We
have
been to Bali six times and for us the highlight of each trip has been
the time we spend with Romeo. He made us feel so welcome when we first
arrived and he was never pushy, just a very genuine nice guy with a
fantastic sense of humor. He has given us the opportunity to see such
amazing things and we have learnt a lot about Bali's culture and
traditions from
him.
Romeo is always really friendly and happy to take you
where ever
you would like to go. He will listen to your idea's about where you
would like to go and then he will offer suggestions of the best way to
see these places in the time that you have. The white water rafting is
a must, it's so much
fun! He has also offered some suggestions to go to
some fantastic places we probably would never have thought of
ourselves. That's the thing about Romeo. He learns pretty quickly what
you like and dont like to do and then he personalises your tours to fit
in with your tastes.
One of the most memorable trips was to his home village near
Sideman. We played with the kids and we still talk about it now!
Romeo
has become a life long friend of ours and we can't
wait to get back to see him again soon.
Brett & Michelle McKellar - Gold Coast, Australia. |
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We have visited Bali 9 times
now and were lucky enough to meet ‘Romeo’ (I Made) on our
first trip there in 1999. Back then Romeo was working at a Hotel in
Nusa Dua behind the bar. His infectious humour and cheeky wit made him
popular amongst all the guests, particularly the Australian and English
tourists. A few years ago Romeo, with the assistance of his family,
bought a new vehicle to chauffeur tourists around the popular spots in
Bali. (The SV style vehicle is air-conditioned and is always clean).
Of course we
were amongst his earliest customers and we quickly experienced Romeo’s
incredible depth of local knowledge always delivered in a professional
but amusing manner. Romeo is not at all pushy (not like some of the
locals) and his integrity is without question.
We have even
visited Romeo’s home village and met the fantastic flock of children
with their great big smiles. I think that they thought we were from
another planet as they don’t see a lot of tourists there. Over the
years Romeo has taken us to see many of the local attractions but also
many places not always frequented by the first time tourists and it has
been those one day trips that have been the most memorable. If you get
a chance to get out of the shopping precincts and want to see the “real
Bali” then you need not only the motivation but also a trustworthy
& well versed local. In our case it is Romeo (I think a nick
name probably given to him by an Aussie). Not all drivers in Bali can
keep you interested and make you laugh while you are sightseeing in
this tropical paradise like Romeo. We have recommend Romeo to other
friends who tell us that they were grateful to have met such a nice
young guy making a go of it.
Peter &
Debbie Mattiske - Adelaide, South Australia. |
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Romeo,
we met you in 2001, we were on our 6th trip to Bali and this time we
stayed at your boutique resort in Tanjung Benoa where you were the head
barman. With your cheeky smile, quirky sense of humour it was
always a highlight to see you at the pool bar, to share a drink a joke
and even a serious conversation, your speech and understanding of the
english language was very refreshing.
We
have been back to Bali on several occasions since 2001 and we always
make certain to catch up with Romeo and just say hi. When
back in
Australia we always receive and return text messages monthly.
He
has now started a new career as a tourist driver, (self employed) and
my family and friends have used his services on many
occasions.
He had driven family to the top end of Bali to Lovina as well as
hiring him as our driver for the day. He is very informative,
friendly and professional. Not to mention passionate about
his
home land, Bali.
It
is a true pleasure to have met and befriended such a person as Romeo,
he has made our holidays and lives even more special and he will
continue to do so.
Thank you Romeo,
Mark Sandie
& Paul Benz
Adelaide
Australia.
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Talk about a wolf in sheep’s clothing!!!! I think Romeo is actually an
Aussie disguised as an Indonesian! And he’s got the cheek of an Aussie
too, but not the same old attitude that a lot of the local drivers can
have. He is more than willing to give you suggestions, and then, he is
more than flexible in accommodating what you want to do. If they don’t
match, then that’s fine, he will still provide you with a unique
perspective on all things in the Island of the Gods.
Romeo has a way of endearing himself to even the most uptight of all
travelers. Eventually, everybody lets their hair down and you feel like
your just being shown around by an old friend.
His car is always clean and cool, and safe. The local constabulary only
stops him occasionally to say “Hullo”. If you were to drive yourself,
you would be pulled up regularly and expensively. No police, No insane
traffic headaches, just good commentary, good connections with the
locals and a sense of humour.
You wouldn’t know it, but Romeo is new in the business, so be gentle
with him and we can help him rule the world.
THANKS HEAPS ROMEO! You turned our Bali “trip” into the Bali
“EXPERIENCE”
Wade and Belinda Hindmarsh, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
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We
have been to Bali the Island of Paradise 11 times, we first went in
1999 and stayed at the Villa Bintang where we met this Trainee called
Made Romeo who was learning English but all the wrong way as the
Aussies thought is funny to teach him the wrong sayings. We put him
right and became his Aussie parents. His Uncle took us on our first
tours of Bali and on Made's day off we took him with us up to Lovina
with Made as our personal guide as his Uncle could not speak much
English. We stayed every year at the Villa Bintang until they were
closed for renovations and we found the Kumala Pantai, but we still got
Made to take us around and introduced him to some new clients from the
Kumala who were all very impressed with his friendliness, his commentary
and his clean and comfortable car. He has a wonderful wife Komang
and daughter Regina (Frangapani) as Made calls her. So if you need
transport for your tour around Bali do not hesitate to contact
our Made Romeo for the true experience of Bali the Island of the Gods.I
really admire Made as well as English he can speak Japanese and German,
he is very clever.
Sue & Wes Paech Oakbank South Australia
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"Romeo, Romeo, where fore art thou Romeo" was the
our only thought as we entered the arrivals hall at Denpasar airport. And there
he was with his engaging smile and an attitude that said nothing was a problem.
Romeo (Made to his family) was recommended to us by friends and he proved to be
an excellent driver and guide for our time in Bali. He was not only ready and
willing to take us wherever we wanted to go but had plenty of suggestions of
places we might like to see, the better times to be there and advice on places
we could go that were a little off the beaten track. We took up several of those
suggestions and were never disappointed. With his excellent English and bright
personality (not to mention a wicked sense of humour) he was just a delight to
spend time with and indeed, learn from - his knowledge of all things Bali and
his willingness to share that information made Romeo much more than just a
driver. His number is permanently in our contacts list for our next trip/trips
to Bali.
Tony & Julie Nelson, Sydney, Australia. |
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We enjoyed
very much the driving by Romeo when we were holidaying in Bali with our
children. He was knowing very much in the area of scenic driving we
think. On times we were not very sure where to be going yet, but Romeo
was suggesting to us several daily excursions which we went on. The
enjoyment was much and the children were so very pleased to be laughing
with Romeo and ourselves.
We
will be going back again next winter and will see Romeo again for his
driving service in tour guiding. We will recommend him to the tourist
people who need some help.
Greta
& Wolfgang Heinricht - Germany
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We found Romeo on Trip Advisor here in Australia
and we are so glad we did. This was our
first trip to Bali and we couldn't have asked for a more professional,
courteous, knowledgeable person than
Romeo. His kind and relaxing manner made us at ease right away. He has extensive knowledge of his homeland, is a safe
driver with wonderful English.
We highly
recommend anyone who is thinking of using his services as he is not at all
pushy, has great suggestions on what to
see and is overall a wonderful guy.
Richard, Anita & Carly MacDonald
Sunshine Coast, Australia
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As
many of these testimonials indicate, we also meet Romeo on our first
trip to Bali in 2001, while staying at the Villa Bintang. We where
there with two other couples and the boys are guilty of helping Romeo
and Rocky to learn English, all the slang and innuendos. It was always
a pleasure to catch up with the them every afternoon at the pool bar to
have chat and joke. As everyone knows we love our beer cold and it did
not take Romeo and Rocky long to work out the routine of the long neck
of Bintang in the freezer to keep it ice cold.
As always
our 14 fabulous days ended much to soon and the friendships formed,
made it hard to leave. Even though we longed to return sooner, life's
circumstances did not allow this until this year.
Upon our
return to Bali and the Villa Bintang this year it was a pleasure
to catch up with Rocky who gladly put us in touch with Romeo who we
discovered had ventured out into the transport world. Romeo was more
than willing to accommodate our wishes and we spent a few wonderful
days being shown sites that Romeo thought we would like, and we did.
Romeo was very informative, explaining the history or legend behind
every sight he showed us. Romeo's easy going manner put us at ease and
made the days most enjoyable, nothing was too hard.
We
have been in touch with Romeo via email on a number of occasion since
our return (April 2009) and have not hesitated in recommending his
services to friends and acquaintances who are about to visit Bali.
We look forward to our next trip to Bali planned for later this year and again catching up with Romeo
Tracey Case, Australia. |
| We have just had our first trip to Bali and of
course had no idea what was on offer and what to see and do first.
Romeo was recommended through the Bali Travel Forum and proved to be an
excellent driver and guide for our time in Bali. He was always ready and willing
to take us wherever we wanted to go and also had plenty of suggestions of places
we might like to see.
We took a few tours with Romeo and were never
disappointed. Romeo has excellent English, a friendly fun personality and
a wicked "Aussie" sense of humour. His knowledge of Bali and his want to
educate us made Romeo much more than just a driver. He has become a family
friend for life.
Romeo took us to meet his daughter, sadly though his wife was
not there on the day we visited however it was a real treat to share his home
with him for a short visit. We would recommend Romeo to EVERYONE that is
planning a visit to Bali.
Thanks you Romeo for helping to make our holiday
the great time it was.
Rod, Chrissy and Reece (Brisbane,
Australia)
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We
have just returned from our 13th trip to bali (1st time in 1980) and
met Romeo through his wife who works at Febri's where we were staying.
I am a musician and wanted to catch as many jazz bands as possible.
There is no publication that tells tourists where different bands are
playing. Made(romeo) was very helpful in advising us where to go. (he
should do a monthly publication advising tourists where the bands play)
He
also took us on a tour to Tanah Lot. He is very helpful and
knowledgeable about whatever is going on and his prices are
competitive.
We are planning another trip to Bali next May2010 and I will have no hesitation in engaging Romeo for all my tours.
Keep up the good work.
Peter & Christine Austin
Australia.
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Romeo,
we thank you for the fantastic guiding and company that you provided us
under our honeymoon. During our travels we always aim for coming to
know the culture and the background of the given place the most deeply,
but we have never had the pleasure to meet an authentic guide like you,
and who became our friend under these few days.
We can recommend
Romeo to all Hungarian travellers, on the one hand because of his
fantastic personality, on the other hand because of his distinguished
knowledge of English. You can find many drivers in Bali, but it is not
worth to try something else you wont find more entertaining and
more intelligent tour guide than Romeo!
We hope we can return to this amazing, really special island soon, and then we wont hesitate to choose anybody else but you! :-)
Romeo, we wish you the best and see you soon:
Eva and Csaba
Budapest, Hungary
20th August 2009
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Hi Romeo,
We
want to thank you so much for our fantastic day with you last week.
From the moment you collected us until the moment you dropped us off
you were so professional and fun. Your advice and explanation of your
wonderful island and it's culture was invaluable and made our holiday
so great. Our only regret is that we did not have time to use you
again.
We will definitely pass your name on to others and cannot wait to see you again.
Karen and Joel
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Beautiful Bali is our second home and people like Romeo help to make it so.
We highly recommend his trips for touring or shopping, you will be well looked after. We wouldn't use anybody else.
Jack & Alma Kiff, Noosaville, Australia
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bonjour,
C'est
avec plaisir que je laisse un avis sur le site de Romeo, car nous avons
grce lui pu dcouvrir des multiples facettes de cete le
paradisiaque.
En effet, nous avons suivi ces conseils et sommes sortis des sentiers battus pour dcouvrir le vrai Bali ce qui nous a enchants.
Romeo
connait non seulement tres bien son le mais aussi toute la culture qui
s'y rattache...Il est un bon complment tous les guides papiers
existants.
De plus, en tant que chauffeur il est tres prudent ce qui
n'est pas le cas de tous les chauffeurs et surtout tres prvenant avec
les occupants de son vhicule.
D'autre part, il est tres gentil
et prvenant avec ses clients, il n'est du genre les mener dans
des endroits o le seul intrt de la visite est pour le chauffeur.
En conclusion je ne saurai trop vous conseiller de faire appel Romeo lors de votre prochain voyage Bali.
Frederic & Mireille B.
Martigues / France
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We
used Romeo's services as personal driver, chauffeur and holiday
guide for four days in September/October 2009. He is a charming
young man very punctual who looked after us extremely well. His
car was always extremely well turned out, clean and in good
working order. (Including the much needed aircon.) It was also
well equipped with cold water and all the other essentials for
transporting an ageing English couple round his beautiful island.
The
only thing he couldn't fix was the weather and the "temple in
the mist" (should have been the water temple!) was a delight just
to see poor Romeo so embarrassed!!
We will definitely use his services again if we return to Bali and would certainly recommend his services to anyone.
Thanks Romeo.
Graham & Sandra UK
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Romeo
MOTHER FATHER CHAMPION has been our saying now for about 10
years. As reading the other testimonies we met romeo at Villa
bintang in 2000 were we spent 17 nights nights there, as for romeo
he was great in the sunken bar whatever drink/cocktail you desired
you would get non stop laughs, unbelievable friendship, even then before
becoming a tour driver his knowledge about bali was breathtaking.
Funny
enough i said to my then girlfriend this guy should be a tour
guide and also mentioned it to Romeo but he would say
"BANKRUT".Any way were returned in a few years but villa bintang
was under reno's and found out he was doing tours and of course
we automatically booked him in for most of the week.
Weve
been back 3 times this year the last time it was for my wifes 30th
and 12 of us went including our 2 year old daughter.He was
fantastic he even organised a baby sitter he has know since he was
a youngster, she was also great.Romeo get ready were coming again
on 4th november we will contact you via sms of time to pick us up
from the airport.
THANKS BUDI
SIMON,MARGARET & EVA
PERTH,Western Australia
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| Romeo is een fantastische gids!
Wij
hebben ruim 2 week op Bali doorgebracht en zijn via vrienden gewezen op
de diensten van Romeo. De aanbeveling van deze vrienden was meer dan
terecht. Romeo is een uitstekende gids die alles, maar dan ook alles
van het eiland weet en bovendien uitstekend Engels spreekt. Daarnaast
heeft hij een heel goed voor humor en maakt grappen aan de lopende
band. Ook niet onbelangrijk is het goede vervoer. De auto is heel
comfortabel en Romeo zorgt bovendien voor voldoende drinken tijdens de
rit.
Wij kunnen (en willen) iedereen aanraden om Romeo eens te
bellen wanneer je op Bali bent. Hij komt bij je hotel langs en maakt
helemaal naar wens een dagprogramma.
Romeo, wij hopen dat we je snel weer eens mogen begroeten! We kijken er nu al naar uit!
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We
love coming to Bali and seeing Romeos smiling face to greet us. Romeo
is always happy and talkative. He aims to please his customers and
nothing is too much trouble for him. He is very easy to contact on his
mobile phone by text to arrange pick up. He has very competitive full
and half day trip rates and is in no rush, so you can take your time at
your destinations.
He speaks and understands English very well,
alot better than most of the other locals. Romeo always has clean
transport and takes pride in his job. We recommend him to our family
and friends without hesitation. He has become more a friend than our
driver.
Jace and Bianca Adelaide, Australia.
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We
hired a driver to take us for the day, our driver was Romeo and we got
him from the drivers guide on Tripadvisor. He was Fantastic!!! he
arrived early and the car was spotless, his english was great and he
had an excellent sense of humour, he was very honest about places could
take us and which ones he would get a commission from etc.
We
went to the elephant park and also Ubud. He came with us into the
monkey forest and was our guide, negotiated cheaper banana's and showed
us how to feed the monkeys so they would climb on our laps, we also saw
some lovely rice paddies and learnt alot about the balinese people.
He was such a highlight of bali for us and would highly recommend him to anyone.
Glynnis,
Western Australia
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We
struck gold with our choice of driver. We chose ‘Romeo’ from the list
of drivers on the Tripadvisor forum. He was excellent! He was so
friendly and courteous with a great sense of humour. He needed it, as
the poor guy was left waiting for us at the Safari and Marine Park well
after closing time. (we got lost and then had to sort out the
collection of some photos) Romeo thought we had been eaten by the
lions! With a cheeky smile, he told us that it was the last time he
would tell his customers to ‘take their time’.
There
are lots of fantastic drivers in Bali, but If you are looking for a
great driver with good English, who is caring and has a great sense of
humour, then Romeo is our recommendation.
Talia,
Australia
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We
are regular visitors to Bali and have used a number of tour guides over
the years but none compare to Romeo. He was recommended to us by some
of our friends and now we would not use anyone else he is part of our
bali family.
Hhis local knowledge is so informative but most of
all his sense of humour will gaurantee you will have the time of your
life. Romeos car is well maintained always clean and the air
conditioning is great, if you have ever been to Bali you will know how
important that is.
We have recommended Romeo to a lot of
people travelling from Australia also people we have met in Bali and
have never heard a negative comment.
If you can get Romeo as your driver a great day out is gauranteed.
DIANNE AND PHILIP BRADELEY SUNSHINE COAST AUSTRALIA
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