A Short Jaunt to Lombok

Lombok is a beautiful island east of Bali that was recently devastated by multiple earthquakes. After the earthquake hit, the women’s groups I belong to were quick to raise money and collect needed items for the people of Lombok. Luckily, the airport continued to operate and we were able to get items to Lombok quickly. They are still struggling to provide housing in many areas in Lombok, and they face a long rebuilding process as their tourism industry has been decimated.

The south side of the island was untouched by the quakes and the resorts that are still open are desperate for the tourists to return! We decided to make Lombok the first Indonesian island that we would fly to. Unfortunately, we only had the weekend, but since the flight from Jakarta is just 2 hours it is certainly doable.

A map of Indonesia. The pin is on Lombok and you can see Jakarta to the west. Lombok is a 2 hour flight from Jakarta. About the distance from NYC to Charlotte!

Jakarta’s airport has a new domestic terminal and it is quick and easy to get from the doors of the airport to your departing gate. Some gates are much further than others, however! This is why they offer free golf cart taxis to take you through the airport!

Our Friday night flight was quick and easy, but when we arrived at 9pm we were happy to see a driver from the hotel waiting for us and holding a sign with our name. It seemed there were literally 100 taxi drivers vying for our attention! We drove to the hotel in the dark so we didn’t see much along the 45 minute drive to the airport. It was nice to travel along without traffic though! Our driver had fun trying to understand my Bahasa and loved making me speak it even though his English was 100x better than my Bahasa.

Upon arrival at the Qunci Villas Resort we were checked in and quickly escorted to our beachfront room. It was clean and comfortable and we were happy to fall asleep to the sound of the waves lapping the shore.

The next morning we were up bright and early to peek out the doors to enjoy the view!

Breakfast at the Quinci resort is included, amazing and served beachside. They have an amazing array of international foods to choose from, and you are welcome to keep ordering from the menu until you are full. Service is always with a smile and the staff is so appreciative of any attempt made to speak their language!

Living in Indonesia it is so easy to take weekend trips to beautiful islands, but it is difficult to do everything we would like to in just two days. Michael has been working long hours and we decided we would spend this weekend relaxing vs exploring. In return trips we will hope to visit the nearby Gili Islands and maybe do some diving. On this trip we had no problem finding places to relax and get spoiled at Qunci Villas! The spa is amazing and they have an early bird special that includes 3 hours of complete pampering!

The beach vendors sell items ranging from jewelry to beautiful carved hardwood. It was difficult to limit our purchases, so we probably came home with a years worth of gifts! There are so few tourists on the island and they rely on their beach sales to support their families. There wasn’t much bargaining going on! 😉

The resort also had a great happy hour with two for one cocktails. Michael declared the mojitoes the best he had ever had. They were perfect for enjoying the most amazing sunsets ever!

We enjoyed every meal we had at the resort. The service was impeccable and the food delicious. I would highly recommend Qunci villas if you ever make your way to Lombok!

The drive back to the airport offered us a little more of a glimpse of Lombok, although we did not pass through the earthquake damaged areas. Just like Jakarta, motorbikes are the major form of travel, with entire families riding on a single motorbike. There are also many horse drawn taxis. The horses are literally running down the streets, side by side with the cars. I felt terribly sorry for them. There were also trucks carrying hoards of people in the back! I’m glad I don’t see that often in the traffic filled streets of Jakarta!

It was a wonderful and relaxing weekend in Lombok. Now we are looking forward to our next weekend away on Belitung Island. Stay tuned!