Category: The Beginning of our Family Adventure

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Tales & Stories The Beginning of our Family Adventure

The Road to Indonesia: Week 4, Fun & Preparations

Intro

The 4th week is already behind us, and a lot has happened again. This was a week were we have done a lot of research and made some big decisions regarding bookings, dates and planning. Let’s have a recap. 

Monkey Town & Friends

The week started of really well. A few good friends of us just had some free days planned and came to drop by with their family. We wanted to go to Butterfly / Botanical Garden with our kids, but unfortunately it was closed when we arrived. However, this was actually a blessing in disguise, because that’s when we decided to go to Monkey Town. Monkey Town is an awesome fun big play area for kids were they can run, climb, jump and play around, and were the parents secretly also can become a little kid again. Our daughter has just turned 1, and we always said that we wanted to go there with her when she was a little bit older. We thought that would not happen anymore since we are moving of course. However, since the son of our friends is around 2 years old, we still had a good excuse to go with all of us.

In the end, our little daughter also really enjoyed it, and we literaly saw her discovering & developing herself as well that day. It was a great start of the week, and we can now also check Monkey Town of our check list before we leave The Netherlands ✅😁.

Flying Tickets, Baggage & Customs

We did a lot of research of all the options with every different flying carrier around. Emigrating with a baby is of course different then just booking a flight for a holiday. Even though we are going to sell almost everything, we are still taking some things with us and how we take that stuff with us, can be a big difference in price but also insurance that it will arrive safely. Booking extra suitcases on a flight is quite expensive. For 2 extra suit cases we often payed around €1000; more on the flight ticket. For that price you can almost go back and fort if you search well for it. Besides the extra kilo’s for which you have to pay, there is of course also customs.

There is a vague rule that within the first 90 days, KITAS holders can bring in their stuff without import duty. However, I say vague for a reason, because apparently this can also change a lot depending of were you enter Indonesia and who of customs you have in front of you. So finding out which carrier charge what for which services, how to deal with customs, and the big question how and which stuff are we going to take with us, is one of the biggest time consuming topics of this week. However in General there are a few things that we’ve learned and like to point out:

  • Qatar is one of the few flights that allows you to take 30 kg in each suit case (as of this writing) .
  • We also noticed that if you are bringing animals on your journey, that Qatar is also one of the best flight carriers regarding to the well being of your pet.
  • Qatar is known for his great service (and for us they never dissapoint), but taking extra kilo’s with you is also quite expensive. In that case some carriers are cheaper.
  • Turkish Airlines has some great deals, but unfortunately in our case, their customer service was horrible. The line breaks up half the time, their English is often really bad, and I can’t say they were that friendly. This gave us some doubts if we should continue with them, and after reading also a lot of terrible reviews, we decided to not go with them.
  • Some carriers allow you to take a lot of extra baggage when you go business or first class. Depending on the time and price, this can sometimes be cheaper than only paying for extra baggage.
  • Customs seems to be quite difficult in Indonesia, but there are agents who also are willing to help you prepare for this. For a price of course.
  • You can also send your baggage trough a service like “world wide baggage service”. For what I see now, this is much cheaper than taking it with you on the plane. Again, after talking with some of those services, I’ve heard several times that shipping to Indonesia is more difficult than comparing to other countries, because of customs. Most of them recommend to use a local agent or partner of them, so that there will be no surprises. This is one of the options that we are currently looking into.

Insurance: Safety Wings vs Allianz

When moving abroad, things like health, travel & liability insurances can be a big topic to go trough. Questions like, what happens with my old insurances, can I keep them and/or do they cover the country I’m moving to? If not, which companies are willing to cover us, and for what?

The answer to these questions are quite different for everyone. Depending of your residency, nationality but also the place were you want to live. This becomes especially difficult if you are world traveller and you have not a registered residency anymore.

Insurance: Safety Wings

However, I was happy to find out that there are a few companies who are solely focussed on the world traveller type. One of the most recommended ones of them is “Safety Wings”. They are flexible, not that expensive, have a great location coverage area, and seems to also be able to handle the most claims. Because of this flexible nature, we’ve chosen that for the transfer period we will at least use Safety wings for our Health & Travel insurance. We maybe also have some active dutch insurances, just for the transition phase.

Insurance: Allianz

However, since Safety Wings doesn’t cover most things regarding pregnancy or heavy costs like cancer treatment, we most likely move to a local insurance policy in the future. Once we have been completely settled in Indonesia and consider it as our home. One of the insurance companies we are looking into is Allianz. As from a first impression and for what we saw in the first quote, they were really reasonable and they cover a lot of different costs, including costs regarding pregnancy. For now we cannot tell much more about them, but we will get back to that topic most likely in a different post.

*Pro Tip: When comparing insurances, be sure to check out the fine prints & coverage. Most people tend to mix up travel insurance with full blown health insurances, which is not the same. A travel insurance often provides some health insurance, but just good enough to lap you up and fix you so that you can go back to your home country to get proper treatment. They often not cover living a broad for years. Some do, but it is really important to check the fine prints in these cases.

BBQ & Enjoying Eindhoven

I don’t know what it is, but I think that this is one the best summers in The Netherlands since years. So of course we had another BBQ and parties that we attended. I’m actually not sure if expats are often BBQ’en in Indonesia, but if they don’t, then it is definitely one of the things that I’m going to miss once we leave The Netherlands.

Alright that’s it.
Thank you for reading again, and see you in the next post

Samir & Sarana
TTWLB

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Tales & Stories Tales of Bali The Beginning of our Family Adventure

The Road to Indonesia: Week 3, Instagram Account is Back & Preparation

Intro

Last week was the third week since we came back, and time definitely doesn’t stand still. Let’s make a recap of some of the highlights of the week.

We Got Our Instagram Account Back

First things first, we got our Instagram account back🙏😁. Which we are really grateful for. At the day that we announced our instagram account on other social media platforms and to friends, it got blocked 😒. We had it running only for 3 weeks, but mostly likely of the extreme amount of activity that we had on that day, we got banned by the algorithm of Instagram. We didn’t use bots, or programs, we didn’t spam other accounts, only used the account on both of our phones. But no worries right, we just explain it and this will probably be fixed in only a few days. Well think again. We had to go through extreme lengths to get it back, since instagram or meta is almost impossible to reach.

At a certain point we just accepted that it was banned forever, and made a new account. However, after a long wait we got an e-mail of an meta engineer. I scheduled a call with him, and within a few hours we got our account back. Once you get someone of the Meta support it becomes much more easy,  and the support team was really nice, but getting there is the biggest problem. We know there are a lot of people who have had problems with Instagram and also facebook for banning their accounts with no reason. So we will make a separate blogpost of how we solved it in the end. For now, we disabled our 2nd account and went back to the original, so definitely follow us here.

Aylena’s Checkup & Vaccination

Aylena became 1 year old last week, so the mandatory baby checkups and vaccinations are one of the things we wanted to have done before we move to Bali. Besides that, she was now also old enough to get the Rabies Vaccine, which is really important for Bali since cats, dogs and monkeys often carry it with them. Of course it is always awful moment to see your baby cry, but she took it like champ. We have been carefully searching and asking around about the Health Safety, threats & diseases in Bali, and also checking out which vaccines or precautions we think are needed for our daughter. We will definitely make a separate post about it, since it is something we also need to make a good recap of.

BBQ Time With Friends

Last week it was extremely good weather, especially for Dutch standards. The Big question is always, what to do when it is literally 40 degrees outside? The Dutch answer to this… bring more heat and lighting up the sky with a nice BBQ. 

Mortgage Check

We sold our house, but between all the traveling and all the things that we had to arrange, we almost forgot to check and follow up the status of our mortgage, and to contact the notary for the last details. It is weird that we are actually going to be debt free at the day that we move out. Don’t get me wrong, having debts the right way can really help you in certain financial situations. Because that is how our western financial system (unfortunately) is build on. Our goal is however to have a low costs lifestyle, while at the same time, having multiple revenue streams. Being able to get rid of a debt that while not contribute to a low cost life style, and to invest it in a new type of future, is something we actually quite proud of.

Flight Tickets

We are still checking out our flight tickets. Unfortunately, lately the tickets prices have gone up a lot for Bali, but that’s just how it is. Last time we flew with KLM, but we were not really fond of it. One of the good things about KLM is the short time of flight towards Bali. However, looking at multiple other things like food, service and options for the baby, KLM is really nothing comparing to the standards of Emirates or Qatar. At the same time, we did like the staff of KLM since they were so nice, and they were even kind enough to let us take picture with our daughter Aylena and the pilot of the plane 😁. Since this was the first time she had a flight towards Asia.
So for now, we are still searching for the right tickets, but that’s also because we haven’t completely fixed our departure date yet. Most likely we will spend one extra week in The Netherlands with our family so we have some good memories before we depart.

Alright, that’s it.
Thanks for reading & see you in the next update of
The Tales We Leave Behind.
See ya.

Samir & Sarana,
TTWLB

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Digital Nomad Tales & Stories The Beginning of our Family Adventure

Origin Story: Sacrifices For a Dream

Intro

The news has been out, and all our friends, family, partners, colleagues and acquaintances now know that we are moving to Bali. Besides the nice, emotional and beautiful responses towards this news, it of course also raised some questions. Especially from our professional network.

Is it true that you are not working for ASML anymore, and what are you going to do?

Well, let’s answer the first question about ASML in this post.

Ending My Rol As an Architect

Yes it’s true, I have actually already quit the rol as an architect for ASML a few months ago. The ones that know me very well, know how much I loved the rol. The semiconductor business is an extremely interesting world in itself, but the way ASML is pushing boundaries is just mind blowing. Knowing what kind of cool projects, but also challenges are coming up, made me proud to be part of it. Besides that, the colleagues who I worked together with were not only dedicated or smart, but also genuinely fun people to spend time with. 

Change of Policy

After 3 months, I finally got into the culture and way of working. Both me & ASML were happy about our collaboration and ready to extent it for at least 1 year. Then, a few days later, a new company policy came around. Full remote working was not allowed anymore, but changed to a hybrid way of working with a few days a week onsite.

I think almost everyone is happy that we can come back to the office and can finally meet up with our colleagues in real life, which was also the case for me. In all honesty, I totally understand and respect the decision of ASML. However, for me this change in policy had a great impact on my future dreams.

Becoming The Architect Of My Life

At that time, I didn’t had the idea to fully move, live and work in another country. I was just planning to buy a home somewhere else were I could work a few months a year remotely. I did had the idea to move out and live abroad with my family 1 or 2 years later, but not at that time. However, this change in policy, didn’t allow me to work for ASML when I was away from The Netherlands. In this case it was quite strict. So before I left on a business trip towards Mexico, I had the time to think about the choices that I was offered.

Stay as an architect for a beautiful company
or …
Become the architect of a beautiful life

I decided that eventhough I loved to work for ASML, my personal dreams and the life that I envisioned for my family was more important than anything else. That’s why I became an entrepreneur in the first place. So instead of choosing the safe option of staying in the comfortable life & position that I had created for myself, I chose to become the architect of my life. Not only that, we asked ourself the question: Why wait for our ultimate dream to become reality? Why not now?

Looking Back

When we came back from Mexico we fixed the last things in our house and put it up for sale, and the rest became history. Looking back to it, I’m really happy that this has happened. I had to make a difficult decision, but because of it, I finally truly did what I wanted and needed to do. Instead of waiting for a few years, we took immediate action.

Moving away is not easy and multiple sacrifices are constantly being made. Like selling a home that we’ve been working hard on, moving away from family and friends, and in this case, letting go of a rol I was proud of at ASML was one of them.

Big Thank You To:
ASML & One Zero IT

I want to thank ASML for this great experience and it’s unfortunate that our ways have to part already. I also want to thank One Zero IT for understanding and better yet, supporting me with this decision. As a freelancer, there are not many recruiters or in between parties that I have met that hold the same principle values as I, or even value the relationship more than the ending of a deal or contract.

One Zero IT is much more than a recruitment or consultancy company, and saying that would devalue them greatly. They are an experienced company that understand both technology and business ethics, and know how they can help organizations to accelerate their Digital Transformation or a company’s growth. Not only that, they are run by 2 incredible fun and great owners and I would definitely recommend everyone who is in the same field as I, to connect with them. I’m grateful to know them for a few years now and I can’t wait to work with them again. Also, if you are interested, similar positions are still open for ASML. So definitely contact One Zero IT if you are interested.

With that being said, thank you for reading and following our tales.

Samir Verkuijlen

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Tales & Stories The Beginning of our Family Adventure

The Road to Indonesia: Week 2, Aylena’s 1th Birthday & Preparation

Intro

The second week since we came back home is already behind us. This was a week were we were constantly reminded of how fast time goes. With the birthday of our little girl of course as the biggest reminder. With that being said, let’s have a quick recap of everything that was going on this week.

Family Hand Statue

Around April we’ve made a hand statue with the 3 of us. Knowing that the beautiful tiny hands of our little girl will not stay tiny forever, we though it was a great moment to immortalize it with the 3 of us. Last week we got a message that the Hand Statue was finally finished and we were of course eager to see how it turned out. So we arranged the revelation & pick-up and went to the North of The Netherlands as soon as possible. We are extremely excited about it and we really love how it turned out, but you can of course judge by yourself 😁😁 .

Handbeeld

This will be one of the few things that we bring with us to Bali. For now, it got a beautiful spot for the last 3 months in our house. If you want to know more about them check out the website of the company bodycasting.

Personal Development

We have 3 months before we leave, and for this we want to be ultimately prepared. This does not only mean all the administration, moving preparation and selling stuff, but also preparing mentally. We want to setup some new businesses, and develop our self in some new expertise. So that’s why we also spend some time and money in developing new soft & hard skills.

Starting new Routines & Habits

Our life has been actually quite hectic in the past, well 8 years…😅. Every time when we’ve got our balance back, we start something or something happens that stirs things right up. To keep a form of progress in our life, we love to have some structure in the day so that we at least do the things that we find important. At the same time, we are also parents to our little girl, so we have to divide the attention and time between personal, business & parenting things, and not forget to take the time for us each other as well.

Therefor we kicked back in some good old routines and habits and started with sport and meditation on a daily base again. This way we try to keep our body and mind clear and focussed. Since these are the first 2 things that go haywire when there are a lot of changes in our life. Which always result in more stress and less energy.

Aylena 1th Birthday – Wild One

The most important event of the week, the birthday of our little girl. One year has gone by already, and wow, time really that goes  that fast! All the cliche’s that everyone tells you, they are (annoyingly) true.

Aylena’s first Birthday cake, which was custom made 😊

But looking back on it, the first 6 months went pretty slow for u, but at the same time, we sometimes can barely remember them because of all the sleep deprivation we’ve had. Those first 6 months were also quite difficult with all the pain that Aylena had to endure with her stomach cramps, and how helpless we as newborn parents often felt. After a long journey, we found the root cause. Once we changed her diet, we finally could see the girl she really was behind the constant crying. A beautiful, cheerful, tough and energetic little explorer, who is constant discovering the beauty of the world. Since then, we’ve been blessed with her smile and the beautiful little personality that she already has. With that being said, the last 6 months went by really fast. Especially with her development. She crawls, talks (a lot), almost starts to walk, dance, claps & waves her hands, and she already has her own funny faces and characteristics that cracks us up every time.

It is such a beautiful milestone, and knowing what a difficult time we also went trough as a family, this day was just perfect. Seeing our beautiful girl smiling and glowing of joy while we and our family and friends were there for her, literally gave us tears to our eyes. We’ve put quite some effort into it, knowing that this is most likely also one of the last times that we can celebrate it in this fashion with our friends and family in The Netherlands.

Slowly Closing a Beautiful Chapter

The last 4 years we have been reconstructing, updating and changing our house and put a lot of effort into it. Once we finally could enjoy it and our family was complete, we decided to sell it and move to Bali 🤪. However, being able to celebrate our little one’s first birthday in our house does not only make it all worth it, but is for us also a beautiful way to close this chapter and to look back to it with some very warm and heart-full memories.

To finish this weeks update on that note, we’ve also met the new owners this last Sunday. They are a lovely young couple, and were really excited about the things we did to the place and can’t wait to move in. So we are very happy that this house, of which we have very special memories, is going to people who know how to appreciate it, and who will certainly also make beautiful memories here.

Alright, That’s it.
Thank you for reading, and hopefully we’ll see you in one of our next tales 😁🙏.

Samir & Sarana,
TTWLB

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Tales & Stories The Beginning of our Family Adventure

The Road to Indonesia: Week 1, Coming Back Home (NL)

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

Categories
Digital Nomad The Beginning of our Family Adventure

Origin Story: My First year as a (remote) Freelancer

Intro

As I mentioned in the last post, 1,5 year ago, I started my own business and became a freelancer & entrepreneur.
On 10-March-2022, vSAM Consultancy officially existed for 1 year 🥳. Just a few days after I quite my former job, I went to the Dutch KVK and registered the company “vSAM Consultancy”. A simple procedure, but at the same time, a beautiful and important moment that officially kicked off a new adventure.

The Start of a new Adventure

And what an adventure it was😁 …

In my first year, I worked for different clients in industries like: finance, governments, MSP’s, health care, and the semiconductor industry. Besides that, I also had the chance to work in different forms & roles and meet great people. Starting with a short term contract with a double role as a Team lead & Architect. The company who hired me had a security breach, and needed someone to step-in and help them with micro-segmentation and other projects that improved security and the stability of the environment.

Becoming a Dad

Just after I finished the contract, my baby girl was born and I enjoyed life as a newborn dad and watched how the story of my baby girl unfold & progressed. To me, becoming a dad is the best thing that ever happened, and also the biggest adventure that I ever started. It sounds cliche, but it is. That’s why I’m happy that I took the time to enjoy every moment, and also proud that from such a uncertain beginning, I was able to provide myself and family that time. Instead of going directly for the next big assignment, I paused.

As a freelancer it is easy to get overwhelmed with all the opportunities that lay around, the people & organizations you can help, the amount of work that needs to be done everyday, and also, the money that you can make. The best tip I ever got from a fellow IT freelancer:

Keep making time for your family and yourself. If not,
You’ll end up being a slave to your own ambitious goals, Forgetting why you started out in the first place.

Ambitious Traps

Knowing myself and having my own ambitious trap of always shooting for higher goals, I know that I often forget to take the time to enjoy the achievement, success, or life that I created and the family and friends that I have. Since the birth of my daughter, I make sure that I do make time to enjoy these precious moments. She reminds me there is more to life then work, goals and the never-ending rat race. She keeps my goal clear and is the biggest reason for why I do all these things in the first place.

The Reason Behind Everything

To be honest, my daughter Aylena, was and IS the biggest reason to start for myself. The story of becoming a father is at the same time also the prequel to the story that I’m writing as a freelancer & entrepreneur. She is the reason that I started, the reason that I work, the thought behind certain goals, and conditions that I set when I take on an assignment, and she became my biggest inner-drive. A drive to live life on my terms and to create a life and lifestyle were I can become the best version of myself, for myself, my friends and clients, but most importantly,

For my family.
Samir Verkuijlen

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Digital Nomad Tales & Stories The Beginning of our Family Adventure

Origin Story: Taking a Leap of Faith

Black Fiat500 Car

Taking a Leap of Faith:
How it all began

Many people ask us where how we came on the idea to start traveling and to move away from our home country. Especially with a baby that is not even 1 year old. Well, before the idea even started to travel around the world and to search for the perfect place to work and live with our family, there were a few important key moments that changed our life. Both as how we function as a family as in our mindset. Looking back to it, one of the first and most important changes that unintentionally has set some of the tings in motion, was the moment that I stopped working as an employee and started my own business.

From Employee to Self-employed

One and a half year ago, I stopped working for a great company, and took a big leap of faith. I left behind a great team with awesome colleagues and beautiful minds, and went down a path full of risks and uncertainty. It was just a few days before I turned 30 years old, and just a few months before we became proud parents of our daughter Aylena. I always knew that one day I would start for myself, and that this would also be the last company were I would work as an employee. However, I still didn’t expect it to happen exactly that year. Covid19, different views & opinion on IT and business, the realization of turning 30 and becoming a father, pushed me towards the path of which I knew I would eventually cross.

I Quit

With no plan, no prospect of a first assignment, and with a clear deadline of only a few months before our baby would be born, I quit.

I just finished a big home renovation in our house, and with a baby on its way, my studio became the baby room, and the attic became my new office. With the money that we had left, I bought the gear that I needed, and bought a small Fiat 500 for the family and gave back my company car. 

Goodbye Tesla

The Last Work Day

I never forget that last “work” day. I drove to the office and handed in my Tesla. The sun was shining and my wife sat with our baby in her belly on the passenger’s seat of our new loyal fiat 500 😊.

Look How Happy she is

With not much money, no certainty, but a big inner drive and a strong ambition, we drove back with a big smile and beautiful dreams of the future. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I knew I was going to, and make this work. In a few days I changed from employee, to self-employed.

Uncertainty becomes certainty,
Once you accept it & take full responsibility.

Giving up (a form of) certainty, and embracing uncertainty was not easy, but it was the most liberating feeling that I have felt in years.

Looking Back

Looking back to it one and a half years later, this was one of the biggest key moments that led me and my family to the place were we are now. It was the kick-off of to more financial freedom, but even more important, the beginning of living life on our terms. Or how I would like to call it, creating a life by design. I started to think about what a happy and full-filled life would look and feel like, and what that meant for me in my work/life balance. Once that was clear, I started to take clear and intended actions towards my goal and changed the way I lived and looked at my life. Since then, whenever I took on a role, project or contract, I made sure that it supported 100% remote working. This way I could be more with my daughter & unintentionally, it also set up the lifestyle of a digital nomad. It was not always easy, but I knew why I did it, and that made me much stronger during the negotiation process.

Till this day, I’m still so extremely grateful that I took this leap of faith, and that my wife supported me all the way and all the time. It was a crazy but awesome year, and one that surpassed all the expectations. I want to thank everyone that helped and joined me in this awesome journey.

I can’t wait for the upcoming years.
Thank you.

Samir Verkuijlen

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The Beginning of our Family Adventure

Our Tale

So, Who are we? 🤔

We are Samir & Sarana Verkuijlen and are parents to our beautiful daughter Aylena and beloved doggies. 1,5 years ago, our lives changed drastically. Knowing that a baby was on the way, Samir decided to start his own business and became an IT freelancer. Leaving the comfort of working for his former employer and fully taking matters into his own hands. He took a leap of faith so that he finally could chase his dreams and build the life that he and we wanted. This was only a few months before our daughter Aylena was born, so it was quite an exciting but also a nerve racking time, haha 😅. Ohw yeah, not to mention, we also got married last year🤵🏽👰🏻‍♀️.

Luckily we did manage great, and when our daughter was born our lives completely changed again. As any parent knows, having a baby and becoming a mom & dad is one of the most beautiful things that you will ever experience. At the same time, it’s also a period were a whole new world of worries, challenges and problems open up right in front of you. And once you are in, you may think completely different about the future and the things that you once envisioned before.

Changing our Vision of the Future

Our vision for the future changed not long after the birth of our daughter Aylena. Sarana decided that she wanted to devote her time not to a job, but to our daughter as a full time loving mom. So she quite her former job as a marketeer. From that moment on, we were both thinking about ways to spend more time with our daughter and other things that we love. We changed work to fully remote. Even though the lockdowns in The Netherlands were awful to say the least, it was a great time for us as fresh parents. We had more time with our family, and we were able to change our lifestyle.

Skipping Fast Forward

We decided to dedicate ourself to our early promise and spend more time with our loved ones, and create a lifestyle were in we live our lives to the fullest. To put the money were our mouths is, we sold our house, saved money and decided to emigrate and start a new adventure. An adventure of destination unknown, with only a dream and a vision.

A vision to build a better life and lifestyle for us, our family and even our friends. Maybe we succeed, maybe we fail and burn all our money during this endeavor 🙈, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters, is the experiences that we gain and “the tales we leave behind” for our daughter.

Samir & Sarana