Price includes:

8 nights in a private room at the Ubud Inn, in Ubud and
2 nights at Kumala Pantai on the beach in Seminyak*

Daily breakfasts at the hotel   

Airport pick-up & return

Transportation with your own
driver and tour guide in
comfortable, air-conditioned
vans to all scheduled excursions

Plus, a few surprise treats!

Price does not include: airfare, lunches, dinners, or spa treatments. The restaurants we’ll visit offer a variety of delicious meals, starting between $4-7.

*Double-occupancy:  $1,395 per person

For a long time my husband, Gary, and I had thought about taking a vacation to an exotic location. We had many of the same trepidations others have when considering visiting a foreign locale:  we don’t speak the language, whom will we know to trust for accurate and safe information and guidance? How will we understand the monetary system? What will we really want to see, and what to avoid? These questions were all smoothly addressed and taken care of by our wonderful guide, and friend, Suzi Osborn.

Suzi and I have been friends for a long time, although we hadn’t actually seen each other for almost 23 years (Gary’s and my honeymoon!). We were fortunate enough to reconnect via the Internet and picked up where we had left off. Suzi let us know about her planned trip to Bali at a time which miraculously coincided with Gary receiving an unexpected bonus. It is so amazing when The Fates smile upon you! It seemed like Suzi and I had seen each other just a week or so ago; she is such a warm, loving soul.

Over the next several correspondences, Suzi let us know what we should consider when looking for our transportation and trip to and from Bali: hints about passports, fees to plan for, and other items to consider. These were all very helpful as traveling outside the States involves aspects we would not have otherwise known to even check out. The fact that she had everything answered and ready to rock in advance was fabulous! I would encourage anyone traveling to start shopping for airfares well in advance of a trip, and look into when holidays occur in places you might be traveling through so you have a better understanding of both flight scheduling and pricing. By luck, we traveled on Singapore Airlines, which has made our favorite domestic carrier seem like a cattle car by comparison. They offered an excellent value and the service and amenities were ‘over the top.’ If I could arrange all of my travel on Singapore Airlines, I would.

Suzi and Putu, most probably one of the finest guides/drivers in the country, met us at the airport, where we already knew what to expect thanks to Suzi’s information. We then journeyed to the Ubud Inn (pronounced, “Oo-bood,” not, “U-bud”). The Inn has a number of buildings in a botanical garden/rainforest setting. Our accommodation had a relaxing porch, a large bedroom with high ceiling, an extremely comfortable canopy bed, a refrigerator, and a spacious bathroom with ‘Western’ style plumbing- a BIG plus in my book! We had breakfast every morning in the open (but covered) dining area by the pool, and enjoyed the antics of, and feeding the resident fruit bat “Mangy” who lives a pretty cush existence there considering he is disabled by a hole in his wing, and most likely would not survive in the wild. We were also ‘visited’ on a couple of occasions by some of the inhabitants of the Monkey Forest right down the road from the Inn. Suzi said that was a first!

Our trip was a delightful mix of learning and experiencing some of the more hidden aspects of life and culture in Bali:  learning about the spiritual side of Hindu life, the daily offerings, the celebrations, visits to temples, and how to demonstrate our respect for the traditions. We were also treated to lunch with Putu, and his family, at their residence, which is referred to as a ‘compound’ in Bali; certainly a fond memory of our time there, and one most tourists never experience. Other days had visits to artisans workshops, general shopping expeditions (be prepared to buy a bag to bring home the treasures!), trips to sacred sites, and several enchanting performances. We also had a couple of  ‘free days’ where we were able to either go on side trips or just enjoy the quiet peacefulness of the Ubud Inn; whatever we liked. Suzi always made sure that we knew she was flexible, and would help us find what we might be wanting, and that we could change our itinerary if needed. One of the highlights of our trip was the visit to the Elephant Sanctuary and being able to meet and ride the elephants. It also hosted one of the finest dinners I have had anywhere.

Our trip was incredible. We felt safe, secure, and had the company of our guide, one of the warmest people on the planet, Susan Osborn. If there was anything more to ask for, I can’t imagine what it would be.