After a couple of days of days just taking it easy, it’s time to get out and do something a bit more productive. There is a great waterpark not far from the hotel that seems like a good bet, but surprisingly, Joey isn’t that interested. It’s the kind of thing he’d have fun at with his brothers, but I guess Mom and Dad just don’t cut it 🙁

Instead we decide to spend the day in Kuta, which is the main beach/tourist area, full of shops, restaurants, and my favorite – people. I’m optimistic we’ll find a few food carts as it has been quite a few days since we’ve played any intestinal roulette, but sadly, there are none to be found. However, we do come across this little reminder that even though we have flown 8,000 miles, we’re not really that far from home.

We also manage to take care of most of our souvenir needs, other than the extra suitcase I’m sure we are going to need to cart them all home. Joey is tickled with his duck with shoes, which I’m sure he’ll tell you all about…

Things have slipped into a bit of a bland routine here. We spend the morning catching up on email, talking to the boys on FaceTime, and checking the status of flights leaving Bali. From there we head out to breakfast, wander to the shopping complex across the street for a massage (Joey’s a no go for any kind of regular massage but can’t get enough of the fish spa), lounge by the pool for a few hours, and then get ready for dinner. I’m admittedly starting to go a bit stir crazy, but during the day it is too hot to be moving around, and at night we are too wrapped up planning how to get to Australia to go anywhere outside of the hotel.

Most carriers seems to be flying a fairly regular schedule the past few days with the exception of the Australian airlines, which have already cancelled our planned flight on Friday. We have booked a new flight on Garuda to Sydney that should at least get us onto the proper content. From there it will hopefully be easy to get to Cairns without losing too much time in the process. Of course that’s still all predicated on conditions not getting worse, so fingers and toes all still crossed.

We’ve set up camp for the next few days in the resort area of Nusa Dua. My trusty traveling companion is back on familiar ground at her beloved Hyatt, luring Joey to the dark side with snacks in the club lounge and a private sleeping cubby (a significant upgrade from the night he spent in Dubai sleeping on the floor).

This section of Bali is pretty much mega-hotel after mega-hotel on a peninsula walled off from the rest of the city, so a pretty sterilized version of Indonesia that is not super appealing. On the upside however, it does give us a chance to decompress by the pool for a few days an recover from all the hours spent on the road. Even better, the relatively stable Internet provides us access to the tools we will likely need to navigate the next looming turd nugget, which is getting off of the island we struggled so hard to get onto just a few days ago.

The volcano that caused all of the problems in the first place is still erupting, with flights taking off sporadically as the location of the ash cloud permits. The flight we are currently booked on hasn’t actually flown since we first got to Indonesia, so we’re not overly confident that it will do so by Friday (or if it does, that we won’t get bumped off it to get people home that have been stranded here longer).

Today however, there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, so off to the beach.

When booking our time at the elephant park, we chose the adjacent hotel primarily because it provided guest access before the regular park hours (like they do at Disney). That allows us to sign up to wash the elephants, and to ride them into their bathing pool.

As they dunk themselves under the water, it’s important to keep a close eye out for random coconuts lurking just below the surface. Seriously, those ARE coconuts, right?

From the pool it’s back to the room for a fully clothed shower. Shortly thereafter, our elephants show up at the door to take us on a ride through the jungle.

With just a few hours left before heading back out on the road, we round up all the fruit we can find and head over to the pen with the baby elephant (2 years old, so not really a baby anymore).

One of the events that our junior traveller has been most looking forward to is our visit to the Elephant Safari Park Lodge. It’s on the other side of the mountains, so to get there, we pack up our gear, check out of our rental, and head off from Lovina by 9am. We make a few stops along the way, with the first being a local market to let Joey experience the organized chaos and see all kinds of foods he never knew existed (who knew there were dozens of kinds of peanuts?).

From there, we take a short drive to a palace of the former king of this region. Looking over some of the exhibits, I realize I know almost nothing about the history of Bali (or Indonesia as a whole for that matter), which is a bit humbling given this is our second time visiting.

Our last stop before heading into the mountains is a supermarket, as we don’t know what will be around our next hotel and need to stock up on snacks. One thing we enjoy when traveling is trying unusual food, and a grocery store is a great place to find mouthwatering treasures like seaweed flavored potato chips, chicken rings, and a drink called Sweat. Just imagine the juvenile fun possible with an 11 year old boy and a bag of Balls (“Hey, get your hands off my Balls!”).

By lunchtime, we are ready for a break from the car, so are happy to arrive at the Ulun Danu Beratan temple and stretch our legs. The temple is one of particular importance in Bali, as it sits on the shore of the lake that provides much of the fresh water to the island.

After another long day on the road, we finally arrive at the elephant park. Joey can hardly wait to drop our bags off and get out to see the animals. We are just in time to see the talent show, which is a big hit.

We spend the next hour or so wandering around the park before heading back to our room to get ready for dinner. At this hotel, an elephant picks you up at your room and you ride to the restaurant. It’s dark by this point so no good pictures, but rest assured we have one extremely smiley young man on our hands.

We’re headed up into the mountains today (thankfully, as it is already getting hot by 9am) to see a few of the local sights. Our first stop is a waterfall that is a short hike in from the road.

Back in the van, we head off to a coffee/spice farm. There is a short, but interesting tour where we learn about a lot of the spices grown on the island, as well as their famous Luwak Coffee. For the unfamiliar, this is coffee made from beans that have passed through the digestive system of a small cat. Farmers literally wander through the jungle collecting cat turds, pick out the beans, grind them up, and serve you a cup at about twenty times the price of a regular coffee.

We’re not coffee drinkers but we can’t come all this way and not give it a try. Now to me, all coffee tastes like it has come out the business end of one animal or another, so I can’t say whether this is as good as people say (or even if it isn’t just some Nescafe they whipped up in the kitchen), but if sticking to your teeth is the sign of a good poop coffee, then we’re sampling some of the best.

As I try to rinse away the grainy taste of feline b-hole, I can’t help but wonder how exactly someone discovered this delicacy, and whether they’ve made a hobby of picking through different kinds of turds looking for things to eat, or just happened to strike gold on the first one. It’s a puzzle that will have to wait, as we are soon piling back into the van and headed to our next stop – hot springs.

On a day where the heat index is easily over 100, hot springs aren’t exactly the first things that come to mind, but it turns out to be a nice break, at least until the naked baby pinches a loaf on his mother’s leg (what is it with this day and poop?). Everyone out of the pool…

Last on the itinerary is a Buddhist temple back near the village. As we know from past travels, bare legs are a no-no, so we first get to take advantage of the community man dresses. Joey, of course, is awesome and rocks his out like a champ.

According to Google, in about 3 days one can travel to the moon. As hour 76 of our trip passes, we finally pull into the house we have rented for 4 nights (2 of which have which have already passed). It is a nice little place, about a quarter mile from town and the beach, but given the circumstances, we barely have time to complete the tour and listen to the house rules before finding a comfortable bed and falling asleep.

When we do finally regroup, it’s the middle of the afternoon and far too hot for Seattleites to do much. We wait the worst of it out by the pool before finally setting off into town for some dinner and groceries. The area we are in (Lovina) is not much of a tourist spot, so in some ways there isn’t a whole lot to see or do, but it’s quiet, slow-paced, and a great introduction to regular life in Bali for Joey.

The highlight is finding a street cart that serves up matarbak manis, and we stock up on a half dozen or so of the tasty treats (like pizza, some would argue they taste better cold).

We’ve booked a tour for tomorrow (our only full day left on this part of the island), and given how hot it gets, figure the earlier we start the better.

We’re calling an audible today as there is no good news on the volcano front. Planes still aren’t flying into Bali, so the airline is planning on moving passengers to a new hotel and trying again in tomorrow. That means our best case scenario is arriving at 24 hours from now, and then only if the volcano cooperates. The alternative is to improvise, and through a combination of flying, driving and taking a ferry, be certain that this time tomorrow we’ll be in Bali.

It takes a bit of convincing as my travel companions are fairly comfortably settled into their hotel room, but we see few redeeming qualities in Jakarta and ultimately decide to part ways with our fellow passengers and head off on our own. Our first step is a short flight to Surabaya, which gets us about two thirds of the way there in just over an hour. There, we manage to cobble together a rag tag group of travelers and rent a bus, for what Google claims should be a 5 hour drive to the ferry crossing at Banyuwangi.

Precisely 8 hours later, we pull onto a boat that looks like it was only recently dredged up from the bottom of the sea. It does have bathrooms however, and after such a long drive, someone is more than looking forward to squatting over a hole in the floor and working the flush bucket. While she is waiting, she entertains us with her best Grumpy Cat impression.

After a bit more than an hour on the ferry, we finally step foot on Bali, and are met by a driver from the house we rented on AirBnB. He tells us we have 2 more hours in the car to get to the village where we are staying, but as the sun starts to peek over the mountains, we at least know there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Wow, what an interesting 24 hours. While the flights are generally the least eventful portion of our trip, there is a definitely a story behind our journey from Houston to Jakarta.

“Hold on a second”, you say. “Since when were you going to Jakarta?”

To understand that, we have to wind back the clock to where I last left off.

Some may remember years ago when we travelled with Nick to Thailand that bit the bullet and flew him first class to really make his experience one of a kind (it sounds easy when we talk about it now, but my trusty travel companion will tell you how difficult it was to try the additional air miles out of my hands back then). Rest assured, his younger brothers remember this quite vividly, so this time around, we try and do the same thing for Joey. It’s nowhere near as easy now as it was then, but we do manage to score the upgrade on the all-important Houston to Dubai leg.

Why does this leg matter? Well, besides being the longest part of our journey, if you have seen any of the Emirates commercials recently with Jennifer Aniston, you’ll know their A380s are the only planes with showers. Of course, there is no practical need to take a shower on an airplane (there are showers at the airport to freshen up after a long flight), but who would ever pass up the opportunity if the could?

For Joey, the whole experience at the front of the plane is mind blowing. He has never seen anything like it, and the entire time we are boarding and waiting to take off, he taking everything in with eyes as big as saucers. The big seat that turns into a bed? “Awesome.” The big TV? “Awesome.” Personal snack basket and drink cooler? “Awesome.” The remote that controls everything? You guessed it – “Awesome.”

The other notable feature of the A380 on Emirates is the lounge, so after dinner, we all head back to check it out and have a drink. On a 14 hour flight it is nice to get up and stand a bit, and while it isn’t the best use of space, leaning up against a bar is definitely a bit more pleasant than standing in the galley. We also spend some time with a friendly passenger from Dubai who is also flying his family in first class – although I don’t think he is using points. He is disappointed we aren’t staying at least a few days in his country and tells Joey he needs to bring his family back to stay with him and see Dubai. If this flight hasn’t ruined ruin him already, I can only imagine what a week or two in some over the top compound would do to the poor kid when he is stuck in his first apartment out of college eating Cup ‘o Noodles.

While we are gone, the stewardess has made up the beds, so we wind down with a movie and then drift off to sleep.

About an hour out of Dubai, it is time for our scheduled shower. It is a fairly carefully managed event and the dedicated shower attendant stands guard to make sure you don’t sneak in out of turn.

The showers are in the first class bathrooms, which, shower notwithstanding, are over the top. At least one, and probably two of the bathrooms in our house are smaller and certainly less decked out. There is even a TV to keep tabs on your journey, just in case you need to know exactly where you are while taking care of other important business.

Of course no self-respecting traveler would want to step out of a warm shower onto a cold floor, but fear not, they have thought of that too – yes, the floors are heated.

The whole flight is an absolutely crazy, mind blowing, unjustifiable indulgence. Which is to say we loved every minute of it.

Our layover in Dubai is 12 hours, the bulk of which we spend in the airport hotel trying to get as good of a night’s sleep as our messed up internal clocks will allow. From there it is off the lounge to await our flight. Where Alaska puts on their game face with an automatic pancake machine, Emirates goes one step further, by adding a whole separate level to their terminal. Yes, on floor up from the regular concourse, there is another complete set of gates reserved for passengers with lounge access, complete with leather furniture, free food and drink, and private compartments with loungers to relax on.

Stepping back into the real world, we board our flight to Bali, which is another 9 hours. After traveling for almost 2 days, we are ready to get to our destination and you can tell our junior traveler is getting excited. Until…

About an hour from Bali, the captain comes on the PA to let us know a volcano has erupted on Lombok (the island to the east of Bali) and the ash cloud will not allow us to land. Instead we will be diverting to Jakarta to await further instructions. It is late in the evening when we land, and with no immediate plan to reopen the airport in Bali, we have been shuttled off to a hotel to spend the light (props to Emirates for taking care of that as I’m sure a US airline would have sent us away to fend for ourselves since the problem wasn’t mechanical). We’re to head back to the airport after breakfast for what, hopefully, will be a short flight, and only minor delay.

There has been a fairly excited 6th grader bopping around the house these past few days, which means the time has come for him to set off on his big adventure. It was hard to pin Joey down on where he wanted to travel to, but after much reflection (and some martabak manis), he settled on Indonesia and Australia. Across a little more than three weeks, we’ll be visiting Bali, Cairns, Ayers Rock and Melbourne, hopefully sharing some experiences we will all carry with us forever.

As these journeys are primarily powered by frequent flier points, we don’t always get the prime choice of flights. As Australia is typically a tough ticket from the US, our best option was to go the long way round, flying through Houston, Dubai, and Bali. Coming home, we were able to lock down Melbourne to Los Angeles, making Joey the first of the Roberts boys to circumnavigate the globe. It does however make for a very long first travel day (two really, as with the overnight in Dubai it will take us 44 hours to get to Bali). On the upside, the longest leg is on the A380, which itself is a bit of an experience.

After waking up early, still slightly hopped up on Halloween candy, we’re off to the airport, where Joey’s first clue that he’s in for something special is the automatic pancake machine in the Alaska Airlines lounge.

Our first flight is pretty uneventful and we make it to Houston in time to catch the end of the Seahawks game (a 13-12 nail biter). From there, it is 15 long hours stuck in the metal tube I find myself in now, watching movies, trying to keep up with email over some sketchy Internet, and working the rust out of the old blogging software.

Stay tuned…