OK... So this was my second self-planned trip with my family! As some of us already know well, going on a vacation with parents who are on their way to becoming senior citizens are stresssssssful. You have to plan everything as easy and chill as possible because they get tired easily. It makes things even harder when my mum is one woman who's not easy to impress.

So, my itinerary is one that's chillax and family-friendly I guess. Although I look forward to having a crazy YOLO trip with friends at Bali but well, spending time with family is always what I wanna do as well.

For this trip, I didn't really anticipate it like I did for our Taiwan trip last year. Probably because I thought Bali had nothing that attracts me. So, I didn't want to spend so much time planning the itinerary like our Taiwan trip.

Air Tickets

I bought our air tickets during Air Asia sale in March when my mum asked for a family overseas trip. It was RM273 per person for return flight to Denpasar, Bali from Kuala Lumpur (can you believe it?! It's cheaper than flying to Tawau from KL!)

I only started planning the trip 3 months before the trip I think haha. I think it was kinda late to start planning at that time because all the cheap and nice private villas were all booked! So in the end, we didn't stay at a private villa.

Best Time to Visit 

I planned the trip to be in September because the air tickets were cheap and I had already requested for one-week annual leave end of September from my boss. Of course, I did my research before I hit the "buy" button.

Best time to visit Bali depends on two things: weather and peak season. It's better to visit Bali during dry season which are April to October to avoid rainy days. Even more important is to avoid crowd during peak season which are July and August, Easter Holidays, Christmas and New Year. Bali is very popular among westerners. During peak season, all prices will be hiked, crowd will be unbearable and not to mention the traffic in Bali! So, in short, I would say the best months to visit Bali are April, May, June and September.

Accommodation

Before I could book our accommodations, I would first have to decide which part of Bali we would be going. I decided to just focus our trip at Central Bali area because I wanna avoid wasting too much time on transportation.

First of all, when I did a quick research about Bali online, everyone recommends to stay in a private villa when you're in Bali. It's like you're never been to Bali if you didn't stay in a private villa! But a nice private villa doesn't come with a cheap price tag! Plus, when I tried looking for villas it was kinda too late because all the cheap and good ones were all booked! The ones that left were out of my budget! To be fair, my budget was quite low (less than RM350 per night) because I just thought it's not rational to spend more money on accommodation if we're just gonna spend most of our time outside.

So the next best thing would be a hotel or a resort with peaceful and calm Balinese style. I also wanna let my parents experience a luxurious stay but I couldn't afford the really luxurious private villas and resorts so.... I tried to find the balance.

As I'm being raised to be frugal in spending, our itinerary is a budget-type. I mainly booked our accommodations at Agoda.com because they offered the cheapest rates unless the place I was looking for wasn't on Agoda.com. Also, I liked that if you book on Agoda.com, you pay the whole price online in advance instead of having to fork out huge amount of cash when you check-in at the hotel. However, downside is you may not get a refund if you have to cancel your reservation.

Following is the list of accommodation that we stayed in Bali. More details in my other Bali posts.

The Legian Sunset Residence, Legian

Alam Terrace Cottages, Ubud

Liberta Seminyak Hotel, Seminyak

Transportation

If you're travelling in a group at Bali, hiring a private driver is undoubtedly the best transportation option. It's quite cheap if you divide among 4-5 people. We hired a private car charter from Klook.com at a discount price (RM392 for 3 days, 10 hours per day). It saved us a lot of time because we didn't need to study the routes to get to our destinations and we didn't need to find parking spots. The driver would pick us up from hotel / airport, take us to our destinations and wait near the destinations for us to finish our activities. When we're done, we just text them (they use WhatsApp Messenger a lot in Bali) and they'll pick us up in less than 5 minutes.

We can start our trip as early as 6AM until as late as 12AM (Pick ups between 12AM-6AM are considered night service and incur a surcharge of IDR 250,000. And if you exceed the 10 hours per day, an overtime fee of IDR 50,000 per hour would be incurred.If you travel too long a distance, for eg. from Central Bali to East Bali / West Bali / North Bali, there'll be a surcharge of IDR 250,000 too. Travelling between South Bali and Central Bali didn't incur a surcharge though. The fee we pay is not inclusive of toll fee, parking fee and tips for the driver. Oh and we don't need to pay for the driver's meals too.

I'm always a fan of Klook because my previous experience of using Klook for Taiwan trip was pleasant and they also received many good reviews from other fellow travellers. However, I'm quite disappointed with their local operator's service in Bali this time. First, our originally-assigned driver MIA when he's supposed to pick us up from the airport. Then, I had some problems activating my local SIM card and also had some minor unpleasant experiences later on. More details in my other Bali posts.

Renting a scooter or motorcycle is also very popular among westerners as it's cheap and you can avoid those dreaded traffic jams. However, it's not for those who's not confident with their motorcycle skills as the roads in Bali are narrow and full with cars and motorcycles.

Public buses are not so easy to get in Bali and like all other touristy places, we're afraid of scams when it comes to local taxi drivers. Online ride-hailing apps like Grab and Blue Bird Taxis are actually not welcomed by the local taxi drivers in Bali so take it at your own risk.

SIM Card

I like to use traveler SIM card instead of a portable WIFI modem. Mainly because I can make local phone calls to accommodation or tour guides if needed. Another good thing is that I didn't need to recharge an additional device which is a hassle while travelling because we are always lack of charging ports! And not to forget, at the end of the trip, I can just leave the country without having to return any device or anything at all!

In this Bali trip, I bought my traveler SIM card from Klook again. There are two most common service providers in Bali: Telkomsel and XL. Some said Telkomsel has larger 4G coverage but a little more expensive. I chose Telkomsel just because it has more value for money than XL. Mine offers 10 GB for 14 days with 300 minutes call and 300 SMS.

Telkomsel 3G/4G Prepaid SIM Card

The coverage was okay in most places we went except in Uluwatu Temple where the signal was very weak. I struggled a bit while trying to activate the SIM card I think because of my phone setting. Other than that, the SIM card was good enough to be used.

Yes, so I'm all set to go Bali!