B-b-b-bali

After lots of yelling and French bad words, Copain hit "acheter" and bought us two tickets to Bali via Hong Kong. It's happening people, we are going on a real vacation!

I know that makes me sound like a spoiled brat - I go home to visit my family in California every year and take little weekend trips in Europe for birthdays and getaways, but Copain and I have never, in the almost-9 years we've been together, taken a trip of this magnitude together.

Going to California does cost about the same and is almost just a long in terms of travel time, but it's going home for me, not on vacation. I love, love, love it, but I never discover anything new.  After such a long time in France, and countless summer and Christmas trips to So-Cal, I realized that if I kept using all of my vacation time to go home, I would never see anything other than France and California. 

It's one of those expat things that you realize when you hear about your friends' exotic vacations and you start to wonder what you're doing wrong...

Of course there are certainly worse places to see your whole life, BUT, now is our time to do crazy things like go to Bali, right?!  If we decide to make France our home in the future, going back to Cali will be even more important when we have kiddos - so we have to do these kinds of things now. 

I'm trying not to think about the trip budget (usually I just have to think about the flight since I stay with family and friends in the states). For this trip, I have to consider food, hotels, fun money etc. Our next challenge will be finding hotels that feel clean, fun and relaxing without breaking the bank! Thankfully, we have two sets of friends who are also going to Bali this year (one of them is there as I type!), so we'll be able to learn from their experiences (and maybe steal an itinerary or two).

Last week, when I told my dad that we may be going to Bali, he said, "Now where is Bali, again?"...

Here you go, Dad.

In my Dad's defense, we were more of a Mexico and Catalina Island family when I was growing up (perfect family vacations with beaches and a low stress factor for kids and parents!). Even more of a reason to see these cool places while I can! (I see similar family vacays in my future...).

So voila mes amies! Some major R&R (and flight anxiety!) in my future!

à suivre...