- Bring your boyfriend, his band (#5SOS), and your best friends…
Our party stayed in Villa LataLiana I and the Floating Annex right next door – six bedrooms in total and the wonderful staff managed to very comfortably fit all 15 of us in by making up a few extra beds. There is so much space here it was just perfect, even for a group that filled these two buildings to capacity.
- Be a flower child
The first thing I did on check-in was dive straight into my HUGE bathtub (easily room for two), which was filled with tropical flow petals when we arrived. Not only was this a wonderful experience but it also generated probably my favourite photo from the trip.
- Hit the spa
The lovely therapists from Spa Venus at LataLiana’s nearby sister property, Villa Kubu Boutique Hotel & Spa, can be summoned to LataLiana at the drop of a hat – no treatments are too much trouble for them to do the pool or in your room. Highly recommended on arrival and after a very late night on NYE – in fact every day if possible!
- Avoid the world’s worst traffic jam
NYE in Bali sees the roads come to an almost complete standstill – I hear many poor revellers spend more of their night in taxis than out…
We were thrilled when we discovered that we could simply stroll along stunning Seminyak Beach, which is just 300m from the villa, to our (brilliant) NYE party at Potato Head, which has to be one of the world’s coolest beach clubs. Especially handy for making a quick escape back home at the end of the night – no walk of shame for us!
- Shake your own cocktails…
Our personal butler at LataLiana was kind enough spoil us even more on New Year’s Day by sending one of their barman to our villa to shake some cocktails by the pool. The boys in the band were fans of their divine, fresh fruit frozen daiquiris, while me and the girls showed them a little recipe of our own, which I thrilled to share with you here – DO try this at home!
Skriver’s Skinny Vojito: muddle, shake then strain fresh mint leaves, lime wedges and vodka into a mojito glass – top up with soda water and garnish with more mint and a wedge of lime.
