HOW to travel to the GILI ISLANDS

If you have seen the chaos about what it's like to travel to the Gili Islands via Fast Boat, you're going to like this one.
This was the main part of my Bali experience that was just freaking me out and really holding weight in my body. The anxiety of getting to the Gili Islands, because so many videos and people had said how awful it was. So I wanted to make a visual walk through for others, like me, who like to scope out the area, what it looks like & know what to expect when they're travelling.
So come with me as I go to Gili Air, and back to Pandangbai via fast boat. HOWEVER, you can also catch the fast boat from Sanur Harbour, South Bali. It depends which is easier for you on your travels.
Firstly, I got my open return ticket through the homestay I was with at Pandangbai. I told the Homestay 2 days before and I paid for the ticket the morning of travel. You can also book tickets online, in which case I used 12Go Asia.
I paid IDR 500K which is about 27GBP / $33.12.
The open return meant I only had to arrange my boat back 2 days before I wanted to go, by simply going to their desk at Gili Air port & selecting a date. This was great because I ended up extending my Gili Air trip once I got there because I loved it so much!
When you leave Pandangbai to head to Gili you have to pay a IDR 10K government tax which its 0.52p / $0. 64
You apparently pay this upon getting to Gili Air too (but there was no one collecting this for my boat when we arrived)
When leaving Gili Air you also pay IDR 5K (0.27/ $0.33) before boarding your boat to get you back to Pandangbai.
Some people have said this causes lots of queuing, in my experience it really didn't as it was dealt with per boat, rather than everyone at the same time.
I travelled with Semaya One, who personally I found really positive to travel with. You have to collect your boarding pass from their office at the port before you travel, but this is super easy!
Plenty of Homestays and Travel offices across Bali will offer tickets to the Gili Islands, you can also just go to the Port and buy them directly from the boat companies offices. It is also super simple to go online (12Go Asia I used a few times) and purchase tickets here, which you can do the day before travelling in my experience.
I hope this helps/ reassures those of you who are heading to, or dreaming of going to the Gili Islands soon.

[@amungku]

Kayu Cafe my fav cafe in Gilli T 🤗

[@AdventureswithAmberAdel]

Aww! On Gili Air there were soo many beautiful places to eat 😍