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Sian | Academic • Lifestyle • Travel

@simplysian

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Certified Freediver & Pilates Instructor
Future Dr of Linguistics📚
HypeMaker💻
South African🇿🇦 Kiwi🇳🇿
Pronounced Sai-Anne📇
📍Currently 🇵🇭
KYW👑

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Exploring the world led me to myself 🧜🏼‍♀️💙

Growing up my parents made it a thing to take us to the beach as much as possible. By the time I was 12 I was over it. Constantly complained about the sand in my nails, nesting in my hair, and not to mention every other nook and cranny. Over a decade and-then-some later I found myself completely head-over-water for the oceans that surround our remarkable planet.

Last year I made a promise to myself and the waters that make up our home. Took it to another level and signed myself up for a free diving course with @divegurusboracay who hooked me up with a seaking that helped make me a seaster. @domkoooo and the team at Dive Guru’s ignited a deeper connection between myself and sea, bound by courage and will, and a solemn promise to remain a faithful rescue 🌊

🔝Three things to know about free diving:
1️⃣You’re not truly breathing unless you are aware. Breath control is a key component people sometimes ignore
2️⃣Spontaneously holding your breath for long periods does not a successful diver make. Knowing when and how to breathe is important. Always remember to recover by being aware of your breath
3️⃣You can never call yourself a diver unless you can take action under pressure and perform a rescue

Are you a certified or wanna be diver? I’d love to touch base, who knows we might even connect irl, one can always use a dive buddy - which is a key factor to successful dives 💙 taken in Boracay Island, Philippines by @simplysian

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3 years ago

Bali and the connections I made in it, brought me back to me!

I could never take these experiences for granted because exploring new places and people have consistently guided, and in times like Bali lead, me through my journey of self discovery ❤️

I will forever live in gratefulness for these incredible journey’s. To continue doing this I make an added effort to design trips that may inspire or serendipitously open space for bravery, rediscovery and recovery.

Looking to take your travel to a place of self discovery and true exploration? Here’s a short go-to list for Bali:
🏞️ retreat to a home in the clouds and explore some of natures most breathtaking places with @desaekobali
🏍️ get yourself an awesome Local tour guide or trek guide to get a true sense of where you are and the lives around you. I cannot recommend @cocoricodebali enough!
🍔 you are what you eat! That’s what’s why I loaded up on some locally sourced ingredients and delicious flavours! @thebotanistmunduk has the best staff and naturally sourced ingredients - vegan friendly of course 😋 your body will thank you 🫰🏽
🚙 get yourself a reliable driver and guide to take you to and from main cities to your destinations further beyond. I was lucky enough to meet @nhanoe_mdk97 who took me to some incredible sites and kept me safe while I napped in the car 🥹 (as a solo traveler safety is highly important and can be a deciding factor in visiting a place again - trust me when I say in Bali you have no worries!) taken in Munduk, Bali, Indonesia by @simplysian

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3 years ago

Life’s a climb, but damn is the view’s great 💖
Continuously grateful for all the beauty around me. Sometimes takes me a minute to recognise it, to cherish it, but there’s not a day I don’t remember and recall the beauty all around me ✨

Do you take note of the beauty all around you? taken in New Plymouth, New Zealand by @simplysian

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4 years ago

How is it already the last day of my birthday month?! 🥲 The first Ber month really came and went.

A little compilation of me in the last two weeks + some change of September, half a birthday month and a whole lot of exploring and savouring the West Coast + parts of the Mountain West 🇺🇸✨

Earlier this year, a life-changing interaction sent me on a little side quest to the USA.

Months later… I’m back. With more spontaneity, more scenes, more miles, and apparently a birthday to celebrate across two very different landscapes 😂🌇🌄

30 was really just the trailer
31, is a whole movie… let’s see what you’ve got 🎞️✨

All God. Always 💖

#explorewithme #thisis31 #lifeinamerica #selfimprovementdaily taken in Camelback Mountain by @simplysian

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16 days ago

Scenes from my final month of being 30 🥹😭🤣

I used to be 13 going on 30. Now I’m 31 wishing I could go back to 13, when my biggest responsibility was probably homework not also housework and work work. 😂

But we move, we thrive, and somehow end up in places we could’ve never cooked up for ourselves. All God.
Preordained and prettier than anything I could’ve planned ✨

31, oh how grateful I am to be alive, we made it here 😭.
Where to next? What next? 🥰🤭

If you made it this far:
Slides 1-5 📍 Wellington Aotearoa New Zealand
Slides 6-10 📍 Welcome to United States of America (here she goes doing a take two 🎬)

#wellingtonnz #explorewithme #thisis31 #hollywoodhikes #arizonaskies taken in Los Angeles, California by @simplysian

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24 days ago

August was a little bit of a gust 💖

A month in my second home, taking a breather before the next adventure on the ground.

Resting, resetting, and remembering that you don’t always have to be going somewhere to be moving forward.

Anyway, here’s a little dump before even more of the good stuff. September is my birthday month, guess what I did? Closed my eyes and said it’s time for another ✈️ hehehe 🤭

#lifeinnewzealand #explorewithme #wellingtonlife taken in Wellington, New Zealand by @simplysian

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a month ago

There’s something funny about being back in Aotearoa New Zealand, freezing my ass off, while my camera roll looks like this 😂

Four years. Five islands. And somehow still so much of the Philippines left to see.

I haven’t posted on my feed in a while. Honestly, I’ve just been exhausted. But scrolling through these videos reminded me of the life I once had to be brave enough to choose.

In Dec 25 I quit my job. I booked the flight. I stepped outside of everything I thought my life was supposed to look like and somehow ended up living in Asia, travelling the Philippines, Hong Kong, America, and islands in begween.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped needing to have every next step figured out.

I’m still a recovering Type A girl 😂 but I’ve learned that having a plan and having a life aren’t always the same thing.

Back in NZ for a short while now. Here for a good time, not a long time 😉

So while I’m here freezing my ass off, I’ll be reminiscing about the life I built when I chose courage over fear 🌴💖

#explorewithme #digitaldiaries #lifeinthephilippines #selfimprovementdaily #philippinestravel by @simplysian

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2 months ago

There’s something so freeing about coming home, letting your hair down, and realising you actually had a really good day.

Little joys count too.

Ate V’s cooking deserves its own appreciation post.

Food really is one of my favourite love languages.

This dress deserved an appearance on my feed.

Still can’t believe I found this dress in H&M after not shopping there for years.

Current personality trait: Bad Sisters.

Completely had me in a chokehold.

Good food. Good company. Slow moments.

I’ve learnt those are usually the days I remember most.

Showing up. Not because I felt motivated.
Because I promised myself I would.

We can do hard things. And soft things too.

One thing about this village…

I genuinely never imagined somewhere this peaceful existed in Manila. A beautiful reminder that home can always surprise you.

Some runs feel strong.

Some end because tropical rain has other plans.

(Also… are headphones waterproof? Asking for future me.)

Stopping because something is beautiful is never wasted time.

I’m trying to savour life a little more these days.

Funny how hair teaches the same lesson life does.

Growth isn’t dramatic.

It’s showing up, looking after it, and trusting that one day you’ll look back and realise how far you’ve come.

Seven months ago I left the job I’d spent over a year trying to convince myself to leave.

Since then I’ve lived in another country, travelled to new places, met incredible people, built work I’m proud of, and learnt that courage isn’t about feeling fearless, it’s about moving anyway.

This little carousel is my reminder that the life I once prayed for is already happening.

And if there’s one thing I’ve learnt this year, it’s this:

God really does make a way 💖

#altlife #explorewithme taken in Makati by @simplysian

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3 months ago

I used to think courage looked like having all the answers.

Turns out it looked more like booking the flight anyway.

Somewhere between the one-way flight, the ferries, and the islands…

I stopped asking, “What if it goes wrong?”

And started asking,

“What if it goes right?”

I realised I wasn’t waiting for the right time.

I was waiting to feel ready.

Mine looked like a one-way flight.

Yours might look completely different.

I don’t think this year changed my life. I think one decision did.

I finally stopped waiting

The rest…

has just been the story unfolding.

Some of the best parts of life aren’t planned.

They’re prayed for.

Maybe that’ll be your July.

ALT Life.

Less waiting. More living. One brave yes at a time 💖

#lifeinthephilippines #explorewithme #selfimprovementjourney #explorationleadstodiscovery taken in Vanilla Beach El Nido by @simplysian

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3 months ago

The craziest part?
Six months ago I left a 6.5-year public sector career.

The same double major in Political Science that I never thought I’d use somehow led me to rooms with ministers, prime ministers, and opportunities I couldn’t have imagined when I first started.

Then I took another leap of faith.

After my miscarriage, I made a promise to myself: if I’m lucky enough to keep living, I’m going to truly live.

So I left the life I knew.
Since then I’ve lived out of suitcases, crossed oceans, trusted God through uncertainty, crashed out a little in Colorado, rebuilt myself, and built a life that once felt impossible.

I’ve been island hopping through the Philippines, working with people across the world, building businesses I believe in, teaching Pilates, creating, and living in the place I knew was home from the moment I first stepped foot here.

As this month marks six months of living in my 3rd home 🇵🇭, I’m reminded:

None of this was in the plan. Every bit of it was in the prayer. 🌊✨

#lifeinthephilippines #explorewithme #selfimprovementdaily #elnidopalawan #boracayphilippines taken in El Nido, Palawan Island, Philippines by @simplysian

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4 months ago

May we remember.

Not just the big moments. The little ones too.

The conversations, laughs, unexpected detours, the moments that seemed ordinary until they became memories.

The older I get, the more I realise the good things in life aren’t always the loudest. Sometimes they’re the things worth remembering before we forget.

A few scenes from the first week and some change of May 💖

#lifeinthephilippines #altlife #explorewithme #mayrecap taken in Bonifacio Global City by @simplysian

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4 months ago

April asked for a lot.
May I say… it was worth it ✨

Just a few favourite scenes f rom the tail end of April. Little bubbles, little beauty, little reminders that life is what you make it and man can it rock!

Tell me did you have a fav? 🫣💗

#lifeinthephilippines #altlife #explorewithme taken in Makati by @simplysian

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5 months ago