Next trip out!

Believe it or not, I spent weeks thinking about where to go for our 1st 2018 trip because we didn’t manage to travel anywhere in 2017 cos of the IVF & the pregnancy. For someone who’s usually very go-jer when it comes to almost anything, I just don’t travel when I’m pregnant. So the moment Raees turned 1mth old, I quickly applied for his passport. Lol

With that out of the way, where to go to is another problem. I wanted Japan. Cherry blossoms would be nice but the weather might pose a problem for Raees cos he’s still quite young & the last time we went Tokyo, Nadya got the sniffles even with a flu jab. So I don’t think cold weather would be ideal for young babies.

Melbourne was another option I explored and was ready to book but I pulled back cos 6 days there won’t be enough to go on a proper Great Ocean Road road trip & stay maybe 2 nights at Lorne and then drive over to Phillip Island to see penguins. They aren’t exactly close to each other. In fact from Google Maps, it’s actually at the opposite ends & will take 4hrs by car so of course we would have to overnight at Phillip Island as well? Then bila masa nya aku nak shopping kat Target kan. HAHAHAHA.

We only have about 6 days or a week max cos of Rusly’s work schedule, his gigs & my sampul raya arrival. On top of that, Raees will be taking his 3rd month jab on 10 April & I want to avoid that weekend jussssst in case he gets a fever from the jab. See, a mother has to think about every single thing & prepare for all the worst scenarios. Lol

So we settled for last week of April. But still tak tau nak pergi mana tau. Hahahaha
We ding-donged on the location for a while. Hong Kong which was never in my go-to list pun termasuk sekali but was immediately shot down by Rusly. As expected. Lol.

At that point, I told Rusly I want a trip of no concrete plans to do anything. Just chill, makan, tido, swim, repeat that kind and if possible within 3-4hrs away from Singapore. Long flights with an infant & a toddler aren’t exactly exciting.

We thought of KL, my fav makan place but we went KL many times already & it’s somewhere we can always go on a whim. I even thought of Langkawi seh.. and then Rusly mentioned Bali. I thought why not? We went Bali during our 1st Anniversary, 5 years ago. While it’s not exactly a spectacular place, it is a nice place to revisit.

And because we’ve covered a few tourist attractions on our 1st trip there, we can just chill je for this trip. Do nothing but just swim & makan & explore the place. So I immediately booked our flights in case we change our mind again.

Which area to stay? With kids, Nusa Dua would be nice cos it’s quiet & all. I also found a resort I love but after reading few blogs about Halal food in Bali, I realize we need to stay nearby Kuta cos that’s where most of the Halal food is. We previously used a Muslim driver to drive us around so finding food wasn’t difficult but we don’t plan on doing so for this trip so accessible halal food is a must. But I don’t want to stay in Kuta cos it’s too crowded there so I opted for Seminyak. Close to Kuta but not so close.

Accommodation next. Initially explored Airbnbs for Villas & found some really nice ones below $200/night & Rusly wanted a Villa as well but after looking at most of them, the pools are quite deep for Nadya to splash around. They’re at least 1.2m tall, no waddle pool and also I’m not comfortable being in a Villa with a pool inside just in case Nadya runs off to the pool without our knowledge. If she’s the only child or if we have the family with us (hence more eyes), I don’t mind. But I’m not gonna take the risk so we scraped Villas off the list. Can u notice already our trip is centered around the kids? Hahaha. Cannot do this & that, because kids. Lol.

Shortlisted few hotels around Seminyak & decided on Montigo Resorts cos of the Kids Club. Hahahahaha again because of kids. But the Kids Club looks interesting enough for Nadya especially if we don’t plan on going anywhere for the day. The pool looks good & the room looks huge. So book je lah.

With that, we confirmed our trip. To Bali. After everything dah settle, I went “Seriously kita nak go Bali?” Hahahaha Cos Bali wasn’t in our immediate place to go back to but with two kids in tow, Bali seems perfect.

Now I’m trying to decide if we should do a family shoot there since you know, Bali. Amazing sunset. And we gotta change the family portrait at home anyway cos there’s only Nadya in it & I wasn’t wearing the hijab in it. We did our last one in Krabi when Nadya was 6mths old. So that was quite a while! I’m just looking around for one that I like & get their rates before I decide!

Yay to our 1st 2018 trip. I just hope it’s bearable since there’s four of us now. I think it’ll be chaotic but I hope not that chaotic sampai put me off travelling for the rest of 2018, hopefully. How I miss packing clothes in the luggage! lol