Air Paradise: Stranded in Bali

Oh Shit!
There Goes Tha Charabang
Looks Like I'm Gonna Be Stuck Here The Whole Summer
Well What A Bummer
I Can Think Of A Lot Worse Places To Be
Like Down In The Street
Or Down In The Sewer
Or Even On The End Of A Skewer
~ Peaches by the Stranglers

Well what do you know! Air Paradise is bust!

The budget airline – which was set up by a Balinese businessman in the wake of the 2002 Bali bombings – has cancelled all flights, saying it had gone bankrupt.

The airline brought over 20,000 passengers a month to Bali on budget flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Although Qantas has offered to fly home Aussies stranded in Bali, travelers who booked flights and are still in Aus are unlikely to get their money back.

Not exactly another confidence booster for Balinese tourism following the recent terrorist bombings and the controversies surrounding drug arrests of Aussies on paradise island.

But I’m not too bothered.

Let’s face it, Bali has for far too long been overrun with working class Aussies going there for the cheap bintangs and easy lays. Bali is now little more than the Aussie equivalent of the Brit’s Costa del Sol: a paradise for pikeys.

They even turned parts of south Bali into a sort of tropical getto complete with young Balinese gigolos chasing after aging battleaxes who probably hadn’t received any male attention in decades.

And as these undiscerning yobbo tourists flouted their *relative* wealth to the economically disadvantaged Balinese, prices have shot up, ruining the unique Balinese holiday experience for the rest of us.

So goodbye Air Paradise. But I'm not sure we'll miss you!