Henk's journey thru life

Where are you and where are you going?
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Hankaroundtheworld
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Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:50 am

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

That is a coincidence! If you are still there next week (from 27 Aug onwards), then we could do a coffee

rube
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Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:54 pm
Location: Europe (NL)

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by rube »

Nope, but maybe we can do a Dutch meetup another time when you're back in NL.
Have fun next week!

mxlr650
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Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:33 pm

Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by mxlr650 »

Hankaroundtheworld wrote:Hungary has many nice cities, including of course Budapest. Of course, traveling remains part of the ER(M) lifestyle as well
Buy tickets before you ride Budapest Metro! Of course I am joking and referring to movie "Kontroll" which looks live a movie about power of love over evil on the outside, but you can easily find ERE metaphors (cave analogy, black swans etc). Great movie to watch with a bowl of french fries :D (@6:40)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO2KFEaVjhg

Hankaroundtheworld
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

In 2 days we go on an exploration tour in Hungary, and what I have seen so far and read, it looks like a great destination (except the Political developments - more dictatorship - , and language is difficult, but no country is perfect). People seem nice, also a lot of foreigners are based there (so you can share experiences and have some mixed friends - locals and foreigners). If you want to go back to the basics, have early retirement, enjoy the peace, own enough land for a self-organized lifestyle, stay below 1000 Euro per Month, and broaden your skills in farming-like lifestyle, this seems a perfect destination. If it is indeed true, we will combine this with slow-traveling 4-5 Months per year (till we have enough of travel).

Will let you know the results in 3 weeks time!

DutchGirl
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by DutchGirl »

good luck, have fun. I visited Pannonhalma a few times, but this is years and years ago. Budapest also was nice. At that time it was all also very cheap; a cup of coffee for 5 eurocents, a McDonalds meal for I believe 25 eurocents. We had an exquisite dinner at an exclusive restaurant for I believe 4 euros per person...

Hankaroundtheworld
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Quick update. First impression of Hungary (south) is great, beautiful landscape, nice people, and indeed, nice farm-houses and enough land you can get for around 40k euro (renovated). We are still looking, but it seems highly likely we will find something. Next to farmhouses/land, seems medical level good (especially dentist), nice wineries, nice cities with enough "culture", cheap & easy transport, etc.. Life seems good here, and very affordable for ER(M). Good progress.

rube
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by rube »

be aware that common real estate can be freely bought, but anything that is official listed with an agriculture purpose, has restrictions for foreigners. Should probably be not be an issue, just sometjing to double check when you see a property (but first check everything out and compare it with Portugal!)

Hankaroundtheworld
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Thanks Rube, and yes, we are aware with this rule :-)
Regarding Portugal, so far I can see online, prices are much higher, but may be I should talk with a real-estate company to get a complete overview of Portugal

Hankaroundtheworld
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Update from Hungary initiative, it might come handy for everyone that wants a more self-supplying lifestyle, in an economical but still interesting way. We have looked around in the South, and we are close to a deal for around 40k Euro. What do you get for this? Big house (160m2) in a nice farm-style, fully renovated with all western facilities (incl gas heating or wood if you like, isolation of window, walls, roof, floor-heating, broadband internet, you name it), outside covered area, big garden, then several big barns, at least total 100m2 (that you partially can rebuild for extra living space), wine cellars and around 1 Ha of land!! This all for 40k Euro .... And if you are afraid that country-life gets too boring, there is a very nice city nearby (Pecs, with concert hall, culture, rock bands, nice restaurants, social life, etc...beautiful city), but otherwise Budapest. But, you are only 3 hours away from Vienna, or the Kroatian blue sea or nice old cities, etc, etc.. Last but not least, life is extremely affordable, for already 1000 euro/month you live comfortable, and for 1500/Month, like a king, including car, medical, you name it. And if you feel after 5 years or more, that you have seen it, no problem, you only invested 40k Euro, so easy way out ! Only thing, this is for ER life, if you need to work, it is tougher, so only do this, if you have ER money available (but you do not need a lot).

Soooo, if you ever considered to switch to a "back to the roots", afforable and good life-style, you should consider this! We are close, I hope in a week to have it organized.
Last edited by Hankaroundtheworld on Thu Sep 18, 2014 9:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

Hankaroundtheworld
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Yes, we did it, we said yes to the farm-house, and there is even a small vine-yard included, and a small wine house on the hills, with a million-dollar view... we cannot believe it.

It has a positive impact on ER(M), because I have moved the deadline from End-2015 to Mid-2015, basically I cannot wait to go to this Paradise and explore other routes in life !
Last edited by Hankaroundtheworld on Thu Sep 18, 2014 4:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

henrik
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by henrik »

A légpárnás hajóm teli van angolnákkal!
(Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6D1YI-41ao)

rube
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by rube »

wow that is quick! You even didn't considered Portugal anymore? Anyway, congrats and it will be mid 2015 very quickly!

DutchGirl
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by DutchGirl »

He can always move to Portugal when Hungary gets boring :-D

(Maybe it never will...).

Congratulations, Henk!

Hankaroundtheworld
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Lol, Monthy Pyton, always good, and yes, language is a barrier, but I met enough foreigners that have learned it in 2 years!

Hankaroundtheworld
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

How strange the human mind works, now that I have set the ER(M) deadline to mid-2015, and I even have "bought" myself a new lifestyle in Hungary, those last Months at work seem to go slower and it drags even more energy of me.... I was hoping I would enjoy those last Months of work, knowing that not much matters anymore, so you can treat everything in a lite mode, but .... it becomes painfully clear that I have taken the work life far too seriously, focusing too much on the earning/money and not the joy of working (of that what you like), and with the end in sight, it suddenly all feels like a burden.

Anyway, I am not trying to whine (it might come across like this however, lol) , it is just a recording of how I feel at work in my cubicle at the moment !

DutchGirl
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by DutchGirl »

Good luck, Henk. I guess it can feel like that if the end is so near. Perhaps you can find meaning in these months because you're working towards a different life, so you could use your time off work to build the next stage? Perhaps at work you can try to at least leave behind a nice impression of yourself and a decently done job for the person who takes over?

Hankaroundtheworld
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Hi DutchGirl, thanks, and I appreciate your comments. It is just strange how the mind works, I know I should be grateful for what I have, what I have accomplished, that I am healthy, that I have a good relationship, friends, reached ERM at 49, you name it, so much privileged you could argue, and still you feel not as happy as you might expect because somehow I feel trapped. Of course, not when I started this working journey around the world, I was full of energy when I arrived at my 1st location outside Netherlands, "top of the world" feeling, but somehow I have lost connection to that more pure feeling/drive of the start. So, yeah, I better draw a line to the current route, overly clear :-) and search for a new route, but that might take time. When I told my wife that I need at least a year to detox my mind from this work, I think I am not joking. I feel I can sleep for a year :-)

Would be great to read my thoughts again in a years time, and be surprised again how it has changed.

DutchGirl
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by DutchGirl »

I have this work colleague now who is leaving the work force; she is also looking for how to handle it. She is a bit closer than you, though, just two more months to go for her. She is also curious how other people did it.

There are, by the way, a lot of books about it, also in Dutch; interviews with retirees, ideas of how to get used to being retired, etc. There are also courses that you can take when you're on the brink of retiring, sometimes even for the couple, instead of just for the person who is actually retiring. It's big business :-)

I was thinking about gifting my colleague one of these books, but while the first part of this particular book was nice (interviews with retirees, about how they had dealt with retirement - one claim there was that it generally takes 1 - 2 months after the retirement to rest, after that time you're rested from the work and can start building new activities), the next part was all about "how to live on a pension" or "how to write your will", etc, things I feel that are not what she worries about. So in the end I didn't buy that one for her.

Hankaroundtheworld
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by Hankaroundtheworld »

Well, I am not afraid to switch to ERM, no need for me to read those books either, I cannot wait to start retirement and find new skills/routes in life :-) I just need to find the energy till mid-2015 and then take a detox period (losts of sleeping, perhaps yoga everyday)

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GandK
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Re: Henk's journey thru life

Post by GandK »

Yes. I slept A LOT those first few months. What an exciting time, congratulations!

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