The short answer is yes. The long answer is, who the hell knows? There is NO DOUBT that there will be times where I miss my friends and family and even my kitties. Such is the sacrifice demanded of a true adventure. I’m also a very accomplished solo traveler so I have some data to back up my assumptions. However, I have never lived outside the city I grew up in, so this could be total nonsense on my part.
Thank goodness for coincidences and luck. The second person I told was my long time friend Scotty. He and his wife had just decided to spend the month of February in Bali, completely on their own. This made my decision to leave even easier. Together we found an AirBnB for $800 total for the month, giving me plenty of time to get acclimated to Bali life, while with friends. It also meant I would have plenty of time to find a yearly rental (which are paid up front in Bali).
My research had left me convinced that I would be able to find a really spectacular place for 10K a year, a great place for 5K a year, and a small apartment for 2.5K a year. These prices would only be available to me on the ground, as any prices listed online were done through middle-men who make a living jacking them up to snatch unsuspecting tourists.
Then came another piece of luck. A friend of mine who works in finance and travels to Bali several times a year offered to go in with me on a place so he could send business associates to “his home in Bali” and I would act as their concierge. This allowed me to justify spending 5K for the year, with him throwing in the other 5K, to secure an amazing place. This brings me back to being lonely.
If all goes as planned (and there’s no reason to believe that it won’t - except the fact that something always does), I will have a beautiful 2-3 bedroom home with a pool near the beach for all of my friends to come and visit. I think I can realistically expect at least five visits from friends a year, plus business associates, and that will certainly help keep the loneliness at bay. Again, as with all things about this trip, I’ll let you know in a couple months if I was right. Stay tuned.
