Mistakes Along the Way
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyday went smoothly? That is ideal but very unrealistic. After our first month in Canggu, Bali we were feeling great! Everything did go smooth for us and why expect it to change? Month 2 turned out to be filled with mistakes. The question is how did we handle them?
50 Year Old’s Don’t Belong in a Hostel
We had pre-booked our room for month 2 while we were still in Arizona. Trying to be budget conscious, we found a place on Air BNB that looked good. Private room in a shared home, kitchen, workspace, close to everything, but a shared bathroom. At the time of booking, we were like no big deal that’s the life of a nomad, but that proved to not be the case.
House was dark: We checked in during a rain storm. The house was pretty dark and the very nice kid/guy was still cleaning our room. He let us enter and couldn’t find the key, lol.
Shared Bathroom: It was right by our room but definitely not ideal. A small bathroom/shower room. A lot of bathrooms in SouthEast Asia have the shower right with the toilet. This was literally right on top of it. Everything was wet, yikes!
Thin walls/noisy streets: Our first night was not good, to say the least. The AC worked well but the noises from outside were relentless. I had some earplugs and an eye mask but it still was loud. Needless to say, we were both very grumpy in the am.
Lesson learned: Know your limitations before booking. What are non negotiables? Sometimes it is better to pay a little more for comfort and or quality.
Great place for the young surfers and backpackers, not an old married couple, LOL
Did We Stay or Move?
That next morning, running on little sleep and lots of coffee, we hit the streets to try to find a different place. We checked out a few and were shocked to find moldy pillows and mattress in one place, a super stinky room in another. These places got great reviews online too, so it definitely is ideal to check them out before, if possible.
We turned to Air BNB and found nothing in our price range. So, I decided to check out Booking.com and it was a success! We decided to break up the month in 2 different areas, that way if we weren’t loving it, we knew we would be moving. Also, it gave us an opportunity to see different areas as well. I also went through Rakuten.com and saved money on the bookings!! We spent 1 more night in our hostel and hoped for better days ahead!
Location is Key
Our new place was beautiful! It was newly built, very clean and quiet and a nice bathroom!!! But, the location turned against us. We realized that in our haste of finding a new place, we didn’t check the area for restaurants, stores, etc. We were in the middle of nowhere. Not even a 7-11, and if you have been out this way, they are EVERYWHERE!!!! There were 2 warungs that were decent and walkable and what I’ll call a convenience “hut” that sold snacks and beverages. Otherwise, that was it. We found a gym and attempted to walk there. We were walking through some backwoods roads and there were a lot of wild dogs that were not too friendly. 45 minutes later we found the gym but realized we would need a scooter to get around. Oh boy! We rented it on a few days and didn’t die,lol. I am a bit of a control freak at times so I drove. I couldn’t have done it without Mark’s support, he kept encouraging me as we went and made me feel a bit more comfortable. At least I can say I drove a scooter in Bali.
Our second location was perfect! Walkable to beach, restaurants, shopping, you name it.
Now we know to ALWAYS check on Google Maps to see what is in the surrounding area of where we will be staying. We need it to be walkable and have a lot of options.
Beautiful villa in the middle of nowhere……..
Dreaded Bali Belly
I was having some GI issues going into week 2 and grabbed some local medications(thank you Google translate) but by day 3 it wasn’t helping. In fact, it was getting worse. We were moving to our next location and I couldn’t even imagine being anywhere other than a toilet, TMI but the truth. At 6am, I reached out to a travelling doctor team. They were at our place by 9am and had me hooked up to an IV in no time. They were very kind, thorough and hygienic. They pumped me full of multiple meds and gave me more to take orally. I had to provide a sample for them to determine if it was bacterial or parasitic. Turned out to be parasitic and I was on meds for 10 days. But, I am thankful that I called when I did.
The crazy thing was the cost. A house call by a doctor and nurse(don’t think that even exists in the US), IV with multiple meds as well as 10 days worth of medications, specimen and lab tests(results that afternoon)……. $430. They gave me all the paperwork I would need to submit to my travel insurance and thankfully, it was covered!
We used Travel Guard Travel insurance. It costs us $111 for a month(that is for both of us) and prices vary based on your age. We were not sure if we would need it but we are so glad we had it! We will never travel without it now.
Yes, that is what you think 🙃
Don’t Let Mistakes or Problems Deter You
Things will happen but all that really matters is how you handle them.
Be a problem solver, there is always a solution.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Social media makes it so easy to reach out to others for recommendations and/or help.
Learn from your mistakes and hopefully don’t make them again.
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger and a great story! Who can say they pooped in a cup in Bali, 🤣
Buy us a Coffee
Why not have a coffee with us?
No, you don’t have to hop on a plane and travel to Thailand. We just added this feature to our sites, it’s called Buy Me a Coffee. buymeacoffee.com/InkedNomadsWorldwide
You can have a cup of joe with us and we’ll give you a shout out!!! We’ll even let you pick your favorite drink and we will have it. We are normally black coffee drinkers but let’s have some fun!!!
Stay tuned for the next one, I will get into our final thoughts on Uluwatu and Kuta. Would we go back? Should you visit? Stay tuned!!
Until next time 🙂 Kenda & Mark……
