From Bunaken to Hanoi via Yogyakarta and Kuala Lumpur

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On September 2nd we left Bunaken with lots of pain in our hearts and a promise to return. We spend 7 lovely days there and wished we could have stayed longer. But that’s the problem with planning ahead. It gives you a bit more peace of mind not having to decide what to do at the last moment, but it also compromises your flexibility. We booked a flight from Manado … Read more

Diving on Bunaken

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We’ve been on Bunaken a few days now and have done some dives. It’s really an underwater aquarium here and Jimmy, the local guide at Happy Gecko, is a genius at spotting the tiny stuff, such as miniature shrimps, crabs and tiny little sea horses. We haven’t been as lucky in actually capturing it on camera, but we do have some nice pictures to share. So, no long story this … Read more

Visiting Tangkoko NP with a small child

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Tangkoko National Park near Bitung, North-Sulawesi, Indonesia was the first National Park we visited with our son during our 10-month adventure. The park is quite accessible, so very doable with kids.  Apparently, Mama Roos Homestay is very popular, but we decided to inquire for availability at Tangkoko Hill Cottages. Since we didn’t have any phone credit left, we send the manager, Franky, an email. And, lo and behold, he answered within … Read more

Review: Sendowan Baru guesthouse, North Sulawesi

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We were so lucky we found this hidden gem! Sendowan Baru in North Sulawesi, Indonesia is a great place to spend some time with or without kids. A real home away from home. This guesthouse has a large pool, basic but comfortable and clean rooms, a beach right outside the gates and lots of space to run around and play. We were here in August and the weather was perfect, even though in most other parts of South-East Asia it was wet and humid. Let us tell you a bit more about our stay at Guesthouse Sendowan Baru.

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Sriwijaya Airlines

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Yesterday we decided to take a flight from Makassar in South-Sulawesi to Manado in North-Sulawesi. We were stuck in a hotel in Makassar, a noisy and dirty city we didn’t like, and did not want to spend Jace’s second birthday in a hotel room in a big city. Because we decided to go to Manado last minute there were no direct flights anymore. We ended up flying wit Sriwijaya Air … Read more

Makassar, South Sulawesi to Amurang, North Sulawesi

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We soon found out making a last minute booking at Bunaken in high season isn’t as easy as it sounds. So we kept looking and found a listing on Airbnb that sounded promising: Sendowan Baru near Amurang, about 1,5 hours west of Manado. Fortunately we received a really quick reply when we send a message to inquire about availability. We learned later that two of the Dutch owners were actually … Read more

Makassar – South Sulawesi

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Somehow Makassar wasn’t quite the place we thought it would be. It sounded a lot more promising when we read the information on the internet, but in our experience it’s dirty and noisy. Maybe it was because we were in a city again after having already been in Kuala Lumpur for 10 days. Maybe it was because we were tired and didn’t venture out much, except to get food. Maybe … Read more

Kuala Lumpur: first time in a big city with our son

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On August 1st we took a flight from Bali, Indonesia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We’ve been in Kuala Lumpur for 9 days now and had a pretty good time here. Jace loves the public transport and gets a lot of attention. He waves at everybody 🙂 The flight over here was pretty uneventful. We left at 5PM, arriving in KL around 8PM and then had to take a taxi to … Read more

Review: Taos House Lembongan

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We weren’t very impressed with Lembongan at first, but the move to Taos House made all the difference. What a lovely place to stay! The lush garden, nice swimming pool and friendly staff were like a breath of fresh air after the terrible experience at our previous hotel on Nusa Lembongan. Read our full review of Taos House Lembongan here. This post may contain affiliate links, check our disclaimer for more info. … Read more

Review: Shipwrecks Beach Resort Lembongan

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Unfortunately our introduction with Nusa Lembongan wasn’t what we had hoped for. After buying a way too expensive return boat ticket and letting someone stupidly convince us to have him carry our bags on board after which he obviously wanted money for it, we were dropped at the wrong accommodation. Great. With a little one who needed to go to sleep, all three of us being hungry, a good 30C+ … Read more

Cheapest way to get to Nusa Lembongan, Bali

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How to get to Nusa Lembongan? Getting from Sanur to Nusa Lembongan (or Ubud to Nusa Lembongan via Sanur) really isn’t rocket science. But… it’s easy to overpay. So let us share our golden tip for getting the cheapest fast boat to Lembongan. After our stay in Ubud, we left for Nusa Lembongan. Wayan, the owner of Kas Komala (our lovely homestay in Ubud), arranged a car with a driver … Read more

Review: Balinese cooking class Ubud

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I’ve always wanted to learn Asian cooking, but somehow I was never motivated enough to do a cooking class whilst on holiday. Until we went to Ubud. And I can tell you, I’m really glad I did the Balinese cooking class! Balinese food tastes amazing and I learned a lot about Balinese cooking. If you want to do a cooking class in Ubud I can definitely recommend Jambangan Cooking Class … Read more

Travel with kids: 10 major differences

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Travel with kids, is it really so different? Yes it is! Before we left on our Big Adventure, long term traveling around South East Asia, we had some ideas about how traveling with an infant and later a toddler would be different from traveling as a couple. But the reality is always different! In this post we share the 10 major differences we discovered. Having traveled a fair bit as … Read more

First time Bali: things we noticed

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Having never been to Indonesia before, Bali was a great new adventure for us. As first timers there are a few things that really stood out for us. 1. Amazing amounts of kites in the sky. This we especially noticed when we were in Sanur, but we see it in other places as well. Making and flying kites is part of Balinese cultural and religious tradition. From the youngest kids … Read more

How to get cheap mobile internet in Indonesia

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When we first arrived in Indonesia, we just went to one of the many mobile phone stores/counters and asked them for a mobile internet package. This turned out much more expensive then we thought. Here’s how you get a much better deal. Free wifi everywhere, for real? Even though most accommodations (and supermarkets, gas stations, restaurants etc.) in Bali offer free wifi, it isn’t always very reliable. For example the … Read more

Review: Manduca babycarrier

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We’ve had our Manduca babycarrier since our little one was about 1 month old. It seemed more practical than the 5 meter long wrap that frankly I was struggling with a bit. In the first 1,5 years however we used the wrap a few times and hardly used the carrier. Where we lived it was so much more convenient to take him in the pram. But on the road things … Read more

Amed – East Bali

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We didn’t really do our homework before going to Bali, so we thought that maybe we could do some diving from Sanur. There are lots of dive operations there, but it turned out they all go to Amed and Tulamben (2 hours drive away) for diving. Since being in the car for 4 hours a day wasn’t an option for us, we decided to find accommodation in Amed instead and … Read more

From Dahab via Dubai to Bali

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Yesterday late in the evening we made it to Bali. After two days of traveling all three of us were exhausted. The little guy is a born world traveler and, as on the trip to Egypt, did wonderful. We are so proud of him! I was a bit worried about the 8,5 hour flight on day 2, but he was very relaxed and flirting with all the flight attendants. When … Read more

Dahab: camping in the Sinai desert

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FlipFlopGlobetrotters.com - desert safari Dahab Egypt

Somehow getting up in the middle of the night to change a dirty diaper by candlelight just doesn’t seem so appealing. So since we became the parents of a beautiful but very active little boy we haven’t been camping around Dahab. Our friends who live here go camping with their little ones all the time, but we haven’t found the energy for it yet. In the past, we always did … Read more

Dahab: 5 must do’s

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Planning a trip to Dahab? Here’s 5 things you don’t want to miss out on! Dahab (Arabic for ‘gold’) is a town in the South Sinai desert. It’s a popular holiday destination for divers, wind surfers and kite surfers. But despite the many natural and cultural attractions, the town has managed to maintain its small scale and relaxed character. A great atmosphere, dusty little roads, bedouin kids playing barefoot in … Read more

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