn’t want to take any chances.
Of course at this time of the morning, the roads were empty so we made it to the airport in around 30 minutes.
We headed straight for breakfast at Revolver which was a little early for me, but himself was starving so avocado on toast at 6am it was.
Typically, our flight was delayed until 9am, so no idea why they brought it forward in the first place. The flight itself only took an hour from take off to landing, so was very quick.
We grabbed a Gojek once we landed in Lombok to take us to Bangsal harbour that would then take us across to Gili T.
The drive was quite a long one, and it took around 90 minutes to get to Bangsal. But this meant we saw quite a lot of Lombok and drove through what felt like a jungle and monkey forest and saw so many monkeys!
Once we got to the pier, it was chaos. We had pre-booked our tickets on 12Go Asia as we always do, and found the counter to check in but there was no one there.
After a few WhatsApp’s back and forth, the guy we were texting was actually on Gili T so was no help to us. We managed to get onto another boat that was leaving early and made it to Gili T quite quickly.
Thankfully we had sent our big backpacks on to Uluwatu for when we get back after Gili T, so we only had a small backpack and shoulder bag to carry.
The only traffic on the island is pedal bikes and horses and carts, so we walked around 25 minutes to get to our resort and checked in.
We napped !! Who are we?! Like I said, it had been a long day. We actually slept for around two hours before getting up and going out for dinner.
We went for pizza at Pizzeria Regina which was a highly-rated spot on the island. Then it was back to the resort to go straight to sleep again after a very hectic day.
I was so looking forward to a lie-in the next morning!
Day 254: Tuesday 26th November 2024
Location: Gili T, Lombok, Indonesia
Dear travel diary,
It’s our first morning waking up in Gili T!
There was a power-cut around 9am which meant no breakfast at the hotel or hot coffee, so off we went in pursuit of some brunch.
We headed to a highly-rated spot called Coffee & Thyme and had some delicious avocado on toast and hot coffee. It was also a good spot to get some work done, so we took advantage of their good WiFi and coffee and stayed put for a while to work.
As I mentioned yesterday, bicycles and horses are the only modes of transport around the island, so we had to join in on the fun.
We rented bikes from our hotel and headed off for a cycle to the other side of the island in pursuit of the sunset movie screens and a dinner location.
The other side of the island is said to be the more ‘party’ side and you’ll find Mad Monkey Hostel here as well as a lot of resorts and beach-front bars as this is the side of the island that gets the sunset view.
We did see some pool parties and Mad Monkey was definitely busy, but it wasn’t the party atmosphere that we expected and heard of on Gili T.
After cycling along the beach, we found the cinema and saw that Top Gun Maverick would be showing tonight.
Obviously when it came out a few months ago, everyone was obsessed and it was highly praised. Since I hadn’t seen the first Top Gun, I put off seeing it and wasn’t really fussed on watching an action movie.
But since it was the only showing tonight and tomorrow was Finding Nemo, I thought I’d give it a go. And wow, am I glad I did! The movie is incredible!
I’d highly recommend and I’m going to have to watch the first movie now to get the whole experience.
We had a lovely dinner at Casa Vintage and would highly recommend for some good Jamaican-inspired, high-quality meals in a really nice setting.
Day 255: Wednesday 27th November 2024
Location: Gili T, Lombok, Indonesia
Dear travel diary,
Today was very much a slow island day.
We took the bikes and cycled down to the beachfront for breakfast at a restaurant called Taste. I had some Turkish Eggs and himself had the Shakshuka.
We worked on our laptops here for a little while, but the cafe was outdoors so was getting almost too hot to function.
Around 2pm we cycled back to our resort and chilled out in the air-conditioning in the room and worked some more on our laptops.
It was a very admin-heavy afternoon as himself had to transfer me hundreds of videos so I can edit them for YouTube over the next few weeks.
For dinner we didn’t venture too far at all. There’s a resort next to us called Jali that apparently does a great butter chicken, so off we went.
The restaurant was a lot busier than anywhere we’d been before on the island, which is always a good sign.
We shared a starter platter of chicken satay, wontons and spring rolls that were so tasty. For mains, we both had the butter chicken which was an absolute feed, served with naan bread and rice.
Last night (UK-time) was the Great British Bake Off final, so tonight was our night to catch up and watch it.
Very happy with the result, but sad that Bake Off’s now over for another year. Plus, this time next year I should be watching it in Australia.
But with how this past year has gone, who knows where in the world I’ll be this time next year!
Day 256: Thursday 28th November 2024
Location: Gili T, Lombok, Indonesia
Dear travel diary,
This morning was amazing!! We woke up early (around 8am) and cycled down to the beach to go snorkelling.
The beach at Gili T is famous for turtle spotting, so we headed out to see if we could find any.
The sea was completely deserted which didn’t give me much hope, but we’d heard that the best time to see the turtles was before 9am.
We set off in pursuit and didn’t see much other than a lot of fish and coral, which was still nice to see.
Then Steff spotted a huge turtle! We followed him for a while, watching him eat and swim to the top a few times and then dive down again.
It was incredible to be just the two people out there watching this turtle live in action. I got a few good shots on my GoPro that I’ll include in my Bali vlog when I eventually get around to it.
But yeah, what a morning!
We grabbed some coffees to go, headed back to the resort, showered and headed back to the beach to sit on our laptops in Carpe Diem cafe before having a late breakfast/early lunch.
The rest of the day was very similar. We moved on to another coffee shop, Hello Capitano for some fresh mango juice and to plan our upcoming trip over Christmas and New Year’s. You’ll have to make sure you’re subscribed on my YouTube channel to see where we’re going!
Then it was back to the hotel to get ready to head out for dinner and to catch another sunset movie on the beach.
We went for some pasta and pizza at Marco Pizzeria next to our hotel which was really tasty and insanely cheap, too.
Then cycled to the beach on the other side of the island for the sunset movie which was Deadpool vs Wolverine. Quite a recent movie too, so happy to be able to tick this off my watch-list.
We were about 25 minutes into the movie when himself declared it as one of the worst movies he’s ever watched and that we should probably head back to our hotel and watch our own TV shows instead.
But when it comes to movies (as well as books), when I start something, I must finish it. Because, what if it gets better?!
But just as his luck would have it, around 20 minutes later, the heavens opened and it started to lash with rain. So off we quickly jumped and cycled so fast back to our hotel, getting completely drenched in the process.
All was fine in the resort until the rain started coming in through the bathroom door and flooding the place around 11pm. But we grabbed some towels to soak it up and went to sleep hoping it would go over.
And thankfully, it did.
Day 257: Friday 29th November 2024
Location: Gili T, Lombok & Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia
Dear travel diary,
We were leaving Gili T today to head back to Uluwatu, which meant another lovely travel day for us.
First thing was our boat from Gili T back to Bangsal, Lombok which took around 15 minutes after stopping at Gili Meno and Gili Air first.
Our taxi driver who had picked us up from the airport on Monday was waiting for us at the harbor to take us back to Lombok Airport again.
The flight back to Bali was scheduled for 2pm, and thankfully was on time. The flight time was 36 minutes! So quick, considering the boat we had been on that morning took 15 minutes and then the car journey to the airport was around 90 minutes.
We landed back in Bali and took a taxi directly to our guest house in Uluwatu, arriving around 4pm.
There was a lovely resident cat outside our room door which I was very happy with, and we checked in and then headed out for dinner a short five minutes walk away at Mana that a friend had recommended to me the first time we visited Bali.
It was a rooftop sunset spot and was beautiful. The food was exceptional and I think it has to be in the top five meals I’ve eaten on my entire backpacking trip. I’ll have to try and recreate the recipe when I get back to cooking again.
We headed downstairs to their pool area which was packed with people. It was happy hour, so we had some more local seltzers and watched the sun go down before heading back to the hotel again.
Day 258: Saturday 30th November 2024
Location: Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia
Dear travel diary,
It was our first morning waking up in Uluwatu and it was bucketing down with rain. Not the most ideal weather to arrive to in Bali, but what can you do.
We actually woke up quite early this morning and I had a hair appointment booked for 10.30am to get my roots done, so we managed to head out for breakfast beforehand.
We headed to Suka Espresso which is a spot we had been to before in Ubud and really enjoyed. Himself even claimed that may have been the best shakshuka he’d ever had. So off we went.
The cafe was already quite busy, despite the rain and it being 9am on a Saturday morning. I had the egg scramble with smoked salmon, asparagus and sour cream – quite fancy, I know.
Himself went for the shakshuka again, but it wasn’t as life-changing as he remembered. Maybe we’ll have to venture back to Ubud again in the future for that.
My hairdressers was just a few minutes’ walk down the road, but it was still pouring with rain so I jumped in himself’s taxi to get dropped off on the way as he was off to lie in a cyro-pod while I got my roots tended to.
After a lovely time in the hairdressers, I popped next door to Baked cafe and ordered myself an orange juice while working on my laptop. Himself then joined me and we continued to work here for a few hours until our laptops needed charged.
We hopped across the road to a place called Artisan, had some delicious toasted sandwiches and worked for a little while longer before heading to a spot called Kelly’s to catch sunset.
Due to the number of steep stairs we had to climb down to get to (find) Kelly’s, we ended up missing sunset but grabbed a bite to eat while watching the surfers below catch the last waves of the day.
Day 259: Sunday 1st December 2024
Location: Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia
Dear travel diary,
It’s the first of December!! How did this happen?! As cliche as it sounds to say it, where has this year truly disappeared to??
The fact that I’ve been in a constant summer for the past eight months might play into the fact that the year has flown by since I haven’t experienced any other seasons, but it’s hard to believe we’re already in December.
This morning we headed off to Alchemy, the same yoga brand that we dined in two years ago in Ubud, only this time we’re in Uluwatu.
We had heard about their famous ‘build your own smoothie bowls’, so had to come here to try them.
It was delicious, and I’d highly recommend. The menu for lunch and dinner looked just as nice, and it would be somewhere I’d like to come back to and try more of their food.
Since it was a Sunday, they had a live jazz band playing, which if you’re trying to get work done, may not be the best idea. We sat here for a few hours on our laptops, but I’m not the biggest lover of jazz music and it was starting to give me a bit of a headache, I won’t lie.
After this we headed up the street to Drifters Surf Shop and Cafe, had a browse in the shop and grabbed a drink and cookie in their cafe.
I wanted to work on my YouTube vlogs, so we headed back to the hotel so I could edit for a few hours. For dinner, we headed to Lola’s, the same brand we had dined in before back during our first time in Bali.
It was half-price Taco’s on a Sunday, so we loaded up on five tacos each (greedy) and had a seltzer to wash them down. Then it was back to the hotel to watch the final episode of Revenge, yes final episode after about six months of watching the series!!
And what perfect timing…
Make sure to check back next week as I head to an unexpected destination…
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