I’ve been on the Internet a lot lately looking for good expat and travel blogs and tips on blog design, etc. Somewhere I clicked on a link to the LA Times travel section and a feature titled Overrated Destinations of the World. I am sure there are tons of overrated destinations and I am sure the degree of overrated-ness must be a very subjective thing. Still, I was appalled to read one reader’s idea of why Bali was overrated: 

It was the ending part of our cruise from Hong Kong to Bali. The weather was very hot, and the humidity seemed near 100%, which we were told is normal for November. Our hotel was very luxurious. We left our patio door open about an inch while we went to dinner and came back to bugs everywhere. In daytime, mosquitoes ate us up. The hotel grounds were beautiful but couldn’t be enjoyed because of the temperatures and bugs. Outside of the hotel’s grounds, there was poverty everywhere and beggars. It was not the paradise we expected. Never again. We’ve been all over the world, and this was the worst spot we’ve ever been in.

The reader suggested a trip to Hawaii instead. Geez. I’m speechless. She went to Bali and was not pleased with the poverty outside her hotel?! Welcome to reality! I’m curious what world they’ve been all over?

Maybe you’ve heard of the Navajo Indian concept of living your life fully in harmony with nature and the world around you. They call it “walking in beauty” and I can not think of a better nor more “beautiful” way to say exactly that. Through all of my travels and frequent moves, I have come to understand that happiness is derived much more through relationships and serenity than through physical possessions. (Not to mention how this makes those moves infinitely easier!) I believe it is important for us to find a balance, however. We can live ascetic, bare lives, but the fact is we, as humans, like pretty things and comfort. Don’t we?

I don’t mind living out of two suitcases (or three or four!) but I’ll admit that I would love to have a PSF in my life. (That’s a permanent storage facility – expat speak for a home of your own.) That’s why I was overcome with very non-harmonious feelings of envy when I spotted this fabulous Ubud jungle dream home in the NYTimes.

Do you believe in serendipity? Images of Bali have quite suddenly began to appear in my life more and more often. Blog posts, emails from friends, articles in newspapers and magazines…everywhere I turn I see pictures of gorgeous guest houses or reviews of literary festivals or rich travel stories. If the Navajo share the walking in beauty concept with anyone, it must be the Balinese. The colors, the flowers, the harmony with nature…although I haven’t yet been there it looks like an artist’s paradise. The flowers! It seems like there are flowers everywhere, is this true? Maybe it is time for a visit? I think I’m becoming enchanted, yet another common thread between the people of Bali and the people of New Mexico.