Eat, Pray, Stay for Days: A Guide to Longterm Travel in Bali
Planning more than a vacation in Bali? I moved there knowing nothing and made the mistakes so you don't have to. This guide is for travelers staying a month or longer. It covers how to visit a Balinese temple, bargain at the market, take a bucket shower, and live alongside Balinese neighbors, with my favorite beaches, spas, and rooftop bars for when you need a break. Written in 2014 from my first year on the island.
Books on Living Abroad
Diana O'Gilvie is a documentary filmmaker, travel journalist, and strategic communications professional based in Atlanta. She grew up in Jamaica and spent twelve years in the aviation industry, mostly as a flight attendant, before leaving the airline to move to Indonesia, where she taught at international schools in Jakarta and Bali. Her writing has appeared in CNN Travel, Ebony, and Matador Network. She is the founder of Urban Sass Travels, a travel and culture media brand built on food, culture, and diaspora storytelling.
TrailBlasian is an anthology of first-person stories by 17 women of color who left the rat race for East Asia and shared their unvarnished experiences in their own words. It was edited by T.K. McLennon and published by Excelovate in 2014.
My chapter, Exhaling in Indonesia, follows my first year teaching in Jakarta. I arrive after a 32-hour journey to a dingy shared house and a city of gridlocked traffic and strangers who want to know everything about me. As a Jamaican Black woman in Indonesia, I am stared at, photographed, and welcomed with a hospitality that rivals no other. It's a story about culture shock, class and color, learning the language, and what happens when you leave everything familiar and find you've opened yourself to love.