We felt like royalty on honeymoon trip to Bali
Scots actress Gillian Parkhouse wowed audiences as Cinderella last year at the King’s pantomime in Edinburgh.
She’s back at the venue again this year, alongside regulars Allan Stewart and Grant Stott, in Beauty And The Beast, which started yesterday and runs until January 20.
FOR our honeymoon in August, 2015, we went to Bali.
My husband Ross and I didn’t ask for wedding presents, instead we asked for donations to purchase things on holiday, like snorkelling and dinner on the beach.
We had so many donations we were able to do a lot more than we would have otherwise.
On our way out of London, I thought I would try that thing you always see in films, where people go to the airline desk and say they are on honeymoon and try for an upgrade.
Ross said don’t dare, but I love a bargain and the worst they could say was no. As it turned out, our seats were upgraded, which we were very grateful for on a long flight.
Ross thanked me all the way there!
The holiday was split into three parts.
The first was eight days in Ubud, which was the most authentic part of the country we visited.
The initial impression was of streets that weren’t the prettiest, but then we travelled into the jungle and it becomes really impressive.
We stayed at the Viceroy, which was a real treat.
We woke up to all sorts of jungle noises and monkeys would try to get into our suite.
During our time in the town we visited a coffee plantation, rice fields and holy water temples.
One of our favourite places was Monkey Forest, as we’re big animal lovers. Some of them took a liking to my sunglasses and also to Ross’s head. They would even look under our tops, grabbing a cheeky feel!
We got up at 2am one day and travelled to North Bali for a dolphin sunrise trip that a family member bought us.
At 5.45am, just as the sun came up, we were out on a boat with dolphins jumping all around us. It was spectacular.
The second part was in Nusa Dua, a beach resort in the south of the island, where there was a private beach, kayaking and snorkelling.
There was also an award-winning spa where we were given a free three-hour session because we were on honeymoon. It was so great I fell asleep!
Finally, we moved on to Seminyak, which was very touristy. We preferred the authentic parts instead.
We had a sunset dinner on the beach one night, where staff put out stones on the sand to spell out Happy Honeymoon.
The entire trip was just stunning.