Following a business trip to Singapore in September 2018, we decided to visit Lombok as a part of our belated summer vacation. With a good climate, cheap prices, and direct flights from Singapore, Lombok seemed like a perfect alternative to its overcrowded neighbor Bali. Unfortunately, less than one month before our departure, a series of destructive earthquakes happened, and we had some doubts about whether it was safe to travel to Lombok. The situation got stable a couple of days before our departure, so we decided to take a risk and go anyway. This decision turned out to be one of the best ones in my travel “career”, and it led to another Lombok visit in September 2024.