Me and myself to Bali on a Budget — Part I
By: Pasan Missaka
Tags: Travel Writing, Travel, Bali, Indonesia, Solo Travel

Kelinking T-Rex, Nusa Penida

As I sit down to write this up, it has almost been 3 months since I visited Bali. But I think whatever I say might be important to any aspiring solo traveler who wants to spend their time in the beautiful island of Bali, which I think is a must visit for anyone.

It all started back in October 2019 when I really wanted to travel somewhere in South East Asia. I was following many travelers on YouTube who has been able to experience beautiful parts of Asia and looking at their videos made me really want to experience some of that. With some money saved up I was thinking of visiting Indonesia or Vietnam which kind of was within my budget. After looking through many videos, blogs and travel guides I decided Bali was the place to go.

Why Bali? -Well I did some initial research and I realized not only Bali is a top tourist destination, but is one of the most affordable. On top of that it was Visa free for Sri Lankans which made the decision all the more easy.

Deciding to go solo

Most of my travelling has been with my friends, so when I finally decided on a destination I asked around if any of my friends could join me. Unfortunately none of them were able to travel at that point which almost made me ditch my travel plans. Yet reading and watching some more articles and videos, I realized that Bali is also a good place for solo travelling. Yet more I thought about it, more it felt scary to be travelling to another country alone. I was looking for reasons not to go. From financial standpoint to safety I was overthinking way too much. There were countless times I was going up on findmyfare.com and checking ticket prices and deciding not to book.

As more and more days went on with December coming up, the ticket prices only rose higher. Despite all that was happening, my will and desire to travel was burning deep inside me and I decided one day I had to do it. I ended up making a impulsive decision and finally went up on Findmyfare.com and booked a ticket to Bali, Indonesia.

From that moment it was no turning back for me. I immediately started planning my trip from A-Z.

Planning the trip

Since this article will also be a sort of a guide I will explain on everything I did and the sort of research went in to each of them.

While it is a fun and adventurous to travel without plans, it might also will land you in tough situations when you travel abroad. Since it was my first solo trip it was important for me to come up with a proper plan.

Checking Visa requirements

This is the first thing any tourist travelling to any country should check. While being an American or European, you might find it easy to get visa to most of the countries, an Asian or an African or a South American have limited to number of countries which they can obtain visa easily. Luckily for many of the tourists over 160 nationalities don’t need visa to visit Bali. However there are some other concerns as well regarding to Visa. Its better for you to your research and find about any other requirements. You can read more about Visa requirements here.

2. Booking Airline tickets

Booking your tickets is an most important part of your trip because it can be one of items in your budget that could be expensive. As you might now prices fluctuate during different seasons and December and November is known to be the months that prices could be really high. So one of the best things to do right away is to decide when to go. In my case I was already late when I booked my ticket and therefore I had to pay almost Rs.10 000.00 (roughly $55) more than it is normally in September or October.

When booking your tickets, there are two options; you directly book through airlines website or use a third party site like Findmyfare. It’s always better to get your tickets with a promotion or an discount or some deal. Airlines have promos from time to time partnering up with Credit Card companies. Third party sites like Findmyfare also have deals which will get you up to 30% discount on tickets. If you are into budget travelling I also would like to suggest you to use a budget airline. Findmyfare actually allows you to book cheap tickets based on the dates you depart and return.

Findmyfare weekly fare

If you book an budget airline, you are most likely would have to also purchase luggage amount you will be carrying. Usually a normal airline ticket would offer 25–30kg for luggage but if you are a simple traveler, 15kg would most likely be enough.

In my case I had to use Malindo Air and Thai Lion Mentari airlines. Not sure how it works in other countries, but for me in Sri Lanka I had to go down to Jetwing offices in Nawam Mawatha to purchase luggage reservation I needed. I had to pay Rs.2300.00 for 10kg for Malindo Air and it was Rs. 3300.00 for 10kg for Thai Lion Mentari. This value also fluctuate based on when you make the booking and the airline you use.

Once you finalize your air ticketing you can move on to the next big thing — accommodation.

3. Accommodation

Accommodation will also be huge chunk of your expenses while you travel, but if you are traveler on a budget then there are ways to bring down the costs.

As I mentioned before Bali is a top destination for solo travelers, and therefore for anyone travelling alone, the most cost effective solution would be to stay at a hostel. There are many hostels in Bali that offers relatively good facilities at a low cost. I suggest you check some out based on your itinerary.

Another way would be to share to double room with a friend. But then again if you are travelling alone, this is not so effective. For checking out accommodation, I suggest you use a website like booking.com, which I used. As a first time user, when I booked through the booking.com website I was offered the airport transfer for free.

4. Travel and Transport

How you gonna get by while you are in Bali is very important because it will also be a significant expense. Mainly you would have to decide on how you are going to transfer from and to the airport, then how you get to and explore other destinations. Chances are you will also be checking out other islands in and around Bali like Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, Gili Islands etc. Then you would also have to take in to account the prices for the boat rides as well.

For me I used a mix of taxis, motor bikes and fast boats. You have to be really careful when using taxis because many people will try to rip you off. Solution is to use an app like Grab or use Bluebird taxis which is a well known and professional taxi service in Bali. Bluebird is also cost effective compared to Grab as well. My obvious choice while I was in Bali was to use Bluebird taxis whenever I needed to get a taxi. I was sold on them when I realized they also have a solid mobile app. So I recommend you use Bluebird taxis if you want to get a taxi while in Bali.

If you are going to explore on your own, if you know how to ride a bike, then renting out a bike is the best option. You can bargain for renting out a bike at a low cost. Best thing about using a bike is, you can use it to travel most places which aren’t that far and it really allows you to explore. Usually a bike rental will cost you around $5-$7 per day. I consider it to be really cheap but it makes your life whole lot easy. I should mention though, you must have driving license or a permit to drive in Bali. I obtained a International Driving Permit from Sri Lanka and I could use it in Bali as well. It only took a week to apply and process the International Driving Permit.

Prices for the boats change based on the destination you will be travelling, and time of the day you will be travelling and the type of boat you will be travelling. As an example, to get to Nusa Penida from Sanur in fast boat would set you back 200,000IDR. However if you book the return ticket in advance you get the both tickets for around 300,000IDR.

So this covers most of the things when planning a trip to Bali. Although I missed out few I would very much like to answer any other questions in the comments. I hope it will help someone who badly wants to visit Bali someday.

I will continue about my actual travel experience in Bali in the next few articles. Until then good bye :)