Summary

As promised here is the second half of the interview with Akia Merrit. If you didn’t listen to part one click here. In this episode we talk about how life really is away from home. Every wonder how travel and home relate? It can foster intentional living, where your life is not about the things you have but experiences. It’s about valuing what you have and living in gratitude. Check out today’s episode for more.Let us know what you think of the episode!

Transcription- Generated By Descript – Errors may occur

 

 Bali is so far. What made you go so far away from home?

I dunno, girl, I, you know what’s so funny? I was, I was, it was the pandemic time. So we were, I was furloughed for my job.

All that stuff was going on. And so I was sitting at home and I was like, I don’t know. I just had a moment of what, like this is what life can be like. Cause I wasn’t working but I was get, I was honestly getting to be with myself and to know like myself, I was cooking. I never cooked before. Like I was working so much like before pre pandemic obviously.

I was like always going. So it was work, nightlife with friends, social life, family. It was like constant doing stuff. And then pandemic happened and I had to sit down somewhere and I was like, oh, like okay, what do I do with all of this time? Right? I wasn’t working and like all of this stuff. So I started cooking and I started reading and I started planting and just doing all of this stuff.

And I was like, oh, so I’m not going back to work because like I’m gonna, I gotta figure something out that doesn’t take this away from me. Cuz I was like, I enjoy this. I enjoy to. Sit and read. I enjoy running to the grocery. Just having the time to run to the grocery store and not have to drive my car or you know.

Yeah. Experiment in the kitchen and shit. I was just trying all types of new stuff at home and I was like, I wanna like maintain it. So I decided very early on, like, yeah, not going back to that idea of work corporate America. That doesn’t work for me. Yeah. I feel like I got to, got to be in a space where I was like, okay, this doesn’t fit into my life, opposed to how I’m fitting into all of that, like making my life fit into that.

I’m like, no, no, this has to fit into what I want for my life. And yeah, I started looking up like places to go. I had no idea. If you would’ve asked me what Indonesia is, I couldn’t have told you 100%. Mm-hmm. I could not have told you where, what Indonesia was or anything. And I don’t wanna say that. I, maybe subconsciously I watched something or something, but it’s, I can never remember what exactly it was that made me say Molly, I don’t remember.

And I just was like, oh, okay, Bali, I, I’m gonna go to that place. And people would ask me like, what? And I’d be like, I don’t know. And I didn’t even have the money or anything at that time to do it. And I was like, I’m gonna Bali. And it’s funny cause my friends would be like, what are you talking about? I’m like, I’m going Bali.

And yeah, I’ve been here for two and a half years, like in and outta here for two and a half years now.

Wow. Cause yeah. Alicia,

so I know if we wanna even put all this in podcast, but.

As, as much as you can tolerate, you know, being Yeah, of course, transparent. So when you talk about the money component, like mm-hmm. Most people get very, that’s, that’s where it ends. Like, they’re like, what am I gonna do? They’re, they’re thinking, and I, I’m gonna use myself as an example. How do I go from here, here, being in this space in time to there?

Do I still try to hold this down? Should I let this go? Should I, like, I’m a homeowner, should I sell this? Like, do I release all of my possessions? Is it easier to travel with nothing? Like, all of these questions come up and then you’re completely stifled. Usually that’s where it begins and ends. It’s too much, right?

Mm-hmm. You talk.

I think first it depends on where you are and what you, what you are trying to do and where you are in your life. Like, so if somebody’s a homeowner and they are intentionally wanting to like keep their home and things like that, I can’t really speak to that cause I wasn’t a homeowner, I was renting at the time.

My lease was actually coming to us in, so I didn’t necessarily need to do anything with that. Like my lease would’ve been up and I could wipe my hands and I didn’t sign for another year or what have you. Not I had a car. I don’t have, I didn’t have children. I don’t have children at the moment. So there are things that were not a part of my journey that are a part of someone else’s journey that may require something else.

But I know for me, when I came to Bali, so I was furloughed at the time, so I still was making a portion of my income, which I was sitting at home. So I was able to save a portion of it, but I did I had. I made very poor financial decisions in my early twenties. So I had a Mercedes-Benz that I was paying book amount of money to maintain.

So that was where a portion of my money was going, and I still was paying rent. So during the pandemic, when I was furloughed, that money was still going to bills. But what I was able to save, the first thing I did when I decided I was coming to Bali, I bought a flight and the flight was about $500 at the time or something like that.

And then I’d pay for my hotel for a month, which was about $200 for a month. And so I, that had gotten out of the way and then it was okay, I had a lot of time, maybe a few months, and I was like, okay, I need to save something. And then I also had ventured into TEFL being an online teacher. So I didn’t completely like no work at all.

I did, I was going to go into having a job. I didn’t have a job when I left though. I actually got the job. To be an online teacher for foreign learners as I got to Bali. So I, that wasn’t completely figured out. And I left with just about $2,000 in my account. So I didn’t have like a, you know, I speak to some people and it’s like, I’m just, I’m, I’m 40,000, I need 40,000 before I leave.

And I’m just like, I definitely didn’t have that, like that 40,000, you know, I could’ve deal with 40,000. I would’ve really been out, you know? But yeah, I think I didn’t have tons of, I didn’t have tons of stuff, whether it be just bag baggage or things that would’ve kept me there. In general, I did keep my car for one year because at the time I was trying to sell it, but they’d actually, I would’ve actually had to pay to like clear that the loan that I’d had for the car.

So I would’ve ended up having to pay them. And what’s so crazy, and this is a, you know, I really do, I’m a. Some, this can sound very hoo-ha to some people, but I really do believe that like, when you really want something, like when you really, like we were saying, when you really do the work to like, you’re like, I’m, I’m gonna make this happen.

Like it’s happening and I like everything else. I’m not really hearing you. It’s happening. The first time I tried to sell my car when I was leaving, I couldn’t, like, I, I went and like I said, I was gonna owe them and I was like, I can’t afford to pay y’all, so I’m just gonna like do this. I, I would need to pay on a month to month basis.

That made more sense for me to be able to pay on a month to month basis. I didn’t have the lumps on my money to just get rid of the car. It would’ve compromised me being able to leave. So I kept the car and I made payments on the car for the totality of the year that I was gone the first time. Went back home and at that point I was like, I’m sure.

That I’m not, this is not gonna be my home. I’m not gonna stay in the United States. I was like very sure of it. So I was like, okay, I have to do something about the car. But I didn’t know what I could do. Cause I was like, I’m still not in the place to completely pay off the car. And when I, I was like, I’m just gonna try it again.

I went back to the the people who would I bought the car from and I was like, I bought it from CarMax. So I went back to them and I was like, will you buy the car again? And this time they took the car out, they actually pay, they owed me money, they paid me for the car. And I was like, if that’s not God’s saying girl, go and buy your business.

Get outta here. And it was the last day I’d actually like, had my my flight to Sri Lanka was that day. I actually had to change my flight around because it, they said yes. And I was like, I, all the paperwork and all that stuff had to process, but. Yeah, I, I still had like some stuff there, but I, I, I think, yeah, I, I didn’t have a lot of money for sure, and I, I know that’s the biggest thing with people.

It’s always money. Like, how, what am I gonna do? How am I gonna survive getting rid of stuff and all of these things. But yeah, it just depends on where you are and what you, what you see fit for yourself. If you do feel like you wanna still live in the United States, it’s a completely different ballgame.

Or you wanna keep your home or you wanna Airbnb home. But I, I do believe there’s always an option. If you really want something, for sure you can do it. I’ve met mothers who traveled with their, their children since they were two months old, who, who are travelers and who have introduced their children to new places.

Met people who are homeowners, who still travel the world. And so there’s always, yeah, there’s always a way. I do think our fears get the best of us sometimes, and in the what if and how, and it’s not po And of course, if that comes up, then if you say it’s not possible, then it’s not possible.

Right.

Exactly. Exactly.

No, I hope I answered that. I’m sorry. You

did, you did. You answered quite well actually. Thank you so much. Oh, thank you

for the question.

So Akia, what would you like to leave our listeners with Three things that you’d like to

Three, three things. Oh, okay. I think the first thing I would say is stop waiting and that, just that phrase, it really does mean so much to me.

And it’s funny cause I’ve seen how it’s changed over the trajectory. The first, when I started traveling, it was about stop waiting to like yeah. To to live your life. And it was more so get up and go and, and do what needs to be done. And now for me, stop waiting means, yeah. Like stop. It’s more of an internal thing now for me.

Stop waiting to. To show up for yourself in whatever way that that means. And that might also look like leaving a place that isn’t necessarily serving you anymore leaving an idea that’s not serving you anymore. And yeah, just stop waiting to, to live life. You know, I, I, I see very clearly now, especially from living back home and now living in this part of the world on just what living fully means and how different that is.

And I do, I strongly believe most of us don’t live fully. We don’t live just fully and freely. So I think, yeah, it’s just stop waiting to live and just cry. If you have to laugh when you have to travel, if that’s what it means, sit still and stay home if that’s what it means. Leave the job if that’s what it means.

Be more committed to the job, whatever it means for you, just stop waiting to do it and do it and be present in the moment. Yeah. So that’s one thing. And then another thing I would say is ooh, yeah. Don’t forget to, don’t forget to just be like, sometimes we get so caught up with just the doingness of everything.

I gotta do this, gotta do that. Be here, be there. Just be and be okay with being and sit with yourself sometimes, even when it’s hard. Mm. Yeah. Tell yourself thank you sometimes and just have grace for yourself and love on yourself. Yeah. Just take a moment to be intentionally whether, even if that, that’s a few minutes in the morning, just be okay with that.

And what else? One thing

breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Don’t forget to breathe. Yeah. I think life changing when you take a deep breath. So don’t forget to breathe. I, I tell my, you know, when I’m out with my friends and stuff, we can just be doing whatever. Literally, we can be at the cup anyway. I’m like, don’t forget to breathe, girl.

Don’t forget, because we forget, you know, it’s such a natural thing and you forget to breathe in. Breathing is what brings us back to, oh, okay. This here, you know? So, yeah. Don’t forget to breathe.

Love it.

Thank you. Alicia,

you have anything you wanna add?

No, I, I don’t. She’s, you know, she has a very grounding centering presence, so thank you.

And I’ve been, I’ve been doing some energy work and I’m just very, I’m re I’m receptive. Oh, thank you. Yeah. Appreciate you. Thank you so much. I appreciate

you ladies. It’s been really, actually your presence has made me feel more grounded, so thank you. Thank you. That’s awesome. Thank you.

Yeah. So should I do a segment where I bring it all back to how we live in our homes with the things that you said?

So

now if you want, whatever you want, I’m cool with, I’ll let it go all so, you know, home, Alicia. That’s

okay though. It’s okay. Actually,

yeah, we

did actually. All right. Well, Ikea, thank you so much for joining us so late. Thank you. Good evening

so much.

I know. What time is it there? It’s

eight, about 12 hours.

8 48. So it’s not so late. Yeah.

It’s 8 48 in the evening. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it’s right. And it’s 8 48 in the morning here, right? Yeah. What

I knows crazy tomorrow. Right? I’m actually, I’m already in your. Oh yeah. To meet. Yeah. It’s June 11th for me. So now it’s about to be on 12th.

Yeah.

Wow. That’s why I started getting nervous about the date.

I was like, does the date match up with the time? And I started like freaking

out and I was like, I thought it was next. I was messed up. I, the way it would’ve been fine. Like even I, I normally wake up at about 4:35 AM So even if that would’ve had worked like where you needed, it would’ve worked out. Yeah, it’s fine.

I appreciate you so much. Are you still teaching? No, I stopped. I stopped at like a month in, I was like, oh.

Why did you not like it? What happened?

You know what? I dunno. Like, I feel like it was very, it was restricting on like, It wasn’t, you know, what I was being, I was requiring too much. So I just moved and I was like, I actually just wanna be, I was like, I’m just gonna use the little bit of money I have and just like, actually not work.

And I actually was like, I never had a moment where I’ve not worked. You know, I worked since, okay. I, I have obviously, but like, since I was 12 years old, I started working like since 12. So all my life I’ve worked and I was like, I don’t know what it feels like to actually just not worry about work or not worry about how I’m gonna survive.

And I stopped doing it. I stopped like that for a few months and when I stopped that, you know, it happened, I met a girl in Spain on a, a trip during the pandemic, actually. I had went to Spain, a friend that I met in Mexico. Crazy life. I met a friend in Mexico who we kept in contact. He’d invited me to Spain for his birthday, and I went to Spain.

And I stayed there for about a month. And while I was there I met a girl who was like an Instagram influencer and she was starting a company with her husband. And when I got to Bali and when I said, okay, I’m not doing the teacher stuff, I wanna do it, she actually called me and was like, Hey, I’m starting at my own agency, my own social media agency, and we need account managers.

Can you work with us? And I was like, sure. So I’d done that and like in that, I literally needed to check my phone maybe

four times a day to check in on stuff. And it was just like, it was good money. And I was like, oh, this is amazing. So yeah, I stopped the teaching stuff and I was like, yeah, this feels, and I was also trying to do the travel blogger stuff, so it was more of a worked out better. Yeah. Still Do you still do the account managing.

I do so, but very sparsely I do it. So I got into it to a point where I was manage, I was working with three different agencies and managing models for three different agencies. And then as you, if you listen to the podcast, you know, I don’t have social media like that anymore. So I got out of social media world.

So that was a challenge, being partially there with work and then committing to myself. I didn’t wanna be in it. So now I’d only manage I manage one model independently and I don’t work with agencies. I let it, I let it go. I was like, I don’t really wanna do it. So I’m also in another transition of letting go again of.

That’s letting go again and like, oh, well, whatever will come of it will come of. And I trust that something will, because I’ve seen it happen so many times now. It’s happened. It’s literally always happening, right? I let go of the corporate America job and then got the teaching job and then it let the teaching job and, and it’s alwa and it always feels very aligned with where I, where my intention is set.

So that’s amazing. That’s amazing. Cause like you said, my first thing would be like money. Like what? How make money? Like, you know, so, you know, it’s the craziest thing I’ve learned about money that it’s for a lot of people, it sounds crazy when you stop thinking about it so much. In my experience, when I stopped thinking about it so much, when I stopped, I actually had this conversation with my sister, the, the other day and she was like, I’m just thinking about how I’m gonna make money and this, that, and I asked her, Do you think about money often?

And she was like, yeah, I’m always thinking about like how I can make more and how I can like sustain her life, obviously, like everyone wants to survive, right? And I was like do you think about all, she’s like, all the, I’m always thinking about it. And I was like, well, maybe let’s try not thinking about it so much and see because you tried it one way and let’s not working, so maybe let’s try another way.

Let’s not think about it so much and see what happens. And she called me yesterday and she was like, you know, what’s the craziest thing? She was like, we had that conversation and she was walking to the store and some man was like, Hey, like you dropped something. And literally I was like, some money, like just somebody had dropped some money and she, and she was like, that is crazy.

And I was like, we, we think these things to be like, no, it’s not possible. But I’m trying to

see,

it’s possible. It’s possible to see.

Yeah. You know,

real quick, I have a question about your communication, so, mm-hmm. You said someone called you, so you still pay for a cell phone. Who’s your company carrier?

Like, I’m curious about

that. Like how do you get wifi? Like, I’m curious about, you know, what, well, first of all, all it is interesting because I get these questions. For me, it’s like everywhere I’ve ever been is always had wifi. So it’s like, I’ve never had a problem with wifi only in Zanzibar. It’s been a little, it was a struggle and the electricity was going out for an hour or two hours a day.

But everywhere has wifi and then I have T-Mobile still because I wanna keep my US number. But I’m also trying to, I don’t know if I wanna keep that, but I’m, I’m, I’ve always had T-Mobile and I also have I have an Indonesian phone number as well. So I typically communicate through WhatsApp, but I can still iMessage and I still have iPhone.

I have a iPhone 14, the, the new stuff a friend commences me into. But yeah, you still have all the gidgets and gadgets and all of that stuff. And I still use Yeah, I still talk to my family just the same way I would at home.

That’s a good, that’s a question I wanted to ask before we go. So, what’s your family say and how have they been in your journey?

Ooh, you know what? I’ve always been a quite strange, I’ve, I’ve always been like the strange character in my family. Not to say like the, I don’t wanna say black sheep cause my family has always embraced me and they’ve always like been like, oh, Lakia, she’s cra like, you know, in a very loving way. Like, I would always dress very different.

I always, I used to cut my hair and shave the side of my head and all that stuff. When he was like very, like, what’s wrong with her kinda thing.

Tia, are you an aquarium?

I’m a

Pisces. Interesting. Yeah. Interesting.

Oh. But yeah, my family has always been like, what? But always, I’ve always felt love from them.

But yeah, so for them it’s not really a big surprise. They are now for sure. They’re much more settled into it. Cause I’ve been away for two and a half years now, so they’re much more like, okay. You know, but yeah, I’ve, I’ve, they’re always like, wow, you know, I’m, I’m probably, I’m the first person in my family to me doing this kind of stuff for sure.

Right, right. To be doing this kind of stuff. So I definitely yeah, they adore me. I adore them. They adore me. Like I love my, my younger sister, my younger brother. And my mom, even my mom, I talk to her sometimes and she’s like, wow. Like even for her, I feel like she gets to, to live her. To live her and her child through me sometimes.

Like, wow, you’re here. And hopefully she gets to doing that for herself soon. But yeah. But for now, you know. Yeah, I’m, they’re very embracing. Nobody really, at first there would be the words of, oh, I thought something happened, like this kind of stuff. But I had to really tell them, listen, I can sleep with my door open over here.

All the ones got have to sleep with the guns, 15 locks and this and that. My brother 15 locks. My brothers always talking me, oh, you need a gun? And I’m like, dude, nobody’s on that open. Nope. Nobody’s think about that over here. Like people are literally, I leave my purse out. Literally. I could leave my purse sitting outside throughout the night.

Nobody will touch it. Nobody. So, yeah. Yeah, I think the safety thing, they were a bit like, are you safe? And for a while they thought I lived in the hut. Of course, even though I still get, where do you live? And I’m like, are you y’all serious? Just telling if I choose in a hut, huh? Next time they dunno hu I’m in the middle of a rice field in a hut.

Right. Well, you know what if I choose to be in a hu look, I, I ain’t too, I ain’t too good for a hut now. Like I love a good little rice field or jungle situation in the middle of nowhere. So Yeah. But it’s also like you can choose to live in this kind of place. I’m at my friend’s retreat now, so I’m like in a very beautiful, like, hotel room.

Yeah. I’m like, you can get this kind of stuff too, or you can, you know, but yeah, they, they have their ideas of

how I was living. Of course, of course. Yeah. Okay.

Well, yeah, I mean, I thought I

had so many questions and now I can’t remember any of them. I knew I should have wrote them down. I was like, I

write them down.

I be like, so you

would, you know, I was like,

lemme just try to remember ’em all. But how, can, can I ask you ladies a question? Sure. Okay. Sure.

Can she hear, get a little delay? Well, Alicia, I want to, I wanna, I would love to know how you, because I, you did mention that you were doing energy work. Can you hear me?

I can, but you’re, now, it’s starting to freeze. I know. If it’s, it’s freezing and then, okay. Okay. I, I think, yeah, yeah. No, go ahead. I can see you now.

Got me now?

Yep. I heard that you mentioned that you were doing energy work, and I’m interested in like, so how have you navigated that journey? Especially like when we talk about, we talked about earlier just being in a different space and I know for me it’s helped tremendously to be in a different space physically outside of the country per se.

So how did you, how do you find yourself able to do that work in the us? Like are you living in a more sec, secure area? Are you in New York?

No, I’m in New Jersey. Oh, okay. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, I actually, I’m, so, I’m in the process of studying the Course in Miracles. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that, but this is probably, probably my second or third time with this, with the course.

And so it’s metaphysical right process of. Doing some healing work so that I can get more in alignment with Mm. Not even my purpose, because that, like you said, that’s not even all that important, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But just allowing and being. Mm-hmm. So I moved away from my hometown and my family about four years ago.

Okay. And although it’s only an hour and a half away, it it for Jersey folk, that’s a long distance and if they gotta get in the car and drive on highway. So I did that just before the pandemic. I purchased a house. My background is interior architecture, purchased. I purchased a home in Trenton, New Jersey, and everyone said, Trenton, Trenton.

Like, there’s people that killing people over here. So, but I found the cutest little Tudor cottage. It was Landon Animals were living in it. It was owned by the bank. I bought the house site unseen. I actually called my realtor down here and I was living up in North Jersey and I told her, I said, listen here, I want that house.

I’ve been on that street before. I don’t care what it looks like. She’s like, you, you wanna see it? Well, you don’t see, I said, do not wanna see it. Please make, offer, full offer. And four years later it’s history. Wow. So I’ve been actually restoring 20 year old cottage and living in it and living my, my best life.

Like just embracing that journey. Love

you are. I can’t even number how many emotions I’ve had. And I also did with you what you did. I, I bought a car, sold a car I went to it wasn’t CarMax. I think it was one of those other ones. Was it CarMax? Might have been CarMax, but I had the same experience. Yeah. I couldn’t sell it. And then when I decided to sell it, it wasn’t quite a year later, it was probably six months to eight months.

They, they gave me money for the car. I made, like I was able to do some renovations with the money, like thousands of dollars. So it’s, you know, I, I, I really resonate like very strongly with your, with your journey. I mean, I didn’t move to Bali or I didn’t move to outta the country. I traveled a lot outta the country before I decided to hunker down and buy this house and, and do all that.

I had traveled the world. I’ve, you know, I’ve been to some of the places you’ve been to. Not all of them, so, I mean, but I’m much older than you too. Like, I’ve lived this whole full life. I was married, I’m divorced, like a lot of stuff. So this, this is me coming back to self. Mm. You know, it’s a journey and we all have, it takes on all these different forms.

Yeah. But it’s all the same thing. We’re all one, we’re all in this experience. We’re all connected. So it’s the same thing.

You know what, you just, you gonna think this is, I think this is crazy, but I, you just said, Coming back to self. Yeah. My friend, the name of her retreat that I’m on right now mm-hmm. Is returning back to self.

Oh, wow. I love it. I love it. How crazy

is that? Yeah. Yeah.

I love it. That’s amazing. I’m so thankful for your energy and for you sharing it with us. You are you are light, and I appreciate that light. You’re, you’re glowing. You’re glowing with that light and Aw, it’s energizing. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Dee, I did wanna ask you one question Oh sure. As well. Okay. If you were first, first part of the question, if you were to travel to anywhere in the world, if you picked a place right now, where would it be? And in that place, What does your ideal home look like?

Huh? What would make you feel very comfortable in whatever that place is like most comfortable? What things would you need? So, I

think I would wanna go, the first place popped in my head was Italy, cuz I’ve always wanted to Hmm. To like Florence. I’ve heard different places in Italy that people are like, oh, you would like it.

They know my personality. So I’d like to go there with Santorini, but for me, I kind of feel like you, I like the outside indoor living. Mm-hmm. So I’d want to be able to see the skies, mountains, wherever is, is in my view. I’d like to have it framed so that I can see it in the morning when I wake up, because I really love looking outside when I wake up in the morning and hearing the sounds of nature.

So I would just love it if like, you know, I could wake up and the, the curtains just open or the doors just open and, you know, it’s a beautiful day and the sun comes in, the greet me and it’s beautiful blue skies and, you know, the colors of the neighborhood are vibrant and right. And you know, I’d love like an outdoor shower

that has privacy of course, but

a little, a little garden and a place to sit outside so I can eat.

Yeah, I, I wouldn’t need much. Minimal would be fine for me, just utilitarian, but pretty utilitarian things, not like mm-hmm. Broken down, decrepit things. I wouldn’t mind a little patino and stuff. A little grunge, but as long as it’s functional and it, it has like a certain charm to it, I’m okay with it. I don’t really, you know, I’m, I wouldn’t care if I were, if I were to like strip myself down and be like, you know what, this is what I’m gonna do.

I’m gonna travel. I wouldn’t have any of those. I wouldn’t have any, I feel like I wouldn’t have any of those apprehensions anymore that I have at home, you know, to make something a home, cuz like you said, home is wherever you are or wherever you decided to be. Mm-hmm. I would just be happy because I’d get to experience the, the atmosphere and the environment that I would wanna see, you know what I mean?

Because I don’t New York and. While I live outside of the city, you know, I have access to trees and parks and beautiful things like that. I have to go to the places where I can see the, the vast skyline. Like I’d have to go to the beach just to see, you know, a beautiful scene where I can frame in my eyes, see if that makes, yeah.

Yeah. But if I could actually live in those places, then I wouldn’t need

anything except for like mm-hmm. The basics. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn’t need pictures. I wouldn’t need artwork. I’d be fine with blank walls, just as long as they’re, you know. Mm-hmm. Good work,

tiled, whatever. I wouldn’t care. So as long as I have indoor outdoor

living, I love that.

Yeah. I gotta get to Italy. I’ve never been to Italy, so really, I’m gonna live, I’m gonna live through you and your Italy experience that’s coming up. That’s, so you just make sure that you sent me some pictures of your Italy experience and all that. I’ve never been, I actually was on a flight to go there and then it was when they got their first case of Covid, I was in Spain and they would, they wouldn’t let us go to Italy, so I was like, oops.

So now I get, where were you in Spain? Ak Did you go to Barcelona? Were you over in, where were you? No, I was in Madrid. Madrid? Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. I’ve been to Madrid and then Ibida. Nice.

Oh yeah. Did you love Spain? Oh my God. How long you stay?

When I, I think Spain was like one of the first times, like you say, your experience, like how you envisioned Italy was what I got.

And I beat the Spain. And I stayed for, that’s where my friend actually, that I met in Mexico. That’s where I end up going. I beat the Spain and we stayed in the countryside. Yeah, it was mountains and then there was like a garden and every morning we’re picking fruit. From the tree to eat for, for breakfast.

Then there was like, and I was like, oh, this is how I wanna live. Like, yeah. And I didn’t, I’ve never, I never had that experience even on all of my travels. I got traveled a bit before then. I never had that experience of, like you’re saying like the scenery, the waking up, and it’s like right there and you all like the, the skyline is right there.

And the way that their house was, it was like one of those houses where everything was just, you could see the, the sky and then you at night the, oh my god, the night sky there. And I was like, what am I doing? This is how I wanna, I wanna live like this and be able to, you know, be with nature, see nature, and not need.

You know how little things just, that’s, that’s enough. And y’all got that in ib, the Spain, and that was Wow. Wow.

Awesome. That sounds, that sounds amazing. How come you didn’t spend more time in Spain? I, I froze. I stopped my video cause I thought it would help with the connection.

Right. Okay.

So how come you didn’t stay in Spain?

Is it more, it’s more expensive to live there, right.

Or I, at that point I wasn’t even really considering that. Cuz the, so the friend that I’ve been with, we were not dating, but, you know, so I wasn’t really paying for anything there, so I didn’t, wasn’t really considering money. But I do think yeah, I had already settled on Bali.

I was already like, like Bali was already in my head somewhere, so I was like, oh, I still didn’t like plan everything out. But I was the first, this is the second time I went the first time. I was nowhere near even thinking about. Moving out of the country where I was just like, oh, I’m just gonna travel.

And there was a band that I used to like, and I went, I flew there to actually see them play live. So I was still very much in a like, oh, I just wanna see everything and like that kind of space. And then the second time when I went, it was more like like I said, it was during the pandemic time, it’s like as well.

And then I was like, oh, I was more relaxed and more calm and more like grounded. And I was like, oh. And I actually got to see it. Cause the first time I’ve been, I beat this fan. I didn’t get to see it. I saw it from two different, it is quite interesting. I’ve been twice, but I’ve seen it through different eyes.

First time I saw it through the eyes of just the going, going, going, going. I wanna take pictures everywhere. I wanna see everywhere, I want Instagram, everything. The second time I went, it was much more like, wow, like this place, it was more like settled, grounding, and like I did a lot of beaches. I probably went to a different beach every day and we did a lot of hiking and.

Things like that. So it was completely different experience. And at that point I was already in the process of like, I’m going ballet it. I didn’t book everything yet or anything, but I was like, oh yeah, like, I’m gonna get this experience but somewhere else and

yeah. That’s awesome.

That is awesome. Have you been to Bora Bora?

I’ve never, no. Okay. I don’t even know. Bora Bora Bora it, I thought it was near where you are. I don’t know. Where was

it? Yeah, I’ve heard of it. And I’ve always

wanted to go there myself, so I don’t know where it might be. I’m so bad geographically, Alicia. It’s crazy. It’s, I call my friend that Alicia, where’s Bora Bora?

I don’t know. Are you. Do I know?

You have to know.

I know. I dunno. I’m sorry. Sorry.

You and now I wanna know. Oh, because I’m like, I know the island. Tahiti

Uhhuh. Look at Akia. She’s like, what? And where is

Tahiti? Oh, miss Colonia, that’s poly. It’s not so far from me. Yeah, I wouldn’t think so.

Cuz you’re in Indonesia. Yeah,

it’s not so far. It’s just a bit out there. It’s in the middle of really, it’s really out there in the middle of, she

said it’s really out there in the middle there.

That’s place I

to go

to. So I, I, I’m on there. bora.com. No, it’s. I’m looking at the vacation packages. Alicia,

get your bags ready. Listen, I’m ready. Let’s go man.

And then maybe we stop and see.

Please come. You’re more than welcome. I would love to have you. I would love, I wanna

be able to stay in touch with you. I know it’s probably hard to like send you things cuz you move around a lot. We’re in the process of our guest, you know, a little thank you for being on the show.

So, hmm. How can I stay in touch with you that I can get to you a slightly bit easier?

Where’s your next spot? India, right? Oh, India. Oh yeah, I’ll be going India for, I’m not sure yet. I just bought a one way ticket. I don’t know for sure. I’ll be back in Bali. I don’t know when though. There’s some work I wanna do in India. Oh, India. Yeah. I want to, this might be a little too, I hope this don’t sound very morbid.

So I’m actually looking to study being a death doula. I wanna help people transition into like, oh, good. People who are dying like hospice. That’s good. So I’m looking into being aula. Yeah. And there’s a place in India called Versi, which is supposed to be like the city of the dead a lot. It’s very special to a lot of Indian people when it comes to death and rituals around death.

And they, it is very important for them. So I, yeah, I wanna go there and observe and be a student. So yeah, I’m gonna go there and see how that, see how that works out. But you have a

teacher, when you speak of your teacher, what is this? The teacher? What is, is?

Yeah. So I’m in a. I’m in a yoga teacher training.

So learning traditional HTA yoga. Mm-hmm. But also I’m learning along with that, the ante vetted teachings which is not, it’s not a, I hin it typically goes to what hin Hindi people would follow, but it’s not Hinduism, it’s not a religion. It’s more of a it’s just a teaching. It’s just a as it is.

Yeah. Seeing as it is. So I have a teacher that I’d actually met her in, in Bali and she lived a few years. She’s from Canada though, but she lived a few years in India. Okay. And I’d done 30 days. 30 for 30 days. I just went to this yoga studio and they have many different classes from many teachers all over the world and mm-hmm.

Things from Chik to salsa to capo cap and. To hop the yoga and all types of things you could ever imagine. And I went there for 30 days just so I could find my lane where I fit into what felt like it resonated. And my last day, she was the last class I took. Cause at that point I was like, oh, I’m not really feeling any of this, to be honest.

And then she was my last class I took and I was like, oh her. Mm-hmm. It’s her. Yeah. So I’m studying with her. I’m in a one and a half year course. Wow. With her. Yeah. So awesome. That’s

Bless her soul.

Mm-hmm. There’s literally some big bug just sitting here looking at me.

I was gonna ask you about these travels in the different wildlife.

Literally ask, that’s like a freak. I You don’t, you don’t look happy. Take some adjustment, right? Oh, for sure. Wait, I was watching your video of you and you were like, there’s a spider in my, it was like a ginger please her. And then you took your finger. You took the spider and put on, I said she

the wildlife and everything, like definitely girl.

Girl. Yeah. I would’ve squashed it. Been my first thought, dumped the whole thing down. Now I’m trying to get better on that. Wait, you broke up a little bit. My love. What’d you say? I said, I’m trying to get better on that because me, I freak out when I see bugs.

I’m just like, squish ’em. And then I’m like, oh, I’m so sorry. No, I’m still working on that. It took some time. It, it’s really, it really is a work in progress and I like now it’s, please don’t let this look, this is not easy. Like for me to even be, I’m like, oh, it’s there. And you know what, like when I first got here, because to be honest especially I know in my childhood I was very disconnected from nature.

It was always put your shoes on, your feet shouldn’t be dirty. Even things like that where, oh, I shouldn’t even be in dirt, you know, like be in the ground and be in soil and you know, if we saw any animal in the house, death, the animal for sure. It’s either somebody has to die, you know? Right, right, right.

It’s like I’m not gonna li, I’m not sleeping here. So unless you did. Right. And when I first came to Bali, and I mean, I’m talking, you got spiders the size of your hand that are like, Crawling around and ggo everywhere. So that was I and frogs. Like there were times where there, during rainy season, there’s so many frogs everywhere.

And I would literally, like, I would not go into like, if a frog was in front of my room door or something, I would just like go back and be like, I can’t, I’m just gonna wait until it hops and I take a sticker. So try to get it to hop. But you know what, now I Pasta. Just step over. I don’t know if you know of a Yeah, now I can just step over even sp the spider.

Now I’m no, I’m saying now I can step over it.

No, you just said pasta. What did you call it?

Oh, pasta bna. Do you know VA pasta? What that is? It, it’s like a, it’s a program where you basically, for today’s, you sit in silence. You don’t have a phone in a book, anything. You just sit and, and you meditate for about 10 hours.

You meditate for 10 hours a day. And I did that for 10 days, so a thousand hours total. And in that experience, the place I stayed at, cause they give you, and it’s free, right? So you get these little dormitory rooms and you can’t do anything about it. And it’s free for a reason. So when you come there, you’re not complaining about, oh, I paid for this, so, so they did.

Everything is free. The food, it’s donation based, you can donate what you have. But the idea is that you kind of enter the life of a monk. Right? And during that experience, there would be spiders in my room. I’m not even kidding you. Like the size of my hand, like mm-hmm. And I remember the first day, and I have, I had a tear.

Oh my God. I ha I was so freaking scared of these fighters. And I went to the, the manager of the place and I was like, please, can you change my room? I can’t stay in this room in spiders. She was like, I’m sorry, this is the only room. And it was either me having to decide, I, I really wanted to be there. And I was like, I gotta suck it up.

But they would in the way the doors were, so it was out in the jungle. Cause va pasta centers are normally out in the middle of nowhere for the silence. Mm-hmm. So, and then they have the doors where, you know, like, so the ventilation can come so the doors have that opening. Yeah. And the spiders will come in through there.

Wow. And the total of that experience, I’ve probably seen at least 10 of those big spiders. But I did realize at the end that I was, I was. Hyper, like, because of my mind was so much there and I was so scared I was attracting them. And I, and at the end of it, when you would talk, when I talked to the girls, cause you could talk on day nine, and I was like saying my experience, like, and there would be people, I was like, I didn’t see one spider.

People didn’t, they were like, I didn’t see one. And I was like, how They were everywhere. Like no, they were everywhere. Your, I was like, uhhuh, I, they were everywhere for me because I was so, that’s where my attention was going. That’s right. And it was crazy. And I was like, and that’s where I realized, oh my God.

So now, like, honestly, and that changed my relationship a lot with, with nature’s. So now with spiders, I can get, I can get close enough to even put my hand, like near the web, like very close. Like, but I still am not there to physically touch them, but they’re really close. Yeah. So I was, I was just talking to my friend, like, that’s a milestone.

Like, and celebrating that like, because before forget about it, I was out like, forget about it. Yeah. So, Yeah, it did. Took some time. It, it still takes time there sometimes I’m like, ah, whatever. It’s well at. These spiders didn’t fight right, so that was good. Well, no, there are no poisonous SP spiders in Bali, so that’s another thing that allows me to like be able to rest and not be so nervous.

Cause the spiders here are not poisonous. Okay. They’re big, but they’re not poisonous. They can’t really do anything to you but just scare you a little bit. Working nerves a little bit.

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Okay

ladies, let you guys go. Okay. This was wonderful. I’m gonna figure out how I’m gonna put this all together, but I think this is great.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. And I wish you ladies so much success on a podcast and success in your lives and your journeys. Thank you. Thank so much. Thank you. Appreciate.

Enjoy your evening.

Evening. Thank you. Take care. Thank you. I’m going to visit. Thank you.

Bye.