Covid in paradise

In 2019 I was travelling through Australia in my van. We had been doing so for about 1o months, and everyone that has done van lifer knows how it's far from luxury living. So we decided to meet up with some of Barney's friends in Indonesia for a month-long holiday. Little money goes a long way in Indonesia, so we booked some nice accommodation, ate at touristy expensive restaurants and partied a lot, conscious of the fact that once we’d fly back to Australia, we’d get back to working and saving heaps of money. Little did we know, we should have tried and saved every single penny because we would work for a good whole year, with no income in a foreign country. I remember being barefoot outside my bedroom eating my breakfast and hearing people talk about this virus going around, and remember thinking “they’re all panicking, this’ll be over in like a week”. Maybe I should have panicked, but because I'm such an optimist, I didn't think much more of it. I didn't fly back earlier back to Australia, since I was meant to fly in the upcoming days, I was sure nothing too bad would happen that they would actually close the borders. Like when does that ever happen?  Well it did. Literally a day before we were meant to fly back to all our belongings, our van and our little mobile house, they closed the borders. Only the residents and citizens were allowed to fly in, with a required 14 days quarantine and no cost covered. Being on a working holiday visa, we were pretty much screwed. So we took the decision to just wait it out, because “surely it won't last long”. By that time, most tourists on Lombok island had left to go back to the safety of their home, in their country of origin. But about 100 people didn't. Shortly after, Lombok closed all ports of entry, all airports and declared a state of emergency. Everyone who had decided to stay had to have their visa extended until further notice, and nothing had or could be done about it. So the remaining people on Lombok all became family. Lombok is a small island, but most tourists mostly stay in the Kuta area, which is by the beach, near the breaks and fine sand. Even with the rest of the world in crisis, life on Lombok  carried on as usual, all businesses were opened, no masks had to be worn, restaurants were to ourselves and beach parties were the best vibes. Never ever again in this life will I get to surf an empty break like we did back then. Surf spots known worldwide were empty, the boats would get us there in no time, spirits were high. Barney and I had our favourite local restaurant, and the owners turned into our family. They cared for us as much as we cared for them, they helped us out much more than I could ever repay them. We brought our friends to their restaurants, played cards in the evening longs, joined their family gathering and they showed us their local favourites. It was life in a bubble, on an island in Indonesia. The rest of the world didn't exist for us. Time did not exist and everyday was bringing something new. The locals were teaching us the language, we were teaching them card games and English words. All was good but some times were more stressful. Getting incredibly sick while being locked in a foreign country is incredibly worrying. Having no income for nearly a year was hard, but luckily we have some amazing people in our life that didn't bat an eye when we asked for help. Escaping reality in Lombok for the time of a year, while the rest of the world was stuck inside with no outdoor access is something to feel extremely lucky for. As cliche as it sounds, this experience taught everyone so much. No one could prepare for such a thing, so everyone had to learn how to deal and handle it as best as we could. Lots found themselves in the process, and grew to be a different person. Grew to tolerate more, grew to be patient, grew to be understanding and empathetic. It taught many how to share and the value of having dear people near you. The value of being minimalist and only caring for the things you really need. We spent a year without a tv, with about 4 changes of clothes, with an outdoor shower with no heating, living out of a bamboo cabin and hearing the mosque 5 times a day. And I would do it again anytime, without a single doubt. I would jump into the opportunity crying of happiness and excitement. With time and patience, I have now learnt to use this feeling into motivation, and to use this experience as a goal.