How to backpack for months with just hand luggage

Everyone we met was shocked (and impressed) that two girls were travelling with just hand luggage but, honestly, its easy and so worth it.

Why should you do it?

• No waiting at baggage carousels for your luggage wondering if they even put it on the plane
• Save money by not paying for hold luggage
• Save time checking in – you can check in online, print your boarding pass, before you get to the airport, and go straight through to security
• It makes travelling from place to place so much easier – walking with a 40l backpack is easy
• You get to laugh at people struggling with massive backpacks that look like they’re carrying their whole family and applaud yourself for being such a savvy traveller

Ubud

We had a shuttle from the coast of Bali into Ubud. Ubud is known for its appearance in Eat Pray Love where Julia Roberts’ character “like totally finds herself”. We were staying in a nice home stay with a big double bed, a slight way out of the centre. We rented a motorbike and biked to a number of different destinations around Ubud including the sacred monkey forest, where monkeys roam freely:

Lombok and the Gilis

We flew from Bangkok into Bali and then caught a flight, straight away, to Lombok, costing us only £14 each. We later found out that this airline (Wings Air) has crashed multiple times and is banned from flying internationally… But, never mind because we are here alive and well!
Our first Indonesian destination was Kuta (Lombok) and we had a homestay booked – our own private shalet with a huge double bed and tasty breakfast included!
On our first day we motorbiked to two of the beaches on the west coast. The first beach we went to (mawun) was beautiful and serene with just a few tourists. Afterwards, we headed to the beach known for its sunset views and surfer scene (manwi) and we walked over the rocky hill to find a stretch of pebbled beach with just one other couple on the whole beach. With practically a beach to ourselves we lay back and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Mawun Beach, Kuta Lombok