Bali / Indonesia Luxury Anniversary, Birthday Vacation Review: Jungle Trekking, Wildlife, Cruising, Culture, Four-Week Trip

We just completed a great trip to Indonesia. We chose Zicasso’s tour company and their travel agent and we’re glad we did. We talked to a number of travel companies and ultimately went with our agent because he was extremely responsive, easy to work with, and very flexible with the travel planning through multiple iterations of our plans. We were celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary, along with my wife’s birthday, and every hotel had special celebrations and surprises for us, all because of our travel agent.

Coordinating the trip wasn’t easy as I started out 12 days before my wife to do a scuba dive liveaboard in Raja Ampat in far eastern Indonesia. My wife flew solo and reached Bali one day ahead of me to rest up from the long flights.

Our travel agent’s special services during the trip started with him providing airport escort services for all our flights upon arrival, as well as departures. This was tremendously helpful in navigating unfamiliar airports, collecting luggage, and co-ordinating connecting flights, as well as providing lounge services for longer layovers between flights. One escort was incredibly helpful in getting us rebooked on an earlier flight that had been delayed when our flight was also delayed. All the domestic flights were on regional carriers and experienced delays and cancellations multiple times. They handled all the rebooking and more, including checking us in for all the flights and sending us our boarding passes. It was a huge help. I can’t say enough good things about this service throughout our trip and many domestic flights. Thanks.

The agent met me on my arrival in Jakarta at 6am and brought some prearranged currency exchange, which was very helpful. He also arranged a day hotel at the airport in Jakarta for my long layover to Sorong, West Papua, in eastern Indonesia.

Our agent also met my wife upon her arrival in Bali 12 days later, along with our driver and tour guide in Bali. He provided currency exchange for her as well. Going the extra mile, literally on a different island to meet my wife and escort her to our first hotel, was greatly appreciated.

I joined my wife in Bali the next day and was again escorted to the resort an hour away by our agent, the driver, and tour guide. Great service. The first hotel at Keramas Beach was great, five stars, and on a beautiful black-sand beach. After recuperating for a couple of days, we headed to Flores island. I was able to leave my dive bag with our tour guide and driver, which was very helpful. An hour’s fight away was another awesome boutique beach resort. From there we were able to take a private speed boat to some beautiful islands and beaches, and to see the Komodo dragons.

After three days on Flores, we headed back to Bali for eight days of sightseeing. We stayed just outside of Ubud at another great hotel with beautiful jungle views. From Ubud, we explored Bali, doing multiple waterfall hikes, sacred temple water cleansing, rice field hikes, local handicrafts, village walks, visiting Ubud, and more. We had a great guide and driver. They knew out-of-the-way places, routes, back roads, unscheduled sights, and short excursions that really enhanced the experience.

From Bali, we went to Borneo via Jakarta, where I was again able to drop off my dive bag, which was helpful. In Borneo, we had a private riverboat for two nights, cruising the river and narrow passageways to visit three orangutan feeding sites. Although the feeding is a daily routine, watching the orangutans in the jungle was amazing. The riverboat had a great crew and food, and our guide was wonderful.

From Borneo we went to Sumatra to trek in the jungle and see orangutans in their natural habitat. We started out seeing a rehabilitation site for elephants that had caused trouble in the villages. We went trekking in the jungle, followed by tubing down a river, which was fun. After relocating to a national park, we spent three days trekking with our guides. Seeing orangutans in their natural habitat could be the highlight of the trip, although there were many wonderful sights and experiences. Then it was off to Singapore to rest for a couple of days before heading home. A great trip.

I can’t overstate what a great job our travel agent and his team did. Every hotel was great, with each providing special anniversary and birthday surprises, including special dinners, flowers on the bed on arrival with messages, massages, great food, great service, etc. The riverboat even had a birthday cake for my wife. All the extra services, including providing currency exchange, personal greetings, airport escorts, being able to drop off my dive bag twice, checking in routinely to make sure everything was good, providing great guides and drivers, private boats for the day trip in Flores, the riverboat in Borneo, and capping off with the jungle treks, really made for a great trip.

The trip was an experience of a lifetime, courtesy of our travel agent and his company. I would highly recommend them to anyone thinking about taking a private, personalized, special trip to Indonesia.