After a couple of false starts and more than one or two hiccups along the way, I’m finally sitting in my bedroom in Canggu looking out at a swimming pool. I’ll be bringing you along on the adventure with me, but before I do anything else here’s a little insight on what it was like coming back to Bali in 2022.
As anyone who knows me will already know, this isn’t my first attempt at moving to Bali. It’s far too long and sad a story to include here, but the most important thing to mention is that this is basically my third shot. Third time lucky? I guess only time can tell.
On my arrival at Denpasar airport, many things were the same as when I landed in 2020. The heat, the humidity, the relentless taxi drivers who just didn’t want to take no for an answer. The traffic is still absolutely nuts, with cars and scooters and relentless honking.
The same, yet different
I stayed at the same airport hotel for a couple of nights. The room looked identical to the one from two and a half years ago. I went for dinner in the hotel restaurant, and it was only after I sat down that I realised I had gravitated to the same table I’d sat at back then.
But so many other things are different now. Having spent a month here before the pandemic, I feel much less daunted by the absolute contradictions of life here. I know what to expect now, and that changes things.
I myself am different. Pondering the reasons why is a conversation for another day, but I am approaching this adventure with a completely different mindset and a new perspective. I have shed a lot of my financial ties in Ireland and I feel less restrained, more free to enjoy whatever this next Bali chapter has in store for me.
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