Why are we doing this?
Well for me …. I like to experience life. I love being off grid. I love making every day count. I love being self sufficient and in charge of my own destiny.
I have never really enjoyed traveling. I like my own bed and my own space. It used to take me ages to get used to life whilst on holiday and I would miss my work. (I know, sad, but that is the way it is). You just get used to it and it is time to go home.
Whatever it is that I would be up to, being away from it was always difficult. It would take me a couple of weeks to relax enough to read a book and in the mean time I would have been wondering what problems I should have been sorting or how life was going on without me. I have been self employed for most of my life and being self employed is a way of life rather than a job. It takes over most of your life! (Holidays would just get in the way).
Paul's experience was different. He had spent over 15 years traveling with work never wanted to go anywhere. Consequently we had actually only achieved 2 weeks away in the last 15 years. So to head out with a one way ticket, may have seemed (to some) rather impulsive.
So what are we looking for?
For me, I want to be able to work from anywhere. I love my work far too much to ever give it up. I love being busy. As long as I am able to work and have my own space and my own bed, I think I will be happy. We both love living on a boat. We have lived on a boat for two and a half years and can’t think of wanting to do anything else right now. We both didn’t have any particular connection with any place and in this day and age technology means you can be in constant contact with your loved ones wherever you are. So we agreed that we both could be anywhere on our boat.
Well, anywhere that was easy to have the dog with us. We had initially planned on traveling the French Canals but I had one worry that kept niggling me. I am not used to being hot. If I got hot I would like to be able to jump in the sea and cool down, this we knew was not going to be possible on the French Canals. So we knew the next place to consider was the Mediterranean. We started researching and released that Greece was the best place to start. There was lots of beautiful places to visit, most Greeks spoke English and the sailing life is not too expensive there.
The Appeal of Living on the Boat
I love using all of the space you have. (Spare rooms are extra rooms that need cleaning and heating).
I love having to decide where things will live before you buy something.
I love clever designs, especially things that have two uses or are a different shape because of where it will live
I love having to throw something out if you buy something new
I love being self sufficient, using solar energy, being water conscious, traveling by wind power, & catching fish.
I love shopping once and making do ... if you run out of things.
I love the fact that Paul loves mending things on the boat when he hated mending anything on the house!
I love being able to up and move if you suddenly have noisy neighbours
I love looking across at a town or village with a bit of water in between us and them
I love being able to work with ever-changing views
I love being able to live on half the amount of money we needed when we lived in a house
I love planning our next adventure
I love being so free
The Appeal of Living in Greece
I love the little villages, the little shops and welcoming cafes & tavernas offering shade and cold drinks
I love the relaxed island life,
I love the entrepreneurial micro businesses surviving on people passing by
I love the turquoise waters that are warm to swim in yet so refreshing
I love the afternoon breeze
I love the massive thunderstorms
I love caring, warm hearted people
I love the slightly untidy, dusty feel.
I love the weather and being warm
I love finding somewhere really special to eat
I love the Mediterranean diet
I love listening to goat bells in the hills in the evening
I love the early morning mist and the early morning swim
We have learnt not to get upset by other boaters, we know we are lucky because we have longer than two weeks to enjoy our time and have a lot more boating experience than many people here that are chartering a boat for a week or two a year. (Even me now, I guess).
We both love trying to make Greek dishes. We have learnt that we don’t want the oven on in this heat so I don’t make bread or moussaka. We have to use the BBQ or the gas hob. We are becoming experts in Greek salad and Tzatziki, now we are honing our skills with Saganaki and zucchini balls. We buy local food whenever we can and we are slowly replacing our English comforts with Greek alternatives.
As neither of us had been to Greece since 2005 we were slightly worried that every town would have a MacDonalds and every village would have a Tesco or Sainsbury’s. I am pleased to say that neither is true, there are plenty of small, out of the way places that are proud of their local produce, their wine, their oil, their fruit and veg, their feta cheese.
Tourism is obviously the major income for most of the places we have visited so far, but this was the case in Cornwall and we all have to make a living in whatever way we can. Being on a boat allows you to appreciate the land, the mountains and the village without ever being hemmed into a hot, dusty environment with 200 holiday makers.
As I write this we are surrounded by Brits on boats, the 6 boats around us all have a British flag, so there are many of us out here, having this adventure, learning to chill and take life as it comes. I had no idea Great Britain was so full of adventurers.
I have my work schedule sorted now on the boat and that is working well. Paul has umpteen jobs to keep him entertained and we are both attempting improve our swimming/snorkelling/diving abilities. We don't do any inland traveling at the moment as it is too hot for Lilly the dog. As long as we can find a quiet spot to hang out, it really doesn't matter where we are.
We are meeting lots of people in passing. It is good to know there are other likeminded people around us, but we don't need to be in each other pockets.
So far ... everything is much better than we imagined it would be.
