Above: The pool at our sister hotel, Bintang Bali.
After breakfast, I felt it was mandatory to go use the large pool at the sister hotel next door, Bali Bintang. While asking about pool towels, we were shown the shortcut across there. Kim had been walking out to the road to get there and finally learned about a shortcut on the day of departure.
After 1h30 in the pool, I thought I had my money’s worth. We headed out for a foot massage and shared a light bite before enjoying our paid late check-out till 1500.
The hotel was fine to give us an hour past the standard 1200 time but charged IDR100K (NZD10) per hour thereafter. While the rate was high compared to the nightly rate, it was still easy on the pocket and made a big difference to convenience.
We got to the airport around 1515. Mobile boarding passes aren’t issued on the Air New Zealand app for departures from Bali. The queue didn’t take long and had ourselves sorted after a slight hiccup. Kim’s selected aisle seat (free) had disappeared, and he was placed in a window seat with two other people in that row.
While in the lounge, I got my paid staff upgrade to Premium Economy but didn’t get Business.
A cursory secondary security check was made at the gate before we boarded the 1850 flight to Auckland.
The new Premium Economy seats on Air New Zealand seem less comfortable than the old ones. They slide forward within their shell when reclined and my feet touch the seat in front, even for me at 1.7m.