"It wasn't a spontaneous decision — it was something we had talked about for a long time. We have always loved travelling, and a few years before becoming parents we spent six months travelling around the world together.

The desire to try a different lifestyle really grew after we had our daughter. Balancing two full-time jobs and a small child left little room for anything else, and somewhere along the way we started asking ourselves if this was really the life we had imagined. We knew we didn't want to grow old regretting the things we never tried — and since our daughter was still young and didn't go to school yet, it felt like the perfect timing.

So instead of buying a house, we sold most of our things, packed our bags and bought one-way tickets to Thailand. From Thailand we slowly made our way south — and somewhere along the coast of Bali, we stopped leaving."

"Bali offers such an incredible variety of experiences on one small island. One day you're swimming in the ocean, the next you're walking through rice fields, chasing waterfalls in the jungle or watching monkeys hang from the trees.”

"One thing Bali does exceptionally well is food. Our go-to lunch spot is Milk & Madu in Berawa, where Amaya disappears onto the playground and we actually get to finish a coffee — wood-fired pizza, strong espresso and the kind of crowd that makes you feel like a local. For dinner we love Pigstone Taphouse in Kedungu — you can enjoy a meal and a cold beer while watching the sunset
over the rice fields — the kind of place you find by accident and return to every week.

For dessert we always stop by Ettore Gelato in Pererenan. They have the best ice cream with new flavours every day — made by an Italian chef who moved to Bali and never left. My favourite is the coconut, it's incredible."

"Our favourite place to cool down is Le Bajo in Pererenan — a pool club hidden in the rice fields, where the kids splash all afternoon and you forget the rest of the world exists, not far from our home. During weekends they often have activities for children with water slides and games, and there's a large swimming pool.

We also love picking strawberries at one of the many farms up north near Kintamani, where the temperatures are a bit cooler — it's a wonderful activity when you need a little break from the heat. Amaya could stay for hours."

"One of my favourite things about Bali is all the small independent shops and local craftsmanship. Everywhere you go you'll find little stores selling handmade furniture, ceramics, textiles and woven objects — I recently bought a handwoven leather bag and handmade rattan placemats for our home — the kind of things that make your home feel like it has a story.

For fashion and clothing I would take a walk through Pererenan, where there are many beautiful boutiques. One of my favourites is Elce Swim, an Australian brand that was actually born right here in Bali — the kind of shop you walk into for five minutes and leave an hour later."

"To really experience the island, drive east. It takes a couple of hours and feels like a different Bali entirely — quieter, greener, older.

I wouldn't miss Sidemen — you can wake up at sunrise and watch Mt. Agung rise above the landscape. It's one of those views that stays with you.

In the late afternoon, head to the beach to watch the sunset. It's almost a ritual here — people stop what they're doing, walk down to the water and stay until the light is gone.“

"I won't pretend it's been easy. Uncertainty doesn't go away — it just changes shape, and the biggest downside is being away from family and friends back home. A kind of ache that doesn't really go away, you just learn to carry it differently. My worries about travelling as a parent were also far worse in my imagination than in real life.

So far, this life has given us something we were missing: more time together, more shared memories, and a different perspective on what everyday life can look like. And I know I'll never regret having had this extra time with my daughter while she was still little."