Experience: A Week At Home In Bali 🇮🇩
- Konrad Tillman
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Intro
As much as I love entering conflict zones and drinking beers with the locals who are misunderstood, there is something about being at home. A lot of people ask me, since you travel so much, where is home exactly? Aside from a business class seat on United, the closest place that I feel is home is Bali. Not because of the island, but because of the family that took me in.
With that being said, let me walk you through what a week looks like back home with virtually no phone or pictures. Sometimes it is good to just decompress in life.
Actual Home
Every time I come back home, I am treated like royalty; there are no two-way around it. While I don’t pay to stay here, I do technically live with other people if that makes sense. Basically, I went to a retreat, and now the owner has taken me in as his next son.
From the second I land at the airport, to every part of the family there, it feels safe. It’s for once in my life, grounded. It’s a peculiar feeling. I sleep a lot, watch movies, go swimming, and just eat in bed most of the day. It’s a rinse and repeat cycle, wake up with no alarm, perhaps go walk Mela (the dog) to the beach, have breakfast with some of the other guests, go for a morning swim, have lunch, take a nap, and get ready for extravagant dinners that evening.
Sure, Bali is cool, but it’s not about Bali. It’s about being in a place where you feel safe. I am also a sucker for luxury when it is offered, so being able to have food delivered to me in bed is just the most sensational feeling in the world.
So yeah, being here is a nice rest that I get a few weeks per year. Honestly, even being home for three weeks a year is a stretch, as this year I managed about two weeks total 🥴.
Around Bali
Okay, yes, I might sound like every other influencer when I talk about Bali here, but I do enjoy what Bali has to offer. I don’t go out much, nor do I hang out with Russian chicks 24/7, but I enjoyed riding around on the back of a motorbike and sitting at Potatohead enjoying an espresso martini.
I enjoy going out for a coffee in the morning at Kanvaz or grabbing a beer in the afternoon with some of the people from the retreat. So I guess in some ways across my travels I have learnt that the smaller things matter to me, whether it is in Bukavu trying to buy a belt, or with a JP Morgan banker enjoying a beer in Bali. To me, it is all about real and raw human interaction.
Ehh, whatever, you’ve probably heard enough
Final Thoughts
While I will never be one to promote Bali, primarily due to how much it has changed in the last 12 years since I first visited, that was never the point of this post. The point was to say that if you find people who love and care about you without ever judging you, take that and never look back. In an ever-growing consumerist society, we often overlook the smaller aspects of life. It’s not about the most expensive car or the biggest house, but about the hug you receive when you’re needing to process emotions. It’s about when someone says to you, “I understand you,” when you are going through a rough day. It’s about being you, and that is why I call this place home.
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