How Bali started GO PAC.
We landed in Denpasar at dawn on a Budget Air that smelled of instant noodles. Tom had an overstuffed 25kg bag that cost him £80 in excess charges. James was running on two hours of sleep and a bag of Haribo. That was the trip that convinced us travel accessories were broken.
Three days in, we were sitting on the beach at Seminyak. Tom had a Bintang in one hand and his flip flops in the other. The sky had turned the colour of a mango at the exact moment the horses came down the waterline. Two guys rode past, silhouetted against the whole thing — and all three of us just stopped talking.
"We watched those horses at sunset and thought: this is what travel is supposed to feel like. Not the queue at baggage reclaim. Not the overweight bag. This."
That night we had grilled fish at a warung table with no menus, ordered by pointing. The next morning we hired scooters and rode up to Tegallalang before the tour buses arrived. By the time we got back to the villa, James had started sketching what would become the first Essential Travel PAC on a paper napkin.
We went back to Bali twice more before we launched. We still owe Pak Wayan at the villa about three very good dinners.
