"Paradise Found...I Take It All Back! - Day 5 of the Family Road Trip From H___!"

"Heaven....I'm in Heaven...la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laaaaaah!"

After chartering a little boat for the twenty minute ride from Lombok to Gili Air (the best of the Gili islands most say), we landed in Paradise.  No, really we did.

Peaceful, serene and drop dead gorgeous, this heaven on earth is too wonderful not to visit if you ever get the chance.  Even Egg and Dumpie screaming for their confiscated chocolate sweeties wasn't enough to fracture the blissful sense of serenity which descended upon my frazzled nerves as our boat pulled up to the sandy beach.  

Our road trip was over.  The trials of the past few days completely forgotten.  Only a week of total bliss stretched out before us.  What's not to love?

It's Honeymoon Central here.  Well it feels like that anyway.  Loads of loved-up couples sipping cocktails, watching sunsets and generally getting down and snuggly in public.  But who wouldn't be loved up here?  Pretty twinkling night lights, scrumptious places to eat, sip cocktails, and the perfect opportunity to pretend like we're all stranded on the worlds most gorgeous deserted island.  Adding to its charm, there are no vehicles of any sort allowed on the island - only bicycles and the odd horse drawn carriage.  No petrol fumes, honking horns or chaos of any sort.  

I feel like I'm on that 80's television show 'Fantasy Island'.  I half expect to see two matching figures in white suits (one tall, one vertically challenged) pointing upwards and exclaiming, "Ze plane!....Ze plane!"

We've managed to snag a lovely bungalow beach side, with a gorgeous open-air bathroom (it never rains here apparently) and some gorgeous shady cushioned areas out front from which to view the placid sea and lolling sailboats as we sip fresh juices.  Snorkelling here is meant to be out of this world, and I can believe it.  Can't wait to try it out.  

So with no further ado...off walk I into the sunset (well, kind of....you can't really do that thing with our traveling circus of a family...but you get the picture)...

I have finally reached Paradise.   Ahhhhhh....