So we have finally been issued our Indonesian extended tourist visas – meaning we can actually follow through with our plans to stay in Bali, Lombok, Java and the surrounding islands for maximum 60-days.  It cost us $NZD80, and was unbelievably easy.  As simple as filling in a form and sending everything to the Indonesian Embassy here in New Zealand.  The most annoying thing was having to purchase an exit flight from Indonesia in advance.

That being said, I managed to find a deal through the JetStar Asia website, for a one-way flight to Singapore, where you can upgrade (paying a little more up front), but have total flexibility with date change or cancellation (fare change will apply).  Not only did I upgrade for flexibility, but I also chose our front row seats, and a meal each on board the flight (thai green curry and Nasi Lemak!), all for the extortionate price of $1.6 million Indonesian Rupiah for the two of us!  I was like $1.6 million!  That’s crazy!

Or…actually, it’s only $180 New Zealand dollars.

Pretty happy with that!

It seems that, from the research I have done, that most countries we plan on travelling to, don’t allow you to apply for or be issued with your visas more than 3 months in advance from your arrival.  Which makes our plans pretty difficult.  The best thing I can figure that we will have to do is spend a few days in a main city of each country while we apply at the embassy of the next country we plan to head to to apply for the extended tourist visas.  I hear that’s pretty common however – so I’ll be interested to see how that pans out!

If anyone out there has any experience in this matter, feel free to share!