Olumide Gbenro has never called>Becoming a digital nomad
Gbenro's first stop was Berlin, where he had friends from graduate school. He spent three months there>'I'm living a life of luxury'
Since moving to Bali, Gbenro has been able to spend more>Falling in love with Bali
Gbenro says the most challenging part of building his new life in Bali was battling loneliness. "I was going to the beach every day, drinking coconuts and seeing beautiful sunsets, but I lived by myself and didn't have friends here," he explains.
Once he started visiting co-working spaces in Bali and attending in-person networking events, Gbenro says it became much easier to build close friendships with other expats and locals. He knows conversational Indonesian, but says a lot of people living in Bali also speak English.
"I've really been loved and welcomed by the Balinese," he says. "Everyone's always smiling – there's a really genuine, heart-centered tone here that you can't get anywhere else."
Olumide and a friend out to lunch in BaliRuda Putra for CNBC Make It
Gbenro says he doesn't experience the same discomfort and discrimination he faced in the United States either. "Bali doesn't have the same history as America with racism and discrimination — in my opinion, they're more accepting to foreigners and people from different backgrounds … people just look at me as a fellow human being, not a Black man."
He has embraced some of the local traditions in his everyday routine, too: each morning he wakes up at 8:00 a.m. and meditates before brewing a cup of tea and checking his email. Meditation has long been part of Hinduism, which is a popular religion in Bali.
"It's the best decision I've ever made," Gbenro says of moving to Bali. He is planning to spend the rest of his life in Bali and own houses in San Diego, Turkey and the Caribbean that he can visit a few times a year.
"Something about Bali grounds me here," he says. "It finally feels like home."
