Had a delicious time spending two days in Lovina, on Bali’s north shore.  Unlike the southern beaches here, the water is calm, lake-like. You can rent snorkeling or diving equipment, or catch an outboard motor canoe to watch bottle-nose dolphins. Given that we had a mere two days to explore at the end of our latest Eat Pray Love tour, we did none of these things. Instead, we stayed close to our very own plunge pool, courtesy of the Sunari Villas Resort & Spa, a charming and laid-back property right on the beach.  Spiritual travel tours are really the perfect way for you to enjoy your vacation; for me, once they are over, I really need some down time to recoup and extend my trip, be alone with my thoughts, and assimilate the lessons I experienced. Lovina was the perfect spot! A plunge pool at first seems like an unnecessary luxury, especially with the hotel pool so close and the beach just a few steps further. But there’s something about being able to go in for five minutes, any time of the day or night (sans clothing, if you prefer) that keeps even your thoughts cooler.

Even up here, after my spiritual travel tour ended, I was able to learn a good lesson. I was on the beach, and had just discovered a shell I picked up had a live crab in it! He was now trying to walk across my hand, inhibited more by his choice of home (a long, thin pointed cone shell) than by the unfamiliar surface. I had already chosen three other shells, all contrasting, and was planning on bringing them home and adding them to my shell collection, when I was struck with a new thought: I didn’t need these shells to come home with me – the memory would be just as tangible if I took a photo. So we did, along with video of the walking crab. Then I tossed them all back in the ocean to continue to grow and experience their time on this planet, just as I am doing— a spiritual travel tour for all of us.