kawh

Volcano Agung has made the perfect 3 week vacation seem a hundred years away. Went to sleep last night at airport hotel and calmly woke to find all flights cancelled. Spent much of day trying to rebook and get an even later backup plan.

My attitude currently sucks. I admit it. Don't want to breathe ash more than necessary so want to stick inside hotel.. really unsure what to do.

Meanwhile, feel for the residents, homes and animals in danger. So very many wild and clueless animals.

Just venting...Much like Agung!!

dgunbug

So sorry to hear you are stuck in Bali. Stay safe.

progol

Ditto to the above. Sorry to hear you were affected by the eruption- what a frustrating situation to be in on while on vacation. And of course, feeling for all the residents and the impact on them.

Maryalice

Yes, so very sorry that you are stranded and so understandably stressed by this worrying turn of events. We have been reading in the press about conditions in Bali and worrying about all the local people and travelers caught up in this nightmare. It must be so difficult.

The thoughts of all of us who have traveled to Bali and not gotten stuck through sheer dumb luck are with you, kawh. Please take as good care of yourselves as you can and let us know how it is going.

marmot

Sorry to hear that your travel plans were derailed by Mt. Agung. This eruption has been in the making for a couple of months so shouldn't be much of a surprise, but I do think that the Bali government and travel industry downplayed the risk of travel disruption. In theory, right now Bali is safe for those outside of the danger zone, but that's fairly meaningless if you can't get in and out of the airport.

I live in southwest Bali (in Seminyak) and to date haven't experienced any evidence of volcanic ash. I believe it would be safe for you to try to enjoy the beach during your unfortunate and involuntary trip extension.

I understand that Lombok airport is open today (Tuesday), so you might consider the ferry to Lombok option as well. You can also go by ferry and overland to Surabaya, but that's a much more demanding journey.

kawh

Thanks all. We really need to get out of DPS and to a peaceful non- party beach within easy reach of DPS. Far from ashfall as possible. Not too rustic, as need some air conditioning at this point in the trip. Loved our places inubud (too close to ash) and pemuteran ( too far)....
So.....
Thoughts? THANKS!

Kathie

You might want to look at Semiyak and Ssnur beach areas.

Good luck to you!

marmot

There are lots of beach choices within 30 to 40 minutes of the airport. Sanur on the east coast is low key and family friendly, though I don't know the ash situation there. On the west coast, Seminyak, the northern continuation of Kuta beach is less frenetic and with sophisticated shops and restaurants.

I'd recommend the Petitenget area for a good beach and a good neighborhood. I don't know your price range, but a few places that I'd look at would be the Alila Seminyak, the Samaya, the Legian, the Oberoi (all on the beach) and The Colony and Katamama (not on the beach, but quite close).

kawh

Kathie & Marmot, thanks much. Seminac looks good. Marmot...Looked up all hotels and only Legian fits our budget ( been on vacation 3 weeks and stuck here ??? more nights) but it looks good.

Also looking at Grand Whiz at a v low price...But not on beach and in Nusa dual area.

Thanks again all.
Kawh

marmot

I think you may have a different Legian, as I would think the Legian in Seminyak would be the most costly of any of those listed.
http://lhm-hotels.com/legian-bali/en/

There are plenty of very low price options in Seminyak/Petitenget too, maybe a half hour walk or short taxi to the beach. Look at The Fave or Swiss Bel Hotel for example. Avoid Sunset Road, though.

Nusa Dua is good for a nice beach and gentle ocean. Big all-inclusive resorts. Also Jimbaran for the same.

Hard to say what will happen with the airport. If it's still closed tomorrow, you should seriously consider making your way to an airport in Lombok or Java.

kawh

Thanks. Ruled out Lombok, as we were told (?) It is just as likely to close again and flights v hard to get flights ( Singapore airlines) considering going to Java...But man, what a haul!

Craig

Looks like the wind has changed and the ash is heading towards the resort areas due to a nearby cyclone and could affect the area for the next 3 days. Sorry to hear you are in this situation.

crellston

Seems like the airport has reopened, at least for now.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-42163768

rhkkmk

Look at Marriott courtyard in seminar.

Any hotel north of kuta might be fine

kawh

Reporting back... we got out after 3 nights...

So very glad we did not take Singapore Air up on the offer of a 17 hour bus, ferry, bus ride to Surabaya. We thought about going at 6:am our last day, but had heard the buses had been over-crowded and did not have bathrooms. Decided to wait it out, or pay about $300 US to have a private driver take us if need be.

Continued staying at the airport (I had wanted to move to a resort hotel) and so glad we did, after all. At 3:00pm we heard that the airport was opening again... we ran over to the line that was forming, and got our names down high on the list.

At about 5pm, we got a call in our room (shocked!) saying that we were on the 8m flight to Singapore !! Packed up and raced over... stood in line for about 1 1/2 hours (not so bad, considering) and got out at about 9pm.

Honestly, I have to give Singapore Air some credit for being pretty organized and together, considering the madhouse at the airport.

From Singapore, we got on a flight to SFO 3 days later...
We lost our original nonstop... and got the most middle of middle seats... but were super happy to be heading home.

Thanks much to those who gave advice... It helped to have a back-up plan, even though we didn't need it in the end.

CaliforniaLady

I am so glad you got back safely. Indeed, this is all part of traveling, expecting the unexpected.

I am headed to Indonesia, including Bali in September, but I have not formulated any plans yet, I only have air tickets. Can you please post a brief summary of what you did and how you liked it? I am particularly interested in the Ubud area and cultural/historical sites, but not beaches.

marmot

Thanks for letting us know how things worked out. I'm partial to Singapore Airlines and glad to know that they did their best under difficult circumstances. If you don't mind my asking, did SQ cover the cost of your hotels in Bali and in Singapore?

kawh

Marmot... we woke at the airport hotel to find all flights cancelled so immediately re-booked the room, afraid that they would be full. later that evening, we found out that SQ would cover the room for that first night only... and only at their selected hotel which was several miles away. We tried to get them to reimburse us, but were unsuccessful.

Beyond the first night, they did not offer lodging; I believe that they had already begun the 17 hour bus/ferry/bus to Surabaya the next morning, so they felt they had done their part if passengers decided to stay at DPS to wait for future flights out.

kawh

CaliforniaLady-- I'm not going to do a trip report this time because we have 2 sets of family coming in for 2 December holidays!

Lots of our time was spent at or near the beach.

But I really would recommend going to Nusa Penida... which we really just chose because it's so quick to get to by express boat and were delighted to find was just full of surprises. LOVED Kubu Ganesh which is right at the water, but only 3 or 4 Bali-style rooms. A cave temple, the world-class cliffside views, fields of corn flanked by banana and palm trees, and very limited tourist infrastructure were some of the things we loved.

In Ubud, we stayed at Alam Shanti and liked it very much. We could walk to town through the monkey forest and it was a gorgeous and peaceful spot. We liked the Puppet and Mask museum near there (don't remember the name) and be sure to see a KECAK chanting/dance show. One of our drivers took us to his house (unexpectedly) and it was fascinating to see the "compound" and his family temple.

Honestly, your driver will educate you on where to go. Tell him what you're interested in and take at least a couple of days to see the area. We had a driver for 2 of our days in Ubud and didn't scratch the surface! We had two that we especially liked (at least one of the names we got here) and I can give you their names if you are interested.

Quite sure you're not interested in our time in Pemuteran, as that was the beach/resort part of our trip. I will say, though, that the trip across the island was beautiful.