Overbooked

I can safely say, this is the worst possible situation to be in when travling solo.

After an rather arduous boat journey over from Nusa Penida, where by we had everything from arguments between people, a broken door and the dock being little more than a floating pontoon, I landed in Gili T.

The first few minutes were blissful. Not cars on Gili T and noone trying to sell me something as soon as I arrived. There was a line of horse drawn taxis waiting for people and that was it. After weeks of being hassled by everyone it was great. Unfortunately that is where it began to get interesting.

I arrived in my hostel to a very long queue and to be told they were overbooked. I had booked 2 days before and seem to have just missed the cut off. A large number of people had booked with less than 24hrs and that was not good for them. Most simply left in disgust, finding accommodation elsewhere. A few who had rooms left because they were not eaht they booked, but I was one of 5 who did not get a room and dodnt want to go elsewhere. Everywhere else was quoting twice the price or more than the place I had booked.

After much pleading they offered the 5 of us the loft. Essentially a shelf above the common area. No walls, no fan, no bedding, just a mattress on a shelf. After confirming it was ours if we wanted, we decided to go see if we could find something else. Multiple places turned us away until we finally found a villa. Between the 5 of us it was still more expensive than a hostel but it had a pool and it wasnt a shelf. So we split that, grabbed our bags from the hostel and went to find food. At this point I had eaten a brioche bun and it was 3pm. So I was starving.

The 5 of us found a nice ish place to eat before splitting up. Myself and one of the guys, Will, headed back to the room to use the pool while the others went shopping. The pool was great and worth the added cost.

For dinner, 4 of us headed out to the local market and got some criminally cheap food for dinner. It was divine, though I am getting a little sick if rice and noodles. The market overlooked the ocean and the lights of Gili Meno next door. There was a massive procession along the beach front as the end of Ramadan festivities continued. The festivities are the reason why everything is so busy but that literally nothing is open. Almost everyone had returned home for it.

We headed to a bar after dinner for some drinks. It was a reggae bar and they were playing loads of songs, some reggae some normal but 'reggaefied', it was a really good atmosphere. But because of Ramadan everything closed at midnight so we ended up getting a rather early night.Read more