Intro: One way ticket

Wednesday May 22 '19, I flew around 17h00 to Faro, the airport in the south of Portugal. My friend Michelle was waiting for me, with my huge XL suitcase, a backpack, 2 suitcases as hand luggage and my new cool weekend bag. Why so much? Because my whole belongings are in these 4 suitcases. Because I will not come back soon to the Netherlands again.. This adventure is planned for more than a year.. probably the coming years!

Where it all started.

7..8 years ago I studied at the Akademie Vogue in Amsterdam, where I followed an interior stylist course of 4 years. I just lived in Amsterdam at the time and I always said to myself, when I graduate, I want to live abroad for a year, I want to have done that, another country, a different culture, good food, THE SUN! learn another language, immerse me completely in something new. I feel the jitters in my stomach when i think about this .. this idea never happened, it did not feel safe enough, not enough money to feel safe, maybe I was not ready yet, Long story short I kept putting it off and I, I kept thinking every year that I really, really should do this. But then suddenly you're 30! yup and then you think where did the time go ?! Why did i not go? Why am I still here? I feel I've been standing still for 5 years. Believe me! I have a wonderful life, I have wonderful friends and a nice family around me, I lived in the heart of Amsterdam, with 2 sweethearts as roommates. I have a great job, with a nice, pleasant team, I was okay! Of course I grow as a person, emotionally I am super happy! Rationally speaking .. I don't get anywhere and that often bothers me. This is mainly because everyone around me is busy with making a career, growing up, always wanting to earn more, having a boyfriend, living together, buying a house, choosing to start a family. and then I notice .. I don't have that .. I don't feel that, I get quite anxious when I think about buying a house outside Amsterdam, because Amsterdam is not affordable. Not for me. Anyway .. I always dreamed and saw my future somewhere outside the Netherlands. And yes, here I am!

Portugal> Algarve> Ferragudo

Last August I spoke to Michelle, around 1am in the night, on the last train back to Amsterdam, where we both lived, I know her as an old classmate of Akademie Vogue, she sits down next to me in the coupe and happily told me, she moved back to her family in Portugal, she enthusiastically explained her plans to me and the train journey flew by. Every day after that it just kept going through my mind, what did she say .. how cool, how nice Portugal! I just couldn't stop thinking about it. My girlfriend Eve and I had also booked a holiday in September that summer to go to Portugal, so I said: we will definitely step by! So I said and so i did, in September we visited her parents' home to help pick grapes in the vineyard, the red grapes were ripe and all fields had to be picked, from early in the morning until the hot hours. In the afternoon everything was picked, super cozy and fun to do, after that time they had prepared a delicious BBQ for us. Michelle told me the concept of the beach bar and that she was recruiting staff, but it was still exciting. After all, the construction of the beach bar was stopped, because someone in the village was disturbing everything. So everyone had to be patient for a while before they can continue building. There in the Algarve I said to her, Michelle if you like it and you can use me in your business .. Then I would like to work for you! I would love to move to this beautiful country and build something new together! She did not see that coming and was pleasantly surprised.

After a long wait and a lot of patience and faith that everything would be all right. We will open a pop-up restaurant in about 2 weeks! In this way Michelle wants to put together a team, finetuning everything, training about wines, testing the menu, you name it all. To hopefully open the beach bar at the end of the year. 

That's the reason I'm here!

I hope to live my life here so that I no longer have to think about my career, about my bottomless money box, about buying a house. But I will enjoy everything around me, everything I have and I can do it with sooo little, and at the same time, I have sooo much here! Outdoor life, a nice beach walk, enjoying a glass of wine and a freshly caught fish, relaxed people around me, who live .. and also work. But don't live to work. Enjoying the quality of life.

And yes I will miss my beautiful, sweet, friends and family. But i am always around and i will never forget them. Nothing will change that. There will be some really difficult moments. But I hope this is all worth it, with what I will get in return.

Thank you for reading my blog and hopefully there will be many beautiful stories and moments that I can share with you!

Lots of love Yvon

* Living the good life *