MoveToSEA didn't start with a business plan or a five-year vision board. It started with a spur-of-the-moment trip to Indonesia in December 2017 — right when a volcano was erupting. Most people would've stayed home. I ended up out around Gili, watching it go off from the beach, with barely a tourist in sight. Something about it got under my skin immediately.
Then Vietnam happened. I arrived on the way to China and Mongolia. Saigon was supposed to be three days. That turned into three months, then eight months, then I quit work and stayed longer. That probably tells you everything you need to know.
What hit me in Vietnam was the energy, and then the heart. People seemed to understand how to enjoy life in the middle of it all. The smaller things mattered. Some of the strongest memories are from deeper in the Mekong — watching sunset over the river, that heavy glowing heat, the kind of scene that doesn't ask anything from you except that you stand there and take it in.
"I don't think I left because I had some grand goal. I think I left because I wanted to lose myself a bit. And strangely, that's exactly what helped me find more of who I was."
Living across Southeast Asia stripped a lot away. But it also showed me a repeating pattern: people trying to make the move and getting scammed, misled, or just lost in a fog of bad information. So much of the relocation space felt unreliable, overpriced, or built by people who didn't really understand what new arrivals actually need. And the biggest myth — that Southeast Asia is automatically cheap — is exactly where a lot of people get burned.
That's why this exists. Not to sell a glossy dream. To be a place with honest information and the option to talk to someone who's actually been through it — the excitement, the mistakes, the visa stress, the great meals, the moments where you think "this was the best thing I ever did," and the occasional moments where you think "what on earth am I doing?"
The story keeps moving. Kampot, Cambodia feels like the next chapter — quieter, more spacious, a developing expat hub without the rush. Marriage and family are on the horizon. New ideas are still taking shape. My father came from Ireland to Australia in the 70s, my mother is Australian, and I've never felt completely one thing. Maybe that's why this life makes sense to me.
As Into the Wild puts it: "Happiness only real when shared." And: "The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences." That's probably the simplest version of it.