We had an early start to the day, to get to the airport for our 7am one-hour flight to Labuan Bajo on Flores – several islands east of Bali. We were meant to be arriving early so that we could catch our liveaboard boat at 9am, which we had arranged for 3 nights. However our plans had been adjusted a couple of months ago due to the availability of boats, and was totally out of our control. We tried changing the flights, but had no luck, so instead had to go with the early morning and head straight for a hotel rather than the boat.

After a little kerfuffle over prices of taxis (there are no Grab cars here on Flores, only Grab motorbikes – not practical with two children and lots of rucksacks!), we finally got someone to take us the 8 minute car journey to our hotel.

We were too early for check in, but were able to dump our bags and go and use the pool until our room was ready… and thankfully our rooms we’re ready by 11:30am, despite check out not being until 12. Thank you people who came before us!

We had a lovely time in and out of the pool for the morning, but when we got to our room we found the old only-three-beds issue again! It seems several places in Asia only provide a bed per adult in the room (adults are age 13 and above), rather than per person. We’re not sure if it’s down to budget hotels vs pricier ones, but it has happened to us before! Nothing we could do about it though, so we shifted two beds together and Martin won the single bed argument that time!

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After a quiet lunch at the restaurant onsite at the hotel, we holed up in our room and enforced nap time – both kids were adamant they wouldn’t sleep… both kids were asleep in 20 minutes!

Post-nap refreshment took a while to come, but we were soon dressed and ready to catch the sunset and head out for dinner. We had chosen a place called Green Cherry, very highly rated online for its beautiful views and delicious food.

Our taxi driver suggested we stop higher up the hill rather than go straight to the restaurant, to ensure we caught the sunset, which was a good idea as it was just gorgeous (cue sunset spam!)

We then made our way down the hill for 5 minutes (followed by three curious young girls about Sylvie’s age) to the restaurant. The views there isn’t disappoint either, nor did the food. Martin (of course) was the most adventurous – choosing Ikan Bakar (Indonesian roasted fish with rice).

We were full and sleepy after the scrumptious supper, so caught a taxi back to our hotel. There was a bit of drama between us and the man we’ve arranged the liveaboard boat with – essentially over money that nobody had! We’d previously transferred a deposit over to secure the boat, and the money had left our account but he hadn’t received the money his end and had been told it wouldn’t clear until September. Cue several complicated WhatsApp conversations and attempts at cancelling funds via banking apps and all sorts. Thankfully both kids fell asleep before this went on, so they had a good nights sleep.

We hope that tomorrow all will get resolved and we’ll be off on our boat trip for a few days.