My trip to Indonesia was the result of a happy accident and clandestine timing. While planning my month-long trip to Japan, my friend Betsy (the same I visited here!) shared with me that she was heading to Uluwatu, a beach town in Southern Bali that we were meant to travel to together in 2020. As we chatted, she threw out the suggestion, “Wait, what if you joined me?” She had credit to a beautiful resort, and I would be able to stay with her. The offhand question quickly turned into plans when I booked my flight and joined her for two weeks in Indonesia!

Everything I knew about Bali came from Eat, Pray, Love, but the city I arrived in hardly resembled the remote countryside Liz Gilbert visited twenty years prior. Instead, Uluwatu struck me as a mini-Australia, complete with pilates studios, spas, and “breaky” spots, all catering to digital nomads. In conversations with people from all over the world—Brazil, Romania, Canada, Kenya, Germany, and Australia, to name a few (Americans were few and far between)—we learned that many tourists stay for months, not weeks. The result is a bustling, transitory (and highly gentrified) town where travelers have created their own melting pot of culture that draws from the warmth and friendliness of Balinese locals.

As soon as we softened into our routine in Uluwatu, my friend and I flew to Lombok, a nearby Indonesian island that feels far more remote, without the established tourist infrastructure, but is famous among surfers. We stayed in an airbnb in Kuta, waking early to the calls to prayer from the Mosque (Bali is the only predominantly Hindu island in Indonesia; others are Muslim). We established a new routine, alternating between rest days of work and yoga, and surf lessons at white sand beaches with neon-blue waves, and coral in colors I’ve literally never seen before. Read on for plenty of photos from our trip, as well as practical tips for Bali and Lombok (including where we stayed), and a downloadable map with secret beaches, restaurants, and must-visit spots…

A Recap of My Trip to Uluwatu and Lombok with…

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