It takes a long time to go nearly halfway (10 time zones) around the globe. Our three flights were uneventful (always good news) with only a minor delay taking off at Hong Kong. We had an eight-hour layover at LAX, so there was plenty of time to walk around the airport, read, get something to eat, etc. This was a pretty piece of digital art at LAX. It spanned several stories of airport floors and was always in downward motion (water falling slowly in a variety of patterns). Very eye-catching and mesmerizing.

We left LAX at midnight and made a toast to upcoming good times. Ted had champagne; I had o.j. The main cabin passengers were in the boarding process. Business class is really nice.

The guy across the aisle from me got comfy before he even took his seat. He pulled off his shirt and shoes and settled in for the duration. The guy across from me when we went to Europe stripped down to his boxer shorts at bedtime, so this was pretty tame.

The girl behind this guy might have been the same one who sat across from me on our flight to Europe too. She stowed her luggage, got out the bedding, and buried herself with only a little of the top hair on her head showing. (It would have been too weird to take a picture of her while she was asleep.) She apparently slept the entire 15+ hours from LAX to HKG because she didn’t re-surface until we landed. Ted and I slept about 7.5 hours. It was a long flight. After arriving at HKG, we went to our gate to depart for Bali. It turned out that 190 of the passengers on that flight were heading for the same cruise as we are.

It was an interesting drive from the airport to our hotel in Denpasar, Bali. The architecture is heavily Asian/Hindu-influenced. There’s a huge bridge network across a large body of water that even includes cloverleaf intersections as it takes you across the water. Since I’m traveling with a meteorologist, we had to note that, since it was late afternoon, thunderstorms were developing.

The first thing we noticed when we landed was that the air was warm (85 degrees) and humid. We were each given a lei as we entered the airport, and Viking (our cruise company) had staff ready to walk us through the airport in small groups, speed us through customs, load our baggage to be delivered to the hotel, give us our hotel room assignments and keys, and put us on our shuttle bus. The air-conditioned shuttle to the hotel was appreciated by all of us, and the most frequently heard comment among our fellow travelers from the U.S. was “I just want a shower, some clean clothes, and some sleep!” Our (air conditioned) hotel is lovely.

The room has a feature that is romantic (in a way), but weird (in more ways). There’s a large window above the double jet-spa bathtub that overlooks the bedroom and provides a view of the outdoors. On the other hand, the window is directly in line with the toilet, the tub/shower, and the exterior window, providing a clear view from outside the bathroom of everything that happens inside the bathroom. We closed the blinds on that window.

This morning, we enjoyed the view from our balcony. We heard unfamiliar bird songs and saw lots of miniature squirrels playing in the trees.

*For those who have not seen “South Pacific,” Bali Ha’i is a mystical island, visible on the horizon, but unreachable. Romantic. Bali, on the other hand, is a real island and we’re on it. Also romantic.