Why a volcano eruption was the best thing to happen whilst I was traveling...

A volcano erupts. A flight delay. A flight cancellation. 1 day becomes two weeks. A nightmare situation for some, and one I was originally heart broken over.

After a two week stay in Bali it was time to wave goodbye and move onto my final destination of my two month jaunt around Asia and Australasia, Brisbane. Then onto Cairns, sail around the idyllic Whitsunday's and end up in Sydney before the long flight home. However it just wasn't meant to be. The volcanic eruption of Mt Rinjani in Lombok meant that all flights to Australia were being repetitively cancelled and rescheduled, only to be cancelled again. This left us stranded in Kuta unable to plan ahead and paying for our hotel night by night whilst crossing our fingers that we wouldn't be turfed out due to online bookings. Waiting around in the hotel day after day checking our emails to see if we were the lucky ones to be going out today.

Eventually enough was enough and after rescheduling our flight for a fair few days in advance it was time to venture back to the motherland, Gili Trawangan. The most Instagram worthy beach and island out there. We had already spent nine days out of our two week stay in Bali in beautiful Gili T (after falling in love on what was meant to be a three day stay) and were itching to return. After more flight cancellations we ended up staying in Gili T for over a week and it became the best part of our entire two month trip.

Sailing round the islands whilst partying with people from all around the world on Jiggy's Boat Party, spending our nights in LAVA bar avoiding the dreaded Vodka Joss shots and watching the locals break dance whilst serving drinks. Seeing what the island was doing in relation to conservation and protecting their beautiful turtles, actually swimming with two turtles thanks to one of the many dive companies out there (Aquadiction was the one for us, can't beat a British expat owner!). Before falling into our beds in Gili Beach Bum hostel/hotel (3 people rooms only in Gili hostels), ready to meet our new room mate in the coming morning. I never thought being stranded in a foreign country could end up turning into one of the best weeks of my life but I guess that's what happens when you're stranded in paradise!

Thanks to the amazing team at STA Travel we eventually decided to skip Australia and spend three luxurious (cheers mum and dad!) days in Dubai before returning home.