Travel days are tedious. Getting from one destination to the next causes anxiety, hot flashes, hunger, and can often bring out the worst in us. Budget travel can especially mean uncomfortable, cramped, and slow modes of transportation that you just have to struggle through. This blog is not only for the highlights, it’s to show every aspect of this life that I am passionate about! So, this blog post is to show the uglier side of travel, but to also prove that even the worst/ugliest parts are all part of the experience.
Without further ado, I present my day in the life: traveling from Bali to Gili Trawangan….
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What was meant to happen: We would wake up in the morning and get picked up by a van heading from Ubud to the coast. From there we would take a quick Fastboat over to Gili Trawangan and boom, day over. Only four hours of travel. If you can guess, that is definitely not what happened.
Firstly, we woke up that morning to an absolute downpour. I am not talking your average rainy day. I mean stand outside for two seconds and you might as well have jumped in a river kind of rain. Buckets of water pelted us on our way to the hostel’s kitchen for breakfast. Storms like this are relaxing and peaceful when you’re cozy inside and can choose to go dance in it if you want… they are not as fun when it’s time for you to check out and there’s no way to avoid getting soaked.
Soon enough it was time to meet our shuttle out of Ubud to Padangbai. Let me paint a picture: The rain had not subsided. Our hostel was down an alleyway off of the street. This alleyway was long and had steps going down to the hostel. As soon as we walked out of the front door, we might as well have been walking through a river. The entire alley was flooded and water covered our feet while rain blinded us. After struggling upstream and finally making it to the street where the van was waiting, we hurried to get into its shelter.
An hour passed on the shuttle and the rain subsided. Only once did I think to myself, “will we even be able to get a boat if it’s raining?” and that thought somehow went away as if it had never come. Eventually, we reached the port and received our tickets for the Fastboat. Thinking all was set, we headed to the waiting area. We waited and waited, surrounded by Balinese salespeople and other wet and confused travelers until it was finally announced that it would not be safe for the Fastboat to travel that day due to the rain.
We had no clue what to do and I must admit this was not my finest hour. I was stressed, wet, and recovering from Bali Belly and was not a joy to deal with. Looking back, the Balinese people at the port were so kind and helpful, and unfortunately with my heightened emotions, I got frustrated with those who didn’t speak great English and angrily walked off from my travel partners. We returned to the booth that provided our Fastboat tickets and they explained our options going forward: we could stay the night in Padangbai and catch the first Fastboat the following morning, or we could take a Slow Ferry right away and arrive in Gili by the evening.
After much deliberating, arguing, and some pleading (this again, was not my best moment), my travel buddies and I decided to go with the Slow Ferry. We were given lanyards, directed to the port it was at, and off we went, still confused but a little less stressed.
The ferry was clearly for locals and many of them seemed confused as to why so many tourists were on their transport. We were serenaded for a short time by some Balinese men, we claimed our seats, purchased some snacks, and listened to music or napped for 4-5 hours. Eventually, we came to a stop and our maps said we were off the coast of Southern Lombok (nowhere near our final destination, but that was a later issue) so we were excited that this part of the journey would soon be over. Or so we thought. The boat proceeded to stay in the same place for an HOUR!
After asking what was going on, we were informed that there was no docking space available at the port. So we remained in that same spot off the coast of Lombok for two more hours – we had given up our seats thinking we were getting off the boat, so we found ourselves spread out in the sleeping area of the ferry (raised, flat sections that families or individuals could lie down on instead of sitting in seats). Finally, the ferry was able to dock and everyone crowded at the opening door.
The sun had already set and we had no clue what was next since we were in Southern Lombok and needed to get to the north, but we followed the crowd and kept showing random people our lanyards until we ended up at the doorstep of a bus! This seemed our only option, so we hopped on with no idea how long it would take or where exactly it would take us. Sure enough, it was the right thing to do as after an hour or so we were brought right to Bangsal Port where three Fastboats were waiting for everybody. My travel mates and I raced to the port to get on the first boat across. We managed to get on the first 10 minute Fastboat to Gili Trawangan and finally our travel day was over!
We walked to our hostel in the dark, checked in and explained to security why we were arriving at 11:30 pm. They almost did not let us in since we were all under the same name but thankfully a manager showed up and got us to our room. Luckily, Gili Trawangan has a big party culture, so there were still plenty of restaurants open for us to get a real meal!
And THAT is the longest and most stressful travel day I have ever experienced. What was meant to be 4 hours from Ubud to Gili Trawangan, ended up being nearly 14 hours!
This story is chock full negatives, but I want to bring up the small moments that showed me the goodness of people and reminded me not to take everything so seriously and to slow down when emotions are running high (things that are still a challenge for me, but a part of learning and journeying!) For example, after running through the rain to get to the van, everyone in our shuttle just burst out laughing. None of us could believe what was going on and it really bonded us for that moment and allowed us to stop and find the fun in all of it. Later on, while waiting ages just to find out our boat was canceled, I was given a bamboo necklace by one of the Balinese saleswomen. At first I thought it was a scam and she would make me pay her, but she quickly made me aware that it was a gift – and that small gift made me so happy in those intense moments of frustration.
Overall this was a stressful and long day, but to me, that is what traveling is all about. It’s about sudden changes of plans, being forced out of your comfort zone, realizing the joy or fun in the ugliest situations, and seeing how people live all around the world. Looking back on this experience, there are moments I wish I had just slowed down, breathed, and realized that it was all going to be okay so I should just choose understanding and kindness. I wish I had the mentality to do that then, but now I know and now I can work on it! This was definitely a day I will never forget!
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