The night before in the hotel, I arranged a driver to take me to Gerupuk village for this afternoon. I was so incredibly relieved to know that my driver knew where Gerupuk even was. It’s small village that doesn’t even pop up on Google Maps.

I’m heading out to this tiny village to start a 2-week surf camp, and I was generally pretty excited about it. But when I started thinking about the details, I got really nervous.

• Where exactly in the village is this surf camp?
• Does this surf camp even exist?
• Is the surf camp super primitive with basic accommodations?
• Will I get bed bugs again???

I voiced my location concerns to one of the admins at the camp, and this is the response I got:

FYI – the packet isn’t super informative either. And to top it off, I just discovered this review the night before. So needless to say, I was starting to feel like I made a really terrible mistake.

As my driver got closer to the village, I started realizing just how different this culture was to my own. The “roads” are stone paths with pot holes that could easily swallow entire wheels. Vendors worked on the side of the road in basic huts. Chickens, dogs, and cats ran wild.

None of this was particularly bad — it was just different and a culture shock. But on this 45-minute drive, I gave myself a pep talk.

I said, “Meagan, you get it together. This is a new culture and a new experience. You suck it up, find your inner low maintenance chill, and you get on board.” And ever since then, I’ve been ready to accept the challenge.

My driver first made a stop at the oldest village in Lombok. He gave me a quick tour which was really interesting, and he insisted on taking photos. So here is my really awkward “I don’t know what I’m doing” face.

After following the road to the very end of the village, my driver dropped me off at the very much existing (*exhale*) surf camp. I was so relieved.

Over the next two weeks, I’ll go more in-depth about the camp, my experience, the other surfers, and the staff. But for now, let me leave you with this: This is the lowest of low maintenance I’ve ever been.