The Birth of a Travel Dream

Have you ever been to another suburb in Perth and thought ‘I didn’t even knew this existed? This park, this shop, these people?”

I did.  Or rather I do. And not just for Perth.

My travel craving might not have started with the first international journey I took. I was 18 and my parents who had 5 kids under 18 had saved just enough to take us to Bali. A 3.5 hour flight from Perth over 13 years ago was not as cheap as today and it was a blessing I will never forget.  Although I was not a fan of the hot climate or travelling with so many others that nothing could be decided, I knew I had to do it again, so I guess you could say in terms of birthing a dream, it was the conception.

Two years later the day after my 20^th birthday I jumped on a plane by myself and with a stop over in Hong Kong I moved to London. I was blessed to have relatives to stay with, but soon found my own place, a new life and what was a 6 month journey seemed to stretch out until after 9 months (or more importantly before the UK winter hit again) I came back to Perth. During this stint of travel I discovered an independence I never knew and visited several countries while there – Belgium, France, Italy, Holland.

Over the next few years I married an amazing man, who also dreamed of the larger world, we took the normal anniversary holidays to Asia, then added birthdays and any other occasion we could think of.

In 2007 Josh & I organized a 7 week Round the World trip. Together we visited Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, New York, Washington, London, Munich, Switzerland, Spain & Israel. The birthing pains began. There was a whole big world out there and we wanted to see every inch of it.

2010 Josh and I sat on our dream couch in our own home pondering the great Australian dream ‘grow up, get a job, get your own house, have kids, get old’... who said that was the Great Australian Dream? Who said that was our dream? As a matter of fact that was never our dream. Our dream was to see the world, meet the people, spread generosity, and form bonds with our family that would be unbreakable.

All the pieces came together this year. We found a delightful lady to rent our family home, we sold both our cars, packed up our belongings and booked a one way ticket to Bali, Indonesia. 

So here I am at the birth of our travelling dream. We have moved into a “nature hut” in Ubud, Bali. We will be here for 3 weeks before going to a more ‘modern’ home in Jimbarian.

I am sitting on my porch overlooking rice paddies with slightly waving reeds in a tropical breeze. There are ants, wasps, lizards, chickens, cows, dogs, butterflies and other insects bigger and more numerous then I have ever seen, but I have a roof over my head and a king size bed. And I have Wi-Fi. Necessities.

The water irrigation system they use on the local subaks (rice farmer’s organizations) forms a small creek next to our porch so I hear the constant flow of water. Mix this with the sounds of the occasional cicada and rooster crow and how can I not help feel relaxed and at peace.

My husband is working in the loft, an entrepreneurial genius his business is adaptable to any environment as long as there is Wi-Fi. He is funding this unimaginable journey. My children are asleep and here I am commencing my very first travel blog from a deckchair in Ubud.

I was hoping other than the mutterings of a sanguine who has so much to say you might also find this useful. I will try to add as many prices and places we visit to help you one day get out of your house, onto a plane and visit the world.

Read more about who we are, because you know you want to!

So let's get started...