Gili What?

"Peace is always beautiful" - Walt Whitman

On our "big" birthdays (the ones with fives and zeros), my three closest girlfriends and I pick places to travel to for that birthday celebration.  We pack up and go for a week on a girls trip and explore each other's bucket list dreams.  Since we're all born in different years it means that pretty much every year we're going on a trip together.  I've chosen one of these trips to be the first to write about in this new blog.  For Cherie's big "0" birthday she wanted to go across the world... somewhere where there was beaches, peace and adventure.  She chose Gili Trawangan (Gill-ee Traw wan Gan).

I know you all are thinking "Gili what"?  followed by "where???" ... at least that was the response of each of the seven friends she asked to join her on this trip.  We looked it up on a map, saw the beaches and the villa and said "OK"... and she began her planning.  I'm not really sure any of us truly understood the complexity of going to a little bitty island in Indonesia.  You just jump on a plane and go right?  Nope.

Us on the van across Lombok

We're really conditioned with flying here in America.  You get on a plane to go overseas... you eat, sleep, wake up and then you're magically where you want to be.  Sometimes, you actually have to do a connecting flight... but while you know you'll be tired, you don't really think much about it....  This is where I was in my head the day we left.  We flew from Atlanta (ATL) to Seattle (SEA).  Seattle to Hong Kong (HKG).  Hong Kong to to Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) in Bali, Indonesia.  Where we had booked a hotel for the night, for which, I was eternally grateful.  I was done being on planes.... the next day we met up with the rest of the group and hopped on a smaller plane to Lombok International Airport (LOP) in Lombok, Indonesia.  Then we took a one hour van ride around to the other side of the island to get on a high speed boat that will take you to Gili Trawangan, the furthest of three Gili Islands from Lombok.  Once you reach Gili Trawangan there are no cars... only horse drawn cart taxis that jostle you to where you're staying... in our case, the other side of THAT island.  It was about 26 hours of travel for us all and I know I said something to the effect that she was lucky I loved her... multiple times during that travel day.  But finally late the second night, we arrived at the villa we'd rented for the week... Villa Coral Flora. https://www.villacoralflora.com/

The villa was everything we expected from the pictures on the internet and then some.  On the quiet side of the island, it is waterfront property - just a step across the dirt road.  We spent hours on the porch with drinks in hand enjoying the views.  There was instant forgiveness for the brutal travel schedule.  We finally got into our rooms that would be ours for the next week and passed out... only to be awoken in the dead of night with Muslim prayers being broadcast across the island via a loud speaker from a mosque somewhere on the island.  I remember rolling over, looking at my other best friend and murmuring something about Cherie hating me....  we came to find out these prayers are daily... 5:20am, 6:18am, 12:14pm, 3:35pm, 6:09pm, 7:08pm and 1:35am.  If you want to understand the true horror I felt that first night at 1:30 and 5:30 in the morning... google prayers on Gili Trawangan.  There are a ton of videos of tourists heads exploding from the sound.

I came to accept and embrace the sunrise prayers.  I got up each morning, put shoes on and found a spot on the beach to watch the sun rise.  The rest of the girls would slowly drift out and join me.  A quiet coming together and finding peace in this idyllic location.  There'd be a walk down the beach to see what shells had been exposed... to watch locals wash their horses in the ocean... to see starfish drift in the water... and when we were done, we'd all go back to the villa and have the breakfast the staff made for us daily.

Our mornings were unplanned.  The staff brought a masseuse in on day one and asked if any of us wanted an hour long massage for $15.  We all signed up, another masseuse came over, and they both were busy every morning with us that week.  It was blissful to be outside, hearing the sounds of the beach and the jingle of the bells of the horse drawn carts.  It was pure hedonistic heaven.

Princess Margaux

One afternoon, one of my friends rented a traditional wooden outrigger for all of us to go on a snorkeling trip.  At $180 per hour it was on the pricier side but it was a beautiful boat.  Big comfy cushions.  Places to perch on the rooftop deck.  They took us to different locations around the island to see turtles, to swim and jump off the deck of the boat and in general to rest like we were millionaires.  For more information go to:  http://www.pondoksanti.com/experiences/

We had two memorable dinners on the island that we talk about still, two years later... the first... Scallywags Seafood Restaurant (https://scallywagsresort.com/bar-grill/) on the busier side of the island.  You get a table.  You get in line.  You pick out the size lobster you want.  They cook it the way you want it.  Then it's delivered to you.  Most of our group ordered individual one pound lobsters.  Alex talked me into sharing a larger one with her.  She ordered a monster.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  The two of us can put away a lobster... but this one we struggled to finish.  I vaguely remember it being five pounds.  It was amazing.  Nibbling on fresh lobster, sitting at a table with our toes in the sand on a beach with candlelight and wine.  Nirvana.

The best meal we had though... was done by the staff at Villa Coral Flora.  They asked us on day one if we wanted a bonfire meal on the beach and we decided to do it for Cherie's birthday.  We didn't know what to expect.  Just let the boys do their thing.  To this day I look at the picture I took of the set up before the meal, and I think I'm looking at a picture in Conde Nast travel magazine.  These are the things you see and think you'll never experience.  They brought us a huge meal that they barbecued and as the sun set, they started a raging bonfire on the beach.  In a word...   It was magical.

Like everyone else who travels, I wanted to find a souvenir to bring home to remind me of my trip.  I really didn't know what the island was known for... hadn't looked it up at all... obviously or I would have known how long it'd take to get there.  I did what I usually do, watch and wait for the right moment.  One day we were having lunch on a beach closer to Santorini, when a beach hawker came up to our table trying to sell us pearls.  I'm a sucker for jewelry but I already had a white pearl necklace close to what he was selling.  There were shorter peachier pearl necklaces but I don't like choker style necklaces.  The guy looked at me and said he could make me a long one in the peach pearls while we were eating.  He had my attention completely.  We haggled on a price and he sat down and started stringing the pearls.  By the time we were done eating he had a beautiful 80" strand that I can either tie 1920s style - like what is in picture... let hang loose, or wrap twice and have a double strand of pearls... individually knotted... for $80.  Now THAT is a steal.  It's my go to necklace two years later.

To size up the trip we all arrived totally wrung out and stressed and we left in complete and utter total peace... If you're the feint of heart kind of traveler... I'd stop in Bali and stay with the crowds.  If you want a once in a lifetime trip to meditate, scuba, snorkel and just... be... this is an island to put on your bucket list.  May I suggest a two day layover both directions though... On the way in Hong Kong... on the way out... Singapore... you'll thank yourself for giving yourself a break in the traveling... you'll arrive a little less shattered than we did when we got there.