Can Bali be done as a quick trip from the U.S.?
A. If that were anywhere near true, Florida would revert to swamp and the streets of Scottsdale would fill with tumbleweed. Bali absolutely fits the profile of an ideal warm-weather paradise. Unfortunately, it’s far, far away. First, get to Los Angeles or San Francisco–that’s a 4-hour jaunt by air from the Midwest. A flight from the West Coast to Asia usually takes 14 more hours, and typically the plane gasses up and reloads in an intermediate stop like Hong Kong, Seoul or Taipei….Add 3 1/2 hours or so to get from there to Singapore or Jakarta, and then, finally, make the connection to Denpasar, Bali, which requires 2 more hours aloft. From Chicago, that’s nearly 24 hours of flying, not to mention the time spent in airports during layovers. Besides that, you lose a day after crossing the international date line. I got to see a lot of in-flight movies, but the urge to buy a weekend cottage or a winter retreat in Bali was easy to resist. Q. Given that, is it worth going at all? A. You
