Welcome to Bali

Happy Monday everyone! How was your weekend? I have to admit that I didn’t attend any Halloween parties but nevertheless I still enjoyed seeing all the elaborate costumes flooding my social media feeds. Who did you dress up as?

So here we are at my first (out of many) posts from Bali and I’m going to try and not forget anything that I wanted to share with you. Even though it might be a bit hard as we had so many adventures and every day brought a lot of new emotions and experiences. After two weeks of a non-stop excitement the one thing that will always stay in my memory is that Bali is a paradise and I’m hoping to go back there many more times.

But let’s start from the beginning. As I mentioned in a short note right before we left, we have teamed up with the amazing The Luxe Nomad who helped us organise the honeymoon of our dreams. Our plan was to stay in Bali for two weeks and explore it’s different parts via five different hotels and villas. At first I was a bit worried about this plan as I’m mostly used to spending my holidays in one place without needing to relocate. But I knew that The Luxe Nomad team wouldn’t suggest this if it wasn’t great. And I decided to trust their experience and after almost 18 hours in the air we landed in Bali.

First thing that I got really excited about was the climate. We landed at 10pm and it was +27 degrees outside and very very humid. But the surprising part was that I got used to this humidity so quickly that it never caught my attention again. Already the next morning I couldn’t believe it’s October and that back home is freezing. God, Balinese people are lucky! Throughout our stay the temperature rose up to +31 during days and we never got any rain. Just perfect!

First on our itinerary was the Kayumanis Nusa Dua Private Villa & Spa. We were greeted at the airport by their driver who took us there while telling us a bit about Bali on the way. I was so excited to see the resort with my own eyes after spending so much time looking at it online and the reality exceeded my expectations. Let’s start by saying that I have never stayed or been to a private villa before. I felt my legs going all woozy at the sight of our beautiful private pool and two most gorgeous rooms. We soon learned that Kayumanis means cinnamon and the entire resort had cinnamon-coloured decor which I now think of as the most relaxing and peaceful one. I am going to show you a bit of Kayumanis surroundings in this post followed by more detailed descriptions in the several upcoming ones.

These first pictures are from our first breakfast in Bali which took place at the Kayumanis private beach while watching the sunrise. Nusa Dua is the area where this hotel is located and slowly I will explain to you all about the differences between this and other areas in Bali but what you have to know for now is that Nusa Dua is perfect for people who want to have a relaxing time, enjoying spa treatments and yoga exercises all while surrounded by beautiful nature and peaceful beaches. This area is perfect for honeymooners like us and provides endless number of romantic activities. So when Kayumanis asked if we’d be willing to have a 6am breakfast on the beach we had to do it. It was a first for me and it was so magical and breathtaking. Even though I grew up 15 minutes drive from the beach it never occurred to me to wake up early and go see the sunrise. Note to all of you. If you have an opportunity to ever do this, do it! Bring a little picnic along, take a camera and witness this beauty.

So I hope you enjoy these pictures and in the end of each Bali post I’d like to make little notes of all the things I learned and that I’d like you to know:

– Balinese people are the most friendly and helpful people I ever met. I mean all of them (apart from one grumpy taxi driver)

– I wasn’t struggling with jet lag in Bali at all (I did when I got back to London though)

– Balinese men have interesting naming system and once you learn to understand it you will always know which child in the family (first, second or third) they are

– The mot beautiful frangipani trees are everywhere in Bali (and everywhere in my posts, you’ll see)

Julia xo

Photography by Patrik Lundin