32: What happens when the fear of bed bugs drives you to book another boat trip?
The unthinkable happened. I went on another boat tour. The thing I thought I’d never do again, I did. And…IT.WAS.INCREDIBLE.
In fact, it may be one of the best things I’ve done so far. And to think, the primary reason it happened at all was because I was convinced the hostel I was staying at had bed bugs.
Bed bugs have been a very real threat traveling around the world. 90% of the time, I diligently check each and every bed I’m staying in for tell tale signs of bugs. It doesn’t matter how nice the hotel or hostel is, I still check. It’s not paranoia, it’s just common sense.
This whole saga started in the second half of my travels in Indonesia. After visiting my friend Nicki and Wati in Bandung, Indonesia I decided to travel around for a few more weeks in Indo before heading to meet other friends in Thailand. In 2009 I visited Indonesia and did the typical circuit, specifically Bali. This time, I decided to skip Bali and head further East to go to Komodo island. For whatever reason, I’ve been fascinated with the Komodo dragons since childhood and I thought this was a perfect opportunity to see one of 3 islands in the world that the dragons live on.
I landed at the airport in Labuan Bajo. This is the nearest airport (and island) to Komodo. The hostel I was staying in had a free airport shuttle (which is pretty rare by the way so I was very stoked). I pre-scheduled the shuttle and then unfortunately sat and waited for 45+ minute for them to pick me up. I guess waiting is worth it when it’s free, right? As I was wasting time waiting, that’s when I randomly looked up the hostel on Google and read the most recent review. To my horror it said, “BED BUGS. BE WARNED.”
My threshold for subpar living standards has drastically changed since being on this trip. The spectrum of standards I previously had for what is “doable” vs lodging I’d never stay at has definitely been challenged and altered based on the realities I’m faced with. More often than not, there are places I’ve stayed on this trip that I sort of just shrug and say, “I guess this is happening.” But bed bugs? Bed bugs are a hard no. I don’t take the threat of bed bugs lightly. Not only is there a bad or weird stigma to them, the means in which to get rid of them include hot water and dryers - both of which are basically non-existent in Asia. So the reality of getting bed bugs is bad enough but getting rid of them seems far more challenging. Even more reason to avoid them entirely when you have the choice.
As I waited at the airport I thought about all of these possibilities - getting bed bugs, not getting bed bugs, trusting this Google review, etc. Eventually the shuttle came and picked me up and almost immediately I informed the other passengers that I had just read a recent review and it mentions bed bugs. There were two very nice older French women on the shuttle with me and between our broken English and even worse Spanish they informed me that they had stayed there for 2 nights already and there was no sign of bugs thus far. According to them, all was fine.
Did I mention that this was the view from the hostel at sunset? WHAT?! This made up for a lot of things, but even this view wasn’t worth bed bugs.
That didn’t settle my anxiety, I was still on high alert. Once I arrived at the hostel I asked to see the room and I thoroughly inspected the bed. All clear. It didn’t really matter though, I was too nervous that when there is one, there is many and as I started to realize what I was about to sign up for, my plans for the next days were actually not finalized and I had a lot of freedom to make new plans. I had a 5 day “layover” in Labuan Bajo before flying to Thailand and I had zero plans. The only thing I knew was that I couldn’t stay at this hostel the entire 5 days.
In that same airport shuttle bus there was a Thai woman who told me that she was leaving early the next morning on a 3 day, 2 night boat tour to Komodo and surrounding islands. She offered to introduce me to the tour organizer and see if I wanted to book it. The trip cost a whopping $220 but for Indonesia, this is sort of expensive. When you think of it as a once in a lifetime experience though this wasn’t expensive at all. But actually, everything I do on this trip is a once in a lifetime experience. There are no guarantees I’ll be back in any of these towns, cities or countries and experience these things. And moreover, the version of me I am today will never be the same experiencing the same things making each of these days exquisitely unique. More often than not, it’s an easy out to call everything once in a lifetime which makes it an easier justification on spending so much money.
Even though it was cheap, (compared to American standards) I toiled over this decision. I had just a few short hours to make up my mind but I was torn. I first contacted the organizer around 5:30PM and I had to make a decision by 9. The benefit to a short time window though was that there was only two choices - leave the hostel and go on a boat or stay. It wasn’t much more complicated than that. Often in this trip there are these simple decisions that are yes or no. Stay or go. Book a flight or take a bus. Go to city A or B. There’s a million decisions I make but infrequently am I paralyzed by options. And on this trip, inaction is not possible, I am in a constant state of planning, next steps, making lists, figuring out what has to be prioritized next, etc. It’s a never ending exercise in decision making and because I have no real expectations or needs in my daily life I make one decision and see where it leads me. It’s curiously liberating and curiously simple. While it should seem more complex since I’m making pretty big decisions - go to Laos or not go to Laos, it feels far easier than the decisions I make in the US.
By 9:00PM I had confirmed and paid for the trip. This was my hail mary move. I did little to no research on where the boat was going, who the company was or other competitive tour options. The overwhelming fear of bed bugs was far greater than the fear of being on another boat.
This time however, I asked a few more questions. Would we be on open water? Were there storms forecasted? Would there be giant waves? Can you send me pictures of the boat? And the rooms? What did the sleeping quarters look like
I still wasn’t entirely convinced but I figured maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t be as bad as Panama.
And in fact, it wasn’t bad at all. It was the exact opposite, it was incredible. The boat was awesome, even if it looks a little funky it got the job done perfectly. There were no storms, no waves, heck there was just blue skies and perfect seas. The crew were beyond nice and generous. The food was delicious and plentiful. The sleeping quarters were 4 bunk beds, WITH air conditioning. Dare I say, this was luxurious in comparison to Panama. And the other guests on the boat were so nice. In fact, it was so great I could have stayed another night. I didn’t want it to end.
It was a not-so-gentle reminder that sometimes saying yes turns out pretty ok. I’m beyond grateful of this experience, it gave me a sense of what awesome boat trips could be like and that all of them are not the same. I can also successfully report that there were no signs of bed bugs and I’m still bed bug free.
The first hike of the trip. Don’t worry, I slipped on the way down and started bleeding. I was SURE the Komodo Dragons would eat me alive.
Hike views are pretty ok.
Sunset selfies on the top level of the boat.
Sunset was incredible.
As the sun set tourist boats line up in front of an island and watch thousands of bats fly out of their caves to go feed for the night. It was spectacular.
Day 1
The first day started off with a little mini hike up to this view point. Don’t worry, I of course slipped and fell and scraped up my leg on the way down. My first and only thought was, “OMG, the Komodo Dragons are going to smell the blood from this fall and attack me. What do I do?” You basically have to have an open wound pumping blood for the dragons to be interested in you. I was fine. Dramatic, but fine.
In the evening we sailed to this island and watched thousands of bats leave their caves for their nightly feeding ceremony. This sunset was the highlight of this trip and the most amazing sunset I’ve seen in my entire life. I cried watching this. I was, and still am, speechless.
The famous view from Labuan Bajo.
Day 2 included a stop at this incredible pink sand beach.
Just stunning!
Contrary to my look on my face, this was so, so amazing.
You walk this long pier into the island. It’s very surreal and movie-like, sort of like a real life Jurassic Park.
This was a BIG bull dragon. We got to see him charge another dragon that was sitting in this spot and he wanted to be here.
Welcome to Jurassic Park.
This was as close as I wanted to get, also it’s a fine line between following the dragons and antagonizing them for pictures. I didn’t like how the park rangers handled them for camera shots.
They are master camouflagers. Multiple times we thought we were walking by tree roots but they were just chilling here. There are 2 dragons in this pic.
No dragons were harmed in the making of this picture.
Day 2
On our second day we were meant to get up early (cough, 4:30AM) to get ready for a sunrise hike. For whatever reason (cough, the crew was running late), we didn’t make it to the island or hike before sunrise but we were hiking by 6AM, that still counts in my book. The views were famously stunning and even though it was 6AM it was hot, sweaty and humid.
Our next stop took us to a handful of remote beaches for snorkeling and swimming and this incredible pink sand beach for what else, more pictures!
Last but not least, we ended the day on Komodo Island at the nature park. It’s never guaranteed we will see the dragons but on this day we saw 5. It was so, so amazing. Worth every minute of travel and bed bug headache to see them.
Day 3
Our final day took us to more snorkeling and swimming spots but the highlight was a bay where we saw giant (and I mean giant) Manta Rays. Each day had something spectacular about it and our 3rd day was seeing these behemoths. I don’t have a photo of them (cause they were under the water) so just believe me that it happened! ;)
- M
