good morning from our very first travel day of 2023 we are starting the year off with a bang and
taking a very quick trip to Indonesia it might look like we've only been home for a couple of
days but we've actually been in Australia for an entire month celebrating Christmas getting ready
to be auntie and uncles and moving two people into two new houses we're ready for a break
not bad for five in the morning
wonderful thanks
it's good to be back in Asia isn't it flight was really quick and easy only five hours and
we're in Indonesia but the travel day doesn't stop here we've got to get our
bags clear customs and then we're going on a regional flight to our destination
As Australians Bali and Indonesia is kind of like a backyard for us it's really close and pretty
affordable for family holidays so Emily and I have been there a couple of times over the last couple
of years we've realized that we find a lot of Joy getting out of the main tourist areas and out of
the main city so we're currently in Bali but we're not staying here we've got one more flight taking
us to Labuan Bajo on the island of Flores where there's Komodo dragons and Hikes and beaches
so excited to be back in Asia
if you can't quite place it, Flores is part of the Lesser sudna Islands
which is a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia probably best known as
the gateway to the Komodo Islands aka the ancient island of dragons welcome
and just like that we're already at our hotel and it's beautiful I'm so happy to be back in Asia let
alone here it is like a Dreamland it's so luscious and green but then the water is so vibrant blue
all right accommodation is not too much to write home about but it's about $17 a
night so you can't complain I think it's time we grab a beer and plan a little bit
oh bintang it's been a while cheers first travel beer of 2023. we really don't have any plans for
while we're here in Indonesia we're just taking it as it comes and hoping everything works out
today we're just in Labuan Bajo which is where we've flown into and I think we're gonna go for a
walk along the water hopefully some people offer us some good deals to go see the Komodo Islands
maybe get some yummy food I'm so excited to be traveling again they're really not
practiced at traveling like right now we have to pull out our phones and kind of
try and plan the entire trip it really is such a skill like you get so in the
routine of looking things up and booking things we've had a month off so we're out
of that routine it feels like we're starting fresh again like I have no idea what to do
great beers I think we're gonna walk on the coast
see what we can find maybe get a SIM card because we need one thank you
we have gone into a bunch of different travel agencies trying to find the best tour to go
to the Komodo Islands this week sometime don't know if they're all running the same boat and
they're just separate travel agencies but they're showing the same photo so I didn't
even think of that but it's like the same boat yeah we are determined to figure it out
first impressions of Flores, everyone is really nice it's like a proper fishing village town
it's such a community and the kids all have these fun toys they are all screaming out we
just had two guys we're like watch us jump and they jumped into the water it's so sweet
here it's definitely what we wanted a more local type of Indonesia as opposed to Bali
but we're hungry so food ah kind of hard to find dinner in Labuan Bajo we have come to Senja Eatery
has the best view we can find and honestly it was the closest thing that wasn't KFC
I have gone for an absolute classic to start our meals in Indonesia with
Nasi Goreng they have put some sort of local Twist on it for this restaurant we also got
some Balinese spring rolls to try but Jordan got something a little fancier
I got a dish called Tibu sapi it's like a grilled beef inside a green bamboo stick
I don't really know what to make of that but it comes with rice and it looks amazing really
really nice meal I think we're both probably more tired than we should be on the Travel day
yeah I think we're both exhausted even though that travel day was rather smooth and easy
next thing on the list that we're hoping to do here is a tour to see the Komodo dragons!