Happy (10 days belated) New Year 2012, everyone! *fireworks effects*

Isn’t it ironic how often you (or at least I) hear people say that a new beginning can start any time of year, yet they wish you a wonderful year every January 1^st anyway? I’m not against that, I even do it too sometimes *grin* However, I do think that new year moments don’t really matter much to my life. But it’s the festive ambience and holiday spirit that gets me itchy and feel like doing some celebration or just be with people whom I can have fun with through the change of year. Hence, the Batu Karas trip on last NYE.

The top 6 on the list (first come first served) went: me, Norman, Bopa, Nahd, Diyan, and Uliel. What to do there? Nothing :D *the widest grin ever*

A 3D2N trip to Batu Karas starting from December 31^st 2011 turned out to be one of the most fun trips I’ve had. I rarely go on trips where I don’t do much or go about the places. Even when I don’t make a list of what I want to do, I’d usually end up exploring the town, and going back home more tired than when I left  (that’s why I rarely refer to my trips as vacations but simply trips.. hahaha).

Though I enjoy the ‘hectic’ trips very much as I hate wasting time, I do need being idle once in a while. And that’s what I needed to do after a few months being busy with work among others. We did prepare a few things to do. Uliel requested for a bodyrafting, I wanted to trek at a nearby national park, and Diyan had agreed to teach me how to ride a motorbike. But since it was a relaxed trip, we made these into a “we’ll see” list.

What really happened was, this NYE trip stuck to what it was meant to be: a lay-low vacation. There’s something about Villa Monyet that made us feel so much at home. I kissed the motorbike lesson and national park goodbye, while Uliel settled for a shorter bodyrafting trip with us on the last day. Most of our time was spent at Villa Monyet, either in our bungalows or at the common area. Eating, munching on snacks, playing Uno Stacko, reading, and chit chatting with other guests and the villa owners. Here in this trip, I really felt I was on vacation.

We spent the NYE at the balcony of one of our bungalows, accompanied with our drug of choice and watch the scarce fireworks. There was an open party at the other end of the beach, and the wind swept the loud music to our direction once in a while. 

Our private party ended at about 3 AM when we finally felt tired and the fireworks had long stopped. The next day, it rained most of the day. We were happy not doing anything much except relaxing, eating, and laughing :D

Tips to having a lay-low vacation:

~ Have no itinerary. Make no reservation for any activity. Especially one that requires a down payment or a full payment in advance.

~ If you did, make sure it’s a really loose one. Or make it only 1 item a day, sparing a lot of time of the remaining day.

~ Choose the right travel mates. Make sure they’re as layback as you are, or the flexible type.

~ Prepare a few board games or party games to fill your loose day. You can still have a lot of fun in the comfort of your accommodation. 

~ Alay-low vacation is best when you’ve just had a really rough time at work, or in life in general.

~ Staying at a place with a hammock (or where you can put your hammock up) is highly recommended. Also a place that’s not located too close to any attraction.

So if you’re that ‘busy tourist’ as I usually am, have a lay-low vacation once in a while. It really isn’t a waste of time once you need it, and as I did, you’ll get a different sensation out of it compared to your usual travels. Trying something different is always the goal, isn’t it?