Ian W
@cyberescue1
Expatri茅 anglais en Bulgarie
Forum
216
Contacts
4
Profil
Anglais
J'habite 脿 Varna
Je parle English, some French, little Italian, little Bulgarian.
Inscription: 01 Janvier 2023
脌 propos
Profession
Je suis Managerial pour Last job in the UK was working in Retail - Supermarket chain in the UK
脡诲耻肠补迟颈辞苍
Banff and Buchan College
Certificat professionnel, IT conputing
2009
City Literary Institute
Dipl么me national sup茅rieur, Counselling
1996
RoSPA (Royal Society of Prevention of Accidents)
Certificat professionnel, Advanced Police Driving (attained Grade 1)
1985
RTITB (Road Transport Industry Training Board) RSA Certificate of Professional Competence in National Road Haulage.
Certificat de formation professionnelle, Road Transportation
1983
Mon parcours d'expatri茅
Varna, Bulgarie
When I decided to emigrate from London, UK, in 2014, my first choice was South America - Chile was at the top of the list. I had a criteria list, as to what I wanted to achieve, moving to another country - climate, cost of living, stable political situation, low cost housing, people I could integrate with, good infrastructure, food I enjoyed. Whilst Chile ticked all those boxes, it also had two major negatives - large earthquakes and not being able to have a bank account for over two years.
With political changes rapidly happening in Europe, I decided to look at Eastern Europe, as an alternative to South America. I researched Poland, Hungary, Czechia (Czech Republic), Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. What made me choose Bulgaria? Firstly, a friend on social media, who I met face to face with in Manchester, suggested I come to Bulgaria, where she lived with her husband. I made four trips over two and half years. It would have been a shorter period, but breaking my hip in a work accident, delayed things by 14 months.
My four trips were to Veliko Tarnovo, via Sof铆a. My friend lived in a village nearby.
I met with other expats on my third and fourth trips. Was the country love at first sight? Pretty much, but I had loads of questions.
In my view, The biggest concern and hurdle was the language, because not only did I know nothing of Bulgarian, I couldn't even read the words. But, I'm not one for giving in at the first hurdle and I go to on trying until I succeed. After the second trip, I knew I wanted to move to Bulgaria and by putting my trust in a number of expats and Bulgarians, I made it happen. What do you psychologically need to move? Motivation, determination and patience! If you don't have motivation, it will never happen for you. If you don't have determination, you won't see it through to completion and if you don't have patience, things my go pear Shaped!
I had planned on moving from my South London bedsit in September 2020 and, thinking I had plenty of time, I was slow to commence packing up my wears. But, suddenly this changed, as the expat doing my removals, needed to move me a month earlier, meaning I had just 16 days to pack everything - a mammoth feat, when looking around my very crammed bedsit. I worked on packing an average of seven boxes a day, estimating I'd have to 110 boxes and packing more here I could - there were plenty of times when I questioned whether or not I could do it, especially, as I was still recovering from two operations on my hip, broken in four places!
But will and determination prevailed and I finished two days early.
The day of the removal, was strange for me - leaving an area I'd known well for eight years and saying goodbye to many work colleagues and friends. But, I knew in my heart, I was doing the right thing and quality of life in the UK was deteriorating rapidly, worsened by the Covid situation. I escaped just in time.
My furniture left in a van and trailer on August 20th 2020. I left two days later, after two nights in two hotels, so that I could hand back my rented bedsit and relax a little, before the journey.
I flew to Sofia, where my estate agent met me and we drove to Veliko Tarnovo. He had arranged a brand new, one bed apartment, in a quiet street, in the centre of the city.
I arrived on a Thursday and my things arrived on the Saturday. It all went perfectly and according to plan.
I couldn't look back. I didn't want to look back, but, of course, some of my friends were eager to know how I was getting on.
I lived and loved VT for three and a half months, but life's never boring! On October 5th, 2020, I met my wife to be! We lived together with her children, for a month and a half, in an apartment, right on the edge of VT. But, she wasn't happy in VT and so, we decided at looking to move to Varna. Once again, will and determination prevailed and, not only did we have to pack hers and the children's stuff up, but I had all my stuff too. Mercifully, a sizeable chunk of my chattels were being stored in my garage, below my apartment, ready boxed.
We moved to Varna on 10th December 2020, renting a large apartments in the Chaika area. Whilst there were aspects of VT I missed, Varna grew very quickly and favourably on me.
January 2021 and we decided to get married. After a lot of bureaucracy, dealing with the British Embassy and Bulgarian authorities, we married in Varna on May 14th, 2021. Our wedding was special. We had two friends as witnesses, a couple, who coincidentally had their wedding anniversary on the same day. We learnt too, that May 14th is a lucky day to have a wedding! I felt very proud of my achievements so far. In March 2021 my father died, aged 95, in a nursing home in London. Covid restrictions prevented me from travelling back to London. But as sad as that was, I now had my own family - albeit I'd started a little late at 60 years of age. I marked the funeral of my father with a white rose, dropped into the Black Sea.
Later that year, in October and in December, I finally received compensation from my work accident and, also received an inheritance from my father. We decided to use some of it, to buy property and in April 2022, we bought a three bedroom maisonette. Two months later, we bought a studio apartment and in December 2022, we bought two garages and a parking space. Needless to say, we are renting the studio, garages and parking space. - good passive income, to supplement my pension. My wife, who is Bulgarian, works too.
So, life's great. In fact I am struggling to think of a better time since my childhood.
Would I return to the UK? No. Why not? For those who have their eyes open and are "awake" it's obvious, but, the UK is no longer a safe place to live, has an horrendous cost of living, is over crowded and has high crime rates, most of which goes undetected.
What do I love most about Bulgaria? Freedom and liberation - something the UK has completely lost.
Retired from various occupations, including...
Self employed - Road transportation, chauffeur, boarding cattery proprietor, computer technician, locksmith.
Varna and Bulgaria give you freedom, liberation and a good quality of living.
On the negative side, too much bureaucracy, bad roads and pavements.
Balham, England, Angleterre
A travaill茅 dans le commerce de d茅tail, pour un grand supermarch茅. De longues heures de travail, un faible salaire, un logement lou茅, une mauvaise qualit茅 de vie et un co没t de la vie 茅lev茅.
Commerce de d茅tail, j'ai travaill茅 pour une grande cha卯ne de supermarch茅s.
Balham 茅tait plut么t sociable
Des rues sales, un taux de criminalit茅 茅lev茅, une vie dangereuse, ch猫re et m茅diocre.