30 Before 30: Our long trip! Lombok and Gili Meno

June 12, 2013 - Bali to Lombok

The flight to Lombok was only a half an hour and was pretty smooth…until we landed. When we landed in Lombok, we didn't recognize the airport at all.  Taylor went to investigated and found that we were actually at a new airport on Lombok about an hour and a half away from our hotel. At first we thought we had flown to the wrong airport, but then we were told that Lombok actually closed their old airport and opened a completely new one last year.  Who knew you could do that! 

We arrived at the Sheraton in Senggigi, the tourist area of Lombok, at around 7pm and checked in. Just like at the Le Meridien, we received an automatic upgrade, this time to the “Grand Suite.”  It was a beautiful room with a full living room, dining room (totally unnecessary!) and bedroom along with a full bathroom and a half bath as well, which did come in handy. 

Living Room

Dining Room

Bedroom

We also had a HUGE balcony/porch which had a view right out to the ocean!

Balcony

View from our Balcony

After we got settled in our room, we ventured out to explore the resort. Our balcony stepped right out into the pool area which was in the center of lush gardens leading right out to the beach. Also just outside our hotel room was the pool bar.  They had happy hour from 6-8pm, buy one get one free, so of course we were there every night to enjoy sunset and have drinks.

After drinks, we headed out for dinner in Senggig. We ended up at a 2-story restaurant called Taman. I really enjoyed the curry I ordered. After eating and listening to the music a little, we headed back to the resort for some rest.

June 13, 2013 – Lombok and Gili Meno

We had arranged transport to Gili Meno the night before, so we ate breakfast and were ready at 8:30am to travel to the famed Gili islands. The Gilis, off the cost of Lombok, are renowned because they are extremely remote (no cars or police on the islands) and beautiful, with picturesque beaches and coral reefs you can snorkel right off the shore. 

We arrived at Gili Meno a little after 10am and headed out to explore the island. Our first stop was a bird park which had tons of different kinds of birds including macaws, peacocks, etc. They even had a monitor lizard (similar to a Komodo Dragon) and let you hold some of the birds for photos.

Macaws

Huge Bird!

Monitor Lizard, same thing as the Komodo Dragon but not from Komodo

After the bird park, we headed out in search of a beach. It took a while, but eventually we reached the far side of the island which is supposed to have the best snorkeling. Unfortunately, the beach had a lot of coral rather than sand and wasn’t great for relaxing. Taylor and I did some snorkeling, which was great, while JP and Lydia sought shade and a breeze on a second-story bungalow overlooking the beach.

After snorkeling we headed up the beach toward an area of restaurants and bars where we opted to grab some food and drinks in bungalows on the beach. 

Gili Meno

Gili Meno

Back at the Sheraton, we spent a couple of hours just lying by the beach and pool. Then we went to shower and clean up and grabbed drinks again at the beachside bar. We decided to spend our evening separate from JP and Lydia, so Taylor and I headed in to town in search of dinner. We ended up at a little café attached to a guesthouse where we ordered a whole pitcher of Sangria along with our dinner. After dinner/copious Sangria, we headed back to our hotel and went to bed because I had to be up at 2:30am for a work meeting (ugh).

June 14, 2013 – Lombok

We spent the entire day on Friday relaxing at our hotel which was amazing. Taylor and I played tennis for an hour before grabbing breakfast and putting on our suits to just hang by the beach and pool. 

Tiki God slide!

Posing just like the crocodile!

At one point the boys got adventurous and each of them tried their hand at wakeboarding:

J.P.

Taylor, thumbs up! 

Tired from wakeboarding!

It was amazingly relaxing. We didn’t get out of our bathing suits until about 5pm. Then we got drinks and watched the sunset at the bar.

Finally!  A nice sunset!

After drinks, we headed out to a spa we had seen the night before. After our spa time, we headed out in search of the boys and found them down the street smoking a hookah. We headed to dinner at a place called Happy Café that Taylor and I had been to before. They have great live music, but the place was way too hot (no breeze whatsoever) and pretty loud. The food was mediocre. It was entertaining to sit there thought, because there was a group of either Dutch or Australian middle-aged tourists who were mostly wasted and pretty funny.

After our meal, we headed back to the hotel. I had a work meeting at 11pm and went to bed right after it.

June 15, 2013 – Lombok to Jakarta

We woke up at around 8am and packed our things to head to Jakarta for our friend Muriel’s wedding.

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