Review: Happy Gecko Dive Resort Bunaken

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We stayed at Happy Gecko Dive Resort, also known as Happy Gecko Resort or Cicak Senang Resort, for a week and enjoyed every second of it. We were very sad to leave. The bungalows are basic but the views, hospitality, food and diving are absolutely fantastic. Happy Gecko Dive Resort is a small dive resort on Bunaken Island, only about 1,5 hours away from Manado Airport. It’s owned by Jerry, … Read more

Six months on the road…

Pretty much unnoticed we passed the half way point of our Big Adventure a few days ago. Six months on the road with our little world traveler! And what’s even better… we have another six months to go! So far: 🙂 We traveled by plane, train, car, bus, boat, motorcycle, scooter, horse carriage and becak,  🙂 visited 5 countries, 🙂 went to 16 destinations, 🙂 took 11 flights, 🙂 and … Read more

From Bunaken to Hanoi via Yogyakarta and Kuala Lumpur

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

Visiting Tangkoko NP with a small child

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

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

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

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

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

Cheapest way to get to Nusa Lembongan, Bali

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

How to get cheap mobile internet in Indonesia

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

Amed – East Bali

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

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