From backpacker to Sumatra expert

As a young girl I dreamed of Bali. The classic dream straight out of a travel brochure. When I finished my studies and started earning my first money, it was clear – I was going to Indonesia.

But since we were flying so far anyway, we decided we wanted to see more. Orangutans live in Sumatra, so we headed there for a few days.

I had no idea that a piece of my heart would stay right there.

I started returning to Sumatra, my dad joined me and fell in love with the island just as I had. It simply won us over.

With every visit I discovered new places and met people who over time became my friends, business partners and a second family. At the same time I realized how hard it is to truly get to know the island without local contacts, experience and knowledge of the environment.

One of the first people I met was Ali. All his life he had only ridden a motorbike. We helped him get a driving licence for a car and together we began crossing the island in every direction.

We weren’t looking for tourist attractions.

We were looking for places with a soul.

We often slept in the car on the edge of dusty roads. No shower, no restaurants, no signal. Just because we wanted to discover places ordinary tourists never reach.

That was when the first routes took shape – the ones that later became the Simply Horas itineraries. Not from behind a desk, but through hundreds of hours on the road. Thanks to that we now know where it’s truly worth stopping, what’s worth seeing and where you’d only waste your time.

In 2018 we decided to turn all the experience we’d gathered into a real project. Simply Horas was born. That same year we opened the first Czech-Indonesian bakery in Sumatra. We had a dream to combine honest Czech cakes with exceptional exotic fruit and create a place where our travellers would feel at home.

At the beginning of 2019, after careful preparation, we welcomed our first clients.

Since then we’ve been continuously refining, expanding and adapting our routes to how the island evolves.

Then came covid.

We had to close the bakery.

But we didn’t leave Indonesia.

Quite the opposite.

The bakery led us to vanilla. We decided to take our Indonesian plans seriously. We rented our beloved White House, as we started calling it, founded our own company and set out on another big dream – growing real vanilla.

By then Indonesia was no longer just a destination for us. It had become our second home, where we live, do business and build projects that make sense to us and to the people around us.

Today our vanilla farm opens its doors to travellers too. They can see the hand-pollination, harvest, fermentation and drying of vanilla with their own eyes, and we’re gradually building facilities so they can stay overnight with us as well.

Over time we began to notice one more thing. Many of our travellers, after returning home, asked how they could give something back to the local people or to nature.

That’s why in 2024 I joined the Biosphere Collective association, where I now serve as vice-chair. The association connects people who care about Indonesia and makes it possible to transparently support projects focused on protecting nature and helping local communities.

I’m glad that travel therefore doesn’t end on the last day of the holiday, but can have a positive impact long after the return home.

It was thanks to our clients that we eventually expanded our trips to Sulawesi as well. It wasn’t our original plan. It was their wish to return to Indonesia with us again.

There is one destination, though, that you won’t find with us.

Bali.

The place where my whole story began.

Not because we have anything against it. We simply believe that Indonesia offers far more than the places the whole world already knows. We want to show islands that still keep their authenticity, their pace of life and their culture.

Today I spend part of the year in Sumatra. I work with people I trust, I know the local communities and I build every route from my own experience. The places I recommend, I’ve walked myself many times.

That’s why our trips aren’t created from catalogues or from articles on the internet. They come from years spent right there on the ground.

I don’t want to show people Indonesia through the eyes of a tourist.

I want to show them Indonesia the way I came to know it.