Bali (Indonesia in general) [NOT] to be Visa free for Australians from Jan 2015

[samh004]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Something to consider for the future

 

[Pushka]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Watching the schoolies in Bali yesterday was pretty disgusting.

Avoid Kuta at all costs.

 

[Isochronous]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Watching the schoolies in Bali yesterday was pretty disgusting.

Avoid Kuta at all costs.

Schoolies is disgusting and most of Bali is full of disgusting bogans. Reason why I won't be visiting anytime soon.

 

[drivatruk]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Schoolies is disgusting and most of Bali is full of disgusting bogans. Reason why I won't be visiting anytime soon.

Most of Bali isn't full of bogans. Kuta is. Travel a bit further a field.

 

[Pushka]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Jimbaran Bay is beautiful.

 

[JohnK]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

The guy at CGK who runs a business of offering "express" immigration to visitors will be losing a lot of $$$!

He'll be right. Will more than likely find a new way to scam tourists.

 

[Deleted member]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Jimbaran Bay is beautiful.

Staying there (Jimbaran) in March.
its a pity I travel on a Kiwi passport though

 

[casanovawa]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Doesn't matter if you don't go Bali, you won't be missed....

Liking this, I had actually thought of cheap places to fly to in Asia to then get the cheaper award flights on some programs or cheaper airfares to Europe/USA from Asia but because J* doesn't interline baggage with anyone but themselves or maybe Qantas meant you have to go through customs and pay the VOA of $35 on the way in to rebook your bags and then $15-20 or so on the way out... Now its not going to have the VOA I might fly to Bali or Jakarta just to get onward flights...

So there might be some little benefit of getting rid of VOA that they maybe they thought of and maybe they didn't???

 

[defurax]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Doesn't matter if you don't go Bali, you won't be missed....

Liking this, I had actually thought of cheap places to fly to in Asia to then get the cheaper award flights on some programs or cheaper airfares to Europe/USA from Asia but because J* doesn't interline baggage with anyone but themselves or maybe Qantas meant you have to go through customs and pay the VOA of $35 on the way in to rebook your bags and then $15-20 or so on the way out... Now its not going to have the VOA I might fly to Bali or Jakarta just to get onward flights...

So there might be some little benefit of getting rid of VOA that they maybe they thought of and maybe they didn't???

But you'll still have to pay the departure tax in IDR (cash)

 

[casanovawa]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

But you'll still have to pay the departure tax in IDR (cash)

Yeah, A$20 or so... When there are some real cheap specials to Bali on Air Asia and you get J* to 10% price beat you can get up to Bali for less than $150, then $20 on the way out....

And if you want to stay at a hotel say over night or for a few days your looking at what, $50 a night where Singapore is $130+...

Just something I have been thinking of....

 

[defurax]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Yeah, A$20 or so... When there are some real cheap specials to Bali on Air Asia and you get J* to 10% price beat you can get up to Bali for less than $150, then $20 on the way out....

And if you want to stay at a hotel say over night or for a few days your looking at what, $50 a night where Singapore is $130+...

Just something I have been thinking of....

You're absolutely right. I was just mentioning that the departure tax has to be paid cash in rupiah, which can be a pain for someone who is just transiting/re-checking bags.

 

[casanovawa]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

You're absolutely right. I was just mentioning that the departure tax has to paid cash in rupiah, which can be a pain for someone who is just transiting/re-checking bags.

Ah ok, I have some at home from previous visits of rampant boganism...

Is there no ATM at the airport that you could get some Rph out or money changer?? Sure I have stepped outside and gotten some Rph out, then could go straight back in and checkin i guess if your next flight was within 3 hours or wait for a bit... Anyway, still mulling it over as a connecting option, only 3.5 hours from Perth on a squishy J* plane instead of 5 hours to SIN...

 

[Cynicor]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Ah ok, I have some at home from previous visits of rampant boganism...

Is there no ATM at the airport that you could get some Rph out or money changer?? Sure I have stepped outside and gotten some Rph out, then could go straight back in and checkin i guess if your next flight was within 3 hours or wait for a bit... Anyway, still mulling it over as a connecting option, only 3.5 hours from Perth on a squishy J* plane instead of 5 hours to SIN...

There are plenty of ATMs, including one or two just by the departure tax counter.

 

[JohnK]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Watching the schoolies in Bali yesterday was pretty disgusting.

Avoid Kuta at all costs.

Toolies and schoolies? What sort of parent allows a 16 or 17 year old to participate in this schemozzle overseas? On second thoughts I don't want to know.

Legal age to drink in Australia is 18 but there is nothing official in Bali? Supposedly 17 but not enforced.

Quite happy to stay away.

 

[blaz]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

People don't travel to Bali because of a $25 visa.

no....but the queue was horrendous ....1-2 hours was not unusual....put me off.....will wait to see how effective it is before planning another trip..

 

[Musongman]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

I like the idea of using Jakarta or another Indonesian port to travel on in Asia. Don't have any idea of which carriers service that area. The 30day free stamp on arrival in Thailand has certainly helped their tourism efforts.

 

[ajca]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

Not sure how much of a difference this will make for Australians in terms of waiting times at DPS (Bali). You'll still get stuck in the immigration lines, just no the VOA line. Although the VOA process was not exactly the model of efficiency so avoiding that will help a bit.

The immigration lines are completely out of control, especially on Friday evenings.

The crack down on fast-track seems to have been pretty thorough as apparently even the Intercontinental could not organise it when I asked them back in September. Lucky for APEC card

Having said that, DPS still seems to be on my HSBC Singapore list of airports where expedited immigration is available so it must be possible.

Anyway, getting rid of VOA for visitors from these countries is a very smart initiative by Jokowi. Perhaps we should all follow his advice and go places in Indonesia other than Bali!

(As a rule of thumb, I always remind myself there is a very strong inverse correlation between the number of daily Jetstar flights and the quality of a place as a beach destination.)

 

[Cynicor]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

So I've had decent experiences in both visits over the last month. 1st- 3-4 ahead for VOA, maybe 15-20 min max for immigration. Monday arrival, ~1400

2nd- no queue for VOA, maybe 3 people ahead of me for immigration. Wednesday Arrival ~1100.

 

[Austman]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

It's January and appartently there's no sign that the VOA fee has been dropped. Yet.

 

[djfuzz]

Re: Bali (as well as Indonesia in general) to be Visa free for Australians from Jan

It's January and appartently there's no sign that the VOA fee has been dropped. Yet.

FWIW I arrived into DPS late on 31/12 and had to pay VOA, but I asked at the counter and was assured that had we arrived a few hours later we would not have had to pay. But not actually having done so myself I can't confirm.