By far, the hardest part of going away for 7 months is the pack-up involved beforehand. You don’t realise how much ‘stuff’ you accrue and how much you spread out until it’s time to pack it all away in boxes so you can rent out the house. I have this theory though, that you can start packing up months before you go, but you will still be doing everything last minute, because ultimately you are still using most things. My theory also goes along the lines of – if you start packing early you procrastinate about whether or not you need it, and it ends up taking twice as long as if you just pack up everything at the end. I’m also more inclined to throw stuff out if I’m in a rush and don’t have time to think about it – so a good way of decluttering. And of course, it’s so much better to spend time with family and friends than to be packing!
Anyway, whatever the case, I’m just a last minute type of person, as is Drew, who left all the maintenance till the end. So it was a mad scramble – and very little sleep – in those last few days before leaving home. When we hit Bali last week, after a long travel day and arriving late at night, we were both in need of some R&R.
For us there’s no better place to do that than Bali. Lazy mornings, massages, yummy food, and best of all, sitting on the beach in the afternoons drinking Bintangs and watching the sun go down over the ocean – which pretty much sums up our past 5 days. The surf has been pretty huge and wild, so unfortunately the boys have only had a couple of surfs. Hoping for better conditions in the coming weeks.
We bought a couple of little travel guitars a few weeks back to bring with us. The boys have been playing back at the hotel but also most afternoons they have been jamming with the guys on the beach.
We went out our first few nights to have dinner and watch some live music, which is what we like to do when we are in Bali. Sante Fe is one our favourite bars. They always have good music and we have been following the guitarist/singer Nyoman, who plays there most nights, for many years now. The boys got up during the break and impressed the crowd with a few songs.
The past 2 nights we have all hit the wall, the busyness of the pack up for us and end of term for the boys has caught up. So we have just been coming home after sunset and ordering room service. We are now just starting to feel a little relaxed and looking forward to our next 3 weeks in Bali…and the rest of our 7 month adventure.
The Travelling Dixons 