Dealing with groups in Bali

My situation right now in Bali, is having friends visit, who like hving me show them around. I like exploring Bali and feel lucky to be here, but showing people around is exhausting. My 2 days with my friends included a day at a scorching hot beach, followed by a hot, dusty trawl through Legian and Kuta, looking for the cheapest deal on AC rooms. It occurs to me, that group dynamics is an endlessly fascinating subject.

When you travel, the number of people you go with, will have a huge impact on your trip. The fewer people means more mobility, the greater number means the harder it will be to get anything done, whether it be going out for a meal of exploring. I said to Toby this evening, its a shame we can’t just jump on my motorbike, and go traveling.

In our group there are 4 adults and 1 kid. Two of us have major commitments. Toby takes care of his daughter Maya, 24/7. If she needs a nap, everything stops. I have my website and need to get online, meaning there is a stress to type stuff and get to an internet cafe, after doing all the stuff in the day.

Tonight we were talking about how we could maximize our time. Maya is awake usually during daylight hours, meaning 6am-6.30pm in Bali, after that its lights out. For me these big sessions in the sun and heat, mean a nap at 4pm, followed by waking up like a dead body, and getting into my work sometime later.

Tommorow we’re going to Ubud, which has plenty of guest houses, places to eat and internet access, some of it even useable. I hope to show my friends around a bit, take a dip in the river, learn more about the challenges of family travel (I have a family, but for some reason for us its easy) and manage to keep pumping out content, for all the info hungry Baliblog readers. Yeeah!!!