Living life in 2023 feels like passing through the express lane. There have been many things that happened, many things I did in a progressive way for the most part. It feels like driving a full speed through the toll road. Although some plans have to be postponed for reasons I will explain later, it’s not a reason to call 2023 a not-great year for me.

Travel has been an integral part of my life since 2016. There’s no way I will spend 12 months living in the same place, that would be very boring haha. This hobby is also the main reason this blog was born in the first place. In 2022, I went to several countries in Europe and had endless domestic travel. I was hoping 2023 would be the same. I’d planned to come back to Vietnam, see Japan again, go to Europe, or even explore some new destinations. But until the end of this year, I had only visited Japan and Singapore.

Well, it would be hard to explore cities and countries while my belly is getting bigger. The pregnancy made me rethink our travel plans. I didn’t go to Europe in the summer with my husband but instead spent 2 weeks with my parents since it was the safest option for me and my baby. Not only more physically challenging, but travel also became harder since I had to get a permission letter from an ob-gyn every time I wanted to fly, and after certain weeks, I wasn’t allowed to fly anymore.

This year indeed feels like I reach the destination through an express lane. My life has reached the next stage a full speed. I got married, got pregnant, and then our baby was born end of this year. Does it mean we could travel soon? Of course, that’s my plan. But we have to wait for our baby fits for travel and get all the documents needed, which is rather complicated and takes time. Honestly, it made me a bit frustrated for some time. I have to keep reminding myself to be patient and to follow the process since we can’t travel without the baby’s documents unless I travel by myself, which I did once for a work trip, but for the holiday I will only travel with my family.

Since my baby is Indonesian and French, we have to proceed with all her documents according to each country’s law. First is to get an Indonesian birth certificate, which is easy and takes only 1 week to arrive in Bali. Next is to get French documents. It could be done faster but unfortunately, I haven’t proceeded with our marriage book apostille, while the marriage book apostille is needed by the French Embassy in Jakarta. To get this done, I had to legalize our marriage books in the Bali KUA and Religious Ministry office in Jakarta, before applying for marriage book apostille in the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. I spent around 1 month just finishing this step.

Next is getting the French birth certificate, which will be needed to apply for our baby’s French passport. To get the birth certificate, we need to get a French marriage certificate and a family book first, hence why I have to apply for the Indonesia birth certificate apostille to the ministry and send it to the embassy. The step takes around 1 month. When we get all the documents needed, we will take the baby to Jakarta to apply for a French passport, and continue by applying for an affidavit and an Indonesian passport. I assume it’s all gonna take 2 more months before we are ready to prepare for our late winter trip.

Besides the complexity of the administration system for mixed marriage couples and babies, I can proudly say that 2023 has been a great year. Family life is a new thing for me but it brings happiness and excitement so far, and so does work and business. Bali has been kind to me in another way than Jakarta did. I could still do work that I love from the comfort of my home and do some other work for other clients. I am currently dreaming to start building something I have been dreaming of for a long. I can imagine it very clearly in my vision, hence I am sure I can achieve it in the next year.

Curious about my adventures in Europe and America ?. You can click the following links to see my traveling videos that have aired on Net TV :

1. Desa Hallstatt, Desa dengan Arsitektur Klasik di Pinggir Danau
2. Imutnya Park Guell, Dunia Fantasi Ala Gaudi di Barcelona
3. Ada Turki Mini di Bosnia Herzegovina
4. Nyobain Makanan Khas Bosnia, Kaya Rasa dan Pasti Halal
5. The Bean, Seni Kontemporer yang Ada di Film – film Hollywood

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