5 THINGS I WISH I KNEW BEFORE TRAVELING TO BALI

Bali is a beautiful, tropical island located in Indonesia. It's a very popular destination among tourists and travelers. I visited it for the first time two months ago. I absolutely loved it but I wish I had known a few things before my trip.

1. The traffic is absolutely horrible

It's hard to believe - at least it was for me - that in such a tiny island like Bali the traffic can be really chaotic. It's almost impossible to move around with a car. But then again, driving a scooter can be extremely dangerous. So you should definitely reserve enough time for getting from place A to place B since it's not that easy.

2. Don't stay in the same place for the whole time

This is mainly because of the traffic. It's a lot easier to stay in one place and explore the area and then move to the next place and do the same thing than stay in one place and do day-trips everywhere. For example, if you stay on the south side of Bali, it's hopeless to try to arrange day-trips to the north side of the island.

3. Try to avoid the area that's located south of the airport

There's literally only one road that takes you to that part. It's a nice area to chill on the beach and do watersports but it's not worth the time. You see, again, the traffic. Since there's only one road that can get you there, the traffic jam is hideous. We were stuck in a 2km stretch of the road for 2 hours. Definitely not worth the waiting, you can chill on the beach and do watersports in other beaches as well.

4. Don't drink the weasel coffee

The weasel coffee is made of coffee beans that have already been through weasel's digestive system. It might sound like an exotic beverage you want to try, and it probably is quite a unique experience, but it's not right. The weasels are kept trapped for their whole lives and they only get to eat coffee beans, nothing else. Normally weasels eat all kinds of food - vegetables and insects, for example.

5. Ensure that you don't eat anything you are allergic to
In Bali, people don't generally speak English that well. If you are allergic to something, make sure that the people understand it. For example, when I visited Bali I had a meal which included nuts even though on the menu it read that it contained peas. I got an allergic reaction which wasn't fun. So please, make sure that you don't eat anything that's dangerous to you.

I hope you enjoyed this post - if you have any questions about traveling to Bali, please ask!
-TH