Destination dream life

Hey Bali, we’re back!

The hot sun on our skin, the smell of incense and exhaust fumes, the Balinese smiles and ‘mau ke mana's’, the sound of the ocean and the salty wind in our hair on the scooter...

We are back in Bali. On Sunday morning we met at KYND, our favorite healthy hangout and vegan café in Seminyak at the moment, run by two friends of ours. It’s hard to miss: the large pink wall outside with ‘Another day in Paradise’, the colorful smoothie bowls and a line outside to secure a spot at one of the tables.

KYND is hosting their first ‘Meeting of the Mindful’ event today, with two special speakers: James Aspey and Emile Steenveld. James is an incredibly inspiring athlete from Australia who became vegan after a very serious illness. Through his discovery of this peaceful and healthy lifestyle, he didn’t speak for a year to raise awareness against animal cruelty and to choose peace over violence in all aspects of our lives. Since then, his interviews have gone viral all over the world (definitely check out his talks on YouTube and his Instagram @jamesaspey).

We have to leave the event early because we have a brunch date with our Dutch besties who have also been living in Bali for almost ten years: Yenny, Kim, and Mary at St. Regis. If there’s one thing you really must do in Bali, it’s brunching in a hotel on Sundays. We are also big fans of the brunch at W Retreat in Seminyak (you look out over the ocean, book early because it fills up quickly). Super luxurious and the dessert buffet is what you dream of.

Before we go, we quickly buy some Mindful Munchies (these vegan cookies are to die for), two T-shirts from the brand @inthesoulshine with ‘Eat Veggies Not Animals’ and a bouquet of flowers for the girls at the market at the event.

In Bali, the health food and vegan scene is enormous.

By the way, we have both been vegetarian for four years and in Bali, we live as much as possible according to a plant-based lifestyle. We always drink our cappuccino with almond or coconut milk (the ones from Revolver, Kynd, and Peloton are favorites, we are real coffee addicts) and for lunch and dinner, we eat as many healthy salads, veggies, proteins in the form of tempeh (yum) and beans as possible. In Bali, the health food and vegan scene is enormous. There are so many good cafés and restaurants with loads of healthy food options, and many pioneering entrepreneurs from Australia translate the vegan lifestyle into really cool concepts.

Furthermore, our first days were filled with tons of work, deadlines deep into the night (because of the flight, you always miss almost two days), fun meetings for collaborations, Skype dates with intern Dieuwertje in Bali (including trying the new beetroot latte at Coffee Cartel in Seminyak), rides to our factory in Denpasar for the webshop, and setting up the planning for the coming months. We have the itch after this summer in Europe to plan new tropical trips... Swimming with manta rays in the Maldives and surfing in Hawaii are at the top of our bucket list. And after the rainy season, we want to go back to the Moluccas (where Eve's roots lie and where she has a family house in Ambon), Sumba, Rote, Flores (we have been there before with Le Pirate Explorer and they now have two new boats, really a dream trip of a lifetime) and Raja Ampat. And we haven't even mentioned our entire list yet, haha. We want to get inspired in Byron Bay (all the health food cafés there are really our thing), surf in the Philippines, visit friends in Cape Town and... Okay, we need to stop, it seriously doesn’t end.

On Instagram, we announced our new book this week: The Canggu Guide. We receive so many emails and messages daily from our followers asking if we can give more Canggu tips, because in this trendy surfer village, most young creative travelers stay. So we decided to dedicate a whole new book to it. YAY! We are busy adding the last spots, editing the photos, writing copy, and designing the book (we publish our books independently; control freak much? Haha). The selection is always mega time-consuming because there is so much! We have about 400 spots, island stays, and fun things to do from which we are now selecting the 250 absolute best that will be included in the guide. After the weekend, we will cruise through Canggu to take the last photos and end with a quick mani-pedi at the new Spring Spa in Canggu.

After that, we drive to Bingin Beach (our favorite beach in South Bali) with Steph and our friends. We have been invited to stay at The Sunshine Houses, a brand new villa on the cliff of Bingin. Here we will work hard on the guide and we have many new clothing and swimwear collaborations to take photos with on the beach. And hopefully, we can also chill by the pool for half an hour. Oh yes, and edit our first YouTube video (last year we edited ten travel vlogs, but we didn’t continue them due to time constraints), because on Insta Stories we held a poll to see if our followers are actually waiting for vlogs from Bali. Yes it is, we guess. Okay, now you know why we never sleep, haha.

Sending you sunshine,

see you next week!

Yours tropically,

-x- Pris & Eve