Obamas live it up in Ubud

CHEAP flights and quick travel times make it the Territory’s favourite holiday destination but there might be a little more incentive to head there now if you are a fan of US royalty.

The Obama clan, headed by former US president Barack Obama are taking a five-day break in Ubud, the spiritual capital of Bali made famous by the iconic 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love.

And they’re staying in none other than the $7500-pernight RoyalVilla, an epic threebedroom, three-storey residence set on the grounds of the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan on Ubud’s outskirts – the same stately residence where Julia Roberts lived with her two children for three months while shooting Eat, Pray, Love the movie, alongside Spanish heart-throb Javi- er Bardem. After landing at Bali’s Ngurah rai International Airport on Friday at 5.55pm, Obama, his wife Michelle, their daughters Malia and Sasha, a few other Obama family members and a small team of security were chauffeured from Bali’s international airport up to Ubud, a 40km drive that can take up to two hours on Bali’s roads.

On arrival, Obama and his entourage were driven to the an 18-acre resort where a concealed clock tower staircase – overlooking a gentle bend in the Ayung River and jungle canopy brimming with birdlife – descends into the Royal Villa.

The former leader of the free world and his family are expected to do the same as the million Aussie tourists who visit Bali every year – bask in the sunshine and possibly sink into some Bintang longnecks by the pool bar.