TRAVEL EXPERIENCES: THINK YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT?

This week we want to begin the conversation about how you can build a life filled with travel and experiences, while you are on your path to financial freedom. I have asked my very good friend Rose Hunter to share her travel experiences with us, as she is the guru in the art of life/travel. She is a total inspiration to me, and anyone who is willing to open their mind to new possibilities. Rose will be writing a series of BLOGS to share with us demonstrating that you can travel the world, without it costing a fortune.

Rose Hunter is an editor and writer, from Australia. She lived in Canada for ten years, and Mexico for almost as long. Rose and I met and became good friends while she was living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. She travels a lot, and works from wherever she finds herself. Rose is a fan of coworking spaces and great coffee.

Written by Rose Hunter: 1. Are you someone who’d like to travel but think you can’t afford it? Join me in my travels!

As a poet (yes, that’s a real thing!) I spend quite a lot of time doing work that isn’t paid, or isn’t paid very well. I’m grateful that I can create time for this passion of mine through my work as an editor, and through keeping my living costs down. On the surface, it would seem as though travel should be out of my reach. So that’s what these posts are about. Here I’ll take you to some of the places I’ve visited recently on my limited budget. As an editor I’m able to take my work with me, which is why these posts will feature coworking as one of the crucial elements of a place for me. In case you haven’t heard of coworking spaces, they’re offices for location-independent workers. They provide a strong internet connection as well as printers, scanners, coffee, and a congenial working environment. They’re also an excellent place to network with other online workers as well as get to know locals and expats, and gain deeper insights into a place.

Can’t take your work with you, or wouldn’t want to? Just skip those sections. I’ve got plenty more to say about other aspects of these places.

2. INDONESIA, UBUD

Kartika Bungalows

Ah, Bali! It conjures up images of temples at sunset, moss-covered forests, rice terraces, elaborate offerings to the gods, and the intricate costumes and headpieces of glittering Balinese dancers. I’d never been to Bali before but had read that Ubud was the cultural capital, which was why I headed straight there. One of the highlights of the island is the religion: a truly one-of-a-kind evolution of Hinduism, unlike anywhere else in the world. I loved seeing the care the locals took with their daily devotions and the beautiful offerings they put outside their houses and businesses.

ACCOMODATION - Kartika Bungalows; view from outside my door. Ubud has a lot of lovely and inexpensive accommodations. I started off at a place I booked online that was very cheap, and, as it turned out, there was a reason for that (the pictures looked beautiful, what can I say? The reality was something different). I’m a budget traveler but not wanting to really rough it like I did when I was twenty-five, so I wandered around and found somewhere else to stay after my initial two nights at that place were up. I ended up stumbling across the Kartika Bungalows, a beautiful property with an impeccably tended garden and lovely owners. I committed to five days initially, but liked it so much I stayed there my whole time in Ubud; over three weeks.

Price per night (for one or two people, breakfast included): I paid 300,000 Indonesian Rupiah (about $21 USD), but because I stayed there longer than most. Regular price is $25. (Compared to the very cheap place I booked initially which was about $15. Definitely worth the extra!)

Location: The hotel is central, right on Monkey Forest Road, near plenty of boutique shops and restaurants, and is also a quick walk to the Hubud coworking space, and Coco’s supermarket (I like to buy fruit and veg when I travel, so this is important to me).

Other features: The delicious breakfasts, delivered to your balcony. A four-poster bed, with mosquito net, which made me feel quite regal—I used the net even though there didn’t seem to be a mosquito problem. There is also a very nice pool, which I never used because I am not much of a pool person.

Hazards: There are no hazards here, but there was some added excitement when the monkeys staged an early morning raid on the coconut trees on the property, breaking the fruit on the balconies so that it rained coconut juice, knocking over breakfast dishes, and generally having a good monkey time. The family and staff just laughed a lot and cleaned it up.

The courtyard at Hubud Cowork

3. COWORKING: Ubud has a couple of prominent coworking spaces, but I ended up at Hubud, because of its central location as well as its reputation as one of the first coworking spaces in the world. Hubud is quite famous amongst digital nomads. It lived up to its name; it is to date my favorite for a number of reasons, number one being the friends I made there. The staff create a sociable atmosphere by hosting events such as workshops, introductory Indonesian classes, yoga, group lunches, and a breakfast for new members. This was ideal for me because I like to socialize, yet I am not one of those people who can easily talk to anyone with no introduction.

Price: It’s based on the internet hours you use; I bought a 50-hour package for $90, but I ended up working there for well over 50 hours since I did a stint on a book there, and a lot of that work was offline.

Coffee: Great coffee, and a choice between Balinese and regular drip coffee.

Social aspect: Excellent.

Internet connection: Excellent (a really good thing since internet connections elsewhere in Ubud can be shaky).

Decor: Very welcoming, hip bamboo interiors.

Hazards: It’s not really a hazard, but I’ll mention the monkeys again (because they are everywhere in Ubud). They gallop across the roof of Hubud like a herd of horses, and occasionally have brawls in the courtyard. Don’t look them directly in the eye was the advice I was given; they take it as a challenge. And don’t leave food or drink unattended!

My advice: Give them the right of way and go about your business, letting them go about theirs.

4. VISIT THE SIGHTS

Saraswati Temple

Sights - Just up from the Kartika Bungalows are two temples, the Royal Palace and the Saraswati

Temple with its path over the lotus pond that makes a regular appearance in Ubud postcards. The

Campuhan Ridge Walk is also a fun walk or hike depending on your perspective, close to the city center but it feels a lot further out, which can be a nice change since Ubud can get quite congested. It will take you through a jungle, rice fields, beautiful villas, and striking gorges. There are also various other attractions near Ubud. The best as well as the cheapest way to see them is on one of the over two and half million registered scooters that whizz around the island obeying few road rules that I could discern. However, I couldn’t quite get myself there (on a scooter). The closest I got was a ride on the back of one, which I found a bit nerve-racking. Well, I couldn’t really feel my hands when I got off it (from hanging on so tight). So instead a friend I met at the cowork and I hired a driver to take us to Mount Batur, one of Bali’s active volcanos, about a two-hour drive from Ubud, which we made into a day trip by taking in other sights as well, including Goa Gajah, also known as the Elephant Cave, the Katolampo

Waterfall, and some rice fields. Here was our view for lunch:

The Mount Batur volcano

Price: The temples and the waterfall are free; the Elephant Cave is a couple of dollars admission, and the price for the driver for the whole-day trip was about $50 (divided by two for us), with a good tip.

Food: There is so much great food in Ubud, and if you are vegetarian or vegan this will be an eating paradise for you. I do eat meat but I ended up eating vegan here a lot, since it was so tasty and fulfilled my liking for lots of vegetables (not always the easiest thing to get when you’re a budget traveler). My favorite spot was Veggie Karma: It’s just up from the coworking space so I often went there for dinner, after a day of enjoyable and productive work.

Price: About $3.50.

5. CAFE HAVEN

Ubud is also packed with trendy and atmospheric cafés and one of my favorite things to do was sit at one and chat with a new friend. Two of the best were Clear Café and the Yoga Barn Café. Reggae musician and social activist Michael Franti has called the decor at Clear Cafe “breathtakingly chic,” and I agree.

Clear Café.

How to get to Ubud: Fly to Denpasar and get a cab from the airport. The airport is well organized and the ticket counter for cabs is easy to navigate. It costs around $20 and takes one to three hours (and possibly more, depending on Bali’s notorious traffic); my flight arrived at night so it only took one hour.

How much per day: I was a bit under $40 a day factoring in the hotel, food, café beverages, bottled drinking water, and coworking space per-day rate. Add something to that to see some sights, and I was still well under $50 a day. You could add a bit to that if you’re a bigger eater than me, or like to shop more than I do. Or subtract a bit if you can ride a scooter.

Hazards: The monkeys I’ve mentioned a couple of times. Some tourists try to pat them, or are pictured with them sitting on their heads in the monkey park etc., but I’d advise against this. I know one person who was bitten and had to be rushed off for a rabies shot, and heard stories of others. My advice: give them the right of way, avoid direct eye contact, and go about your business—and let them go about theirs. Also, scooters. You think a street is one-way but it is not one-way for scooter drivers, who can go any way they want, at any time (true for a lot of places in Asia). So look both ways before crossing (just like the monkeys do. They really do)!

So much better than: Seminyak—the other place I stayed in Bali, thankfully only for two nights, although those two nights felt like forever. If your idea of a good time is groups of shirtless teenage Australian boys with shopping trolleys full of Bintang (Indonesian beer), scooters mowing you down on the footpath because the road is so jammed with cars that they’ve given up on it, and no regular local people doing regular local people things in sight, then this is the place for you. Otherwise: not.

Would I visit Ubud again: Big yes!

Further Information/Links: Hubud, Monkey Forest Road 88. Veggie Karma, Hanoman 73, opposite Cocos Supermarket. Clear Café, Hanoman 8. Yoga Barn Café, Raya Pengosekan. Kartika Bungalows: They don’t have a website but you can find them on any of your major booking sites. They’re right on Monkey Forest Road. * Note: These posts are my experiences, based on some of the things I did in a location. They don’t pretend to be at all comprehensive, and I don’t receive any compensation from any of the businesses mentioned.

Rose also works as a house-sitter, more about Rose can be found at rosehunterwriting.com.