Best Of

Good report. The heat would make the trip a problem for me.

I recommend the Botanical gardens in Singapore but go early. We found Vietnam more humid than Singapore
We had our own large private pool at Plataran bay and it was in shade!

Part 1b - Timing and Tips

Desire to include/exclude certain activities events within the tour window — This can be things like maximizing cherry blossoms on a tour of Japan; visiting so going to the Passion Play is possible, visiting so Oktoberfest is or isn’t in progress, etc. A few things on this trip to consider are holidays. Singapore Independence Day celebrations occur in early August, Indonesian Independence Day is August 17th. Holidays cause some activities to occur and may prevent other activities from happening. Researching holidays and their impact could drive your decision as to when to take this tour. Another thing is special events in the areas. There is a formula one race in Singapore in September. This impacts Singapore in more ways than you might think. Long before the actual race they have to race protect the streets, erecting safety barriers along the route. This takes time. Barriers were already in place in some places during our visit. This impacts you in ways you might not realize. I Google Mapped routes from the Raffle Hotel to various sights around the area that we might visit during free time. Well some of the Googled routes turn out to be no gos because the safety barriers sometimes prevent crossing roads where you might want to normally cross.

Cost and availability to/from the tour - Since this tour is so far from all locations in the US the airfare and routing is a much larger factor than for tours in North America or Europe.

Things people tend to factor in are desires to use favorite airline systems - Star Alliance, Sky Priority, or One World. Personally my desire is to use One World because it is the largest player in Tucson where we live. That said, cost and routing are bigger drivers. In discussions with other people on the tour some widely divergent selections were made. Several people had three or four stop routing. Depending on when you book widely divergent costs can happen. One couple commented that if they booked directly from Boston the fare would be several thousand dollars higher than is booking from LA. I found a similar effect from Tucson, but not quite that severe. For me, minimizing costs and stops is a major driver. Considering all the drivers for me, I decided to do a family visit in Seattle before and after the tour so as to get the best options for me to/from the tour.

We booked business on Singapore Air non-stop to Singapore and then from Denpasar to Singapore to Seattle on the way home. The fare was $4400 per person. The Singapore Air configuration was 1-2-1. That said the 2+ hour leg from Denpasar to Singapore had better seating than the 15 hour flights to/from Seattle/Singapore. They each were 1-2-1 configuration, but the shorter leg went to the lie flat configuration simply by pushing a button. The longer leg flights required that the seat back be manually unhooked and folded down to create the lie flat configuration. In addition on the shorter leg the lie flat configuration was all inline with the entertainment TV, while on the longer leg the lie flat configuration was at a diagonal from the entertainment TV. The long leg channel was offset from the TV whereas on the shorter leg it was under the TV.

Similar routing was available from LAX and perhaps JFK. The LAX option had a much better timing than the Seattle route on the return trip. They left the hotel at 10AM on departure day and only had a 3 hour layover in Singapore before heading to LAX. Our Seattle routing didn’t leave the hotel until 6:30 PM and required an 8 hour layover in Singapore. This meant we had to seek a late hotel checkout our book and extra day. We tried for a late checkout. None was available. That meant we had to hang out at the hotel, out of our room, until our departure time. We hung out at the poolside restaurant in the shade. The pool staff were great, providing us with our own fan and periodically providing ice laden towels for our necks. We considered the LAX option, but no good option was available to get us to Tucson, so a hotel stay in LA would have been required. That’s why we went the ‘Add a family visit before/after the tour’ option.

Depending on how important routing etc is this may require some detailed investigation or you may encounter some crazy costs/routing.

Part 2 - Hotels to follow.

I recently completed the Kingdoms & Dragons: Singapore to Bali tour. I thought I’d post a review in three parts. Part 1 - Timing and Tips; Part 2 - Hotels; Part 3 - Daily Sights and Activities.

Part 1a - Timing and Tips

This tour is offered from May through October. That establishes the general timing of when you can take the tour. Within that window several factors drive what 14 day window is the best for each person. Here are some factors to consider:
A) Personal availability
temperature/humidity/precipitation historical data
C) desire to include or exclude certain events, holidays, etc
D) cost and availability of desired airline routing

Per our Tour Director (Debra Grant), who has led these tours for years, July/August are the best months for the chance of lower temperatures, lower humidity, and lower precipitation as a whole. This statement, matched the research I had done and is why we selected the August 17 - August 30 tour.

Temperature/Humidity - this tour takes place from a few degrees north of the equator to a few degrees south of the equator. This tour was the most humid of any of the 20 tours (13 with Tauck) that I have taken. The humidity, for me, didn’t deter my enjoyment of any of the scheduled activities, but it did dampen my enthusiasm for doing additional activities in tour free time. I found myself enjoying hotel amenities (pools, A/C, etc) in tour free time to escape the humidity vs adding in extra activities. If you’re a veteran of humidity (eg. live on the east coast or in the southeast) then the humidity might not be a large factor for you. The temperature/humidity also impacted our decision on restaurants for meals on our own. We had identified a couple of restaurants to consider prior to the trip, but opted for hotel restaurants instead.

Another thing that drove some of our decisions was seeking routes to places that maximized the route within air-conditioned walkways.

I found myself taking a wash cloth from the hotel with me to help dry my brow. The TD provided cheap foldable fans for use throughout the tour. I used it a lot. One couple brought personal cooling devices (not sure what they are called, but they fit around the neck and provide a source of air). Other people brought portable hand held fans. I think some thought in this area as what would be the best option for you be considered.

One thing for people that bring SLRs or point and shoot cameras to keep in mind is that at the start of each day it took my camera about 45 minutes to come to equilibrium with the hot/humid weather. Sitting in the cool air conditioned rooms over night resulted in the lens becoming foggy and unusable until the equipment reached equilibrium.

Lastly, hydration is a key element to remember on this tour. A couple of times people got a bit light headed, likely due to lack of sufficient hydration. Water is provided on the buses that can be taken on activities and upon return to the bus following activities.

Precipitation - we weren’t seriously impacted by rain. We only had short rain showers on a couple of days. The only heavy rain we had was on our drive from the airport to the Raffles hotel in Singapore, so no real impact except slowing down the drive a bit. For dealing with the rain the TD provided cheap disposable ponchos on a couple of times. I put one on for a short while. Just remember that the area is hot and humid so adding additional clothing may not be the best option. On one other time I used a small, collapsible umbrella that I had brought with me. Some visited sites provide umbrellas as well, if needed.

Another thing to remember about rain is that it can impact activities in various ways.

If it rains very much during scheduled visits to areas where seeing monkeys is a highlight it could impact their availability. The local guides say that any significant rain tends to make the monkeys seek shelter, many fewer photo ops. We were scheduled to visit the Monkey Forest one afternoon. It rained some in the morning so we were worried, but the rain stopped by lunch and so the monkey viewings were plentiful.

We did have a minor impact due to rain because a portion of our Volkswagen Thing tour was cancelled due to rain. They were replaced by vans. Fortunately the bulk of the Volkswagen Thing drive was included. It turned out to be one of the unexpected treats of the tour.

Part 1b to follow

Part 2 - Hotels

Raffles Singapore - Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3

Historic hotel in a great location in Singapore. I thought I had a good sense of direction and navigation until I got to the Raffles Hotel. I made more wrong turns navigating the hotel than I thought possible. We had a nice suite with a sitting room, bedroom, and bathroom area. The TD offered us a complimentary Singapore Sling to be delivered to your room at your convenience. We took advantage of the offer, but we also made a visit to the historic Long Bar to have one at the place it was first created years ago. There is always a line to get into the Long Bar, but you can make a reservation with the consigerge which allows you to bypass the line. We enjoyed our visit to the Long Bar, but this Singapore Sling wasn’t complimentary. Like everything in Singapore it was quite expensive - roughly $30 USD. Breakfast is provided in the restaurant in the lobby area. FYI - they have great banana bread. We ate at two restaurants in Raffles for dinners. Both were good, but expensive (as most everything in Singapore is). There is a nice boutique in the hotel that likely is worth a visit if trinket shopping is of any interest.

The hotel offers a tour of the historic hotel daily at 4 PM. You sign up through the consigerge. It was an interesting, roughly one hour tour.

Amanjiwo Hotel Borobordur - Day 4 and Day 5

A very nice hotel on a hillside with a view of Borobordur Temple. Depending on the room you are assigned you may have a fair number of stairs to/from your room to the lobby and restaurant. The room was very nice, but be prepared for a platform bed that is low to the grand and can present challenges getting into and out of. The hotel has a small gift shop and library reading room. The pool area is very nice. There is just the single restaurant but the food was good and the menu was fairly diverse.

Phoenix Hotel Yogyakarta - Day 6

The least plush hotel of the tour that is somewhat dated. It’s been close to 20 years since its last refurbishment. The room we received had much smaller spaces than the first two tour hotels. This is a very short stop arriving at the hotel in mid-afternoon and leaving the next morning. You only have a breakfast here. The hotel was used to provide quicker access to the days activities. This is important because as you will find out traffic on Java and Bali in Indonesia is pretty bad.

Police escorts were used a couple of times in Indonesia, but even those had limited success navigating the traffic.

Four Seasons Resort Sayan Bali - Day 7, Day 8, and Day 9

A gorgeous resort with each room having its own plunge pool. There are two restaurants and a bar to pick from for dinners. Only one dinner was included. We originally were going to each at each restaurant/bar, but ended up eating at the bar twice. Entertainment was provided at the bar. The property is spread out and you call for a buggy to get you around the property. It was a quite efficient system and appreciated because if you try to navigate around the property on your own it is quite hilly.

Plataran Bay Hotel Labuan Bajo - Day 10 and Day 11

A quirky resort located right on the water. Not all rooms are the same here. We had one right on the beach, a short walk from the breakfast restaurant and the swimming pool. This room had another platform bed so be prepared. There was entertainment on the beach in front of this restaurant one evening followed by an included dinner. The next night we ate at the other restaurant called Atlantis on the Rocks.

There are amazing sunsets at this resort.

It is a short walk from the hotel to the pier where you catch the boat(s) that take you to Komodo National Park and back.

Four Seasons Resort Jimbaran Bali - Day 12 and Day 13

Another fabulous resort located just across the bay from Denpasar Airport where everyone departs from at the end of the tour. Each room had its own plunge pool. Navigation around the resort was again provided by buggy. There was entertainment and dinner one evening at an area called the Coconut Grove, right on the beach.

The breakfast restaurant was very large. They had food stations located around the restaurant where depending on the station you placed you order, gave them your table number and then they delivered the food. I would place an order for an omelet and then walk to the pastry and food station to pick up some items and place a toast order and by the time I returned to my table the omelet had been delivered. There is quite an assortment of options..

The farewell dinner was provided on the pool deck of the main pool. Following the farewell dinner we took a buggy ride to our room. Turns out it was the shortest buggy ride ever, about 10 seconds. Turns out our room was just around a hedge row from the pool and we had no idea. Everyone had a laugh about that.

Another funny buggy ride incident occurred returning to our room following our dinner at the Coconut Grove area. We shared a buggy ride with another couple. There was a steep hill that we had to traverse. Well the buggy didn’t make it up on its initial attempt. Since I was sitting in the front seat next to the driver I ended up doing a Fred Flintstone move sitting in the seat and helping to push at the same time. Everyone got a chuckle from this as well.

There is a nice boutique at this resort located just below the lobby.

Part 3 - Sights and Activities, in a day or two