A responsible person probably would have found a job before they actually moved to Indonesia. That’s the proper order to do things. But, no one said that I was responsible. In all fairness to myself, I found out that I was moving to Jakarta only three weeks before I arrived. Suffice it to say, I didn’t have a…
As I established in a previous post, Kuta Beach is not for everyone. But if you’re traveling to Bali, chances are you’ll end up spending at least a night or two in this wild and crazy party town. Some people might be put off by Kuta’s spring break-like atmosphere, but in my opinion it’s not the worst place to…
The beach town of Kuta in Bali is absolutely crazy. It has been deemed by other travel bloggers as “the worst place in Bali” and “one of the most infamous beaches in Southeast Asia.” And, in many ways, it is. It’s akin to the spring break mecca of Cancun, Mexico, the boozy streets of New…
When I tell people I live in Indonesia, they picture me living in a cute beachside bungalow in Bali, spending my carefree days working on my tan and sipping fruity cocktails. Guys, I hate to break it to you, but that’s most definitely not my life. Jakarta is a gray, sprawling, traffic-snarled metropolis. And though a…
There a lot of quirky things about living in Jakarta but the one thing that I cannot get used to is Indonesia’s trash problem. To be specific, the overuse of plastic bags is the number one thing that drives me crazy about living here. I’m from California and I am, admittedly, a bit of a hippie. But as…
As I wrote in a previous post I was a bundle of nerves about my first ever solo trip to Penang. As it turns out, solo travel is pretty fantastic. And I was ecstatic that my three-day jaunt to Malaysia went off without a hitch – well, it almost went off without a hitch. I…
When I say I’m obsessed with all things travel, I mean it. I’m the type of person who will watch any movie or any TV show as long as it has something to do with travel. A bad horror movie that’s set in Colombia? Count me in. Andrew Zimmern is eating something bizarre in Peru? Hell…
By now I think I’ve expressed my disillusionment with organized tours, so when it came to visiting the Hindu temples of Prambanan on Java, Indonesia, I decided to heed my own advice and travel there independently. For those who don’t know, Prambanan is a cluster of ancient Hindu temples that were constructed in Central Java around…
Now that I’m back in Southeast Asia it’s becoming increasingly clear to me why I just can’t stay away from this part of the world. I spent a large chunk of the past year backpacking around the region. I visited six amazing countries and relished my time in each and every one of them. Now that I’ve…
My recent move to Jakarta, Indonesia, was a sudden one. I literally had three weeks’ notice to move across the world. My few weeks back home in California were spent shopping for hard-to-find items, freaking out about what to pack and cramming in visits with family and friends. Time flew by and I barely had…