Visiting Bali

I recently got back from a holiday break in Bali. It was great: nice people, excellent weather and a new cultural experience.

Also, nobody blew me up.

What there isn't at the moment is very many tourists - largely because Australia and New Zealand recommend against non-essential travel. Other countries don't do this, the UK recommends exercising caution. Since I'm British and in any case consider a beach holiday to be "essential travel", then I reckoned I was ok.

I do think the travel advice thing is bad. It hurts a lot of people who can least afford it. Anywhere outside an active war zone, one is far more at risk from traffic accidents than terrerism.

I reckon the travel advice for everywhere should be something like the following:

Abroad isn't like NZ (or Australia, etc). Bad things might happen. They probably won't though. We don't provide a nanny service for travelling Kiwis (..etc) - if things turn bad, you're on your own. Having said that, almost all people have an enjoyable and enriching time overseas. Have a good trip!