[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by ayazhajimalang

... They can never check through baggage to the final destination of arrival. We have to claim and recheck baggage for each sector we are flying. ... cannot check-in baggage from Bali to Cochin.

Originally Posted by nandita_bayan21

...while coming back we didn't get fly through tickets and so bags were tagged only till KL, in order to pick up the bags we had to shell out those extra monies.

If it was only to collect re-checkin the baggage at KL, perhaps you could have managed with one transit visa (instead of two) and save half of this cost.

Its surprising that such ridiculous rules exist (travellers requiring to pay significantly for transit visa just to collect and re-checkin baggage in the middle of a journey)

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by Shekhar2509

A very beautifully narrated travelogue with awesome pictures. Thanks for sharing this experience with us!

Let not such experiences add bitterness to your otherwise fantastic trip. Incidents like this indeed add an experience to learn, for you as well as people who plan to take this trip further on!

Cheers!

Thank you so much. True, though we were initially a bit disappointed for the money lost but the amount of fun we had and memories we created was far more compared to the materialistic loss.

Originally Posted by Aditya2703

Excellent travelogue and lovely pictures and this comes just at the right time, as I have planned my visit next week, so a great reference before we fly.

Can you share some more about the Indonesia visa (I am told it is on arrival), about your local currency experience (cash/card), tips, etc.?

I will be going via Malaysia too, but we have a stopover there for 3 nights hence already acquired a multiple entry visa, so I believe we will not face transit issue on the return journey.

Thank you so much. Indonesia visa is on arrival, no problem on that part. We took USD along with us, though most places accept USD but getting changes would be difficult hence best is to convert into local IDR (1 USD = 13300 to 13400 IDR approx.) Please use trusted and authorized money exchange centers only. Most of the places take credit cards too. Hope you have a great vacation!!

Originally Posted by hiran77

Amazing Pictures! well shot! Have seen the photographs you have clicked in other threads as well. I use a Nikon too. Nice. Great to see such travel pics.

Can you share the lens details please?

Thank you so much! I use Nikon D750 and Nikon D5200 along with Tokina 11-16, Nikon 50mm and Nikon 70-300mm for all my pics.

Originally Posted by vw19d

Brilliant pics! You almost took us through to Bali for a few minutes

Thank you so much.

Originally Posted by aroonanand

Amazing pics and a very well written travelogue. I vividly recall most of these places, having been to Bali for my honeymoon in 2011. We stayed at Seminyak and visited most of these places (Kuta beach, Tanah Lot, Uluwatu, some of the other beaches you mentioned) apart from Ubud. Looks like the USD has skyrocketed against the IDR, the exchange rate was around 10000 when we went.

Out of curiosity, was your Bali - KL - Kochi ticket issued on a single itinerary on Air Asia? If so, they have no business to not check in your bags (and yourself) to Kochi as transit time is less than 24 hours. Coincidentally, I had to take a Thailand visa on my way back for this very purpose, just to collect bags. However, I was aware I had to do it as my flights from Bali - BKK and BKK - Blr were different airlines (Air Asia / Bangkok Airways) !

Thanks! Now the exchange rate has increased, 1 USD = almost 13300-13400 IDR.

Yes, Bali to Kochi was the same itinerary yet they didn't tag the bag till Kochi. Apparently, at Bali, the counter guy told us that he can't issue us fly thru tickets from KL to Kochi and we need to re-check the bags again. Never mentioned anything about transit visa at all. At least if we were informed we could have prepared accordingly.

Originally Posted by ayazhajimalang

Excellent travelogue! As far as I know, Air Asia is a point-to-point carrier and hence they can check baggage only to the next immediate destination. They can never check through baggage to the final destination of arrival. We have to claim and recheck baggage for each sector we are flying. So, what the counter guy told is true that he cannot check-in baggage from Bali to Cochin. But he can give you boarding passes for both the legs. That doesn't make any difference anyway.

I'm wondering how you were able to transit on your onward journey from Chennai to Bali. May be you had only hand luggage with you or Air Asia's 'Fly-Thru' addon was included in your onward ticket.

We had check-in baggage as well along with hand luggage. I have traveled international quite a few times but never faced such an issue ever. May be everything has its first time.

Originally Posted by dsnaveen21

Great travelogue nandita!!

Thanks for sharing, the Pictures are awesome!

Never been to Bali, will plan then.

Thank you so much. Bali is pure heaven, do plan a visit soon.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Nandita, Thank you for the well written write up and all those eye catching photos. I am delighted to see a thread by a lady member and that too on the home page. May your tribe increase.

- Narayan

Thank you so much. You can check my other travel threads as well on the forum.

Originally Posted by changaez

Atul, Nandita,

Beautiful pics and thanks for sharing the details.

I liked the practical details you have added. One of my friend is planning to travel alone next month to Bali, I shared your blog with her.

You think Bali is suitable to travel with a small kid or its a backpacker or couple destination ?

If i may take the liberty to say.. Nandita what a smile on the pics .. perhaps Atul can replicate next time

Thank you. Bali, I feel is an amazing place and yes, why not with kids? We came across many families traveling with kids, infants, etc. And, yes, Atul hardly smiles in any of his pictures, have to plead him all the time

Originally Posted by Mnjdnght

It is quite an unpleasant and annoying twist in the last leg of a wonderful vacation.

I recollect enduring a similar experience a long time back in 1999 in Singapore airport. My wife and I were flying back from San Fransisco to Bangalore on Singapore Airlines. Our flight from SFO landed late evening and BLR flight was past noon the following day. We were not told at SFO that our baggage would be tagged only till Singapore so we were not expecting anything funny. Imagine our plight when we were directed to baggage claim by the SA ground staff. I remember a conversation with one of their staff with repeated usage of "transit" from us and "claim baggage" from her. Finally she got help from someone senior who clarified that baggage have to be claimed and dropped back at check-in for all transits through Singapore with more than 6 hours (or some such interval) between flights and crossing midnight. So we joined the herd heading towards baggage claim and found ourselves in the long immigration queue. Well, we then had the pleasure of
- having a casual conversation with the immigration officials Us: We just need a visa to collect our baggage and Them: Oh! sure, it is our pleasure. Always glad to assist random walk in visa requests with such clear purpose
- getting a 24 hour transit visa (no fees in our case)
- collecting fully loaded 4 check-in bags and pushing them on very smooth trolleys looking for baggage storage
- waiting wide eyed and eager for sunrise with full energy to explore the city
- taking a 4 hour city tour by taxi
- collecting the bags
- checking in and finally flying out.

Phew, an ordeal that is still etched in memory though specific details have started fading away.

Wondering if some similar quirky rule applied in your case too. I doubt it, since it would be quite appalling if things have not changed much at all in 18 years!

Nothing has changed over these almost two decades I feel. We kept requesting that we are no threat we just need to collect the bag, but they didn't budge at all. How much ever annoyed and frustrated we were, ultimately they did get us purchase the transit visas. Not sure, if that was a money minting process.

Originally Posted by ayadalam

Good write up Nandita, excellent pictures. Wish you folks a great life together and many more of such memorable trips.

Thank you so much

Originally Posted by bb8778

Hey big shout out to you for the awesome clicks!
Really good pics. Now tempted to head to Bali for our next abroad trip.

Thank you! You must visit Bali once in your lifetime.

Originally Posted by for_cars1

If it was only to collect re-checkin the baggage at KL, perhaps you could have managed with one transit visa (instead of two) and save half of this cost.

Its surprising that such ridiculous rules exist (travellers requiring to pay significantly for transit visa just to collect and re-checkin baggage in the middle of a journey)

Yes, we did request if one of us could go collect the bag but they kept insisting we need to get transit visa for both. We were highly frustrated and annoyed but couldn't do anything as have to abide by the law of the country.

[Prowler]

As usual, your travelogue is crammed with marvelous photographs and great details. I applaud you for the joie de vivre - truly remarkable. The whole world is out there for you - and share the pictures ( you do have a flair for wonderful pictures) and experiences.

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by Prowler

As usual, your travelogue is crammed with marvelous photographs and great details. I applaud you for the joie de vivre - truly remarkable. The whole world is out there for you - and share the pictures ( you do have a flair for wonderful pictures) and experiences.

Thank you so much. Kind and encouraging words like these always gets me motivated.

[murillo]

For those planning to go to Bali, please check the warning about the imminent eruption of Agung volcano in Bali. You can google for details.

Our family are planning for Bali visit, but now with this news, we are in wait-and-watch mode.

[nandita_bayan21]

Apparently, Mount Sinabung has started with mild eruptions and Agung is almost ready to blow with many tremors felt throughout the days. Bali govt officials have declared state of emergency and that the volcanic eruption has entered critical stage.

One of my colleague's sister was supposed to travel to Bali for vacation but hotel guys have cancelled the reservations for all tourists saying crisis situation and no tourists are entertained for the next couple of weeks. Flights are in/out from the airports as of now.

[Aditya2703]

Originally Posted by murillo

For those planning to go to Bali, please check the warning about the imminent eruption of Agung volcano in Bali. You can google for details.

Our family are planning for Bali visit, but now with this news, we are in wait-and-watch mode.

Well, I was in Bali with my friend from 2nd October to 5th October and luckily it went well for us. During our stay we did not face any concerns, not even slight tremors. Of course the area near Mt. Agung is cordoned off but life in the rest of Bali, particularly the Kuta region was normal. Having said that the threat is still there and I would recommend travelers to check with their airlines and hotels before departure.

Will share a few snaps and a bit of our experience shortly.

Originally Posted by nandita_bayan21

Apparently, Mount Sinabung has started with mild eruptions and Agung is almost ready to blow with many tremors felt throughout the days. Bali govt officials have declared state of emergency and that the volcanic eruption has entered critical stage.

One of my colleague's sister was supposed to travel to Bali for vacation but hotel guys have cancelled the reservations for all tourists saying crisis situation and no tourists are entertained for the next couple of weeks. Flights are in/out from the airports as of now.

Although the warnings no doubt are for the welfare of the tourists, I feel they are a bit exaggerated. In fact authorities in Indonesia are encouraging tourists to continue with their travel plan as it is hitting their revenues badly. Flight operations at Ngurah Rai Airport were normal and so was general life around Kuta. The only concerns is in the 9km radius from Mt. Agung. We went to Mt. Batur a popular tourist site in Bali and it was all well.

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by Aditya2703

Well, I was in Bali with my friend from 2nd October to 5th October and luckily it went well for us.
Will share a few snaps and a bit of our experience shortly.

Good to hear. Hope you guys had a really great time!

Although the warnings no doubt are for the welfare of the tourists, I feel they are a bit exaggerated. In fact authorities in Indonesia are encouraging tourists to continue with their travel plan as it is hitting their revenues badly. Flight operations at Ngurah Rai Airport were normal and so was general life around Kuta. The only concerns is in the 9km radius from Mt. Agung. We went to Mt. Batur a popular tourist site in Bali and it was all well.

Yes, the situation may be exaggerated a bit but then people are still apprehensive to go to Bali now. Couple of our friends who planned to visit Bali have dropped their plans, will let them know about your visit.