Moving to Bali Part 2: Changes

It has been 8 months since I first posted about our move from Australia to Bali in 2010. It’s New Year’s Eve 2011 and I’m feeling reflective. Lately we’ve had a lot of people contacting us to ask our advice on moving to Bali or just about having the courage and motivation to make big changes in their lives. Almost everyone who contacts us is feeling run-down and wanting to dream of a different future. I don’t always have the time to reply as I’d like, giving people the personal attention they deserve.

I was recently asked if I could charge a membership fee in order to provide personal advice about moving to Bali, but I’d prefer not to do that. To take time from my other jobs I would need to charge more than I am currently earning. That would be too much for most people to pay and I don’t think I would feel right about it if they did.

I’ve decided that the best I can do is turn my original post into a series of articles answering questions I am commonly asked, adding new information and providing links to a few extra resources that might help those moving to the island of the gods.

For those who just want to turn their lives around, or secure a better future for their families - well, I have my off days in paradise like everybody does, but I can only restate that 90% of the time what holds people back is an unwillingness to take a chance on themselves. Luckily on days when I don’t believe in myself my husband does it for me, and that makes all the difference ;)

This “holding” article is just a quick catch up for those hungry for updates, a list of questions I will try and answer in upcoming articles and some important links.

If you would like to read the first part of this article you can find it here: Moving to Bali

8 months on - The verdict

After more than 18 months living on the island I still have no desire whatsoever to “go home” or live anywhere else. Bali is my home now and I’m convinced this is where I want to be long term. 

There’s no doubt that our lifestyle is light years better than it would be had we stayed in Australia. We’ve taken up afternoon “beach tennis” and 4 hour dawn-start Saturday morning beach walks with leisurely brunch to finish. We have a garden full of flowers with grass so green it makes my eyes pop. We have a housekeeper and part-time gardener who take care of so many of the little things that would normally eat up our free moments. We can afford to eat out every day if we like. None of those things would have been imaginable if we hadn’t moved.

Financially it has been out of sight fantastic. When we moved here we had about 5 times more debt than cash on hand. We’re now debt free and we’ve paid 3 years rent in advance on our little Seminyak pad (something that would have cost $60,000 in our one bedroom Melbourne apartment). We have savings and we’ve been able to book a month long trekking holiday in Nepal for the first half of 2012.

Having said that, I have never worked as hard as I have in the last year to achieve that. I’ve worked 1 in every 2 weekends, and long hours most days. There have been times over the last 18 months where I’ve felt trapped in the job that provides my visa and most of our income. I’m now working 2 jobs to cement our financial stability and hopefully give us the option of starting our own business this year and being more independent. As I’ll explain in upcoming articles, organising that independence is going to be even more complicated than the initial move - but I’m sure we’ll get there!

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

• My father moved to Bali. He stayed with us for 3 months at the beginning of 2011 and loved it so much he has decided to retire here. After 8 months of settling in and going through all the usual craziness of finding somewhere to live he has now purchased land in Bedulu (near Ubud) and is starting to build a home. His story and updates on the building process to follow.
• Our move to Seminyak I have mixed feelings about but overall I am happy. Choosing where to live in Bali is so important and I will write much more on this.
• I have handed over management of the programming team (which had just gotten way too big for me to handle) and I am now back to doing what I do best - designing and building websites and web applications. Obviously there were many considerations that went into this decision and they touch on important aspects of starting a life in Bali so .. another article on this to come!

So Many Questions!

These are the kinds of things it seems everyone wants to know about moving to Bali:

• Where should I live and what is the cost of living?
• What about my children? Lots of people with families want to move and need more information about schools and other facilities for kids.
• Visas, jobs & businesses. Given the content of my first article I get more questions about these subjects than any other.
• How difficult is it to buy land and build?
• Does Bali have the health facilities I need?
• Can I study in Bali?
• What should I tell my family about my move? I’ve had at least 10 people contact me to say that their family does not support their wish to move to Bali. It’s a tough one to answer!

Resources

I don’t have time to write much more today, so here are some quick links for those of you who want more information:

• Bali Expat - Your Guide to Living in Bali - I was interviewed by the Bali expat guide after my first post - you can read the interview here.
• Balipod.com - Must read expat forum. I've found the responses aren't always brilliant, but there are a few wonderfully helpful expats who regularly answer questions.
• The Practicalities of Moving to Bali - Ebook - The practicalities of moving to Bali. We bought this before we moved. It didn’t tell us everything, but it was nicely written, informative and definitely worth the $6.
• The Bali Advertiser - Classifieds and articles online from Bali’s biggest expat newspaper.