I am the designated travel planner for our group of friends and late last year we had the idea to have a week away from our busy lives and spend a week in Bali. In the end we had 10 ladies put their hands up and say, "me, me, me! Almost too good to be true, but what the heck we'll give it a shot And so the countdown began. Roll forward six months and we're on our way. Flights were all on Virgin and having read the reviews we weren't expecting much.
But what a nice surprise. Check in easy peasy at Auckland, departed on time, newish plane with pretty purple mood lighting, friendly FA's and one of "those" women to keep us all entertained - who needs electronic inseat entertainment when you have your own comedian on your flight!
OMG, if she could fuss, complain and get attention in any way, shape or form she did it. From standing up in the aisle trying to move the seat in front of her forward it was reclining into HER space you know! We had to commend the FA's for their patience - I would have sedated her.
Moving on We had a very quick transit in Sydney too quick - we only had time to sample one of the newly released beverages as we were passing Duty Free and we're off on our second, longer leg of the journey. Again, no problems. Left on time, arrived early despite doing aerobatics around and around over the ocean for about 20 minutes prior to landing. We expected long waits to pay the VOA, but nope, we were all paid up with our USD, thru immigration and rolling out the door with our bags within an hour beats 3 hrs in LAX so I'm happy.
One thing that was noticeable was the chaos at the final check point where bags are x-rayed. One of my friends has an uncle living in Bali so she brought with her and declared a range of food including cheese plus seeds and some plant cuttings for him.
