Surfboard bags swinging around corners, knocking over retractable security ribbon poles, and taking up an obnoxious amount of space in the check-in queue at an international airport. Oh, how I’ve missed this.
Most of us never thought we’d look forward to traipsing multiple bags and boards through a terminal, then nervously placing our quivers in the care of potentially errant baggage handlers before packing into a flying sardine tin with hundreds of other people for hours. But we also failed to foresee a viral pandemic shutting down the world and forbidding strike missions overseas for two years straight.
So, when Jetstar opens the gates to the first international flight to Bali from Australia since March 2020, the hype is real.
More than 300 passengers jostle to board the Boeing 787 taking off from Melbourne on Monday. Since the island announced it would be reopening to tourist travellers, demand for Bali fares surged. Jetstar CEO Gareth Evans is telling media at the airport that the airline sold more than 40,000 seats in a single day during a recent sale offering Bali flights for $99.
“We are very excited to return to Bali today after two long years, and we are confident that Bali will quickly regain its position as our most popular international tourist destination now that borders are open,” he says.
Jetstar is taking things slowly to start – with just three flights per week flying to Denpasar from Melbourne. There are no direct departures from Sydney yet (I’m told those will hopefully take flight in April). It seems worlds away from the 85 Jetstar flights per week, pre-pandemic, which transported legions of Aussie surfers to the waves around Uluwatu, Kuta and Canggu.
More than 1.3 million Australians visited Bali in 2019. In 2021, the total number of tourists to visit all year dropped to just 51, devastating the local economy.
Those tough economic times help explain why a horde of Balinese tourism industry staff are eagerly waiting at the air bridge when we touch down, cheering and bowing as if welcoming home long-lost family. There are balloons, even a Jetstar-themed orange cake, and we’re told Australian media are invited to dinner at the Balinese Governor’s house tonight. The equivalent would be Her Excellency the Governor of NSW, Margaret Beazley, casually inviting a group of hacks from another country to spontaneous lunch on the lawn at Sydney’s Government House.
It all helps brighten the mood at the end of our first journey back to Bali, which has admittedly become drawn out by COVID-19 travel requirements.
Fiddling with documentation – including proof of a negative PCR test within 48 hours of departure, travel insurance, a minimum three-night confirmed booking at an Indonesian government-approved hotel, a Bali-specific online health check and download of the local COVID-Safe equivalent app – proves time-consuming in Melbourne.
When we touch down in Denpasar, all 300 passengers are shuttled into the terminal to show their array of documents to various officials. We are then seated at socially distanced chairs to wait for another PCR test (we’ll need to do another on day three of our stay). One positive is that the Indonesian government has returned to the visa-on-arrival system, whereby travellers can pay approximately AU$50 for a tourist visa when visiting for less than 30 days. Before this week, visitors had to apply for a visa before leaving Australia at a cost of around AU$300.
The whole palaver takes two more hours and I can feel myself getting frustrated. But anyone who has been to Bali will know it’s hard to stay annoyed at Balinese people. Beaming taxi drivers waving and grinning at us from an empty stand offer a bittersweet glimpse into how hard it has been for them during the past two years with no tourism.
There’s no need to wait for PCR results – the government will notify us later if we test positive (in which case we’ll need to isolate in our hotel room at our own cost). So, we shoot into a taxi and get straight among the beeping, honking, revving and roaring of Balinese roads. The din is less noisy than I remember, and roads seem to have more space or less vehicles. But the brazen barefooted scooter drivers, chaos of large roundabouts, and apparent disregard for any sort of rules-based road order remain a thrill.
One passenger on the Jetstar flight, audibly grinning behind his mask, sums the mood up best during take off. The plane is still gathering height and G-forces are slapping my head gently back on the seat as I relax into a gleefully familiar feeling.
“It will be the best flight we ever take,” the man turns to me and says. “Because it’s an international flight and it’s the first time in two years.”
Tracks will be in Bali all week. Follow this blog and our Instagram stories to see what Bali in a post-pandemic world looks like.
BALI TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS
On departure from Australia, you will need:
- A negative PCR test result within 48 hours of departure (must be done at an approved Histopath testing centre either at the airport or in the community and costs $79)
- International vaccination certificate showing at least two COVID-19 vaccinations
- Proof of travel insurance covering COVID-19-related costs (if I get sick and need to quarantine in the hotel, for example) up to AU$25,000
- Proof of at least three nights’ accommodation at a government-certified hotel (CSHE hotel – list of hotels here)
In Bali:
- PCR test on arrival in Denpasar (you can go outside the hotel and travel around Bali before you receive results)
- Day three PCR test at the hotel
If you receive a positive result at any stage while in Bali you will need to isolate in your hotel at your own cost. More information can be found here.
