Kuta Beach, Bali

After 19 hours of travel, including an eight hour layover in Sydney, we made it to Bali! We were both super tired when we exited the plane and had about a 10 minute taxi ride to our hotel. The guide books say that there is only one reputable taxi company you should take while in Bali, Blue Bird taxis which are light blue and have a little blue bird logo on the side. Easy right? Wrong. Battling the sticky tropical heat, we withdraw about 500,000 rupiah ($60 NZD) and BAM we are bombarded. Swarms of hawkers see Whitney's pasty white skin as if it's a neon sign blinking "tourist!" Suddenly every counterfeit taxi driver in town was following us around trying to give us a 'very cheap price.' We said no about five times to each driver but they just kept following us no matter how much we ignored them. Talk about persistent. Within our first two minutes of being in Bali we also got offered to "smoke the special stuff" and it wasn't an isolated incident. To avoid all this chaos we ran out of the airport and eventually settled for an illegitimate taxi with a driver that appeared trustworthy! When we finally got to our room with all our organs, Andreas and I shared a long hug and thought "what did we get ourselves into." This is going to be a big adventure!Read more