Skip to main content

We talked about living overseas for many years but specifically the idea of living in Bali came about two years ago. I still remember as I was heading out the door one day Trent said to me ‘what about living in Bali?’

At first I was in complete shock and then he explained why it made a lot of sense and it really did! So during the end of year school holidays in 2014/2015, we decided to have a holiday in Bali. Trent and I had visited Bali over 10 years ago but the kids had never been.

Our first family holiday to Bali

We put our house on airbnb and only 6 weeks before we left for Bali we got a UK family to rent it out for 3 weeks. This made it a lot easier financially and we could be away for a great amount of time.

First we went to Club Med in Nusa Dua which is not something we would usually go to but the travel agent suggested giving it a try and we were surprisingly very happy. It is a great place for both parents and kids. We got to enjoy some quiet time at the ‘adults only’ pool and the kids performed in live shows as part of the nightly entertainment. After 5 days in Club Med we moved to a great place called Seminyak Suites (villa style accomodation) for 4 nights and then we went back to Nusa Dua and stayed at the Courtyard Marriott.

I still remember on the last few days at the Marriott, walking out of my hotel room and being hit by the typical Bali heat and smell and saying to myself how weird would it be if this is what I would be experiencing everyday if we lived here!

During the whole 3 weeks, the kids had a great time and Demi especially just loved everything – I even recall one time her saying “oh, I could live here!”. She found the Balinese very friendly, she loved the food, the flowers and the fun girly stuff you can do and buy.

Trent and I said we wouldn’t talk about living here during the holiday and just enjoy the holiday itself. We did a great job until the last night we had a babysitter and we went to the RIMBA hotel pool restaurant and bar. This is when our conversation turned into the concept of living in Bali for a year and if the kids can get into school here we should really give it a go in 2016! We discussed that Trent would have to come back by himself to check out some potential schools, houses and general neighbourhoods and he ended up doing this trip in August 2015.

Telling the kids about the move

It wasn’t until 6 months later when we knew the kids were accepted into the Australian school and things were starting to get organized that we told them that we were going to live in Bali next year. 

We knew they were old enough to understand what we were going to do but still concerned that they had to wait another 6 months and this was a looooong time for us and a world a way for the kids! 

I still remember telling them on our bed one cold June morning and the kids went crazy with excitement followed by quite a few questions.  Fair enough, I would ask a lot of questions too! Liam just wanted to make sure he could still follow his AFL in Bali and otherwise he was happy with the idea! They were also at the age where they could appreciate and understand the big life change we decided to do as a family. In fact Demi (then 6 yrs old) wrote us a card thanking us for using ‘our money’ on this!

Preparations in 2015

Last year I was insanely engrossed in my very special work project, doing unforgiving hours and sadly not being their much for the kids or Trent.  It was an amazing opportunity that was never to be repeated again and one that I put my heart and soul into. After 18 months, it finished in October with great success and a huge relief! During that time Trent turned into super dad and was juggling home, kids, his business and planning for our year away! Wow! He also did a great job in August visiting Bali to meet real estate agents, schools and get a general idea about expat life. You can also read his posts about planning and organising the move on our blog.

Let’s fast forward a year

So fast forward time and here we are only 8 days before finishing ‘our year in bali’. You may have read back in August this year that ‘our year in bali’ will now be ‘our two years in bali’ so there will be a lot more updates on our wonderful adventure! Keep reading ….

Ready to get started?

Book a free discovery call to learn more about how we can help you feel confident about a move to Bali.

Leave a Reply

Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Receive a free download The Essential Checklist to Move Family to Bali (100 items inside!)

Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Receive a free download The Essential Checklist to Move Family to Bali (100 items inside!)