With our Indo season being set to start in 1 week but now postponed, we’ll take this opportunity to rather reflect on the season past. Our Indonesia 2019 season was one for our record books at Ticket to Ride. No I”m not talking about raking in the millions, I’m talking about making positive changes that were a great success. Somewhere between ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ and ‘change is the only constant’ lie the Ticket to Ride trips. When everyone is loving a trip as it is, you don’t want to change it, but we are always looking for new locations, experiences and adventures for our guests to go on and enjoy.
We made two big changes to our in 2019 opening up into July and August because we had requests from people who could only get holiday then. Then we also added the Banyaks boat trip, a super exciting addition to our offering over there! Having spent months organising it, the feeling of setting off on the boat in search of waves I had never been to before with an epic crew on board was in my top adventure memories for years. No phone signal, often no one else in sight, beautiful untouched islands and a pristine ocean; memories like that last a lifetime. I will let the photos tell the story better than my words!
It was a great season, and after much planning we were super excited for the 2020 season, running the boat trips again, and doing a full 4-month season on Indo. The relationships we have built over the past 7 years we value greatly, and can’t wait to get back over there next season!
To finish off, above you can see that 10 months later 19 year old South Africa pro surfer Sophie is still posting and reminiscing from the first Banyaks trip. And here are a few words from 47 year old Eugene Julius from Cape Town who was on the second boat trip we ran:
“The trip was epic! We got waves and everyone’s surfing went up a notch or three over the period of the trip. Beside nature delivering great swell, the crew also settled into a sweet holiday rhythm. While surfing was the main activities there were also things like the card games and analysis of sessions.
All of these were inclusive without pressuring one into the activity. A socially comfortable space is a “thing” when one could literally get cabin fever. The boat staff struck a nice balance between being helpful and familiar. The food was good and the boat was kept clean. Truth is its been some fun during lock down revisiting the thousands of photos from the trip and remembering the good times.”
Or as Ellen put it on the July/August trip: “I booked the Ticket to Ride Indo Road Trip to improve my surfing ability and this is exactly what I got. Less partying and more focused on surfing, this trip really tested my fitness and strength – both physically and mentally. The coaches were incredible and after watching them rip, I actually felt honoured to have such talented surfers coaching me. I learned so much about surf theory, etiquette and how to surf different breaks and am excited to use this knowledge in my future surfing. Thanks TTR for another epic trip.”
Looking forward to seeing you out there!