<ul class="summary-list"><li>A group of five friends spent <keyword id="19988" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bali">Bali</keyword>'s Day of Silence at one of the world's most famous Airbnbs. </li><li>What was supposed to be a one-night trip turned into a four-day visit when Bali's local government extended the holiday and enforced stricter <keyword id="91743" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="lockdown">lockdown</keyword> rules. </li><li>While the villas are always peaceful and calm, the experience took it to a new level. One friend said he felt a new sense of freedom and peace during the stay. </li></ul><p>Tucked inside the lush forests of Bali is the Hideout. </p><p>It's a remote resort filled with five bamboo <keyword id="6477898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="villa">villa</keyword>s nestled in the Mount Agung volcano. It's a place people dream of visiting. On <keyword id="719382" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Airbnb">Airbnb</keyword>, the villa has been added to a wish list by nearly <a href="https://news.airbnb.com/en-au/where-everybody-wants-to-stay-10-of-our-most-wish-listed-homes-australia-and-new-zealand/">80,000 people</a>. </p><p>Few are lucky enough to visit the village. But a group of friends was given the chance to experience the villas completely deserted. </p><p>Insider spoke to two of the friends, Cam and Kels Vaughne, who have spent the last three years living in <a href="https://www.insider.com/how-to-travel-for-cheap-in-bali-2019-6">Bali</a>. Originally from the United States, specifically Virginia, the couple packed their bags four years ago and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/camandkels/">traveled the world</a>. They searched for a new place to call home and settled in Bali.</p><p>Over the last few years, the couple has formed a friendship with the owners of the Hideout. They've stayed at the villas a handful of times and are one of the first to visit when the Hideout opens a new unit. </p><p>Bali's Day of Silence, called Nyepi, was quickly approaching. So, in an effort to avoid crowds, Cam and Kels called the owners, who agreed to let them and their friends stay in the closed villas for a night. </p><p><div type="image" title="651A8272 Edit" height="1500" width="1200" msid="75833265" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Balinese Hindus celebrate <a href="https://www.indonesia.travel/gb/en/event-festivals/nyepi-balis-new-years-day-of-complete-silence">Nyepi</a> every year. The single day is sandwiched between large celebrations. Villages spend months creating <a href="https://www.indonesia.travel/us/en/event-festivals/nyepi-balis-new-years-day-of-complete-silence">ogoh-ogohs</a>, which are paper-mache giants meant to represent evil spirits. On the eve of Nyepi, residents parade and torch the giants, which symbolizes banishing any evil spirits.</p><p>On the day of Nyepi, the island closes. Cell service and Wi-Fi shut off, traffic comes to a halt, and everyone is asked to stay inside. </p><p>The Vaughnes were excited for their first Nyepi. </p><h2 id="but-leading-up-to-the-holiday,-concerns-about-the-coronavirus-were-increasing">But the coronavirus was quickly spreading, and it was unclear whether the celebrations would be canceled or go on as planned</h2><p>At the same time, Cam and Kels said it felt like Bali was experiencing an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/style/they-fled-the-coronavirus-now-theyre-in-scenic-limbo.html">influx</a> of travelers wanting to escape to the country to quarantine. The couple was unsure how seriously locals and tourists were responding to the virus.</p><h2><div type="image" title="nyepi celebration" height="800" width="1067" msid="75833273" hostid="261"></div></h2><p>The couple adjusted their plans and asked if they could stay at the Hideout. The owners agreed, and Cam, Kels, and three of their friends packed their bags and <keyword id="6354692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword>ed two hours on motorbikes to the Hideout on March 24. Kels said they had all been self-isolating since mid-March, and they knew it was a safe group to travel with.</p><h2>Though Cam and Kels have been to the Hideout a handful of times, this was different than any of their past trips</h2><p>The Hideout is traditionally peaceful and quiet, but visiting the place deserted gave the couple a new sense of freedom, Cam said. </p><p>"We were just free to roam this entire jungle playground at our whim," Cam told Insider. "That was the most incredible feeling."</p><p>There was no one there to greet them. No chefs or staff that typically fill the villas. No other visitors to interact with. </p><p>"You're completely immersed in nature," Kels told Insider. </p><p>What was supposed to be a night visit quickly turned into a longer stay. The local governments decided to extend Nyepi, and afterward, the island would enter into full lockdown. </p><p>The group had only brought enough food for one night, so they resorted to rationing. </p><p>They ended up spending three nights at the Hideout. Local officials had visited them on Nyepi to make sure they were abiding by the rules and to make sure they were safe. The officials gave them permission to head back to their apartment outside of the city of Canggu after Nyepi was over. </p><p>Cam and Kels explained that they were never worried, and knew that the surrounding communities would support them if they needed help. </p><p>"That's just a testament to Bali in general," Cam said. "Even through all of this, you just feel safe, you feel protected," Kels added.</p><p><div type="image" title="2V5A2403" height="900" width="1200" msid="75833275" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Cam described his friends as a group of creatives. Everyone spent their days working on projects, photography, videos, yoga, and art. They'd come together for meals and deep conversations. </p><p>The Hideout has five villas, so "we would each kind of pick our own little world to be in and just kind of have that to ourselves," he said.</p><p>The couple described the trip as a crazy coincidence. They had no plans to quarantine at the Hideout, and they planned the trip for one night.</p><p>"That is an experience that most likely nobody will ever have again and has never ever had before," Cam said. </p><p>When they made it back to their apartment in Bali, the couple continued to isolate as the island enforced stricter lockdown guidelines.</p><h2>Cam and Kels said they never wanted their trip to come off 'as a flex,' or like they were bragging about the experience</h2><p>Instead, they wanted to celebrate Nyepi for what it offers: peace and silence. And there's no better place to experience that than at the Hideout. </p><p><div type="image" title="2V5A2275" height="800" width="1067" msid="75833280" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Throughout all of this, they made sure to quarantine, <a href="https://www.insider.com/etsy-face-masks">wear masks</a>, and protect the surrounding communities. </p><p>"It's the fear of spreading it to the local people. If a virus of any kind spreads in the local villages and the local communities, it can be detrimental because of their ceremonies and everything they do is in close contact," Cam said. "And at the end of the day, this isn't our island. They allow us to be here, so we want to do everything we can to keep them safe," Kels added. </p><p>Now, they spend their days at "the office," which is really just a one-bedroom apartment outside of Canggu, Bali, working on projects. </p><p>"This is definitely a side of Bali that not many people have ever been able to see. This is Bali during its peak tourism season and there's nobody here," Cam said. </p><p>The couple described how Bali's typical packed streets are now vacant, and how a trip that typically takes an hour and a half weaving in and out of traffic now takes just 25 minutes. </p><p>When Insider spoke to the couple at the beginning of May, Bali had begun to ease restrictions. Cafes and restaurants were reopening, but beaches remained closed.</p><p>The couple said they plan to stay in quarantine. However, once the beaches open, Cam plans to go out and surf, Kels will go for a swim, and the couple will continue to socially distance themselves from others. </p><h2>While the couple said they made the right choice in staying in Bali, they emphasized that it wasn't easy being so far from family during a pandemic</h2><p>The couple had plans to visit family in Virginia this Thanksgiving, but that's unlikely to happen now. </p><p>They considered flying home, but ultimately they didn't want to risk being in an airport and bringing the virus to friends and family back in the US. </p><p>"Indonesia was taking all the necessary precautions to shut down borders, and they were talking about lockdown," Cam said. "We figured, OK, let's just ride this out here. That way we don't risk anything."</p><p>Cam and Kels said they're thankful they had the trip to the Hideout to cushion the challenges of the lockdown. And once it's safe, they plan to visit family and explore new destinations. </p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/what-its-like-living-in-earthship-off-grid-sustainable-home-2020-5">What life is like for people living in off-grid, sustainable homes called Earthships — and why lockdowns have created a wave of interest in the lifestyle</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/sea-turtles-coronavirus-lockdowns-florida-thailand-poaching-2020-4">Beaches around the world may be empty, but conservationists question if sea turtles are truly thriving during lockdowns</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/couple-living-on-sailboat-waiting-to-cross-indian-ocean-2020-5">What life is like during lockdown for a couple living on a 40-foot sailboat that's docked in Malaysia</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/family-quarantining-tree-house-village-dominican-republic-2020-4">What life is like for a family quarantining in an empty treehouse village that usually accommodates 52 people</a></li></ul>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/friends-stay-in-instagram-villa-hideout-bali-lockdown-2020-5">Insider</a>

A group of friends escaped to one of Bali's most sought-after villas right before the island went on lockdown

<p class="drop-cap">Insider launched its first <keyword id="11902482" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="asia" source="Orion">Asia</keyword> bureau in January 2021. Since then, our small but mighty team of reporters in <keyword id="11895291" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="singapore" source="Orion">Singapore</keyword>, and our network of writers across Southeast Asia, has written about everything from the anti-work trend sweeping across <keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword> to Singapore's ravenous otter population. We've examined the economic outlook for China's growing middle class, interviewed a man who bought a crumbling, $430,000 mansion in Sri Lanka, and spoken to Chinese millennials to better understand who they, as a generation, are.</p><p>And that's just the beginning. Below, you'll find 16 of the most popular features the Singapore bureau worked on in 2021. Enjoy!</p><h1>16. <a href="https://www.insider.com/singapore-quarantine-experience-tips-photos-food-hotel-2021-2">I moved to Singapore alone during the pandemic and spent 14 days quarantining in a tiny hotel room — here's what it was like</a></h1><div type="image" title="food tray with white foods on it" height="2667" width="3518" msid="88867740" hostid="261"></div>On January 6, nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, I boarded the longest flight in the world.<p>It was the dead of winter when I left New York City's JFK airport. For ten months, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-pandemic-timeline-history-major-events-2020-3">as borders opened and closed and COVID cases around the world surged</a>, two coworkers and I had been delaying a move overseas to launch a new bureau for Insider. Now, a mere 19 hours on the world's longest flight stood between me and my destination: Singapore.</p><h1>15. <a href="https://www.insider.com/malaysia-farmers-durian-raub-pahang-legal-battle-king-fruit-2021-7">A battle is unfolding over the world's smelliest fruit, and farmers in Malaysia say their entire livelihood is being wiped out at the worst possible time</a></h1><p>In Southeast Asia, the durian is the undisputed king of fruit. While the fruit's smell is divisive, it's a special treat in Asian households, and, at as much as $13 a pound, it's not cheap.</p><p>Durian is also the subject of an increasingly bitter year-long battle between Malaysian farmers who cultivate premium durian trees and a government-backed consortium that's trying to cash in on the beloved fruit. At the center of this dispute is one specific breed of durian: the Musang King. It's been called gold that grows on trees, and a single tree can earn farmers up to $1,000 a year.</p><p>In mid July, the state forestry department finished chopping down 15,000 durian trees, including the entirety of one farmer's 13-acre plantation.</p><h1>14. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-middle-class-starting-to-look-like-americas-2021-12">China's middle class is starting to look a lot like America's, and that's not a good thing</a> </h1><p>China's middle class has grown explosively in the past twenty years. In 2000, roughly 3% of the country's <a href="https://chinapower.csis.org/china-middle-class/">population was classified</a> as middle class. By 2018, more than half of China's population — 707 million people — had entered the country's middle-income bracket.</p><p>As China's middle class has expanded, it has in many ways also started to look like America's.</p><p>Housing is increasingly unaffordable for China's middle class, and household debt levels are rising. China's middle class now also faces a new crisis: the real possibility of not being able to do better than their parents.</p><h1>13. <a href="https://www.insider.com/disenchanted-chinese-youth-join-a-mass-movement-to-lie-flat-2021-6">More and more Chinese 20-somethings are rejecting the rat race and 'lying flat' after watching their friends work themselves to death </a></h1><p>It's 8 a.m. in Shanghai. Scores of office workers are pouring into the dizzying network of the city's metro lines, toting heavy briefcases and steaming cups of coffee. Meanwhile, Zhiyuan Zhang, 27, is tucking himself into bed. </p><p>"8 a.m. means it's time to lie down," Zhang told Insider. "Though I don't have a job to go to, so I can lie down anytime. It's great." </p><p>Zhang is a Chinese millennial who has joined the ranks of a social movement called 躺平主义 — the "lying flat movement." It's <a href="https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3134633/chinas-gen-z-are-laying-flat-does-new-work-life-attitude-pose">a mindset, a lifestyle, and a personal choice</a> for some disillusioned Chinese youth who have given up on the rat race and are staging a quiet rebellion against the trials of <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/01/04/china-996-work-culture-pinduoduo-death/">9-9-6 work culture.</a></p><div type="image" title="sang culture pepe the frog" height="3772" width="5029" msid="88867741" hostid="261"></div><h1>12. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/squid-game-reflects-reality-south-korean-household-debt-charts-2021-11">6 charts that show the tough reality of life in South Korea, where household debt is among the highest in the world and where house prices in the capital rose by 22% last year</a> </h1><p>In the South Korean <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-netflix-tips-and-tricks">Netflix</a> hit "Squid Game," 456 people are in so much financial strain that they are driven to join a deadly survival game. While the show has become an <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">international</keyword> sensation, many South Koreans are less than entertained by what they say is an accurate portrayal of an unforgiving society.</p><p>The average <keyword id="11944254" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="south-korea" source="Orion">South Korea</keyword>n, for example, couldn't pay off all their debt even if they saved every cent for a year. And property price gains in South Korea have outpaced wage gains. Real estate prices in the capital city of Seoul — where about <a href="https://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?lang=e&amp;Seq_Code=155892">half the population lives</a> — saw a spike of 22% in 2020, real-estate consultancy <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seoul-home-prices-rising-pandemic-south-korea-report-2021-4">Knight Frank</a> estimates.</p><h1>11. <a href="https://www.insider.com/fake-rural-chinese-town-full-of-fake-farmers-2021-6">Photos show China's most surreal tourist spot— a fake Instagram-worthy town full of pretend farmers and phony fishermen</a></h1><p>An idyllic sunrise dawns over Xiapu County, a rural town in Fujian, China. From Xiapu's beaches, you can see a lone fisherman rowing his boat toward the endless horizon. And venturing deeper into the county, you might catch strains of a buffalo lowing and spot chickens scurrying about the lush farmland. </p><p>Photos of these scenic spots in the county abound on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.</p><p>The catch? Most of them are manufactured.</p><div type="image" title="Buffalos and farmers walk under a tree in Xiapu, Fujian." height="715" width="954" msid="88867742" hostid="261"></div><h1>10. <a href="https://www.insider.com/singapore-otters-killing-thousands-of-dollars-of-koi-fish-2021-9">Singapore is being terrorized by the country's growing population of adorable otters, who've eaten thousands of dollars' worth of expensive koi fish</a> </h1><p>They leave a path of misery, destruction, and fish carcasses in their wake.</p><p>Singapore's otters have shown no mercy on locals' pet fish — and have taken to eating the expensive koi that many Singaporeans raise in private ponds.</p><p>It's hard to say just how many otters live among the nation of 5.7 million people — official counts hover <a href="https://coconuts.co/singapore/news/no-singapore-isnt-being-overrun-by-otters-otterman-biologist/">near 100</a> — but residents have documented an increasing number of attacks from the 10 or so otter families that are thought to live on the island.</p><h1>9. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/phu-quoc-vietnam-island-travel-tourism-success-or-mistake-2021-9">Vietnam's biggest island long held onto a seductive image as the country's 'last paradise.' Then came the clubs, a casino, and a safari.</a></h1><p>As recently as the early 2000s, much of Phu Quoc, <keyword id="11906679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vietnam" source="Orion">Vietnam</keyword>'s biggest island, was covered with forest ecosystems. There were no more than 45,000 residents, and their key occupations included fishing, producing Vietnam's best seafood and fish sauce, cultivating green pepper, and farming pearls.</p><p>Now, Phu Quoc is on steroids with the kind of development that's already threatening its seductive image as the "last paradise" of Vietnam. Thousands of hotel rooms, condotel units, and row upon row of cookie-cutter shophouses, villas, and residences are being built as far as the eye can see.</p><p>Insider spoke to Vietnam's real estate, hotel investment, and relocation consultants, as well as tourism players, sustainable development experts, and locals in Phu Quoc to find out what's lost when an island completely changes its identity in the course of 20 years.</p><div type="image" title="An empty beach in Vietnam" height="2909" width="3879" msid="88867744" hostid="261"></div><h1>8. <a href="https://www.insider.com/south-koreas-millennials-lives-arent-different-dire-realities-squid-game-2021-10">South Korea's millennials say their lives aren't that different from 'Squid Game' as they face a crisis of mounting debt, unaffordable homes, and dead-end jobs</a> </h1><p>Stuck in dead-end jobs, with piling debt and no real means of buying a home, many South Korean millennials think of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-netflix-tips-and-tricks">Netflix</a>'s hit drama series "Squid Game" as a grim reflection of their own experiences.</p><p>"If someone told me that right now, you could gamble your life to have your debt cleared and become a billionaire, I'd do it without hesitation," Kim Keunha, a millennial who moved to Seoul eight years ago, said. "Though if I'm being brutally honest, the game masters might think my life probably isn't even worth that much."</p><h1>7. <a href="https://www.insider.com/meet-the-typical-chinese-millennial-income-housing-ambitions-2021-7">Meet the typical Chinese millennial, who makes $22,000 a year but has no student debt, grew up in an economic boom, and has learned how to outhustle everyone else</a> </h1><p>There are 400 million millennials in China, five times the number in the US. A quarter of them have degrees, but they rarely have student debt because going to college is cheap. Insider spoke with six millennials in China, as well as financial and generational experts, to better understand the generation.</p><p>What we found was that millennials are the first generation to grow up with privilege in China. The pressure to succeed, though, <a href="https://clb.org.hk/content/demands-deliver-work-hazards-and-pressure-imposed-china%E2%80%99s-millennials">can be soul-crushing</a>. Millennials in China are expected to own an apartment, get a high-paying job, and find a spouse <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/dae2c548-4226-11e8-93cf-67ac3a6482fd">by the time they hit 30</a>. The country's major tech companies celebrate working <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/technology/china-996-jack-ma.html">six days a week, 12 hours a day, as part of a "hustle culture."</a></p><h1>6. <a href="https://www.insider.com/bali-villa-renovation-photos-oasis-compound-canggu-2021-9">A French couple bought a villa in Bali in 2011 without ever having set foot on the island and spent 2 years turning it into a private compound. Take a look inside.</a> </h1><p>Buying a home sight unseen on the other side of the world could be an unsettling move for some people. But for one couple who split their time between the US and France, it seemed like a perfectly good idea. When a friend told them in 2011 that the property next to her home on the Indonesian island of Bali was for sale, they didn't need to know any more. They bought it.</p><p>"It's a simple story," Margaux (not her real name) told Insider. "We wanted a place where we could spend time with family and friends."</p><p>What they didn't realize until they arrived in Bali was that they had purchased an oasis. Close to the surf breaks of Canggu's Echo Beach and surrounded by rice-paddy fields, they had stumbled upon a true hideaway.</p><div type="image" title="the bathrooms open up to the outdoors and include free standing tubs and natural wood accents" height="2596" width="3461" msid="88867746" hostid="261"></div><h1>5. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/abandoned-house-renovation-japan-diy-before-after-photos-2021-8">A couple bought an abandoned farmhouse in rural Japan for $30,000 and has spent 2 years renovating it. Here's how they turned it into their dream family home.</a></h1><p>Jaya Thursfield and his wife, Chihiro, bought an abandoned traditional Japanese farmhouse in 2019. The traditional Japanese farmhouse, known as a minka, had sat empty for several years after the previous owner died and the family declined their inheritance of the property.</p><p>"I remember the first time I saw it in person, it was quite spectacular, and I was really blown away by it," Thursfield said.</p><p>They ended up winning the auction in a blind auction with a bid of 3 million Japanese yen (about $30,000).</p><p>The couple had been able to take only a quick look at the house before buying it, so they were happy to find that it was in good enough condition that they could renovate it instead of tearing it down.</p><h1>4. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-empty-homes-real-estate-evergrande-housing-market-problem-2021-10">China has at least 65 million empty homes — enough to house the population of France. It offers a glimpse into the country's massive housing-market problem</a></h1><p>If you drive an hour or two outside Shanghai or Beijing, you'll find something odd. The cities are still tall, and they're still modern. They're also, generally, in good condition. But unlike their bustling, Tier 1-city counterparts, they're basically empty.</p><p>These are China's ghost cities.</p><p>As <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-housing-market-explainer-cost-debt-wealth-evergrande-impact-2021-9">China's real-estate market</a> has risen to the forefront of the global conversation with Evergrande's $300 billion debt looming large, ghost cities have become a renewed source of interest. While they're a testament to China's reliance on real estate as a driver of economic growth and in its belief in the sector as a safe investment, their exact quantity is hard to define.</p><h1>3. <a href="https://www.insider.com/mansion-restored-sri-lanka-renovation-photos-2021-7">4 friends bought a crumbling, 100-year-old mansion in the Sri Lankan jungle for $430,000 and spent years restoring it. Take a look</a> </h1><p>It was in 2010 when the interior designer Dean Sharpe first glimpsed the crumbling mansion on the Sri Lankan hillside near the town of Weligama. In its glory days, Halala Kanda — known as Firefly Hill to locals — played host to guests such as Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and the legendary Australian cricketer Keith Miller.</p><p>But when Sharpe first saw it, the tired relic with its crumbling plaster looked as if it had been lost to the jungle. The coral and stone walls had collapsed, bats were roosting in the rafters, the windows were boarded up, and a tree was growing through the roof of the entryway.</p><p>"It was a ruin of what it once was," Sharpe told Insider. "But we walked in and fell in love with it."</p><p>In 2011, he and three friends bought the crumbling, 100-year-old villa and two acres of land for $430,000.</p><div type="image" title="the home before it was restored" height="869" width="1158" msid="88867749" hostid="261"></div><h1>2. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-image-likable-nerdy-philanthropist-fell-apart-2021-5">Bill Gates crafted a public image as a likable, uncomfortable, nerdy do-gooder. Office affairs,  workplace behavior, and Epstein ties reveal cracks in his facade.</a> </h1><p>For decades, Bill Gates crafted the public persona of a nerdy but pleasant philanthropist. In contrast with the likes of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/13-crazy-elon-musk-quotes-things-he-believes-2016-10">Tesla's Elon Musk</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fabulous-life-of-billionaire-jack-dorsey-taking-square-public">Twitter's Jack Dorsey</a>, Gates was likable, relatable, nonthreatening.</p><p>Gates continued to cultivate this personality — pledging to give away half his wealth through <a href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=199">The Giving Pledge</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-11565953">investing heavily in healthcare and addressing the climate crisis through the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation</a> — as his money multiplied.</p><p>But May reports about the tech founder in the wake of his pending divorce from his wife of 27 years offered a less flattering picture of the man. Reports from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/16/business/bill-melinda-gates-divorce-epstein.html">The New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-directors-decided-bill-gates-needed-to-leave-board-due-to-prior-relationship-with-staffer-11621205803">The Wall Street Journal</a> indicate Gates, at times, treated the workplace like a pickup spot, making advances toward women who worked for him.</p><h1>1. <a href="https://www.insider.com/japan-ghost-towns-population-vacancy-rates-akiya-banks-2021-6">Japan is trying to lure people into rural areas by selling $500 homes, but it's not enough to fix the country's 'ghost town' problem</a></h1><p>While the US<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-homeownership-driving-housing-shortage-prices-new-builds-2021-4"> faces a shortage of homes</a>, <keyword id="6355311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="japan" source="Orion">Japan</keyword> is experiencing an altogether different issue: There's a glut of unoccupied homes throughout the country's rural areas. <a href="https://www.stat.go.jp/data/jyutaku/2018/pdf/g_gaiyou.pdf">Japan's Housing and Land Survey</a>, conducted every five years, logged a record high of 8.49 million akiya in 2018.</p><p>These abandoned houses have created "ghost villages" in Japan's rural prefectures where homes can neither be filled nor knocked down. In some areas, nearly one out of every five homes is empty. The government is offering incentives like $500 homes and tax breaks to entice residents to move from urban centers into rural areas like Wakayama, but cheap housing may not be enough to bridge the cultural divide and the bureaucratic difficulties that moving to a small town create.</p>

Japan's ghost town problem, the bleak reality of 'Squid Game,' and how Vietnam destroyed its last paradise: our most popular stories from Asia

<p class="source"><span>Sarah Lempa for Business Insider</span></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>In 2018, I packed up my life in Minneapolis after graduating college and hopped on a plane to Vietnam with the goal of building a location-independent career.</li><li>Since then, I've traveled across six continents and lived in both Australia and Indonesia while working full-time as a freelance travel writer and creative media strategist.</li><li>I was in Indonesia when the US issued the level 4 travel advisory urging travelers to return to America.</li><li>When your "home base" is a storage unit, stay-at-home orders due to a pandemic pose an entirely different obstacle.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Some say home isn't a place - it's a feeling. And that's what I keep telling myself while quarantined in Bali precisely 9,386 miles from my home in the United States.</p><p>I've had the great privilege of choosing a base-free lifestyle. As a digital nomad, my livelihood comes from my laptop. I have a pile of belongings - contents ranging from childhood trinkets to my college diploma - stashed in a five-by-ten-foot storage unit in Minneapolis. I pop back to the US intermittently to change out worn-in clothes and catch up with everyone I miss while abroad, but I don't stay very long.</p><p>When I heard of the coronavirus for the first time back in January, I was sitting in a bedroom in Australia. The headline sent a prickly shockwave across my skin but I shook it off, chalking it up to my propensity for overthinking worst-case scenarios. One month later, I found myself in Indonesia as the US Department of State<a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/travel-advisory-alert-global-level-4-health-advisory-issue.html"> released a Level 4 Health Advisory</a> urging travelers to return as soon as possible.</p><p>Texts about going home began flooding in, and I found myself facing questions I wasn't ready to answer. Would home mean Minneapolis? Australia? Perhaps the hole-in-the-wall hostel I fell in love with in French Polynesia? Images of residences I had briefly called home flooded my mind.</p><p class="source"><span>Sarah Lempa for Business Insider</span></p><p>The risk of getting stranded on the way home, coupled with thoughts of rocking up to a storage unit in a jet-lagged haze, put me off from trying to get back to my homeland. Healthcare in Bali has its own complications for expats, but with the virus progressing stateside, I knew that thousands of people in higher risk categories would likely need that space more than me if I were to fall ill.</p><p>After several days of anxious deliberation and a 30-day travel insurance purchase for $42.51, I decided that hunkering down in Bali until further notice was my best course of action.</p><h2>What it's like to be in Bali during the global pandemic</h2><p>Grocery store runs have now replaced my routine visits to local <em>warungs</em>, Indonesia's traditional family-style eateries. Fragrant coconut-marinated jackfruit curry isn't on the menu for now; instead, I'm biding my time at home making recipes like chili.</p><p>Facebook groups for rental accommodation in Bali make finding like-minded housemates a simple process. For $650 USD per month, I'm renting a private room in a villa with four other expats from England and Poland. With a garden, lotus flower-filled pond, two kitchens, and a palm-fringed pool to boot, it never feels crowded. </p><p class="source"><span>Sarah Lempa for Business Insider</span></p><p>I've been living in Canggu, which is one of the more popular areas for expats. On one of my periodical "sanity drives," I ride past the once-buzzing cafés and formerly cheery beachside bars that I frequented during my first few weeks in Bali.</p><p>My thoughts turn to the locals who will be affected by the lack of tourism. Most restaurants have switched to takeout or have completely ceased operations, cutting their losses as the streets saw less and less activity. A surprising handful remain open despite their largely vacant dining areas. Handmade signs instructing patrons to "use hand sanitizer before entry" remain standing.</p><p class="source"><span>Sarah Lempa for Business Insider</span></p><p>Though there's a notable absence of tourism and the streets see much less traffic, parts of life hum on as usual in Bali.</p><p>Street vendors with pushcarts full of <em>pisang goreng</em> (deep fried bananas) continue to sell their treats. The fishermen perched atop the creek near the end of my road still trade smiles with me when I pass by on supply runs, peppering my day with much-needed normalcy.</p><p class="source"><span>Sarah Lempa for Business Insider</span></p><h2>Keeping a career going during lockdown in a foreign country</h2><p>Although my coworking space shuttered its doors weeks ago, the structure of my career remains mostly unchanged.</p><p>I still spend way more hours every day staring at my phone and laptop than I probably should. I still rely heavily on Slack and Zoom to keep up with clients and colleagues around the world. Freelance work, however, is not an infinite spring, especially when you primarily operate in the travel industry and no one can leave the house.</p><p>Some of my ongoing work has been frozen or reduced until further notice, but I'm lucky enough to say that I'm still pretty busy at the moment. On the bright side, choosing a freelance career has to some extent equipped me to deal with this particular pandemic-induced income anxiety. This is not the first time I've dealt with financial uncertainty, nor is it the first time I've had to manage my professional life sans traditional office guidelines.</p><p class="source"><span>Sarah Lempa for Business Insider</span></p><p>Costs of living are far lower in Bali than they are in the US. A carton of eggs costs as little as $1; a bottle of water will run you around $0.30, and a loaf of bread hovers around $1.50. Other items that aren't as commonly consumed in Bali, like wine, cost a bit more than you'd expect - think $10-15 for a decent bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.</p><p>There's no shortage of ways to spend exorbitant amounts of money in Bali (looking at you, floating brunches). Before the coronavirus outbreak, I would say my average cost of living was around $1,700 a month, but I've since reduced spending as much as possible. Adhering to stay-at-home orders has helped me slash my cost of living; gone are the days of last-minute spa days<em> </em>and cocktail hours that glide into late nights. With life largely on hold until further notice, my costs have cut themselves.</p><p>In the meantime, I'm sticking to necessities and keeping things simple. Concerns for the future loom on the horizon for us all right now. I'm just trying to focus on my priorities one day at a time.</p><p>One day, I ride down the road I'd normally take to the beach and find weathered bamboo poles and other improvised objects barricading the sandy entryway. There's a serious-looking security guard to enforce it, too. He breaks his solemn demeanor and we smile at each other with our eyes only - a heartening, wordless exchange, even if it's trapped behind by protective masks.</p><p>It is then that I remember community extends far beyond language and background. That feeling of solidarity is all the "home" I could ask for during a time like this.</p><p><em>Editor's note: This article is not intended to encourage travel during the pandemic, nor is to intended to serve as guidance for travelers' actions during the pandemic.</em></p><p class="tagline"><i>Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus you'd like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the pandemic? Please email <a href="mailto:covidtips@businessinsider.com">covidtips@businessinsider.com</a> and tell us your story.</i></p><p><i>Get the latest <a href="/coronavirus-business-impact">coronavirus business &amp; economic impact analysis</a> from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is affecting industries.</i></p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/online-school-learning-teachers-chabad-jewish-nigri-2020-4">A group of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn became experts in online learning before the coronavirus. Now educators are seeking their help.</a></h3>

I was in Bali when the US released its level 4 travel advisory urging Americans to return home - but I decided to stay put. Here's what it's like being a digital nomad during a pandemic.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Don MacKinnon/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Urban Fare store manager Leanne Ring displays a package of Kopi Luwak coffee on September 12, 2002 in Vancouver, Canada.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Before visiting <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/bali" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bali, Indonesia</a>, many people had told me that I had to try Kopi Luwak, a traditional Balinese <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/coffee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coffee</a> considered to be the most <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/expensive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expensive</a> coffee in the world.</li><li><span style="color: #000000;">Kopi Luwak is coffee made from beans that have been digested by a civet cat (i.e. "cat poop coffee"). Balinese farmers have touted for generations that this method produces the best-tasting coffee.</span></li><li><span style="color: #000000;">But lots of kopi luwak is produced by civets held in disturbing, inhumane conditions. And even when I tried it at one of the few coffee shops that keeps its civets in humane conditions, the coffee tasted bitter and overly earthy.</span></li></ul><p> </p><p>I'm the kind of person that likes to try <em>everything</em>. Live octopus in Korea? Check. Braised chicken feet at the dim sum hall in Hong Kong? Check. Chili-dusted, roasted grasshoppers in Mexico? Check.</p><p>Before I travel, I usually research which unique foods are revered by the culture I'm visiting. When I began researching for a trip to Bali, a gorgeous Indonesian island in Southeast Asia, I found that the most talked about local specialty was <em>kopi luwak</em>.</p><p>Kopi luwak is coffee made from coffee cherries that have been eaten, digested, and defecated by the Asian palm civet, a small mammal that looks like a cross between a cat and a raccoon. T<span>he beans are then cleaned and processed.</span> In the West, kopi luwak has become known as "cat poop coffee."</p><p>With prices ranging <a href="http://www.most-expensive.coffee/">between $35 and $100 a cup</a>, or about $100 to $600 a pound, kopi luwak is widely considered to be the most expensive coffee in the world.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Civet dung is prepared during the production of Civet coffee, the world's most expensive coffee at Bondowoso on August 11, 2009 in East Java, near Surabaya, Indonesia.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Indonesian coffee producers have claimed for generations that the kopi luwak method produces the best tasting coffee in the world. There are a few reasons for that.</p><p>One, the civet is apparently a highly picky eater and will only eat the best, most ripe coffee cherries. Two, the animals' digestive enzymes "<span>change the structure of proteins in the coffee beans, which removes some of the acidity to make a smoother cup of coffee," <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160429-kopi-luwak-captive-civet-coffee-Indonesia/">according to National Geographic</a>. And three, digestion removes all the fruit pulp that sometimes gets left on the bean during processing.</span></p><p><span>But there are a few very big catches.</span></p><h2>Increased demand for kopi luwak has changed the industry - for the worse</h2><p>When, in decades past, kopi luwak was simply an Indonesian specialty, it was almost exclusively produced by wild civets. The animals would graze in the wilderness, picking the choicest cherries at their leisure, and coffee producers would hunt for the dung. </p><p>But ever since coffee expert Tony Wild introduced kopi luwak to the West in the early 1990s as the <span>coffee director of <a href="http://www.taylorsofharrogate.co.uk/home.asp?storyid=%7B7C71F1DA-3342-4609-8B5D-CFF83E35E7F2%7D">Taylors of Harrogate</a>, all that's changed. There's now a huge demand for the specialty coffee. It's stocked at luxury retailers all over the world, production has expanded to China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines, and, in Indonesia, it's one of the biggest delicacies marketed to tourists.</span></p><p><span>As you can imagine, it's not wild civets producing the kopi luwak anymore. While there are still some wild civet operations, the vast majority of kopi luwak is made from civets that have been captured and put in cages on giant plantations.</span></p><p><span> "Similar to foie gras geese, they're basically force-fed coffee berries," </span><span>Suwanna Gauntlett, founder of Wildlife Alliance, a conservation group, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/03/21/civet-poop-coffee-southeast-asia-globalpost/82066314/">told Globalpost</a> in 2016.<br /></span><span></span><span></span></p><p><span><em><strong>Read More: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/most-disappointing-places-in-the-world-photos-list-2018-10">I've been traveling the world for 6 months, and I've found real life doesn't always live up to the hype. These are the most disappointing places I've been</a></em></span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Nicky Loh/Getty Images for World Animal Protection</span></p><p class="caption">A caretaker feeds coffee seeds to a civet cat inside a 'Kopi Luwak' or Civet coffee farm and cafe on May 27, 2013 in Tampaksiring, Bali, Indonesia.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>As Wild wrote in a 2013 column<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/sep/13/civet-coffee-cut-the-crap"> calling for an end to kopi luwak</a>, civets "suffer greatly" from being caged. Naturally solitary, the civets suffer stress when living in close proximity to each other, have numerous health problems due to the coffee-cherry diet, chew on their own legs, and often die.</span></p><p><span>Even if you don't care about animal welfare, there's the reality that the coffee just doesn't taste that good. Many say that kopi luwak was discovered <a href="http://nordiccoffeeculture.com/what-kopi-luwak-is-and-why-you-should-avoid-it/">during Dutch colonial rule,</a> when Indonesian farmers were barred from harvesting coffee cherries for their own use. They had to scrounge around to get beans. The dung of the wild civet supposedly provided a shortcut to high-quality, cleaned coffee cherries free from the mold or decay that would've been common at the time.</span></p><p><span>But any premium coffee <a href="http://nordiccoffeeculture.com/what-kopi-luwak-is-and-why-you-should-avoid-it/">you get at your local coffee shop comes from cherries</a> processed via far more advanced methods than kopi luwak and from uniformly ripe, high-quality cherries, according to Nordic Coffee Culture.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Kopi luwak at Satu Satu cafe.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><h2>I tried kopi luwak sourced from a family farm - and it was nothing special</h2><p><span>When I got to Bali, I visited the Satu Satu Café in Canggu, a small coastal town. Satu Satu <a href="https://munchies.vice.com/en_uk/article/wnbdwn/balis-best-coffee-is-made-with-wild-cat-poo">sources its kopi luwak from owner Eddie Sudana's six-acre family farm</a>. It's reputed to be one of the few places that still sources its beans from cage-free, wild civets.</span></p><p><span>I figured if I had to try kopi luwak, at least I could do it at a place that makes it ethically. It wasn't even that expensive. If I remember correctly, it was only about 30-40% more than the regular coffee at Satu Satu.</span></p><p><span>I love coffee. Espresso, French press, Aeropress, cold-brew, pour-over - I drink it all. The kopi luwak was nothing special. It tasted slightly smoother than your average diner cup of joe, but not better than ones I've had at any coffee shop worth its salt. And there was a gritty, overly earthy flavor.</span></p><p><span>To be honest, I've made better cups of coffee in my Aeropress. At this point in time, drinking kopi luwak is more about being able to tell your friends you drank the most expensive coffee in the world than some amazing delicacy.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/places-on-google-maps-you-cant-see-2016-11">7 places you can't find on Google Maps</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

I tried a cup of the 'most expensive coffee in the world' -&#160;here's why it's a tourist trap you shouldn't buy into

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Adrian Granzella Larssen</span></p><p class="caption">Adrian Granzella Larssen and her husband in Ljubljana, Slovenia.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Adrian Granzella Larssen is the founder of<a href="http://www.sweetspotcontent.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.sweetspotcontent.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1568129961903000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGmlrxaZHOTftyengwJCSe_l39qBA"> Sweet Spot Content</a>, which helps inspiring brands, publications, and thought leaders create authentic, engaging content. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Muse, a content-first career destination that reaches more than 75 million people annually.</li><li>In 2017, she took a four-week sabbatical from her role at The Muse. This adventure inspired her to take a whole year off to travel from 2018 to 2019. She and her husband traveled to 30 countries around the world. </li><li>Some of the most common questions she gets asked about her trip include how much it cost, whether she worked, and whether taking time off affected her career.</li><li>She explains that the cost depends on how much you're willing to spend on certain things, and that working while you travel is a lot harder than it looks. She adds that while quitting her full-time job did affect her career to an extent, sometimes it's worth the risk.</li><li>"Conventional wisdom told me I should be leaning in, but leaning out for a year helped me remember who I was, what I was excited about, and how to think in a dramatically different way than I had been over the course of my professional life," she says.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories.</a></li></ul><p>At the beginning of 2017, I got to take a four-week paid sabbatical as a reward for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-was-the-first-employee-of-startup-what-i-learned-2019-7">being employed at my company</a> for five years.</p><p>Four whole weeks? I was giddy. My husband convinced his employer to give him the time off, too, and we took a trip we'd been talking about for years: traveling around Southeast Asia.</p><p>It was an amazing experience, but we quickly realized that four weeks wasn't enough time to go everywhere we wanted in the region - not by a long shot. And as we quickly jetted between Taipei, Chiang Mai, and Luang Prabang, we met people who were doing similar trips, but over the course of many months. Or even years! </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Adrian Granzella Larssen</span></p><p class="caption">Adrian Granzella Larssen and her husband in Mount Bromo, Java, Indonesia.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Some of these people were benefiting from their company or country's paid-time-off policies. (In Australia, for example, some employees receive a sabbatical year after 10 years of service.) But most of them were simply taking time to travel on their own dime. Some of them had taken leaves of absence from their jobs, and some were choosing to work along the way. No one (that we knew of) was a multimillion-dollar trust fund baby or living off the proceeds of a unicorn startup IPO; they were all regular people on regular budgets, just like us. </p><p>Over those four weeks, we got to thinking: If they could do it, why couldn't we? And we returned back to our apartment in New York with one thing on our minds: doing it all over again.</p><p>About a year later, we did. From March 2018 to March 2019, we put our belongings in storage, sent our cat to live with my parents (apologies to all involved), and traveled to 30 countries around the world. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Adrian Granzella Larssen</span></p><p class="caption">Adrian Granzella Larssen at a winery in Wanaka, New Zealand.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>We didn't go full-on digital nomad, we didn't live by the principles of "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/dp/0307465357">The Four-Hour Work Week</a>," and we didn't attempt to become Instagram influencers - we simply took a year off in a way that worked for us. </p><p>Some of the most common questions we get after people hear our story include: Was it the best year ever? (Yes.) Were there downsides and tradeoffs? (Of course there were.) Did you get sick of living out of one suitcase? (I truly never want to see the items of clothing I wore last year ever again.) </p><p>As well as these following big questions about how we thought about finances, our jobs, and our <keyword id="6354910" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="careers">careers</keyword> in general.</p><h1>How much did it cost?</h1><p>When I get this question, my answer is often: as much as you want it to. For everyone we met who was YOLO-ing their way around the world, there were countless others who were sticking to a budget of a couple thousand dollars a month (which is entirely doable, especially if you're focusing on cheaper destinations like Southeast Asia or South America and staying in hostels or other shared accommodations). </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Adrian Granzella Larssen</span></p><p class="caption">Adrian Granzella Larssen outside an airport in the Philippines.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>We were somewhere in the middle. After having worked for 15 years, we had saved a decent amount of money, so we weren't on a super-strict budget, but we definitely didn't splurge like we were on vacation. For the most part, we opted for relatively inexpensive destinations like Indonesia, the Philippines, the Balkans, and South America, where decent lodging options could be found for $50 to $60 per night. We also cooked many of our own meals, and we didn't do a lot of pricey "must-do" tourist activities unless they were really important to us. (In New Zealand, for example, we opted out of bungee jumping and glacier hiking in favor of drinking a lot of Pinot Noir.)</p><p>Depending on where we were, our monthly budget varied, but over the course of the year our total expenses were about 60% of what they were while living in New York. As it turns out, giving up that sky-high Manhattan rent helped us easily afford Airbnbs and travel experiences. And miles and credit card points helped us save quite a bit on flights. We didn't add to our savings accounts that year, but we also didn't dig into them as much as we thought we would need to. It did help that I worked a bit along the way, which brings me to ...</p><h1>What did you do about work?</h1><p>A year before we left, I negotiated with my job to go down to a part-time schedule so that I could take on freelance projects on the side. My idea was to build up a roster of regular consulting clients that I could work with no matter where I was in the world as an extra cushion for our finances while we were away as well as to make sure I had a career waiting for me once I came back to the States. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Adrian Granzella Larssen</span></p><p class="caption">Adrian Granzella Larssen working at an Airbnb in Canggu, Bali.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>That was a great idea - in theory. In reality, digital nomad life looks a lot less like typing away on your laptop while lounging on the beach and a lot more like frantically running around town trying to find a SIM card or cursing at the very lovely cafe staff because their WiFi is nowhere near strong enough to handle a video call. At the pace we were moving, working while traveling was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I thought I would work about 20 hours every week, making roughly half of my previous salary, but that ended up being more like a few hours here and there, bringing in between $1,000 and $5,000 per month. And during the last three months of the trip, I ended up scaling back entirely. </p><p>My husband, a corporate lawyer, had planned to quit his job, but his firm ended up offering him a year-long leave of absence instead. It's not a super-common practice, but in today's job market, some employers will go to great lengths to keep good talent. As he learned, it's worth an ask.</p><h1>Did it hurt your career?</h1><p>If you look at things through the lens of traditional climb-the-ladder career rules, yes. If I had wanted a promotion at my company or was aiming for a highly competitive new job, taking a year off certainly wasn't a great strategy. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Adrian Granzella Larssen</span></p><p class="caption">Adrian Granzella Larssen in Mount Bromo, Java, Indonesia.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>But what I wanted more - for myself and for my career - was a break. I had been working at a startup for nearly seven years, and I was burnt out and tired. Before I had decided to travel for a year, I had interviewed for other roles but realized that my heart wasn't in any of them. What my brain needed wasn't a new professional challenge; it was rest. Conventional wisdom told me I should be leaning in, but leaning out for a year helped me remember who I was, what I was excited about, and how to think in a dramatically different way than I had been over the course of my professional life. (Yes, my job had challenges - but I'd never tried to book train tickets in India before.)  </p><p>Financially, too, it wasn't the strongest move I could have made (you'll notice this article isn't titled, "I traveled for a year, made $400,000, and never looked back!") Since I've returned, I've ramped up my consulting business again, but it took a few months to have a full plate of work. </p><p>Honestly, though? That's OK. While my take-home pay that year wasn't anything to be proud of, the experience as a whole absolutely was.</p><p><em>Have more questions? Want to plan your own year off? Join the waiting list for my upcoming digital guide, "<a href="https://www.youryearoff.com/">Your Year Off</a>."</em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deepak-chopra-how-to-unleash-your-happiness-creativity-productivity-2019-11">Deepak Chopra explains how to unlock your natural happiness, creativity and productivity</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

You Searched For "canggu" and got 5 results

A group of friends escaped to one of Bali's most sought-after villas right before the island went on lockdown

Monica Humphries

Japan's ghost town problem, the bleak reality of 'Squid Game,' and how Vietnam destroyed its last paradise: our most popular stories from Asia

Insider Inc, Singapore bureau

I was in Bali when the US released its level 4 travel advisory urging Americans to return home - but I decided to stay put. Here's what it's like being a digital nomad during a pandemic.

Sarah Lempa

I tried a cup of the 'most expensive coffee in the world' - here's why it's a tourist trap you shouldn't buy into

Harrison Jacobs

I took a year off of work to travel the world. Here are the 3 biggest questions people ask me about how it affected my career and finances.

Adrian Granzella Larssen

You Searched For "canggu" and got 5 results

A group of friends escaped to one of Bali's most sought-after villas right before the island went on lockdown

Monica Humphries

Japan's ghost town problem, the bleak reality of 'Squid Game,' and how Vietnam destroyed its last paradise: our most popular stories from Asia

Insider Inc, Singapore bureau

I was in Bali when the US released its level 4 travel advisory urging Americans to return home - but I decided to stay put. Here's what it's like being a digital nomad during a pandemic.

Sarah Lempa

I tried a cup of the 'most expensive coffee in the world' -&#160;here's why it's a tourist trap you shouldn't buy into

Harrison Jacobs

I took a year off of work to travel the world. Here are the 3 biggest questions people ask me about how it affected my career and finances.

Adrian Granzella Larssen

I tried a cup of the 'most expensive coffee in the world' - here's why it's a tourist trap you shouldn't buy into