Embark on an exotic journey with me, Pete George, as I unveil the luscious landscapes of Bali and the seamless routes to get there from down under. I'm rolling out the red carpet of travel wisdom, highlighting Jetstar's advantageous flight schedules that could turn any Australian's dream into a lush reality. In a step-by-step narrative, I'll navigate you through the meticulous process of planning your Balinese adventure, from selecting the best airline to landing the ideal accommodation. Cast away the anxiety of travel woes; I'll ensure you're armoured with the right insurance and a passport that's ready for action, not to mention guiding you through Bali's visa labyrinth with ease.
As we set sail in this episode, I'm tossing a lifeline to my fellow travellers over 50, showing you how to globe-trot without emptying your pockets. Stay in the know by subscribing to the Pete George Experience where we share not just travel tips, but a treasure trove of insights for the matured adventurer. Tune in and transform your travel game as we discuss currency exchange tricks and the new automated gates at Bali's airport that promise a hassle-free welcome. Prepare to enrich your travel diary as we chart the course to your next unforgettable escapade in captivating Bali.
Visa on Arrival before departure
Jetstar
Virgin Australia
Batik Air
Garuda
My Site
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Speaker 1: Hi and welcome to this episode of the Pete George
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Experience. And today we're going to talk about travel and
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if you didn't know or haven't read my bio, I've worked in
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travel for many a year, over various different periods, and
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I'd like to share what I have learnt, what I know, what I
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enjoy. And, to start it all off, we're going to talk about how to
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get out of Australia and to our favourite place, bali. So the
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nuts and bolts of it is Bali is six hours from where we are in
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Brisbane. There's multiple airlines that fly from Brisbane
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to Denpasar, which is where the main well, it's not technically
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Denpasar, it's more Lagian White . So to get there, there's
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Bartik, air Virgin and Jetstar, and out of Melbourne and Sydney
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there's also Garuda and I think there's AirAsia out of Western
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Australia. But most of the mainland states have the three.
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So that's pretty cool. This time we've chosen Jetstar,
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to much of people's dismay. Why are we flying? They've just
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released some new times. They normally fly at 7.30 in the
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morning and that's when Bartik, which is who we normally fly
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with, fly as well. But they've got a 4 o'clock in the afternoon
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flight that gets in at 9 and they've got on the return flight
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, they've got a 1 o'clock flight in the afternoon that gets you
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back at 8.30 at night, back at 8.30 at night, so it's a bit
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better than arriving at 5.30 in the morning. So booking direct
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with the airlines is pretty cool . There's also Webjet
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webjetcomau so you can book through those places. But
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they're all pretty good, despite some of the things that have
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happened since they've come back from COVID. But I think they're
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getting better and better. So we'll only wait and see. We use
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bookingcom for our Uber bookings , but we stay at a homestay, so
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that's what we do there. Now, before you leave, let's
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take a step back. As soon as you make a booking, I suggest that
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you take out travel insurance. Now there's a few around
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Passport and Covermore, both Australian call centres, so
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that's pretty cool. So not here to talk about travel insurance
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too much other than once. You've made a booking and paid some
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money, take it out and, as I always tell people when I worked
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in the travel industry, if you can't afford travel insurance,
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you can't afford to travel, and I still stick by that.
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So the next part to the journey is to check your passport.
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Bali's pretty strict and I think a lot of countries are getting a
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little bit more strict on how your passport is in the way of
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condition and any little tears, watermarks, anything that looks
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like it's been defaced, and you are going to be in a little bit
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of trouble. Just recently, an Australian woman was refused the
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outbound flight here in Australia because there was a
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small tear in her passport and immigration knew here that she
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wouldn't make it through immigration in Bali. So she was
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refused a flight and then had to go and get a new passport. The
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other thing, too, is that most countries require you to have a
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minimum of six months. Entries require you to have a minimum of
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six months past the expiration, or whatever. The word is that
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your passport expires whilst you're overseas. So if you take
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your end date, the safest way is to take your end date of travel
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at six months, and if your passport falls within that
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period, you will need a new one or you will be refused entry or
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exit. So, um, that's another part, so
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that'll get you out of the country. Then what we normally
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do is we actually add or we do the visa on arrival. So you need
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a visa to enter Bali. It's around about $50 Australian, so
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500 rupiah per person, and it can be done online, which
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I'll leave the official link because there's a lot of
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immigration agencies that will try to do it for you and they'll
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charge you more. So, yeah, the link will be in the show notes
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for you that you'll be able to click on and you just fill it
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out. It's quite simple. Yes, you have to upload your passport and
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photos and things like that, but it's pretty much instant that
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you or a couple of days, I think , at worst, depending whether
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they've got holidays or not over in Bali, which will hold things
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up a little bit. So that gets you your visa. And there's also
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now a 14 140 000 so 14 tourist tax, which I am still learning a
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little bit about, um, so hopefully I can tack that on.
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I'll find out a little bit more. It's paid on arrival there, I'm
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assuming, but I'll check with my mate occy at what's Up Parley, a
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good little channel to watch. So that gets you from here to there
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. Another bit of advice that I will give don't take too much
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cash or change your money here You'll get more. Take your
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Australian dollars, because you'll get more over there than
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you will here for your dollar and most of the money. Changes
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at the airport are very reputable and there and there we
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go. So that's roughly getting from here to there. Now, once
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you get to Bali, hopefully they've upgraded them a bit more
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and you now don't have to go and stand at immigration and have
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them look up and down like I get every time I go there and
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they're sort of a bit grumpy. So now they've got automated gates.
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So basically you scan your passport, scan your visa on
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arrival, and then wait a minute and you'll get another
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confirmation to show and then you just go to luggage, grab
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your bags and out through immigration. So they're
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improving all the time and, yeah , so this is the first in the
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little snippets to get you into Bali safe.
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The next episode will be how to get out and about in the
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cheapest way possible. So thanks for listening to this episode of
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the Pete George Experience and make sure that you subscribe on
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Spotify and all of those wonderful things Apple Podcast.
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So if you go to petergeorgecomau , there's a whole list there
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that you can actually join up or sign up to, and also there
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should be a little flag come up on the website where you can
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join the mailing list. So we'll do that once a fortnight and
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then you'll be up to date with everything that we do, because
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we don't just talk about travel, we talk about everything that
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affects us in today's world, and especially for people over 50.
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So, as I always say in my shows, wake up and be the best version
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of yourself.