Set sail for Sanchaya...

We were thrilled that our dear friends (and now Singapore residents), Molly and David, were able to escape for a weekend away with us to Bintan, Indonesia. And we are especially thankful to Molly for her organizing-prowess in jumping on a FT profile piece about the newly-opened Sanchaya Resort and both securing us a fantastic deal and organizing all the booking and boat arrangements.

The trip from Singapore to Indonesia is a quick one - only 50 minutes by boat.  And "Emerald Class" tickets made travel easy - allowing us to check our heavy suitcase (and avoid a repeat of our unfortunate Croatia experience!) and enjoy a coffee and some cookies before boarding the boat.  

The ride turned out to be a little choppier than expected, with an announcement part way through about an oncoming monsoon.   Within minutes, kids all around us started vomiting and the boat helpers kicked into high gear sprinting around the cabin to hand out more and more vomit bags.

Somehow, the four of us managed to escape the vomiting tsunami and we rushed off the boat as quickly as possible.  We were met on deck by the Sanchaya team who remarkably took over our entire immigration process, taking care of all of our luggage retrieval and custom duties.  Instead, the staff greeted us each by name (I now understand why they were checking out my LinkedIn profile!) and escorted us to a beautiful waiting area where we enjoyed some tea and snacks while they worked with government officials to get us into the country.

Going through immigration...

From the Desk of Beth & Geoff

Our hotel beachware

The luxurious treatment continued for the whole weekend.  We were greeted by the manager upon arrival and checked into our accommodations with the room's air conditioning set at our pre-chosen temperatures, bed pillows at the exact firmness level we requested, complimentary snacks in the mini bar that adhered to our dietary selections, outfits to wear to the beach so we didn't have to dirty our own clothes, and personalized stationary ready for us to write letters home.  Could they have possibly done anything more??

Meat selection for dinner

Naturally, we didn't leave the resort all weekend, It was hard to pull ourselves away.  For much of the day, we lazed by the very quiet and immaculately groomed beach reading magazines and books and enjoying our "care basket" full of water (both still and sparkling!), lime garnish, wet towels, sunscreen and face mister.  In the afternoons, we enjoyed Afternoon Tea with a spot of croquet or sipped quirky cocktails in gorgeous glassware finished with funky striped sipping straws.  For dinner, we devoured our custom-designed meals at the hotel's thai restaurant or a last-minute wine and cheese pairing (with a side of meat) in the Bar Salon.

The treatment at the hotel was overly decadent. And we indulged it to the fullest.  On the boat ride back, however, we realized we were going to have serious withdrawal pains.