I kicked off my flip-flops, waded into the warm Balinese water, and clumsily hoisted myself onto a rickety 20-foot boat. The motor grumbled as we forged into the deep-blue ocean, the small vessel bobbing up and down on the ocean’s rounded swells. The journey would take nearly two hours, but despite my slight nausea I…
After moving abroad in July 2014, I started compiling monthly roundup posts about life as an expat in Southeast Asia and all the nitty gritty that goes on behind the scenes here at Travel Lush. Check out my most recent monthly roundup posts May, June, and July. I’ve kind of dropped the ball lately. In terms of blogging, I mean….
Despite the fact that I’d visited Bali five times in the past five years and lived in Jakarta I’d somehow never traveled to mainland Lombok before. I’d tinkered with the idea of visiting Kuta, Lombok (not to be mistaken for the party town of Kuta, Bali), once or twice but I always figured it was solely a…
After moving abroad in July 2014, I started compiling monthly roundup posts about life as an expat in Southeast Asia and all the nitty gritty that goes on behind the scenes here at Travel Lush. Check out my most recent monthly roundup posts February, March, and April. It’s weird. I started off the month of May surrounded…
About halfway through writing my July monthly roundup post I realized that July actually marked my 3-year expat anniversary! For those of you who are new readers, I started this whole living abroad adventure in Jakarta, Indonesia, roughly three years ago, in July 2014. Back then, I had just wrapped up a year-long backpacking trip…
After moving abroad in July 2014, I started compiling monthly roundup posts about life as an expat in Asia and all the nitty gritty that goes on behind the scenes here at Travel Lush. You can find all of my previous monthly roundup posts here. After coming off of the most perfect trip to Italy last month, it was…
That’s right. I’m currently in Bali. And, unlike most of my recent travels, this isn’t for a quick two-day visa run. This is for a semi-lengthy two-month stint. It’s been one year (almost to the day) since I moved from Jakarta to Phnom Penh. It’s hard to believe I haven’t stepped foot in Indonesia since then. …
Jeez, I can’t believe it’s been a full year since my first blogiversary! And I seriously can’t believe how much has changed since then. When I think about it it’s kind of crazy that I’ve spent a good portion of these past two years pouring myself into this blog. I’m not entirely sure why I…
I’m Justine, a 30-something freelance writer and California native who set out to travel around Southeast Asia in 2013 and basically never left. Since then I’ve lived and worked in Jakarta, Indonesia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Beijing, China, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I now live in Dubai! Seriously, this wasn’t the plan. But I suppose for those who…