Intro
Last week we came back to our house in The Netherlands after a 6 week trip through Bali. Coming back to our home after a long trip is for us always a joyful moment and also something we look forward to. This time it did felt different though. Because 4 weeks ago our house was sold during our trip in Bali. Coming home with a big “Sold” sign in your front yard, and the knowledge that the upcoming months are literally the last months in this house and neighbourhood, gave us a weird kind of feeling. We know why we are moving and we have a lot to look forward to, but that doesn’t change the fact that the memories and the feelings of our place that we used to call “home”, did struck us a bit. We have 3 months until we have to move out of the house and that we have to be ready to travel and move to Indonesia. Most likely 3 stressful, emotional and also joyful months. That’s why we are starting a blogpost series of all the things that we are experiencing, working on and going through, while we are preparing for the big move to Indonesia.
So with that being said, let’s make a recap of the first 1,5 week that we are back.
Bali Belly & The Trip Back Home
The trip back home was quite a challenge to be honest. Just 5 days before we wanted to fly home from Bali, we noticed our daughter Aylena was scratching her ear a lot. Of course, she got an ear infection just before we left. Preparing our minds for the fact that we most likely had to cancel our flight, we went to see a doctor in Bali. They confirmed what we thought and they prescribed antibiotics for our baby girl. Even though we really don’t like to quickly jump to antibiotics with a baby, it did help really well. The day before we left, we did a last check-up in the International Siloam Hospitals in Denpasar, and they confirmed that our baby girl Aylena was free of the ear infection and could fly back home. We are not a fan of visiting hospitals in a foreign country (But, who is right 😜), but it was actually surprisingly a nice experience for a change. Even though Aylena was free of the ear infection, she still was a bit sick and had quite some diarrhea, most likely Bali belly. So we had a pretty rough flight back home, including some of the passengers who were sitting close by the restroom were we had to change her often 😅. Once we landed in the Netherlands and arrived back at our place, we actually didn’t do much except for resting for the first few days.
Preparing to Move:
Visa’s & PMA Company Setup
Once we were landed and restored a little bit, we started directly with one of the most important things, our visas for Indonesia. In Bali we had a talk with lots of different agents, and after a recommendation of a friend, we eventually found one company and agent (part of Maxx’s Groups) of which we had a really good feeling with. We delivered the most important documents, read all the legal stuff, and now the last pieces for the process to start are kicked off. In our case we are going to setup a PMA structure company and this way we also can apply for the KITAS for our family. I (Samir) already have started a company in the Netherlands, so for me it is mostly changing locations and pick-up my business again remotely in Indonesia, besides the fact I’m planning to take the time to develop myself and are researching to start some new businesses and invest in some great opportunities.
There are different ways to obtain a Visa in Indonesia, but with all our plans in mind, this was the option that suited us the best. The PMA structure is being used by a lot of people who are serious about moving and working in Indonesia & Bali, especially the ones with a Digital Nomad lifestyle. If you’re interested we will make a different blogpost about this topic later.
Preparing to Move:
Shipping or Selling?
One of the topics that was a big question to us (and sometimes still is), was the question if we are going to ship or sell all of our stuff. Being together for almost 8 years and having lived in Antwerp & Eindhoven together, and separately in England (Sarana), Curaçao & USA (Samir), we’ve gathered quite a lot of stuff and memories. We are actually the types who love minimalism, but seeing of how much we actually have gathered we are not really good at it 😅. After lots of talks, searching for international moving companies and talking to friends and expats in Bali who did the same thing, we realised that we are going to sell almost everything. For the personal belongings or some of the electronics that we really appreciate, we are going to bring with us during our flight with our suitcases. Our reasoning behind it, and all our thoughts will be shared in a different blogpost as well if you are interested about this topic.
Preparing the 1th Birthday of Aylena, Wild One
There are a lot of things that we need to think about since we’ve came back home, but next weeks birthday of our Baby Girl Aylena is one of those things that we really look forward to. Since it is her first birthday and (most likely) also the last in The Netherlands, we really want to take the time to be present and mindful in the moment and really live towards her big day. Therefor, quite some days are being spend in preparing her birthday and at the same time reminiscing about the past and the constant reminder of how quick time goes.
Alright, That’s it.
From now on you can expect a weekly recap about our move to Indonesia. Thank you for reading, and hopefully we’ll see you in one of our next tales 😁🙏.
Samir & Sarana,
TTWLB