The best thing about traveling is meeting locals. Locals who can give you a real insight into their culture. No Lonely Planet can compete with that. When we arrived at the airport, Wayan picked us up. I had gotten his number from a good friend (thanks, Mel) with the note that he was the nicest taxi driver ever. Well, I found that out. What an incredibly sweet guy. In Bali you do a lot on the scooter, but if you want to go from Ubud to Canggu or from Canggu to Uluwatu, or from Seminyak to Nusa Penida, then you go by car. And you can certainly order a new taxi each time, but it's much more common in Bali to have a ‘personal driver’. Someone who is ready for you the entire trip, from start to finish. Wayan was our driver and thanks to him, I had the best satay in Bali. Not in a fancy restaurant, but in a small street food cafe. He arranged boat tickets for us when we wanted to go to the Gili Islands. In fact, we were allowed to leave our big suitcases with him, so we could only take a small bag onto the boat.

Wayan showed us the real Bali, told us about the rituals, the island's big plastic problem. He sent me a message every day asking how we were doing when we were suffering from Bali belly and drove us all over the island in three weeks. Always cheerful, even when we were stuck in traffic for hours. Sometimes people can make your vacation. This guy definitely did that for us. So today we drive, with Wayan. The man who almost cried when we gave him a million rupiah (60 euros) tip at the end. If you're going to Bali soon and are still looking for a driver: just send me a message on Instagram (@kikiduren), and I'll share his number with you. Dear Wayan, if it were up to me: see you next year!