‘Off The Grid’

‘Off The Grid’, a perfect title to our little adventure. No planning, no expectations, nothing – just two Filipino girls wanted to go to the beach, drink margaritas and enjoy ourselves.

Gili island next to Indonesia was the perfect spot to just get away from the hustle and bustle of real life. We did not bring our mobile phones, blackberries, laptops; did not watched tv, listened to radio, or read the newspaper. We just wanted to disappear from our crazy life.

Gili is also a good place to meet people and in our trip we met really good people and shared life stories with each other. And at the sunset point was where we met Shanti – funny and charming writer from Holland, Geoffrey – the sensitive and selfless agriculturist from Belgium, Lindsey – a free spirited and crazy Scottish, Meagan – the organized American and lastly Thomas – a strange but cool German.

When you take a trip, you realize that it is not just a trip but a journey wherein you will come across people from all walks of life. And at that point in time you are just passing by each other so fast and some you will never see again. However, sometimes there are special people you meet along the way that makes you slow time down and savory each moment like it’s your last.

The positive energy that everyone was radiating was just amazing. And it made me realized that we all came from different background and have different stories to tell but somehow we are connected. We were all in the same mindset, have the same views and are going through big transitions in our lives.

In life, sometimes you just need to go off the grid to truly see yourself, and organically meet people and take time to enjoy real conversations and simply live life. That was the beauty of the trip. That is the magic of Gili.

Kartika (Jakarta)