Indonesia - $230.07
We spent ten days in Indonesia and had already almost gone over budget by the time we stepped off the plane in Lombok. The main culprit here was our Flights, even though we only had two domestic flights plus our arrival flight from Malaysia, they totalled over $870. Our Lodging was also more expensive than necessary, but that was a personal decision. We had no expenses for rental vehicles or fuel in Indonesia, but unfortunately that was the only $0.00 expense category.
Our three Flights averaged almost $300 each, far more than we’ve been spending on other flights in southeast Asia. I’m not completely sure of the reason for this, other than the reality that there just aren’t many ways to travel between islands. For example: to get between Lombok and Labuan Bajo, we had two options - a flight connection with one stop in Bali or a 34 hour ferry with two stops. The ferry didn’t include cabins or beds and air-conditioning was not guaranteed, so naturally you can guess which one we chose. Our flight connection from Malaysian Borneo to Lombok was also a nightmare, with an illogical stop in Kuala Lumpur. While this route didn’t make any sense, the small number of flights into Lombok limited the options we had. We talked to many other travelers who had experienced the same issue getting to Lombok.
Our Lodging costs were higher than necessary, at about $57.66 per night, because we were treating Lombok as a vacation within our trip based around exploration. This meant that we stayed at some nicer resorts, the Pullman and Amber Lombok, which averaged about $87 per night during our 5 nights on Lombok. Even though our hotels cost far less in Labuan Bajo and Jakarta, about $34 per night, our overall Lodging expenses still ate up more of our budget than we would’ve liked. I have to say though, the money we spent in Lombok was well worth it. We felt really recharged and ready to tackle the next adventure by the time we moved on to Labuan Bajo! The Amber Lombok is also now one of our favorite hotels during our entire trip – I think I could’ve stayed there even longer.
Food was priced quite reasonably in Indonesia, especially considering the fact that for our 5 days on Lombok, we ate many of our meals at our hotels. We found that of the towns we went to, many of the options were western dining, meaning we tried less traditional cuisine than we had in other countries. We did, however, find a number of terrific pastry and coffee shops in both Kuta on Lombok and in Jakarta.
Activities were our final large category of expense in Indonesia, but almost all of this came from just one day. We spent one day taking a day trip out to see the Komodo Dragons in Komodo National Park just off the coast from Labuan Bajo. Our tickets for a one-day, fast-boat, multi-stop tour cost us $91 each, and our entry to the park cost an additional $24 each. Add in the tips we felt obliged to pay our tour guide, boat captain, and Komodo Island guides, and it adds up to about $240. While this was an expensive day, with activities alone over our daily budget, we think it was completely worth it. We got to see a Komodo Dragon from only a few feet away and we snorkeled with two different species of Sea Turtle!
We also had a small amount of expenses for Other Transportation, Miscellaneous, and our Visas. We spent about $7.63 per day on Other Transportation, mainly coming from Grab or Taxi rides to and from airports. We also spent about $6.11 per day on Miscellaneous expenses, mainly cash I can’t account for now and some laundry we had done while in Jakarta. Finally, we spent $64 for our visas-on-arrival, which we paid online a few days before we arrived to avoid the long lines at the airport when we landed.