Kuta, Bali, Indonesia
There are those things you hear about but you assume the chances of them happening to you are just so scarce as to not even give it much thought. Then, of course, it happens to you.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, so let’s start at the hotel.
We managed to find a really nice place to stay for the few weeks we were on the beaches of Bali. But “nice” has a lot of different meanings when you talk about international destinations…
Think of Las Vegas. “Nice” could be used to describe a hotel off the strip that is clean and has a pool…or it could be used to describe a deluxe suite in a 5 star hotel on the strip that you are paying hundreds of dollars a night to sleep in.
For us, we were not looking for the cheapest place in town or the luxury penthouse – we were looking for a nice cheap place. Something that was, while inexpensive, gave us the best “value for dollar” in backpacker accommodation.
For example, air conditioning was just not something we considered very important in the tropics. That probably sounds a little nuts but we lived on a boat in Tahiti and boats don’t typically have air conditioning. We got used to it. Besides, we’d be out all day and at night it cooled off.
The Suka Beach Inn was not the cheapest place in town, but when stacked against its competitors it was clearly the best value in budget accommodation.
You can blow a lot of money in this town, but for $15 US / night for two people, we had a clean private room protected from the noise of the main street, our own balcony, a swimming pool, free breakfast and a really nice setting in downtown Bali.
Which was pretty much awesome.
We also got confirmation that this place was one of the best in town when this happened:
Two California high school classmates choose the same hotel to stay in and randomly run into each other while travelling through Bali.
What are the odds?
Guess it’s not too surprising considering our previous experiences with friends and proximity.
And while Gavin is the first completely random encounter we’ve had, he is not the first fellow Bell to have joined our adventuring party.
Greg and Tiffany are traveling around the world on sailing yachts and keep a video blog of their (mis)adventures. If sailing to Tahiti on a 44 ft sailboat, 3-day delays for wine tastings, getting pooped on by seagulls, opening coconuts with dull machetes, sailing past tornadoes and ukulele Christmas carols are for you, then check them out atwww.CoastGuardCouple.com!
