December 23, 2024 • 50 mins
Our guest Laura McFarland tells us all about why Lombok, Indonesia is an underrated alternative to Bali -- and why it's #1 on Travel Lemming's list of places to travel in 2025 (full list here 👉 https://travellemming.com/best-places-to-travel-2025/).
Laura shares her expert tips for traveling to Lombok & her favorite things to do. Watch this before you visit Lombok, Indonesia.Â
Also in this episode: An incident at a hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Notre Dame is reopening in Paris, a stowaway flew from NYC to Paris, how to stay healthy while traveling, and Betty’s experience getting denied entry from China.
💻 Articles from TravelLemming.comÂ
-Denied Entry to China: https://travellemming.com/perspectives/i-got-deported-from-china/Â
-Staying Healthy While Traveling: https://travellemming.com/perspectives/health-tips-for-traveling/Â
-Hidden Gem Activities in Paris: https://travellemming.com/perspectives/off-the-beaten-path-activities-and-events-in-paris/Â
📰 Travel News
-Methanol poisoning at a hostel in Laos: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c624kd71dj3oÂ
-Notre Dame reopening in Paris: https://www.travelandleisure.com/paris-notre-dame-will-soon-reopen-to-visitors-8748840Â
-Stoway flew from NYC to Paris: https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/30/us/delta-stowaway-passenger-return-flight/index.htmlÂ
-Airbnb’s immersive gladiator experience at the Colosseum: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/airbnb-plans-to-host-an-immersive-gladiator-experience-in-the-colosseum-and-roman-officials-are-furious-180985517/
#Lombok #LombokIndonesia #Travelindonesia #Bali
Timestamps:
00:00:00 – Intro & Co-host Introduction
00:03:08 – Travel News
00:10:59 – Healthy Travel Tips
00:13:30 – Paris Hidden Gems
00:14:44 – Betty Denied Entry to China
00:20:14 – Lombok Intro
00:22:27 – Gili Islands
00:28:43 – Secret Gilis & Sailing
00:33:04 – Safety & Customs
00:34:55 – Lombok Activities
00:38:39 – Food & Affordability
00:41:52 – Mt. Rinjani
00:46:49 – Best Time to Visit Lombok
00:47:20 – Why Visit Lombok in 2025
00:48:30 – Wrap-Up
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Today is the start of an excitingjourney around the world.
As we look ahead at 2025, we'rethinking of where we might
want to travel in the new year.
At Travel Lemming, one of our biggestand most exciting projects is our
annual collaborative article on the bestplaces to travel for the coming year.
And guess what?
We've just released our list ofthe top places to travel 2025.
(00:20):
So you can check that out on travellemming.com or you can search the
best places to travel, travel lemmingon whatever search engine you use.
Now, for those of you who don't know,travel Lemming is an online travel guide.
We have over 10 million annual readers,over 1500 guides, tons of perspective
pieces coming out all the time fromour team of dozens of local and
expert travelers who really know theirdestinations, like the back of their
(00:43):
hand, we talked about this project beforein our second episode with Nate, who
told us all about why you should visitYucatan, Mexico, which was our number one
on our list of places to travel in 2024.
Well, today I'm excited to co host withLaura McFarlane, one of our senior travel
writers at Travel Lemming, who landedthe number one spot on our 2025 list.
So she's going to tell us allabout Lombok, Indonesia, and why
(01:06):
this should be at the top ofyour 2025 travel bucket list.
I'll introduce her in just a moment,but right now, make sure to like and
subscribe to our channel because we'vegot a lot more on this list coming soon.
For our next episode, Nate and I are goingto be interviewing the rest of the writers
who contributed to get their takes on theother 49 destinations on our 2025 list.
So it's going to be alovely collaboration.
(01:28):
You'll learn tons about some of the mostincredible places in the world, and you'll
get to meet more of our team members.
So whether you're a consistenttraveler or take one big trip a
year, I guarantee that there is adestination for everyone on this list.
And again, you can checkthat out on travellemon.
com.
In addition to Lombok, we're also goingto discuss the reopening of Notre Dame,
an immersive and controversial gladiatorexperience at the Coliseum, how to stay
(01:51):
healthy while traveling, and much more.
So we've got a jam packedepisode for you today.
It's going to be a good one.
Welcome to the Travel Lemmingpodcast, where we offer expert insight
on destinations and give you thetools to become a better traveler.
I'm your host, Betty Hurd, and I'mjoined today by Laura McFarlane.
Laura, thank you so muchfor being here today.
How are you doing?
Thank you so much for having me, Betty.
(02:12):
I'm super excited to be hereand be on the Travel Lumming
I'm so happy that you're here too.
I know you have a lot to talk aboutLombok, and then we also have some great
news stories and perspectives to cover.
I'd love to hear a littlebit more about yourself.
Yeah, of course.
So, I am a senior travelwriter with Travel Lemming.
I'm based out of San Francisco, soI do a lot of guides on local tips
(02:33):
to travel in San Francisco, NorthernCalifornia, or just California as a whole.
I also just got back from a one yearbackpacking trip around the world.
I visited three continents, , twentycountries, and just had an amazing time
full of incredible travel experiences.
So, I've been writing a lot of travelstories about my time over the past year
that you can also read on Travel Lemming.
(02:54):
I know you have written somereally awesome, interesting
perspectives and guides.
And I just know you have the adventureof a lifetime on your year of travel.
So I highly encourage our listeners to gocheck out Laura's articles on the website.
Thank you so much.
For our first segment, we're going to diveinto talking about what's new in travel.
For our first story, I'm talking abouta methanol poisoning incident that
(03:16):
happened at a hostel in Southeast Asia.
Six tourists died at a hostel in VangVieng, Laos, after drinking locally made
spirits that were laced with methanol.
And Laura, where is Vang Vieng?
Yeah, great question.
Vang Vieng is in NorthernLaos, in Southeast Asia.
It's a fixture on the so called BananaPancake Trail, which is a, popular
destinations in Southeast Asia thatbackpackers visit quite frequently.
(03:39):
So Vang Vieng itself is a reallypopular spot for tubing and
outdoor adventure activities.
It's surrounded by mountains.
There's a beautiful river that runsthrough it, but it's also a really
popular place for partying andgoing out and about in the evening
Gotcha.
So you said that thesebackpackers died after drinking
spirits laced with methanol.
So what exactly is methanol?
(04:00):
Yeah, I had to look this one up.
Methanol is a toxic substancethat is sometimes added to bootleg
alcohol, or alcohol that's beingmade illegally or homemade alcohol.
It's used to make the drinktaste stronger, or get, the
person who's drinking it maybedrunk a little bit faster.
And backpackers were givenfree shots at the hostel before
heading out for the night.
And at the end of the night,five young women and one man
(04:22):
died in the days that followed.
It's super scary.
My heart really breaks for these families.
I've personally traveledthrough Southeast Asia.
And I think what people maybe who haven'tbeen there don't fully understand is
that everywhere you go, there is thishuge culture of drinking and partying
and, you know, hostels that I stayed at.
It was really common to have a free shot.
It's not given to you beforeyou head out for the night.
(04:43):
Like, it's not something that I everthought twice about as being unsafe, just
because it was so prevalent travelingthroughout these countries, and I don't
think it's something that necessarilyreflects poorly on the country itself.
I had really wonderful experiencestraveling in Southeast Asia, but it
is really, really scary, and I'm justso sad to hear about these backpackers
(05:04):
that were there to explore and thereto adventure and then had a really,
really unfortunate incident happen.
It's so sad.
And I mean, really with anythingor someone stranger handing you
something that you don't know whereit came from or what it is, I mean, it
could have happened really anywhere.
It really could have happened anywhere.
It could have happened to anyone.
And, I think just for travelers that aregoing to places or honestly, anyone, I
(05:28):
know the Australian government has put outa statement warning tourists not to drink
specifically tiger vodka or tiger whiskey.
Now, I'm not sure if these specificbrands are what caused the poisoning,
but this is just what I've heard thatthe Australian government is warning
tourists about, but I think in the future.
I'm going to be a little bit morecareful about maybe only drinking
beer or something that hasn't beenpoured to me, but again, like, I
(05:52):
just, I never would have expected it.
I never would have known.
It's so common to just be handeda free shot and just to not
think twice about it at all.
My second story that I would love totalk about is a bit of a lighter note.
Notre Dame is reopening in Decemberfor the first time since the pandemic.
The 2019 fire.
So Notre Dame obviously is a worldfamous cathedral in Paris, and it's
(06:12):
going to reopen after being closed topublic visits for the past five years.
Yes.
I heard about that.
So can you remind listeners whatexactly happened and why they
closed it in the first place?
Yeah, it caught fire in April of 2019.
They're still not entirelysure what started the fire.
It was either a cigarette thathadn't fully been put out or maybe
(06:32):
some kind of electrical malfunction.
But it's been closed for public visitsfor the past five years and they're
going to reopen it in December, thefirst six months of the reopening.
So from December until June of 2025,the cathedral will only be open to
individuals and worshipers only.
So group tours will have towait until after June of 2025.
(06:53):
They're also implementing abooking system to manage crowds.
So you'll have to book a timeslot online in order to go visit.
Walk ins will be allowed, but thelines will probably be super long,
so I think it's better to book
ahead.
Gotcha.
Well, I think that's really nice thatthey're kind of saving it for those six
months, just for the people who wantto worship and not having it absolutely
(07:14):
flooded with tourists right away.
Well, tourists will be able to go, butagain, it's just for individual tourists,
so any of these big group tours that maybeare organized by a third party or outside
organization will have to wait until
after June.
Well, I've also got acouple news stories for you.
There was a stowaway who was found ona flight from New York City to Paris,
(07:35):
just a little bit before Thanksgiving.
It was a Delta flight from JFK.
To Charles de Gaulle and I thoughtthis was so interesting because as most
of you know, I'm a flight attendant.
I can't even imagine how someonecould actually make this happen.
I mean, this woman, she got pastmultiple security checkpoints and
screenings in the airport and got on theplane without a boarding pass somehow.
(08:00):
And then what she was doing wasswapping bathrooms, the whole flight.
And I mean, that's a long flight.
It's like, man, I'm not entirely sure,but I think it's over eight hours.
So for her to just be in a bathroomgoing back and forth, I mean, obviously
they did figure out that she was beingsuspicious at some point in the flight
and they did arrest her in Paris.
(08:20):
I can't believe she got that far.
So it's pretty wild.
, there's a lot of investigations goingon as to how she even got on the
plane, because clearly this is a hugebreach of security and, apparently
Delta airlines is a little bit underscrutiny right now, which makes sense.
So we'll see what happens there.
I would love to find out more informationon, on how she actually did it.
(08:41):
Wait, so she was just switchingbetween bathrooms for the entire
flight?
They said that she was in the veryback bathroom for when they took off.
So no one realized that she didn't have aseat because she was just hiding in there.
Which the flight attendants aresupposed to check the bathroom.
So someone made a mistake there.
And then I guess she just kept going
from bathroom to bathroomand it was on a big airplane.
(09:02):
So like there were different cabinswhere people may not have really noticed
that she was just like swapping around.
But she's a wild one.
And for my next story, Airbnb plansto host an immersive gladiator
experience in the Coliseum.
So this is supposed to take placein May of next year, in 2025.
And people are not happy about it,especially the Roman politicians.
(09:24):
They're talking about how Airbnb isjust making a mockery of the Coliseum.
And honestly, I would have to agree.
I think that it's a little strangeto bring these tourists into this
wildly historical place where we'revery terrible, gruesome things happened
and then say, Hey, we're going todress you up in some armor and you
(09:45):
guys get to fake fight each other.
Woo hoo.
So I get why the politicians are upset.
They're also saying that Airbnb is kindof doing this under the facade that they
are funding, an educational program for.
The company that keeps up theColiseum, like does the upkeep.
And so they're like, Oh, we're going tocontribute to this educational program.
(10:05):
So it's a good thing, but the Coliseum,like all the Roman politicians have been
saying, we don't need more tourists.
We're not struggling to gettourists to the Coliseum.
This is not somethingthat needs to happen.
We have enough money.
And really this is just kind of a joke.
So what do you think about it, Laura?
Yeah, , it's not like no onehad heard of the Roman Colosseum
until Gladiator came out.
(10:26):
Until like, Paula Mezcal made itfamous, so I completely agree.
I think that, if the Roman government,is telling you, hey, this isn't
really something that we need orwould be helpful to our city and
might actually, contribute to moreharm than good, I think that that's
definitely something to listen to.
Always listen to the locals.
I agree.
And for our next segment, we are going totalk about some of the perspective pieces
(10:47):
that we've enjoyed on travellemming.
com.
So these are pieces that our teamof writers comes up with about
more personal experiences, uniquesituations that they've had
while traveling around the world.
And so today I'm going to kick thatoff, with Chelsea's article on her
rules to staying healthy while traveling.
(11:07):
So the title is I follow these simplerules to stay healthy and feel my best.
So she just gives a whole listof really great ideas just to be
proactive when you're traveling.
And I know what it's like to traveland not be prepared for a hangover
or a cold or just being exhaustedfrom going, going and going.
(11:30):
So she, um, her first thing on the listis that you need a travel pharmacy kit.
So this is basically just having likea little makeup bag with, she's got
Advil, hand sanitizer, uh, Dramamine, andMetamucil, just like all these little bits
and pieces for whatever you're feeling,which I think is brilliant because that
could really save you on some of thosereally bad days when you're not at home.
(11:52):
And The second thing she saysis to book a hotel with a gym or
insure it's at least by a trail.
And this, you know, I am always travelingand I can say I rarely see a hotel gym,
but it is nice to have that option.
If you just want to get some exercisein, especially if you're in a place
where there's really rich food and youjust are kind of feeling lethargic.
(12:13):
I think it is really nice to havethe option to get a little workout
in, or like she said, hit the trail.
And she also talks about avoidingburnout by limiting your plans and not
being afraid to abandon them entirely.
And I think this is so important.
Like, when I travel, sometimes I justoverbook myself so bad that then I'm
so burnt out the next couple of days.
(12:34):
That I don't feel like doing anything.
So I really appreciatedsome of her points in here.
She's got some other great pointstoo, but, I'm going to kick it back
to you in just a second, Laura, butyeah, I highly encourage anyone who
goes on long trips to check this out.
Chelsea's got some really great adviceon, just how to make sure you feel
your best while you're out and about,
Getting sick while traveling is oneof the worst experiences known to man.
(12:57):
I completely agree with this article.
And then also eating super rich foods fordays on end and just feeling so lethargic
and heavy and bloated can sometimes reallyput a tamper in your experience there.
So I really like her tip aboutmaking sure to stay near a
walking path or some kind of gym.
It's really common to walk a lotanyway when you're traveling, but
(13:20):
I loved this article as well.
I'm so happy that youbrought this to the table,
Betty.
Yes, of course.
Yeah, Chelsea's got somegreat pieces for sure.
So what have you, picked out for us today?
Yeah, the first article that I wantedto highlight was, Rachel's list
of hidden gem activities in Paris.
So the full title of the articleis, My favorite off the beaten path
activities and events in Paris.
(13:42):
And this was written by our Parisianlocal Rachel, who I believe has lived
in Paris for the last 10 years or so.
And like, I've been toParis about four times now.
It's one of my favoritecities to travel in.
I also kind of speak French, so Ithink I just love it so much because,
I've been I could feel like I couldmaybe pass as a local, not really,
but at this point, I've done allthe touristy stuff, so I really
(14:05):
loved this article because shehas such excellent suggestions.
Of places to go.
There's a few that are in her listthat I've actually done already.
She mentions the artistcollective known as 59 Revoli.
It's a multi level artiststudio and exhibition space.
You can go in and walkthrough four or five floors of,
studio space and look at art.
It has incredible views over Paris.
(14:27):
It's free, which is great.
And it was one of my favorite things thatI did on my most recent trip to Paris.
So I'm happy to see thatshe put that in the article.
And now I know that when I go back, I'mgoing to reference this list to see which
new activities I should be looking to do.
Yeah, I'm definitely going to have toreference this one the next time I go.
So the last story that I want to talkabout is actually, Betty, your story
(14:48):
about getting denied entry from China.
I just, this one was so funny to me,and I just, I can relate to having visa
problems, but I mean, it's your article.
Why don't you tell us a little bit abouthow you got denied entry from China?
Sure thing.
Yeah.
It was quite the experience.
It was by far the worst travelexperience I've ever had in my life.
So, I'm a flight attendant currentlybased in San Francisco, but when I
(15:12):
first started out, I was in New Jersey.
And when I was there, we didn't, weweren't required to have a Chinese visa
because we didn't have any flights there.
So it makes sense.
When I transferred to San Francisco,I asked my supervisor , I already had
a travel visa to China from when I'dgone on a study abroad trip in 2019.
So I showed them and Isaid, Hey, does this work?
(15:33):
And he was like, yeah,that should be good.
And I just didn't reallythink anything of it.
Cause you know, turning to someoneof authority at work and getting an
answer, no matter how vague, I just waslike, he knows what he's talking about.
So I was on standby, which is whenyou sit at the airport for four hours.
And if they need you really lastsecond for a flight, you go work it.
(15:53):
So it was like the moment I gotto work, they were like, Hey,
you're flying to Beijing right now.
And it's a 15 hour flight.
So I was like, Oh my God, like I wasnot expecting to get called at all.
But really it didn't crossmy mind at all that I had the
wrong visa during this flight.
So I worked the 15 hours there.
I'm exhausted, like so, so tired.
Cause I had no prep for it.
And I get up to the customs guywith my whole crew of like 11 of us.
(16:19):
And he just immediatelyopens up my passport.
And it's just like,Nope, you can't come in.
And I was like, whatare you talking about?
And, uh, I really thought thathe was like messing with me.
And then this other officialcame over and just like took me
away, separated me from my crew.
My whole crew's freaking out.
They're all like really senior andthey've never had this happen before.
(16:39):
So I didn't know what's happening.
They didn't know what was happening.
I just started crying.
I'm in my uniform and I put on sunglassesin the airport because I didn't
want all these passengers to see me.
And I was just like bawling my eyes out.
But like.
Still having conversations with thisofficial and he didn't speak English.
He, someone else had to come translate.
(17:00):
It was a mess.
And they actually ended up longstory short, I got in contact with
my company and they put me on thatsame flight that I brought in.
So I was in Chinafor Less than two hours.
I was one of the last people to get backon the same exact plane that I brought in.
And it was like 13 hours back andI was still crying and I just kind
(17:21):
of slept that whole time becauseI was so tired and kind of dealt
Oh, so you didn't have towork the 13 hour flight
No, no.
Oh, thank
God.
that, that would have been illegal.
Yeah.
So at least I didn't have to do thatbecause I, I couldn't, I think in the
span of 28 hours, I was flying for 26.
Like, it was absolutely ridiculous.
I've never been so tired in my life.
I think I slept for like twodays straight after that.
(17:44):
And I was so upset and it's, it's funnynow, but, at the time I just was so
devastated by it and I felt so dumb.
And it is easy to make visa mistakes.
Like you're saying you've hadproblems before with your visas.
And like, I just.
I don't know.
I didn't even think twice about it.
And now I'm like, Oh my God.
Anytime I travel anywhere, Iwill triple check that I have
all of my qualifications for it.
(18:06):
Because dealing with foreignauthorities is so stressful when
you don't know what's going on.
So I don't recommend it to anyone.
What happened with
you?
Oh,
I, so I was in traveling throughoutSoutheast Asia and, the visa
process, I was pretty carefullike going into Indonesia first.
I was looking up, okay, do I need a visa?
(18:26):
But then traveling from Indonesiato Malaysia and Thailand was really
relatively easy and the visa came withinI don't know, maybe 20 minutes online.
And so I didn't even think about a visafor Vietnam and it did not cross my mind.
And I was in Thailand for like amonth just having the time of my
life and not even thinking aboutwhat I needed to prepare for
flying to Vietnam the next day.
(18:47):
And I was talking to another traveler inmy hostel and he said, Oh, how was the
process of getting a Vietnam visa for you?
Like, as an American, it was pretty hard.
It took me a few weeks andthen my jaw just dropped.
My jaw just dropped and I was like,how could I have been so stupid?
I've completely forgotten that of courseI need a visa because one, we've had a
lot of political turmoil between the U.
(19:08):
S.
and Vietnam within the past 50 years, soit makes sense that we would need a visa
specifically for Vietnam that might be alittle bit harder to get than it would be
to get a visa for a place like Thailand.
So I ended up having to postponemy trip for a few days and I had
to fast track my Vietnam visa.
I don't even know if the site that Iused was legal or what, but you could
(19:30):
pay like a hundred extra dollars to haveyour visa go to the top of the stack and
it was approved within a few hours, butI had to, pay to get my flight changed
and also pay like a hundred dollars toget my visa expedited and it was just,
luckily it didn't happen in the airportor anything, but it was a hassle.
so stressful to anyonelistening out there.
(19:52):
Get your visas
Yes.
and do your research.
Yes.
Well, that's a good segue into ourmain event for the podcast today,
talking about Southeast Asia.
And, um, like I said earlier,we just released our list of the
top places to travel in 2025.
And so the reason Laura is our guest ofhonor today and my co host is because
(20:15):
.She wrote about our number one destination, which is Lombok, Indonesia.
So I'm going to pass the baton overto Laura and she's the expert here.
So she's going to tell us allabout why we should go there.
But I want to start by justasking you, why was that a place?
That you wanted to go in the first place.
Oh, that's a great question.
So for anyone who doesn't know,Lombok is a small island in
(20:38):
the Indonesian archipelago.
It's the island that's next to Bali.
It's a much more famous neighbor.
And so when I was traveling aroundAustralia, before I went to Southeast
Asia, I met a lot of people specificallycoming from Europe, and it seemed
like the common route was to travelfrom Europe, stop in Southeast
Asia, and then go to Australia.
So I was able to get a lot oftravel tips from People that I met
(21:01):
in Australia who had just spenta few months in Southeast Asia.
And people were raving about Bali.
It was like, all people could talk about.
But then I met a guy who pulled me asideand was like, based on your personality
and what you've told me you like abouttravel, don't go to Bali, go to Lombok.
And I was like, huh, Ihave never heard of Lombok.
(21:22):
Why should I go to Lombok, not Bali?
And he told me Bali is super crowded.
It's super touristy, it'sincredibly famous, but Lombok is
like what Bali was 50 years ago.
And that really got me.
That was the hook that really pulled mein, and I started doing more research
into Lombok, and just looking at thekinds of activities you could do there.
(21:45):
And yeah, and then I spent threeweeks there, and it absolutely was
just one of my favorite places.
I would go back in a heartbeat.
It sounds so beautiful.
And I feel like that's always apoint of interest for me is going to
places that aren't super touristy.
And like, obviously I think most peopledon't want to go someplace that's super
crowded, but the fact that he said, Oh,this is what Bali was like 50 years ago.
(22:08):
And that's like when it wasmore untouched, like I would
be there in a heartbeat too.
So, tell us about Lombok and why it'sthe number one pick for 2025's list.
Yeah, so I spent a good amountof time traveling around Lombok.
I can give you a brief overview ofmy itinerary and just some of the
things that I would recommend doing if
you go to visit.
It's a beautiful island.
(22:30):
There's a few different famous places inLombok, one of which is the Gili Islands.
So this is where I startedmy travels in Lombok.
Gili actually just meansisland in the local language.
So calling it the Gili Islands is like
island islands.
a Western thing that we do,but that's just what they're
colloquially referred to.
It's a string of islands that are upin the, Northwest side of Lombok, so
(22:55):
it's a three small islands called GiliTrawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Ere.
And Gili Trawangan, people call Gili T.
This is a super famousplace among backpackers.
So Gili T is where you go toParty all night, basically.
It's known as the party island of Lombok,and I found this really interesting
because mainland Lombok is a predominantlyMuslim island, and so you won't find a lot
(23:20):
of party culture or drinking culture, butall of that is, centralized in Gili T.
So like, everyone just goes to Gili T totravel around this super small island.
You can bike around it inabout, I would say, 20 minutes.
There's no cars allowed on the island.
So you travel either by biking or byhopping in a horse drawn carriage.
And, the main attraction of GillyTee is they're surfing, you can
(23:45):
snorkel with sea turtles, but the mainattraction there is the party scene.
So there's a few different hostelsaround the island as well as many
resorts, but most young peopletend to stay in the hostels because
they're all considered popular.
Quote unquote party hostels and theydo a lot of things like beach bar
crawls every night They start playingmusic at like 10 in the morning
(24:05):
and giving you free shots at noon.
Like it does not stop.
I had the worst hangover ofmy entire life on Ghillie T.
It is not a place that I amin any hurry to go back to.
I spent one day there I wanted,well I spent two days there.
I wanted one day to kind ofexperience the party scene.
I don't do a lot of partying, but youknow, I wanted to see what it was about.
(24:26):
And then I spent the next dayrecovering from the party scene
that I had explored the day before.
So it was fine.
It's a really popular place.
I don't know that it's my scene.
I really loved Gilly Air.
So compared to Gili T, Gili Airis like a breath of fresh air.
It's so relaxed, so chill.
You could snorkel with sea turtles.
(24:47):
You can just relax onthe beach and suntan.
You can look at coral reefs, it's so laidback I ended up spending a few more days
here and had a really, really lovely time.
Just like these white sand beaches,palm trees, this amazing vegan food
cafe that I found next to my hostel,that like, I don't typically eat
vegan food, but this was some of thebest food I've ever had in my life.
(25:10):
It was incredible.
And all local stuff.
So I really loved Gili air.
Yeah.
So the Gili islands are a hugepart of why so many people know of
Lombok, but a lot of people don'tmake it onto the mainland Lombok.
Like I heard of so many travelers whowere just going to the Gili islands
to go hang out and party on Gili Ti.
And I'm like, no, no, no.
You're missing.
(25:31):
Yeah.
So many of the better spots, like,I loved Gili Air, and then some of
the spots on the mainland that I'lltalk about in a little bit were
just, yeah, absolutely breathtaking.
just to paint a picture for listeners.
So there's Bali where a lot ofpeople know, like where Bali is and
Lombok is just to the east of Bali.
Correct.
And so then these three main Gilliesare to the Northwest of Lombok,
(25:53):
which is the bigger main Island.
And I know that there's a bunchof smaller islands too, but
those three are the main ones.
And how do you get to them?
Is it like a ferry?
Do people fly?
Or is there even an airporton those really tiny islands?
Or do you just take like a ferry boat?
There's not an airporton the small islands.
Lombok, the main island, doeshave an international airport.
(26:14):
But I flew into Bali because I wantedto spend a few days in Bali beforehand.
And then it's super easy toget between Bali and Lombok.
There are fast boats that youcan buy a ticket ahead of time.
It takes about, I would say,two to four hours to travel by
boat between Bali and Lombok.
It depends which port you depart from andwhich port you arrive to, but there are
(26:36):
really, these boats are super popular.
There's multiple that run a day.
The one thing that I would recommendfor anyone out there who's thinking of
traveling to Lombok, the seas can get abit rough at times, and the day that we
flew into Bali, I had flown into Bali andwanted to go to Lombok the very next day.
So I check into my hostel in Baliand I'm like, asking the guy at the
(26:58):
front desk, Hey, I have a boat ticketbooked for Lombok the next day.
And he just looks at me and laughs and islike, you're not going to Lombok tomorrow.
was like, what, what do you mean?
He said that the seas are way too rough.
There's a storm coming in.
We're closing all boat crossings forthe next four or five days, probably.
So
just hang out here for a while.
(27:18):
And I had no idea.
And this is, I think, very, verycommon, especially in the tropics
, especially if it's the rainy season,the weather can be unpredictable.
So I would just recommend anywherein Southeast Asia, but especially
if you're traveling between Bali andLombok to just Have some flexibility
in your travel plans because I endedup having to stay in Bali for Five
days before I could head to Lombok
(27:39):
and so I had to rearrange some of thethings that I had already booked But it's
super easy to rearrange And so make surethat When you get to Bali if you're flying
into Bali first and then planning onboating over to Lombok, I would package in
a few Buffer days if the seas are roughand if you can't get those boats over
Good tip.
Definitely have some flexibilityin your schedule there.
So, okay.
(28:00):
When you got from Bali overto Lombok, what was the first
thing that you did there?
So the first thing that I did was spenda few days on Gili T and Gili Air.
And then, because the boat fromBali to Lombok does stop at the
Gili Islands up north, because
there's such backpacker, hot spots.
So I started there, and then from theGili Islands to the main island of Lombok,
it's only about a 10 minute boat ride.
(28:22):
It's super easy.
You can catch it at any time of day.
And so I took the main boat over toLombok, and then I had actually found a
sailboat that I wanted to work on, becauseI've always wanted to learn how to sail.
And I wrote a whole article about it.
It's up on Travel Lemming under ourperspectives, section, but I sailed down
the West coast of Lombok for seven days.
(28:43):
So I started up North and thenI worked on a sailboat and
stopped in a town called Singigi.
Which is about halfway down the mainisland of Lombok and spent a day there
and was able to explore that area.
And then I sailed down to an islandchain known as the Secret Ghillies, which
I was like, that sounds interesting.
What are the Secret Ghillies?
(29:04):
They are a group of, again,ghillie means island.
It's a group of islands that are.
Similar to the popular Gili Islandsup north, but just so untouched.
Like it's mostly locals that live there.
There's not a lot of touristinfrastructure, but if you're looking
for a really untouched area of Lombokto go visit, the secret Gili's are
(29:26):
where you're going to find that.
Like I spent days just wandering around.
Gosh, I want to say 10 to15 small islands, but I
only visited 3 or 4 of them.
But I was walking around anisland and I saw maybe one other
tourist there the whole time.
And so, it was really cool being onthis sailboat because I was able to
see a side of Indonesia that I hadn'texperienced before because I was going
(29:50):
to these less, less touristy places.
And it's really easy to getto the secret ghillies, if you
don't go work on a sailboat.
You don't have to work on a sailboatto get to the secret ghillies.
But, they are quite close tothe southwestern side of Lombok.
And so you can take a normalferry to get there as well.
But yeah, there's not a lot oftourism infrastructure there,
but I chatted with some locals.
(30:11):
I met a girl who was working at thebar in one of the, marinas there in the
town on the port, and we just had thiswhole conversation, even though there's
a language barrier, she spoke a littlebit of English, I do not speak any of her
language, but we were able to just chatabout, , Our lives, and she was telling
me about how she, you know, wants to goto university someday, wants to study
(30:31):
English, and it was just so fun to, havethese kinds of conversations that is one
of the things that I love so much abouttravel, of just meeting people that are
very similar to you, even though you liveon completely opposite sides of the world,
and you have very different upbringings,but it was really fun to be able to,
to get a more local side to Indonesia.
So that's what I lovedabout the secret ghillies.
That sounds so amazing.
So I want to know more about the sailboat.
(30:53):
You said you've neverworked on a sailboat before.
You've never sailed.
How did you get a job doing this?
Great question.
Again, so much of.
Backpacker knowledge is justpassed through word of mouth.
So, meeting people that you've metthrough hostels or something like that,
you find out so many little travel tips.
And I met a couple in Fiji, actually, whohad just sailed from Panama and crossed
(31:15):
the Pacific and landed in Fiji and theyhad never been on a sailboat before.
And I said, how on earth did you do this?
That sounds amazing.
And they pointed me to thiswebsite called find a crew.
And so you can go on find acrew, make a profile, and you can
look at different sailboats who.
Their captains are looking for crewto come help out for a few weeks,
and just like work on the boat.
(31:36):
So you don't have to pay forit, which is great, but you
do have to work really hard.
You are up at 7am, you are moppingthe deck, you are hoisting the sails.
But it's a great learning experience.
The boat that I chose was a littleless intense than some other boats.
So they only required that I stay for aweek, which was great because I was like,
I've never lived on a sailboat before.
(31:56):
I think a week is a reallygood amount of time to
start off
with.
. But they have been sailing aroundIndonesia for the past two years,
so they knew a lot of the spots.
I ended up working with an Italiancaptain and his British partner,
and so we sailed together.
And I would say for anyone outthere who's considering doing this,
for me as, a solo female traveler.
I really liked the fact that the boat thatI chose, there was another woman on board,
(32:20):
like the captain's wife was there, so thatmade me feel a little bit safer than just
going on a boat with like a random person.
But the thing that I also like about Finda Crew is that you can read reviews of
past crew that have worked on these boats.
It's a website that's pretty similar toWorkaway, if anyone's ever used Workaway
or Worldpackers, where you just can readreviews that other travelers have posted.
(32:41):
And so that made me feel a lot moreconfident about my safety going into
that is so cool.
I have never heard of that in my life.
And now I'm like, I need to packmy bags and go work on a boat.
It was hard.
Like if you read my article, therewere definitely times when I was
like, what have I gotten myself into?
I
got so sunburned.
I got seasick.
But it was also an amazingtime and allowed me to see
(33:02):
a different side of Indonesia
Oh my gosh.
That's incredible.
And, so you said that you feltsafe, like on the boating trip
and so how was safety just as awhole in Lombok and the Ghillies?
Safety, I felt really safe the wholetime that I was traveling in Lombok.
It is a Muslim island, so it isa little bit more conservative.
So if you've seen pictures of peopletraveling in Bali and they're riding
(33:24):
around on scooters, wearing just like abikini top and a little mesh skirt, you
don't really want to do that in Lombok.
It's.
polite to be a little moreconservative with your dress, just
given that it is a Muslim island.
One of the reasons that I think Lombokis becoming more popular now than
it has been in the past is becauseit did have a few incidents of some
(33:44):
terrorist activity about 20 years ago.
I don't know much about it, but Ido know that it's been very, very
safe for the past 10 to 15 years.
It's got a booming tourism industry now.
After I sailed around the secret ghillies,I went to Kuta down south, which is
the big tourist hotspot in Lombok.
So if you're gonna stay anywhere in Lombokand you want more, western comforts,
(34:07):
Kuta is where you're gonna find that.
So there's a lot of resorts in Kuta,a lot of restaurants, you can walk
by and get Indonesian food or youcan go to a pizza place or a vegan
place, so in Kuta, I felt very safebecause again, the tourism industry is
a huge part of that town in particular.
Yeah, that's great to hear.
Because I know, especially like.
Obviously, we're not going to makeour number one spot on this list,
(34:30):
someplace that isn't necessarily safe.
But it's great to hear that it's good foranyone from families to solo travelers.
So I want to get into moreof your favorite things to do on
the island while you were there?
And again, what year was this?
I don't know if we already stated that butI just want to make sure people have an
idea of when you were there And how long
Yeah, I was in Lombok for threeweeks in March and April of 2024.
(34:53):
That's awesome.
So, yeah, if you want to dive into someof your favorite activities outside
of sailing, I know that you said,I've seen a lot of mentions of surfing
there that it's a big surf scene.
Yes, Lombok is huge withsurfing, especially in Kuta.
So one of the reasons that Kuta hasevolved to be the kind of tourist hotspot
(35:14):
that it is, is because it's down south.
It's right on the beach and it's where allthese incredible waves start coming in.
So.
Bali, if anyone's been surfingin Bali, it's very crowded.
The waves are incredible,but it's very crowded.
Lombok is where you'll getthese exact same beautiful waves
with much better conditions.
So not as many crowds.
(35:34):
A surf camp is really popular in Lombok.
So there's a few different hostels thatwill offer surfing as part of the package.
So if anyone is looking to go surfand make friends, whether you're
a beginner or an expert, surfcamps are a huge part of Kuta.
So that's something that I saw a lot.
I didn't go surfing, personally,because I had bed surfing quite a
few times before, and I just, itwasn't on my list of things to do.
(35:58):
I also had gotten crazy sunburnt whileworking on the sailboat and actually had
to stay out of the water for seven days.
So,
so that is specifically why I didn't gosurfing in Kuta, but I just heard from
people that were staying in the resortthat I was staying in that it is just
incredible conditions, and a greatplace to learn or go if you're an expert.
I've recommended it to quitea few surfers that I know,
(36:21):
but Besides surfing, I lovedLombok because I was able to learn
how to drive a motorbike there.
Motorbikes are the main mode oftransportation for getting around
in many places in Southeast Asia.
But when I was in Bali, I was soscared to try to learn how to drive
my own motorbike because the roadsare super crowded, super packed.
Again, it's like, I sound like I'm sayingthe same thing over and over again,
(36:43):
but Lombok is just much less crowded.
So I was able to get on a motorbikeand learn how to drive my own
motorbike around the jungles in Lombok,without all of these cars around me.
And it was incredible.
It was so fun to learn and it gave mea lot more confidence for continuing
in my Southeast Asia travels, where Iwas then able to rent my own motorbike
and feel a lot more confident onthe roads when I was driving in like
(37:04):
Thailand or Vietnam, for example.
Oh, my gosh.
I think motorbikes are themost fun mode of transportation
in the
world.
are so fun.
It's so fun,
and it's pretty affordableto just rent a motorbike.
And then you have the freedomto go all over the place.
Right.
super affordable.
It's the best way to get around.
And so I stayed in Kuta forabout four or five days.
(37:25):
I would have loved to stay forlonger, but we had booked a tour
of Mount Ranjani, which is anothergreat thing to do in Lombok that
I'll talk about in a little bit.
But yeah, spending four orfive days in Kuta, I could have
easily stayed there for longer.
But the main things that I did was.
Listen to people talk about surfingand wish that I was out there in the
water surfing with them, and relaxat the amazing resort that I booked.
(37:47):
It was so affordable.
I chose a resort because it was mybirthday and I wanted to ball out a little
bit and rather than staying in a hostel.
But the resort, I was amazed.
It was only 60 a nightfor a private cottage.
And so split between me and mypartner that I was traveling with,
that's only 30 a night per person.
And the resort that we stayed in was.
(38:09):
Incredible.
It had two different pools.
It had cabanas all around the pool whereyou could just go lounge on the cabana and
then order food that was delivered to you.
And it was the most amazing littlehideaway to come back to after a day spent
exploring the town, exploring the beaches.
I just loved it and I could havestayed there for a lot longer.
But there was also a lot ofreally affordable hostels in town.
(38:32):
I would say hostels wereabout like 10 a night.
And so if I had wanted tostay longer, I probably would
have gone to a hostel instead.
Yeah.
So in terms of budget with reallyeverything, like the getting there, the
food stays, if you want to elaboratea little bit more on that, it sounds
like it's wildly affordable comparedto most places all over the world.
Yeah, I would say it's pretty standardfor a lot of places in Southeast Asia.
(38:55):
Definitely cheaper thanBali, which I loved.
I don't know how much a flight from the U.
S.
would cost because Iflew in from Australia.
So flying in from Australiato Bali was about 200 one way.
And then getting from Bali to Lombok, itwas about 30, 30 to 40 for the fast boat.
(39:15):
Again, you can fly directly intoLombok, but I chose to fly into Bali
first and then take the boat over toLombok so that I could see Bali for
a little bit before going to Lombok.
but in terms of food and drink andactivity, beer is like a dollar.
water, 50 cents.
Food, a typical meal will beanywhere from three to five dollars.
If you're going for a western meal, likeif you're getting a pizza or a hamburger,
(39:40):
it's going to be more expensive.
It'll be more like eightor nine or ten dollars.
But if you're eating local food or apot of noodles or some mee goreng or
nasi goreng, that's going to be aboutlike between two to five dollars per
Yeah.
What is the local cuisine?
Like I, this sounds ridiculous, but theonly time I've ever had Indonesian food is
(40:01):
at a Dutch restaurant that I used to workat because there's like a really strong
Indonesian influence in the Netherlands.
And so I've only had likenasi goreng and it was.
At the Dutch restaurant.
So what is that?
What do they eat?
If you want to go into
that a bit.
Yeah, not ridiculous.
The Dutch originally colonizedIndonesia, and so that's why there's
a huge, exchange of those cultures.
(40:21):
Mi Goreng is a fried noodle andNasi Goreng is a fried rice.
And so those are the two kind of mainthings that I was eating all the time.
There is a lot more in Indonesianfood, but I was less adventurous
than I would have liked to be.
I kind of found my favoritesand I stuck with that the best
thing was that there are lots offresh fruits and fresh smoothies.
(40:43):
I ate a lot of like mangoes and yeah,it was very affordable, very good.
And the nice thing about staying in Kutaspecifically is that you can break up
eating local food with eating maybe likesomething from home that you're really
craving, or some kind of fusion cuisine.
I had a really good Asian fusion, mealfor my birthday dinner when I was in
(41:07):
Kuta and it was, it was just delicious.
So there's definitely options, butif you're staying in one of the more
smaller areas in the secret ghillies orup north, you'll have mostly local food.
Yeah.
Well, it's nice that theyhave some variety and it's
not all just the same thing.
Yeah, and it's really, Easy to makeit vegetarian, like the Nasi Goreng
or Meat Goreng, you can get with anykind of meat, or you can just get it
(41:31):
plain vegetarian, and so that was nice.
I never got sick, I never got anykind of food poisoning, or any
kind of stomach issues, which Iwas very happily surprised about.
Yes, of course.
No, it sounds like such a wonderful place.
So did you happen to hike?
I, I read a little bitabout the volcano there.
(41:51):
Is that correct?
Yes, after staying in Kuta for a fewdays down south, then I booked a tour
to hike the second tallest volcanoin Indonesia, which is Mount Ranjani.
It's located in the north of Lombok.
And so the geography ofLombok is really interesting.
The south has the amazing beaches.
So the south is where you're going to wantto go for surfing, for relaxing on the
(42:12):
beach, for driving motorbikes through ricepaddies, and going up to these beautiful
hills that overlook miles of whitebeaches, and absolutely gorgeous setting.
And then the north of Lombok iswhere you're going to find the
more jungly, mountainous interior.
There's a lot of monkeys, there's alot of really cool wildlife, there's
waterfalls, like so many waterfalls.
(42:34):
And so I knew that I wanted to seethis northern area of Lombok as well.
So When I was in Kuta, I booked a tourto hike to the top of Mount Ranjani.
It's very important.
You need to book a tour in orderto hike to the top because it
is literally a giant volcano.
You have to do it with a guideor else you're going to get lost.
It's also.
Much harder than I thoughtit was going to be.
(42:54):
I think I was coming from,like, I grew up in California.
I've hiked mountains in theSierra Nevada mountains.
I've hiked a couple of14ers over in Colorado.
I was like, I got this.
I'm used to climbing tall mountains.
Mount Ranjani is about 12, 000 feet.
So it's not.
It's not the highest mountain that I'veever hiked, but it starts at literally sea
(43:16):
level, so you are hiking, 12, 000 feet.
And that is not a lot of time toadjust to the elevation change,
Yeah, seriously.
That was what surprised me the most, wasthat it was a lot harder, but it was,
oh my gosh, the views were incredible.
start in this mountain town called Senaru.
So you do actually have about, you startat about like 2000 feet of elevation.
(43:39):
So I would recommend maybe staying inSenaru a few extra days to just start
adjusting to the elevation, especially ifyou're coming from a beach town like Kuta,
where you are, again, are at like zero,
where you're just at sea level.
Senaru is amazing because thetown itself has more to do
than just see Mount Ranjani.
(43:59):
There's a few additionalhikes that you can do that are
supposed to be really amazing.
I was mainly there to hike MountRanjani, so I didn't get to do these
hikes, but you don't just have togo to hike a 12, 000 foot volcano.
There's Beautiful hikes.
There's incredible waterfalls.
So we got into center and one of thefirst things we did was do a super easy
day hike to this beautiful waterfall.
(44:19):
It's been called the mostbeautiful waterfall in Lombok.
It's Tiu Kalep waterfall.
And it just was one of the mostamazing waterfalls I've ever seen.
And the jungle there is just so beautiful.
And then the next day, we got upsuper early to hike Mount Ranjani,
and we chose to do a two day hike.
So you hike up to this craterthat overlooks the volcano in the
(44:41):
middle of a caldera, I don't reallyknow how to describe it, but it
is Absolutely stunning, unlikeanything I've ever seen before.
And then you go to bed around 8pm andyou get woken up at 2am the next morning.
And you are hiking to the topof this volcano in the dark.
And then you get to thetop and you watch sunrise.
You can see Mount Ranjani is pretty inlandin the north , of the island of Lombok.
(45:05):
But from the top of the mountain,you can see all the way to the ocean.
So I was just standing on top of thismountain at six in the morning, watching
the sun come up, just seeing all ofLombok spread out before me, and just
the hues and colors of this volcano.
There's like, red, volcanic, rock, andthen there's also the black volcanic
rock, and then there's the bright blueof this lake that's right below you,
(45:27):
and then the green, like, lush junglespread out beneath you, and then you
can see all the way to the ocean.
And it was, I cried at the top.
Partly because I was exhausted, andalso partly because it is, to this
day, one of my favorite, most amazingviews I've ever seen, and I would
recommend it to anyone that's going to
Oh, it sounds like such anemotional, beautiful experience.
(45:47):
That is
Yes, it was.
so cool.
So it's, it's a multiple day hike.
You can do it, yeah, it's, if youwant to go to the top, you can choose
from either a two or three day hike.
If you want to just go up tothis crater where you can see the
volcano but not hike to the topof it, you can do just a day hike.
So there are a few differentoptions, but you start in Senaru.
(46:08):
And the really nice thing about bookinga tour is that they'll transport
you from wherever you are in Lombok.
They'll just put you in a carand drive you right to the top.
To where the home stay is.
And so that's another reallycool part about going to OU is
that you get to see a differentside of Indonesian accommodation.
So in CTA I was staying in a resort andthere's lots of hostels around, but the
(46:29):
time that I got to stay in a home staywas up north in ou and that was really
wonderful because I got to stay withthe family and have them cook for me
and just experience a different sideof, incredible Indonesian hospitality.
that sounds so, so cool.
Oh my goodness.
Well, as we wrap up, I wanted to ask,what is the best time of year to go?
Yeah, I would recommendgoing in the dry season.
(46:51):
So Lombok's dry seasonis April through October.
This is best if you're hoping tohike Mount Ranjani because Mount
Ranjani is only open to hike inthe dry season, so it completely
shuts down during the wet season.
So don't try to hike Mount Ranjaniif you're visiting Lombok any
time between November and March.
But just in general, the dry seasonis really great because it's when the
(47:12):
surfing conditions are going to be best.
It's when hiking conditions aregoing to be best and you won't
get caught in a midday monsoon.
So April through October iswhen I would recommend visiting.
So just to summarize, Why, asa whole, should I, or anyone
listening, go to Lombok?
I know you've talked all about thisincredible place, the food, the
budget, the safety, the things todo, and if you could just put it
(47:34):
into a couple of sentences, whatwould you say about visiting Lombok?
If you're looking for a more offthe beaten path side of Indonesia,
What Bali was like 50 years ago.
Go to Lombok.
Bali is crowded.
Lombok is not.
Bali is expensive.
Lombok is not.
You could do all the amazingthings that you can do in Bali.
(47:55):
You can do in Lombok.
Surfing, riding motorbikes through ricepaddies, hiking to waterfalls and to
the tops of volcanoes, experiencingamazing local cuisine and hospitality.
It's all there.
It's all in Lombok.
And.
It's gonna become much more popular soon.
So I would recommend going right
Yes, and I think that's why it's numberone on our list for 2025, because
(48:17):
right now it seems like it's muchless discovered than many major
destinations in Southeast Asia, and so,if you're gonna go, you should go now.
Before more people discover it and it kindof turns into a second Bali, you know?
Well, thank you, Laura,so much for your time.
It has been so wonderful hearing allabout why we should go to Lombok and
also just having you be my co host today.
(48:39):
You are so wonderful.
And I really, really enjoyedthis episode with you.
Everybody listening, please goahead and check out our list of
the top places to travel in 2025.
And I just want to give a quickshout out to Travel Loving itself.
Check out our website.
We've got.
Hundreds and hundreds of amazing guides.
We have over 1500 actually, as well asperspectives coming out every single week.
(49:01):
We also have meetups, which both of us,Laura and I both are hosting meetups.
She hosts the one in San Francisco.
I host the one in Phoenix.
And in addition to those, we also have onein Chicago, Denver, San Juan, Vancouver.
Seattle and Nashville.
So those are the eight places.
(49:21):
If you live anywhere nearthese major cities, we would
love to meet you in person.
So come on over, have a beer with usand we can talk all things travel.
And yeah, that's pretty muchall we've got for you today.
Keep an eye out for the next episodewhere Nate and I interview the rest of
our team for the remainder of the list ofthe top destinations to travel in 2025.
But for now, add Lombok to yourlist of where you're going to go.
(49:45):
Laura, thank you so muchagain for being here today.
I'll let you say goodbye for us.
Thank you so much for having me I hadsuch a wonderful time and thank you
for letting me talk your ear off aboutwhy Lombok is one of my favorite places
ever and why everyone should go visit
Oh, the pleasure was all mine.
Well, thank you listeners for beinghere and we will see you next time.
Today is the start of an excitingjourney around the world.
As we look ahead at 2025, we'rethinking of where we might
want to travel in the new year.
At Travel Lemming, one of our biggestand most exciting projects is our
annual collaborative article on the bestplaces to travel for the coming year.
And guess what?
We've just released our list ofthe top places to travel 2025.
(00:20):
So you can check that out on travellemming.com or you can search the
best places to travel, travel lemmingon whatever search engine you use.
Now, for those of you who don't know,travel Lemming is an online travel guide.
We have over 10 million annual readers,over 1500 guides, tons of perspective
pieces coming out all the time fromour team of dozens of local and
expert travelers who really know theirdestinations, like the back of their
(00:43):
hand, we talked about this project beforein our second episode with Nate, who
told us all about why you should visitYucatan, Mexico, which was our number one
on our list of places to travel in 2024.
Well, today I'm excited to co host withLaura McFarlane, one of our senior travel
writers at Travel Lemming, who landedthe number one spot on our 2025 list.
So she's going to tell us allabout Lombok, Indonesia, and why
(01:06):
this should be at the top ofyour 2025 travel bucket list.
I'll introduce her in just a moment,but right now, make sure to like and
subscribe to our channel because we'vegot a lot more on this list coming soon.
For our next episode, Nate and I are goingto be interviewing the rest of the writers
who contributed to get their takes on theother 49 destinations on our 2025 list.
So it's going to be alovely collaboration.
(01:28):
You'll learn tons about some of the mostincredible places in the world, and you'll
get to meet more of our team members.
So whether you're a consistenttraveler or take one big trip a
year, I guarantee that there is adestination for everyone on this list.
And again, you can checkthat out on travellemon.
com.
In addition to Lombok, we're also goingto discuss the reopening of Notre Dame,
an immersive and controversial gladiatorexperience at the Coliseum, how to stay
(01:51):
healthy while traveling, and much more.
So we've got a jam packedepisode for you today.
It's going to be a good one.
Welcome to the Travel Lemmingpodcast, where we offer expert insight
on destinations and give you thetools to become a better traveler.
I'm your host, Betty Hurd, and I'mjoined today by Laura McFarlane.
Laura, thank you so muchfor being here today.
How are you doing?
Thank you so much for having me, Betty.
(02:12):
I'm super excited to be hereand be on the Travel Lumming
I'm so happy that you're here too.
I know you have a lot to talk aboutLombok, and then we also have some great
news stories and perspectives to cover.
I'd love to hear a littlebit more about yourself.
Yeah, of course.
So, I am a senior travelwriter with Travel Lemming.
I'm based out of San Francisco, soI do a lot of guides on local tips
(02:33):
to travel in San Francisco, NorthernCalifornia, or just California as a whole.
I also just got back from a one yearbackpacking trip around the world.
I visited three continents, , twentycountries, and just had an amazing time
full of incredible travel experiences.
So, I've been writing a lot of travelstories about my time over the past year
that you can also read on Travel Lemming.
(02:54):
I know you have written somereally awesome, interesting
perspectives and guides.
And I just know you have the adventureof a lifetime on your year of travel.
So I highly encourage our listeners to gocheck out Laura's articles on the website.
Thank you so much.
For our first segment, we're going to diveinto talking about what's new in travel.
For our first story, I'm talking abouta methanol poisoning incident that
(03:16):
happened at a hostel in Southeast Asia.
Six tourists died at a hostel in VangVieng, Laos, after drinking locally made
spirits that were laced with methanol.
And Laura, where is Vang Vieng?
Yeah, great question.
Vang Vieng is in NorthernLaos, in Southeast Asia.
It's a fixture on the so called BananaPancake Trail, which is a, popular
destinations in Southeast Asia thatbackpackers visit quite frequently.
(03:39):
So Vang Vieng itself is a reallypopular spot for tubing and
outdoor adventure activities.
It's surrounded by mountains.
There's a beautiful river that runsthrough it, but it's also a really
popular place for partying andgoing out and about in the evening
Gotcha.
So you said that thesebackpackers died after drinking
spirits laced with methanol.
So what exactly is methanol?
(04:00):
Yeah, I had to look this one up.
Methanol is a toxic substancethat is sometimes added to bootleg
alcohol, or alcohol that's beingmade illegally or homemade alcohol.
It's used to make the drinktaste stronger, or get, the
person who's drinking it maybedrunk a little bit faster.
And backpackers were givenfree shots at the hostel before
heading out for the night.
And at the end of the night,five young women and one man
(04:22):
died in the days that followed.
It's super scary.
My heart really breaks for these families.
I've personally traveledthrough Southeast Asia.
And I think what people maybe who haven'tbeen there don't fully understand is
that everywhere you go, there is thishuge culture of drinking and partying
and, you know, hostels that I stayed at.
It was really common to have a free shot.
It's not given to you beforeyou head out for the night.
(04:43):
Like, it's not something that I everthought twice about as being unsafe, just
because it was so prevalent travelingthroughout these countries, and I don't
think it's something that necessarilyreflects poorly on the country itself.
I had really wonderful experiencestraveling in Southeast Asia, but it
is really, really scary, and I'm justso sad to hear about these backpackers
(05:04):
that were there to explore and thereto adventure and then had a really,
really unfortunate incident happen.
It's so sad.
And I mean, really with anythingor someone stranger handing you
something that you don't know whereit came from or what it is, I mean, it
could have happened really anywhere.
It really could have happened anywhere.
It could have happened to anyone.
And, I think just for travelers that aregoing to places or honestly, anyone, I
(05:28):
know the Australian government has put outa statement warning tourists not to drink
specifically tiger vodka or tiger whiskey.
Now, I'm not sure if these specificbrands are what caused the poisoning,
but this is just what I've heard thatthe Australian government is warning
tourists about, but I think in the future.
I'm going to be a little bit morecareful about maybe only drinking
beer or something that hasn't beenpoured to me, but again, like, I
(05:52):
just, I never would have expected it.
I never would have known.
It's so common to just be handeda free shot and just to not
think twice about it at all.
My second story that I would love totalk about is a bit of a lighter note.
Notre Dame is reopening in Decemberfor the first time since the pandemic.
The 2019 fire.
So Notre Dame obviously is a worldfamous cathedral in Paris, and it's
(06:12):
going to reopen after being closed topublic visits for the past five years.
Yes.
I heard about that.
So can you remind listeners whatexactly happened and why they
closed it in the first place?
Yeah, it caught fire in April of 2019.
They're still not entirelysure what started the fire.
It was either a cigarette thathadn't fully been put out or maybe
(06:32):
some kind of electrical malfunction.
But it's been closed for public visitsfor the past five years and they're
going to reopen it in December, thefirst six months of the reopening.
So from December until June of 2025,the cathedral will only be open to
individuals and worshipers only.
So group tours will have towait until after June of 2025.
(06:53):
They're also implementing abooking system to manage crowds.
So you'll have to book a timeslot online in order to go visit.
Walk ins will be allowed, but thelines will probably be super long,
so I think it's better to book
ahead.
Gotcha.
Well, I think that's really nice thatthey're kind of saving it for those six
months, just for the people who wantto worship and not having it absolutely
(07:14):
flooded with tourists right away.
Well, tourists will be able to go, butagain, it's just for individual tourists,
so any of these big group tours that maybeare organized by a third party or outside
organization will have to wait until
after June.
Well, I've also got acouple news stories for you.
There was a stowaway who was found ona flight from New York City to Paris,
(07:35):
just a little bit before Thanksgiving.
It was a Delta flight from JFK.
To Charles de Gaulle and I thoughtthis was so interesting because as most
of you know, I'm a flight attendant.
I can't even imagine how someonecould actually make this happen.
I mean, this woman, she got pastmultiple security checkpoints and
screenings in the airport and got on theplane without a boarding pass somehow.
(08:00):
And then what she was doing wasswapping bathrooms, the whole flight.
And I mean, that's a long flight.
It's like, man, I'm not entirely sure,but I think it's over eight hours.
So for her to just be in a bathroomgoing back and forth, I mean, obviously
they did figure out that she was beingsuspicious at some point in the flight
and they did arrest her in Paris.
(08:20):
I can't believe she got that far.
So it's pretty wild.
, there's a lot of investigations goingon as to how she even got on the
plane, because clearly this is a hugebreach of security and, apparently
Delta airlines is a little bit underscrutiny right now, which makes sense.
So we'll see what happens there.
I would love to find out more informationon, on how she actually did it.
(08:41):
Wait, so she was just switchingbetween bathrooms for the entire
flight?
They said that she was in the veryback bathroom for when they took off.
So no one realized that she didn't have aseat because she was just hiding in there.
Which the flight attendants aresupposed to check the bathroom.
So someone made a mistake there.
And then I guess she just kept going
from bathroom to bathroomand it was on a big airplane.
(09:02):
So like there were different cabinswhere people may not have really noticed
that she was just like swapping around.
But she's a wild one.
And for my next story, Airbnb plansto host an immersive gladiator
experience in the Coliseum.
So this is supposed to take placein May of next year, in 2025.
And people are not happy about it,especially the Roman politicians.
(09:24):
They're talking about how Airbnb isjust making a mockery of the Coliseum.
And honestly, I would have to agree.
I think that it's a little strangeto bring these tourists into this
wildly historical place where we'revery terrible, gruesome things happened
and then say, Hey, we're going todress you up in some armor and you
(09:45):
guys get to fake fight each other.
Woo hoo.
So I get why the politicians are upset.
They're also saying that Airbnb is kindof doing this under the facade that they
are funding, an educational program for.
The company that keeps up theColiseum, like does the upkeep.
And so they're like, Oh, we're going tocontribute to this educational program.
(10:05):
So it's a good thing, but the Coliseum,like all the Roman politicians have been
saying, we don't need more tourists.
We're not struggling to gettourists to the Coliseum.
This is not somethingthat needs to happen.
We have enough money.
And really this is just kind of a joke.
So what do you think about it, Laura?
Yeah, , it's not like no onehad heard of the Roman Colosseum
until Gladiator came out.
(10:26):
Until like, Paula Mezcal made itfamous, so I completely agree.
I think that, if the Roman government,is telling you, hey, this isn't
really something that we need orwould be helpful to our city and
might actually, contribute to moreharm than good, I think that that's
definitely something to listen to.
Always listen to the locals.
I agree.
And for our next segment, we are going totalk about some of the perspective pieces
(10:47):
that we've enjoyed on travellemming.
com.
So these are pieces that our teamof writers comes up with about
more personal experiences, uniquesituations that they've had
while traveling around the world.
And so today I'm going to kick thatoff, with Chelsea's article on her
rules to staying healthy while traveling.
(11:07):
So the title is I follow these simplerules to stay healthy and feel my best.
So she just gives a whole listof really great ideas just to be
proactive when you're traveling.
And I know what it's like to traveland not be prepared for a hangover
or a cold or just being exhaustedfrom going, going and going.
(11:30):
So she, um, her first thing on the listis that you need a travel pharmacy kit.
So this is basically just having likea little makeup bag with, she's got
Advil, hand sanitizer, uh, Dramamine, andMetamucil, just like all these little bits
and pieces for whatever you're feeling,which I think is brilliant because that
could really save you on some of thosereally bad days when you're not at home.
(11:52):
And The second thing she saysis to book a hotel with a gym or
insure it's at least by a trail.
And this, you know, I am always travelingand I can say I rarely see a hotel gym,
but it is nice to have that option.
If you just want to get some exercisein, especially if you're in a place
where there's really rich food and youjust are kind of feeling lethargic.
(12:13):
I think it is really nice to havethe option to get a little workout
in, or like she said, hit the trail.
And she also talks about avoidingburnout by limiting your plans and not
being afraid to abandon them entirely.
And I think this is so important.
Like, when I travel, sometimes I justoverbook myself so bad that then I'm
so burnt out the next couple of days.
(12:34):
That I don't feel like doing anything.
So I really appreciatedsome of her points in here.
She's got some other great pointstoo, but, I'm going to kick it back
to you in just a second, Laura, butyeah, I highly encourage anyone who
goes on long trips to check this out.
Chelsea's got some really great adviceon, just how to make sure you feel
your best while you're out and about,
Getting sick while traveling is oneof the worst experiences known to man.
(12:57):
I completely agree with this article.
And then also eating super rich foods fordays on end and just feeling so lethargic
and heavy and bloated can sometimes reallyput a tamper in your experience there.
So I really like her tip aboutmaking sure to stay near a
walking path or some kind of gym.
It's really common to walk a lotanyway when you're traveling, but
(13:20):
I loved this article as well.
I'm so happy that youbrought this to the table,
Betty.
Yes, of course.
Yeah, Chelsea's got somegreat pieces for sure.
So what have you, picked out for us today?
Yeah, the first article that I wantedto highlight was, Rachel's list
of hidden gem activities in Paris.
So the full title of the articleis, My favorite off the beaten path
activities and events in Paris.
(13:42):
And this was written by our Parisianlocal Rachel, who I believe has lived
in Paris for the last 10 years or so.
And like, I've been toParis about four times now.
It's one of my favoritecities to travel in.
I also kind of speak French, so Ithink I just love it so much because,
I've been I could feel like I couldmaybe pass as a local, not really,
but at this point, I've done allthe touristy stuff, so I really
(14:05):
loved this article because shehas such excellent suggestions.
Of places to go.
There's a few that are in her listthat I've actually done already.
She mentions the artistcollective known as 59 Revoli.
It's a multi level artiststudio and exhibition space.
You can go in and walkthrough four or five floors of,
studio space and look at art.
It has incredible views over Paris.
(14:27):
It's free, which is great.
And it was one of my favorite things thatI did on my most recent trip to Paris.
So I'm happy to see thatshe put that in the article.
And now I know that when I go back, I'mgoing to reference this list to see which
new activities I should be looking to do.
Yeah, I'm definitely going to have toreference this one the next time I go.
So the last story that I want to talkabout is actually, Betty, your story
(14:48):
about getting denied entry from China.
I just, this one was so funny to me,and I just, I can relate to having visa
problems, but I mean, it's your article.
Why don't you tell us a little bit abouthow you got denied entry from China?
Sure thing.
Yeah.
It was quite the experience.
It was by far the worst travelexperience I've ever had in my life.
So, I'm a flight attendant currentlybased in San Francisco, but when I
(15:12):
first started out, I was in New Jersey.
And when I was there, we didn't, weweren't required to have a Chinese visa
because we didn't have any flights there.
So it makes sense.
When I transferred to San Francisco,I asked my supervisor , I already had
a travel visa to China from when I'dgone on a study abroad trip in 2019.
So I showed them and Isaid, Hey, does this work?
(15:33):
And he was like, yeah,that should be good.
And I just didn't reallythink anything of it.
Cause you know, turning to someoneof authority at work and getting an
answer, no matter how vague, I just waslike, he knows what he's talking about.
So I was on standby, which is whenyou sit at the airport for four hours.
And if they need you really lastsecond for a flight, you go work it.
(15:53):
So it was like the moment I gotto work, they were like, Hey,
you're flying to Beijing right now.
And it's a 15 hour flight.
So I was like, Oh my God, like I wasnot expecting to get called at all.
But really it didn't crossmy mind at all that I had the
wrong visa during this flight.
So I worked the 15 hours there.
I'm exhausted, like so, so tired.
Cause I had no prep for it.
And I get up to the customs guywith my whole crew of like 11 of us.
(16:19):
And he just immediatelyopens up my passport.
And it's just like,Nope, you can't come in.
And I was like, whatare you talking about?
And, uh, I really thought thathe was like messing with me.
And then this other officialcame over and just like took me
away, separated me from my crew.
My whole crew's freaking out.
They're all like really senior andthey've never had this happen before.
(16:39):
So I didn't know what's happening.
They didn't know what was happening.
I just started crying.
I'm in my uniform and I put on sunglassesin the airport because I didn't
want all these passengers to see me.
And I was just like bawling my eyes out.
But like.
Still having conversations with thisofficial and he didn't speak English.
He, someone else had to come translate.
(17:00):
It was a mess.
And they actually ended up longstory short, I got in contact with
my company and they put me on thatsame flight that I brought in.
So I was in Chinafor Less than two hours.
I was one of the last people to get backon the same exact plane that I brought in.
And it was like 13 hours back andI was still crying and I just kind
(17:21):
of slept that whole time becauseI was so tired and kind of dealt
Oh, so you didn't have towork the 13 hour flight
No, no.
Oh, thank
God.
that, that would have been illegal.
Yeah.
So at least I didn't have to do thatbecause I, I couldn't, I think in the
span of 28 hours, I was flying for 26.
Like, it was absolutely ridiculous.
I've never been so tired in my life.
I think I slept for like twodays straight after that.
(17:44):
And I was so upset and it's, it's funnynow, but, at the time I just was so
devastated by it and I felt so dumb.
And it is easy to make visa mistakes.
Like you're saying you've hadproblems before with your visas.
And like, I just.
I don't know.
I didn't even think twice about it.
And now I'm like, Oh my God.
Anytime I travel anywhere, Iwill triple check that I have
all of my qualifications for it.
(18:06):
Because dealing with foreignauthorities is so stressful when
you don't know what's going on.
So I don't recommend it to anyone.
What happened with
you?
Oh,
I, so I was in traveling throughoutSoutheast Asia and, the visa
process, I was pretty carefullike going into Indonesia first.
I was looking up, okay, do I need a visa?
(18:26):
But then traveling from Indonesiato Malaysia and Thailand was really
relatively easy and the visa came withinI don't know, maybe 20 minutes online.
And so I didn't even think about a visafor Vietnam and it did not cross my mind.
And I was in Thailand for like amonth just having the time of my
life and not even thinking aboutwhat I needed to prepare for
flying to Vietnam the next day.
(18:47):
And I was talking to another traveler inmy hostel and he said, Oh, how was the
process of getting a Vietnam visa for you?
Like, as an American, it was pretty hard.
It took me a few weeks andthen my jaw just dropped.
My jaw just dropped and I was like,how could I have been so stupid?
I've completely forgotten that of courseI need a visa because one, we've had a
lot of political turmoil between the U.
(19:08):
S.
and Vietnam within the past 50 years, soit makes sense that we would need a visa
specifically for Vietnam that might be alittle bit harder to get than it would be
to get a visa for a place like Thailand.
So I ended up having to postponemy trip for a few days and I had
to fast track my Vietnam visa.
I don't even know if the site that Iused was legal or what, but you could
(19:30):
pay like a hundred extra dollars to haveyour visa go to the top of the stack and
it was approved within a few hours, butI had to, pay to get my flight changed
and also pay like a hundred dollars toget my visa expedited and it was just,
luckily it didn't happen in the airportor anything, but it was a hassle.
so stressful to anyonelistening out there.
(19:52):
Get your visas
Yes.
and do your research.
Yes.
Well, that's a good segue into ourmain event for the podcast today,
talking about Southeast Asia.
And, um, like I said earlier,we just released our list of the
top places to travel in 2025.
And so the reason Laura is our guest ofhonor today and my co host is because
(20:15):
.She wrote about our number one destination, which is Lombok, Indonesia.
So I'm going to pass the baton overto Laura and she's the expert here.
So she's going to tell us allabout why we should go there.
But I want to start by justasking you, why was that a place?
That you wanted to go in the first place.
Oh, that's a great question.
So for anyone who doesn't know,Lombok is a small island in
(20:38):
the Indonesian archipelago.
It's the island that's next to Bali.
It's a much more famous neighbor.
And so when I was traveling aroundAustralia, before I went to Southeast
Asia, I met a lot of people specificallycoming from Europe, and it seemed
like the common route was to travelfrom Europe, stop in Southeast
Asia, and then go to Australia.
So I was able to get a lot oftravel tips from People that I met
(21:01):
in Australia who had just spenta few months in Southeast Asia.
And people were raving about Bali.
It was like, all people could talk about.
But then I met a guy who pulled me asideand was like, based on your personality
and what you've told me you like abouttravel, don't go to Bali, go to Lombok.
And I was like, huh, Ihave never heard of Lombok.
(21:22):
Why should I go to Lombok, not Bali?
And he told me Bali is super crowded.
It's super touristy, it'sincredibly famous, but Lombok is
like what Bali was 50 years ago.
And that really got me.
That was the hook that really pulled mein, and I started doing more research
into Lombok, and just looking at thekinds of activities you could do there.
(21:45):
And yeah, and then I spent threeweeks there, and it absolutely was
just one of my favorite places.
I would go back in a heartbeat.
It sounds so beautiful.
And I feel like that's always apoint of interest for me is going to
places that aren't super touristy.
And like, obviously I think most peopledon't want to go someplace that's super
crowded, but the fact that he said, Oh,this is what Bali was like 50 years ago.
(22:08):
And that's like when it wasmore untouched, like I would
be there in a heartbeat too.
So, tell us about Lombok and why it'sthe number one pick for 2025's list.
Yeah, so I spent a good amountof time traveling around Lombok.
I can give you a brief overview ofmy itinerary and just some of the
things that I would recommend doing if
you go to visit.
It's a beautiful island.
(22:30):
There's a few different famous places inLombok, one of which is the Gili Islands.
So this is where I startedmy travels in Lombok.
Gili actually just meansisland in the local language.
So calling it the Gili Islands is like
island islands.
a Western thing that we do,but that's just what they're
colloquially referred to.
It's a string of islands that are upin the, Northwest side of Lombok, so
(22:55):
it's a three small islands called GiliTrawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Ere.
And Gili Trawangan, people call Gili T.
This is a super famousplace among backpackers.
So Gili T is where you go toParty all night, basically.
It's known as the party island of Lombok,and I found this really interesting
because mainland Lombok is a predominantlyMuslim island, and so you won't find a lot
(23:20):
of party culture or drinking culture, butall of that is, centralized in Gili T.
So like, everyone just goes to Gili T totravel around this super small island.
You can bike around it inabout, I would say, 20 minutes.
There's no cars allowed on the island.
So you travel either by biking or byhopping in a horse drawn carriage.
And, the main attraction of GillyTee is they're surfing, you can
(23:45):
snorkel with sea turtles, but the mainattraction there is the party scene.
So there's a few different hostelsaround the island as well as many
resorts, but most young peopletend to stay in the hostels because
they're all considered popular.
Quote unquote party hostels and theydo a lot of things like beach bar
crawls every night They start playingmusic at like 10 in the morning
(24:05):
and giving you free shots at noon.
Like it does not stop.
I had the worst hangover ofmy entire life on Ghillie T.
It is not a place that I amin any hurry to go back to.
I spent one day there I wanted,well I spent two days there.
I wanted one day to kind ofexperience the party scene.
I don't do a lot of partying, but youknow, I wanted to see what it was about.
(24:26):
And then I spent the next dayrecovering from the party scene
that I had explored the day before.
So it was fine.
It's a really popular place.
I don't know that it's my scene.
I really loved Gilly Air.
So compared to Gili T, Gili Airis like a breath of fresh air.
It's so relaxed, so chill.
You could snorkel with sea turtles.
(24:47):
You can just relax onthe beach and suntan.
You can look at coral reefs, it's so laidback I ended up spending a few more days
here and had a really, really lovely time.
Just like these white sand beaches,palm trees, this amazing vegan food
cafe that I found next to my hostel,that like, I don't typically eat
vegan food, but this was some of thebest food I've ever had in my life.
(25:10):
It was incredible.
And all local stuff.
So I really loved Gili air.
Yeah.
So the Gili islands are a hugepart of why so many people know of
Lombok, but a lot of people don'tmake it onto the mainland Lombok.
Like I heard of so many travelers whowere just going to the Gili islands
to go hang out and party on Gili Ti.
And I'm like, no, no, no.
You're missing.
(25:31):
Yeah.
So many of the better spots, like,I loved Gili Air, and then some of
the spots on the mainland that I'lltalk about in a little bit were
just, yeah, absolutely breathtaking.
just to paint a picture for listeners.
So there's Bali where a lot ofpeople know, like where Bali is and
Lombok is just to the east of Bali.
Correct.
And so then these three main Gilliesare to the Northwest of Lombok,
(25:53):
which is the bigger main Island.
And I know that there's a bunchof smaller islands too, but
those three are the main ones.
And how do you get to them?
Is it like a ferry?
Do people fly?
Or is there even an airporton those really tiny islands?
Or do you just take like a ferry boat?
There's not an airporton the small islands.
Lombok, the main island, doeshave an international airport.
(26:14):
But I flew into Bali because I wantedto spend a few days in Bali beforehand.
And then it's super easy toget between Bali and Lombok.
There are fast boats that youcan buy a ticket ahead of time.
It takes about, I would say,two to four hours to travel by
boat between Bali and Lombok.
It depends which port you depart from andwhich port you arrive to, but there are
(26:36):
really, these boats are super popular.
There's multiple that run a day.
The one thing that I would recommendfor anyone out there who's thinking of
traveling to Lombok, the seas can get abit rough at times, and the day that we
flew into Bali, I had flown into Bali andwanted to go to Lombok the very next day.
So I check into my hostel in Baliand I'm like, asking the guy at the
(26:58):
front desk, Hey, I have a boat ticketbooked for Lombok the next day.
And he just looks at me and laughs and islike, you're not going to Lombok tomorrow.
was like, what, what do you mean?
He said that the seas are way too rough.
There's a storm coming in.
We're closing all boat crossings forthe next four or five days, probably.
So
just hang out here for a while.
(27:18):
And I had no idea.
And this is, I think, very, verycommon, especially in the tropics
, especially if it's the rainy season,the weather can be unpredictable.
So I would just recommend anywherein Southeast Asia, but especially
if you're traveling between Bali andLombok to just Have some flexibility
in your travel plans because I endedup having to stay in Bali for Five
days before I could head to Lombok
(27:39):
and so I had to rearrange some of thethings that I had already booked But it's
super easy to rearrange And so make surethat When you get to Bali if you're flying
into Bali first and then planning onboating over to Lombok, I would package in
a few Buffer days if the seas are roughand if you can't get those boats over
Good tip.
Definitely have some flexibilityin your schedule there.
So, okay.
(28:00):
When you got from Bali overto Lombok, what was the first
thing that you did there?
So the first thing that I did was spenda few days on Gili T and Gili Air.
And then, because the boat fromBali to Lombok does stop at the
Gili Islands up north, because
there's such backpacker, hot spots.
So I started there, and then from theGili Islands to the main island of Lombok,
it's only about a 10 minute boat ride.
(28:22):
It's super easy.
You can catch it at any time of day.
And so I took the main boat over toLombok, and then I had actually found a
sailboat that I wanted to work on, becauseI've always wanted to learn how to sail.
And I wrote a whole article about it.
It's up on Travel Lemming under ourperspectives, section, but I sailed down
the West coast of Lombok for seven days.
(28:43):
So I started up North and thenI worked on a sailboat and
stopped in a town called Singigi.
Which is about halfway down the mainisland of Lombok and spent a day there
and was able to explore that area.
And then I sailed down to an islandchain known as the Secret Ghillies, which
I was like, that sounds interesting.
What are the Secret Ghillies?
(29:04):
They are a group of, again,ghillie means island.
It's a group of islands that are.
Similar to the popular Gili Islandsup north, but just so untouched.
Like it's mostly locals that live there.
There's not a lot of touristinfrastructure, but if you're looking
for a really untouched area of Lombokto go visit, the secret Gili's are
(29:26):
where you're going to find that.
Like I spent days just wandering around.
Gosh, I want to say 10 to15 small islands, but I
only visited 3 or 4 of them.
But I was walking around anisland and I saw maybe one other
tourist there the whole time.
And so, it was really cool being onthis sailboat because I was able to
see a side of Indonesia that I hadn'texperienced before because I was going
(29:50):
to these less, less touristy places.
And it's really easy to getto the secret ghillies, if you
don't go work on a sailboat.
You don't have to work on a sailboatto get to the secret ghillies.
But, they are quite close tothe southwestern side of Lombok.
And so you can take a normalferry to get there as well.
But yeah, there's not a lot oftourism infrastructure there,
but I chatted with some locals.
(30:11):
I met a girl who was working at thebar in one of the, marinas there in the
town on the port, and we just had thiswhole conversation, even though there's
a language barrier, she spoke a littlebit of English, I do not speak any of her
language, but we were able to just chatabout, , Our lives, and she was telling
me about how she, you know, wants to goto university someday, wants to study
(30:31):
English, and it was just so fun to, havethese kinds of conversations that is one
of the things that I love so much abouttravel, of just meeting people that are
very similar to you, even though you liveon completely opposite sides of the world,
and you have very different upbringings,but it was really fun to be able to,
to get a more local side to Indonesia.
So that's what I lovedabout the secret ghillies.
That sounds so amazing.
So I want to know more about the sailboat.
(30:53):
You said you've neverworked on a sailboat before.
You've never sailed.
How did you get a job doing this?
Great question.
Again, so much of.
Backpacker knowledge is justpassed through word of mouth.
So, meeting people that you've metthrough hostels or something like that,
you find out so many little travel tips.
And I met a couple in Fiji, actually, whohad just sailed from Panama and crossed
(31:15):
the Pacific and landed in Fiji and theyhad never been on a sailboat before.
And I said, how on earth did you do this?
That sounds amazing.
And they pointed me to thiswebsite called find a crew.
And so you can go on find acrew, make a profile, and you can
look at different sailboats who.
Their captains are looking for crewto come help out for a few weeks,
and just like work on the boat.
(31:36):
So you don't have to pay forit, which is great, but you
do have to work really hard.
You are up at 7am, you are moppingthe deck, you are hoisting the sails.
But it's a great learning experience.
The boat that I chose was a littleless intense than some other boats.
So they only required that I stay for aweek, which was great because I was like,
I've never lived on a sailboat before.
(31:56):
I think a week is a reallygood amount of time to
start off
with.
. But they have been sailing aroundIndonesia for the past two years,
so they knew a lot of the spots.
I ended up working with an Italiancaptain and his British partner,
and so we sailed together.
And I would say for anyone outthere who's considering doing this,
for me as, a solo female traveler.
I really liked the fact that the boat thatI chose, there was another woman on board,
(32:20):
like the captain's wife was there, so thatmade me feel a little bit safer than just
going on a boat with like a random person.
But the thing that I also like about Finda Crew is that you can read reviews of
past crew that have worked on these boats.
It's a website that's pretty similar toWorkaway, if anyone's ever used Workaway
or Worldpackers, where you just can readreviews that other travelers have posted.
(32:41):
And so that made me feel a lot moreconfident about my safety going into
that is so cool.
I have never heard of that in my life.
And now I'm like, I need to packmy bags and go work on a boat.
It was hard.
Like if you read my article, therewere definitely times when I was
like, what have I gotten myself into?
I
got so sunburned.
I got seasick.
But it was also an amazingtime and allowed me to see
(33:02):
a different side of Indonesia
Oh my gosh.
That's incredible.
And, so you said that you feltsafe, like on the boating trip
and so how was safety just as awhole in Lombok and the Ghillies?
Safety, I felt really safe the wholetime that I was traveling in Lombok.
It is a Muslim island, so it isa little bit more conservative.
So if you've seen pictures of peopletraveling in Bali and they're riding
(33:24):
around on scooters, wearing just like abikini top and a little mesh skirt, you
don't really want to do that in Lombok.
It's.
polite to be a little moreconservative with your dress, just
given that it is a Muslim island.
One of the reasons that I think Lombokis becoming more popular now than
it has been in the past is becauseit did have a few incidents of some
(33:44):
terrorist activity about 20 years ago.
I don't know much about it, but Ido know that it's been very, very
safe for the past 10 to 15 years.
It's got a booming tourism industry now.
After I sailed around the secret ghillies,I went to Kuta down south, which is
the big tourist hotspot in Lombok.
So if you're gonna stay anywhere in Lombokand you want more, western comforts,
(34:07):
Kuta is where you're gonna find that.
So there's a lot of resorts in Kuta,a lot of restaurants, you can walk
by and get Indonesian food or youcan go to a pizza place or a vegan
place, so in Kuta, I felt very safebecause again, the tourism industry is
a huge part of that town in particular.
Yeah, that's great to hear.
Because I know, especially like.
Obviously, we're not going to makeour number one spot on this list,
(34:30):
someplace that isn't necessarily safe.
But it's great to hear that it's good foranyone from families to solo travelers.
So I want to get into moreof your favorite things to do on
the island while you were there?
And again, what year was this?
I don't know if we already stated that butI just want to make sure people have an
idea of when you were there And how long
Yeah, I was in Lombok for threeweeks in March and April of 2024.
(34:53):
That's awesome.
So, yeah, if you want to dive into someof your favorite activities outside
of sailing, I know that you said,I've seen a lot of mentions of surfing
there that it's a big surf scene.
Yes, Lombok is huge withsurfing, especially in Kuta.
So one of the reasons that Kuta hasevolved to be the kind of tourist hotspot
(35:14):
that it is, is because it's down south.
It's right on the beach and it's where allthese incredible waves start coming in.
So.
Bali, if anyone's been surfingin Bali, it's very crowded.
The waves are incredible,but it's very crowded.
Lombok is where you'll getthese exact same beautiful waves
with much better conditions.
So not as many crowds.
(35:34):
A surf camp is really popular in Lombok.
So there's a few different hostels thatwill offer surfing as part of the package.
So if anyone is looking to go surfand make friends, whether you're
a beginner or an expert, surfcamps are a huge part of Kuta.
So that's something that I saw a lot.
I didn't go surfing, personally,because I had bed surfing quite a
few times before, and I just, itwasn't on my list of things to do.
(35:58):
I also had gotten crazy sunburnt whileworking on the sailboat and actually had
to stay out of the water for seven days.
So,
so that is specifically why I didn't gosurfing in Kuta, but I just heard from
people that were staying in the resortthat I was staying in that it is just
incredible conditions, and a greatplace to learn or go if you're an expert.
I've recommended it to quitea few surfers that I know,
(36:21):
but Besides surfing, I lovedLombok because I was able to learn
how to drive a motorbike there.
Motorbikes are the main mode oftransportation for getting around
in many places in Southeast Asia.
But when I was in Bali, I was soscared to try to learn how to drive
my own motorbike because the roadsare super crowded, super packed.
Again, it's like, I sound like I'm sayingthe same thing over and over again,
(36:43):
but Lombok is just much less crowded.
So I was able to get on a motorbikeand learn how to drive my own
motorbike around the jungles in Lombok,without all of these cars around me.
And it was incredible.
It was so fun to learn and it gave mea lot more confidence for continuing
in my Southeast Asia travels, where Iwas then able to rent my own motorbike
and feel a lot more confident onthe roads when I was driving in like
(37:04):
Thailand or Vietnam, for example.
Oh, my gosh.
I think motorbikes are themost fun mode of transportation
in the
world.
are so fun.
It's so fun,
and it's pretty affordableto just rent a motorbike.
And then you have the freedomto go all over the place.
Right.
super affordable.
It's the best way to get around.
And so I stayed in Kuta forabout four or five days.
(37:25):
I would have loved to stay forlonger, but we had booked a tour
of Mount Ranjani, which is anothergreat thing to do in Lombok that
I'll talk about in a little bit.
But yeah, spending four orfive days in Kuta, I could have
easily stayed there for longer.
But the main things that I did was.
Listen to people talk about surfingand wish that I was out there in the
water surfing with them, and relaxat the amazing resort that I booked.
(37:47):
It was so affordable.
I chose a resort because it was mybirthday and I wanted to ball out a little
bit and rather than staying in a hostel.
But the resort, I was amazed.
It was only 60 a nightfor a private cottage.
And so split between me and mypartner that I was traveling with,
that's only 30 a night per person.
And the resort that we stayed in was.
(38:09):
Incredible.
It had two different pools.
It had cabanas all around the pool whereyou could just go lounge on the cabana and
then order food that was delivered to you.
And it was the most amazing littlehideaway to come back to after a day spent
exploring the town, exploring the beaches.
I just loved it and I could havestayed there for a lot longer.
But there was also a lot ofreally affordable hostels in town.
(38:32):
I would say hostels wereabout like 10 a night.
And so if I had wanted tostay longer, I probably would
have gone to a hostel instead.
Yeah.
So in terms of budget with reallyeverything, like the getting there, the
food stays, if you want to elaboratea little bit more on that, it sounds
like it's wildly affordable comparedto most places all over the world.
Yeah, I would say it's pretty standardfor a lot of places in Southeast Asia.
(38:55):
Definitely cheaper thanBali, which I loved.
I don't know how much a flight from the U.
S.
would cost because Iflew in from Australia.
So flying in from Australiato Bali was about 200 one way.
And then getting from Bali to Lombok, itwas about 30, 30 to 40 for the fast boat.
(39:15):
Again, you can fly directly intoLombok, but I chose to fly into Bali
first and then take the boat over toLombok so that I could see Bali for
a little bit before going to Lombok.
but in terms of food and drink andactivity, beer is like a dollar.
water, 50 cents.
Food, a typical meal will beanywhere from three to five dollars.
If you're going for a western meal, likeif you're getting a pizza or a hamburger,
(39:40):
it's going to be more expensive.
It'll be more like eightor nine or ten dollars.
But if you're eating local food or apot of noodles or some mee goreng or
nasi goreng, that's going to be aboutlike between two to five dollars per
Yeah.
What is the local cuisine?
Like I, this sounds ridiculous, but theonly time I've ever had Indonesian food is
(40:01):
at a Dutch restaurant that I used to workat because there's like a really strong
Indonesian influence in the Netherlands.
And so I've only had likenasi goreng and it was.
At the Dutch restaurant.
So what is that?
What do they eat?
If you want to go into
that a bit.
Yeah, not ridiculous.
The Dutch originally colonizedIndonesia, and so that's why there's
a huge, exchange of those cultures.
(40:21):
Mi Goreng is a fried noodle andNasi Goreng is a fried rice.
And so those are the two kind of mainthings that I was eating all the time.
There is a lot more in Indonesianfood, but I was less adventurous
than I would have liked to be.
I kind of found my favoritesand I stuck with that the best
thing was that there are lots offresh fruits and fresh smoothies.
(40:43):
I ate a lot of like mangoes and yeah,it was very affordable, very good.
And the nice thing about staying in Kutaspecifically is that you can break up
eating local food with eating maybe likesomething from home that you're really
craving, or some kind of fusion cuisine.
I had a really good Asian fusion, mealfor my birthday dinner when I was in
(41:07):
Kuta and it was, it was just delicious.
So there's definitely options, butif you're staying in one of the more
smaller areas in the secret ghillies orup north, you'll have mostly local food.
Yeah.
Well, it's nice that theyhave some variety and it's
not all just the same thing.
Yeah, and it's really, Easy to makeit vegetarian, like the Nasi Goreng
or Meat Goreng, you can get with anykind of meat, or you can just get it
(41:31):
plain vegetarian, and so that was nice.
I never got sick, I never got anykind of food poisoning, or any
kind of stomach issues, which Iwas very happily surprised about.
Yes, of course.
No, it sounds like such a wonderful place.
So did you happen to hike?
I, I read a little bitabout the volcano there.
(41:51):
Is that correct?
Yes, after staying in Kuta for a fewdays down south, then I booked a tour
to hike the second tallest volcanoin Indonesia, which is Mount Ranjani.
It's located in the north of Lombok.
And so the geography ofLombok is really interesting.
The south has the amazing beaches.
So the south is where you're going to wantto go for surfing, for relaxing on the
(42:12):
beach, for driving motorbikes through ricepaddies, and going up to these beautiful
hills that overlook miles of whitebeaches, and absolutely gorgeous setting.
And then the north of Lombok iswhere you're going to find the
more jungly, mountainous interior.
There's a lot of monkeys, there's alot of really cool wildlife, there's
waterfalls, like so many waterfalls.
(42:34):
And so I knew that I wanted to seethis northern area of Lombok as well.
So When I was in Kuta, I booked a tourto hike to the top of Mount Ranjani.
It's very important.
You need to book a tour in orderto hike to the top because it
is literally a giant volcano.
You have to do it with a guideor else you're going to get lost.
It's also.
Much harder than I thoughtit was going to be.
(42:54):
I think I was coming from,like, I grew up in California.
I've hiked mountains in theSierra Nevada mountains.
I've hiked a couple of14ers over in Colorado.
I was like, I got this.
I'm used to climbing tall mountains.
Mount Ranjani is about 12, 000 feet.
So it's not.
It's not the highest mountain that I'veever hiked, but it starts at literally sea
(43:16):
level, so you are hiking, 12, 000 feet.
And that is not a lot of time toadjust to the elevation change,
Yeah, seriously.
That was what surprised me the most, wasthat it was a lot harder, but it was,
oh my gosh, the views were incredible.
start in this mountain town called Senaru.
So you do actually have about, you startat about like 2000 feet of elevation.
(43:39):
So I would recommend maybe staying inSenaru a few extra days to just start
adjusting to the elevation, especially ifyou're coming from a beach town like Kuta,
where you are, again, are at like zero,
where you're just at sea level.
Senaru is amazing because thetown itself has more to do
than just see Mount Ranjani.
(43:59):
There's a few additionalhikes that you can do that are
supposed to be really amazing.
I was mainly there to hike MountRanjani, so I didn't get to do these
hikes, but you don't just have togo to hike a 12, 000 foot volcano.
There's Beautiful hikes.
There's incredible waterfalls.
So we got into center and one of thefirst things we did was do a super easy
day hike to this beautiful waterfall.
(44:19):
It's been called the mostbeautiful waterfall in Lombok.
It's Tiu Kalep waterfall.
And it just was one of the mostamazing waterfalls I've ever seen.
And the jungle there is just so beautiful.
And then the next day, we got upsuper early to hike Mount Ranjani,
and we chose to do a two day hike.
So you hike up to this craterthat overlooks the volcano in the
(44:41):
middle of a caldera, I don't reallyknow how to describe it, but it
is Absolutely stunning, unlikeanything I've ever seen before.
And then you go to bed around 8pm andyou get woken up at 2am the next morning.
And you are hiking to the topof this volcano in the dark.
And then you get to thetop and you watch sunrise.
You can see Mount Ranjani is pretty inlandin the north , of the island of Lombok.
(45:05):
But from the top of the mountain,you can see all the way to the ocean.
So I was just standing on top of thismountain at six in the morning, watching
the sun come up, just seeing all ofLombok spread out before me, and just
the hues and colors of this volcano.
There's like, red, volcanic, rock, andthen there's also the black volcanic
rock, and then there's the bright blueof this lake that's right below you,
(45:27):
and then the green, like, lush junglespread out beneath you, and then you
can see all the way to the ocean.
And it was, I cried at the top.
Partly because I was exhausted, andalso partly because it is, to this
day, one of my favorite, most amazingviews I've ever seen, and I would
recommend it to anyone that's going to
Oh, it sounds like such anemotional, beautiful experience.
(45:47):
That is
Yes, it was.
so cool.
So it's, it's a multiple day hike.
You can do it, yeah, it's, if youwant to go to the top, you can choose
from either a two or three day hike.
If you want to just go up tothis crater where you can see the
volcano but not hike to the topof it, you can do just a day hike.
So there are a few differentoptions, but you start in Senaru.
(46:08):
And the really nice thing about bookinga tour is that they'll transport
you from wherever you are in Lombok.
They'll just put you in a carand drive you right to the top.
To where the home stay is.
And so that's another reallycool part about going to OU is
that you get to see a differentside of Indonesian accommodation.
So in CTA I was staying in a resort andthere's lots of hostels around, but the
(46:29):
time that I got to stay in a home staywas up north in ou and that was really
wonderful because I got to stay withthe family and have them cook for me
and just experience a different sideof, incredible Indonesian hospitality.
that sounds so, so cool.
Oh my goodness.
Well, as we wrap up, I wanted to ask,what is the best time of year to go?
Yeah, I would recommendgoing in the dry season.
(46:51):
So Lombok's dry seasonis April through October.
This is best if you're hoping tohike Mount Ranjani because Mount
Ranjani is only open to hike inthe dry season, so it completely
shuts down during the wet season.
So don't try to hike Mount Ranjaniif you're visiting Lombok any
time between November and March.
But just in general, the dry seasonis really great because it's when the
(47:12):
surfing conditions are going to be best.
It's when hiking conditions aregoing to be best and you won't
get caught in a midday monsoon.
So April through October iswhen I would recommend visiting.
So just to summarize, Why, asa whole, should I, or anyone
listening, go to Lombok?
I know you've talked all about thisincredible place, the food, the
budget, the safety, the things todo, and if you could just put it
(47:34):
into a couple of sentences, whatwould you say about visiting Lombok?
If you're looking for a more offthe beaten path side of Indonesia,
What Bali was like 50 years ago.
Go to Lombok.
Bali is crowded.
Lombok is not.
Bali is expensive.
Lombok is not.
You could do all the amazingthings that you can do in Bali.
(47:55):
You can do in Lombok.
Surfing, riding motorbikes through ricepaddies, hiking to waterfalls and to
the tops of volcanoes, experiencingamazing local cuisine and hospitality.
It's all there.
It's all in Lombok.
And.
It's gonna become much more popular soon.
So I would recommend going right
Yes, and I think that's why it's numberone on our list for 2025, because
(48:17):
right now it seems like it's muchless discovered than many major
destinations in Southeast Asia, and so,if you're gonna go, you should go now.
Before more people discover it and it kindof turns into a second Bali, you know?
Well, thank you, Laura,so much for your time.
It has been so wonderful hearing allabout why we should go to Lombok and
also just having you be my co host today.
(48:39):
You are so wonderful.
And I really, really enjoyedthis episode with you.
Everybody listening, please goahead and check out our list of
the top places to travel in 2025.
And I just want to give a quickshout out to Travel Loving itself.
Check out our website.
We've got.
Hundreds and hundreds of amazing guides.
We have over 1500 actually, as well asperspectives coming out every single week.
(49:01):
We also have meetups, which both of us,Laura and I both are hosting meetups.
She hosts the one in San Francisco.
I host the one in Phoenix.
And in addition to those, we also have onein Chicago, Denver, San Juan, Vancouver.
Seattle and Nashville.
So those are the eight places.
(49:21):
If you live anywhere nearthese major cities, we would
love to meet you in person.
So come on over, have a beer with usand we can talk all things travel.
And yeah, that's pretty muchall we've got for you today.
Keep an eye out for the next episodewhere Nate and I interview the rest of
our team for the remainder of the list ofthe top destinations to travel in 2025.
But for now, add Lombok to yourlist of where you're going to go.
(49:45):
Laura, thank you so muchagain for being here today.
I'll let you say goodbye for us.
Thank you so much for having me I hadsuch a wonderful time and thank you
for letting me talk your ear off aboutwhy Lombok is one of my favorite places
ever and why everyone should go visit
Oh, the pleasure was all mine.
Well, thank you listeners for beinghere and we will see you next time.
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