Silvano On The Go

I opted to stay in the pristine, luxurious resort of Nusa Dua . I absolutely adore Asia and try to visit at least once a year but the situation with dogs means I find it hard to totally relax. This time I didn’t want the constant headache. The resorts in Nusa Dua are lined up along a beautiful beach. I could walk, frolic in the water, explore and not have to worry about the four legged beasts - while within the gates of ND at least. A visit to one of the local villages was another story (more on that later).  The response to the 2002 Bali bombing in which 202 people, mostly tourist, lost their lives led to security checks for any vehicles entering this area and greater checks before entering the the hotels. Not so in other parts of the island but even on my travels outside Nusa Dua, I didn’t feel unsafe at any point. I began this trip with a three and a half hour relaxing message. Zahra Spa Villa offered a complimentary round trip to their spa villa. First was a Balinese m...

So travelling somewhere every month for a year sounds great in theory and on paper…but not so great on your bank balance. So by the time I reached May it was time to start thinking a little more strategically. I’d had my sigh on Bali for a couple of years and with no direct flights leaving the UK it was the perfect opportunity for a stopover. Initially I thought I’d couple it with Jakarta but then I realised I could fly with Qatar Airlines and couple it with another city I wanted to check out in the Middle East - Doha. And then I came across another little gem to save a few more pennies; Qatar Airlines were offering free city tours to travellers in transit. And sweeter still, you can now apply for a free transit visa if your stop over is between 5 and 96 hours. I successfully applied for the visa as my cunning plan was to utilise their free city tour and then stay on doing some individual exploration. But what was a well kept secret just a little while ago is no longer a secret and i...