The Next Chapter

by Poi on June 11, 2015

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It’s that time again… We’ve been back in the UK for nearly two months now since finishing our ski season in Austria and it’s about time we committed to some new travel plans. And of course by committing I mean sharing them on here (and facebook, nothing is real until it’s Facebook official).

The fact I’ve already mentioned ‘travel plans’ means you’ve probably worked out that we are hitting the road again. Despite using that phrase over and over again the past few years, this time you should take it far more literally.

During our brief time back at home we’ve been acquiring a few, what I would call, more substantial belongings. Basically, we’ve been spending like crazy, not something we’d usually do before starting a new adventure.

Where has all our cash gone?

A Vehicle

Last time I bought a car was 10 years ago, about 2 days after passing my driving test. I’ve driven plenty of times since but usually in hire cars or as an additional driver on my Dad’s car. Fair to say; I’m a little rusty when it comes to knowing what to look for when buying a car and my complete lack of interest in them doesn’t really help either.

After hours and hours (and more hours) of research we finally settled on a car and came home with this:

road trip carVW Golf Estate

Camping Gear

There’s no point in having such a big car unless you’ve got plenty of stuff to fill it with, so next came the camping gear (those travel plans becoming a bit obvious yet?). The tent we had sounded out luckily became available on a second-hand website, not only had it only been used a couple of times, but it also came with pretty much everything under the sun related to camping. We got the tent, storage shelves, gas stoves, lamp, deluxe blow-up mattress, wardrobe and a toaster all for less than the RRP of the tent.

Admittedly some of the extras are a little over the top and might not make it into the car but still… a bargain.

road trip tentHi-Gear Gobi 4

A Companion

If you follow us on Facebook you may have seen the update about our new friend Lola, the cuteness made it one of our most popular Facebook posts in a while. Lola is a chocolate working cocker spaniel who will be joining us from now on.

Kirsty and I both grew up with dogs and have wanted one of our own for quite some time. Obviously the last few years of long haul flights and living out of a backpack have meant this wasn’t an option, we’re now in the position where we can offer a happy life to a nice little ball of fluff and decided we were ready for the responsibility.

chocolate working cocker spanielMeet Lola

But where are we going with all this stuff?

 

Around mid-July we’ll be loading the new car (did you notice it’s left-hand drive?) with what will hopefully be all of our possessions (With the help of a few early morning car boot sales) and setting off across Europe. We plan to visit places in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Hungary before finishing our journey in Bucharest, Romania. We’ll stay in Bucharest for maybe two or three days months years before deciding where to drive to next.

Yes, YEARS.

Hopefully you all know the story about Kirsty falling in love with teaching in Thailand before becoming fully qualified in London? Well after a year off including getting married, honeymooning in Tanzania and working the winter in Austria, Kirsty decided it’s time to get back in the classroom.

Romania was already high on our list of places to visit during the summer thanks to a couple of our blogger friends writing glistening reviews of the country and it’s people. So naturally when a teaching job became available in Bucharest she quickly applied. After a few Skype interviews the job was secured, in fact it was all sorted before we’d even left Austria – Sorry for keeping it a secret for so long.

The contract is for two years at a good British international school in the east of Bucharest. Kirsty will be making the transition from Business teacher to primary school teacher which is something she has always wanted to do. Our plan is to make the most of living on mainland Europe and owning a car, we have the black sea an hours drive to the east, Transylvania to the north and various ski resorts close by too.

Also being much closer to home than when we lived in SE Asia will mean we won’t have to miss out on any special occasions either. Both sets of parents already have cheap flights booked to come and visit and many friends are already looking at long weekends when they’ll be able to get across as well.

The next couple of years should be filled with road trips exploring Romania and the surrounding countries and we can’t wait to get started.

Do you have any tips for our European road trip? Or maybe somewhere we should consider en route? Or maybe you’re a Bucharest expert and can offer us some advice?

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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }

Hungarian Tourism June 12, 2015 at 9:00 am

Good luck Guys! The plans sound amazing. Let us know if you need help with your trip in Hungary!;) Best, Agnes

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Poi June 12, 2015 at 4:19 pm

Thanks a lot, we’re looking forward to coming to Hungary again.

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Beverley | Pack Your Passport June 12, 2015 at 11:00 am

This is SO EXCITING! Congratulations, guys 🙂

Oh and I’m coming to visit, just FYI.
xx

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Poi June 12, 2015 at 4:20 pm

Thanks Beverley and as you already know you are welcome anytime!

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Dayna June 12, 2015 at 11:13 am

What an EPIC trip – so jealous!! We have friends doing a very similar road trip right now for their honeymoon and it just looks like so much fun. They’ve got a FB page if you wanted to check it out for tips – https://www.facebook.com/Toppadventure

How exciting!
Dayna´s last blog post ..Vlog: Day 7 to 10 of our Iceland Road Trip – Snow and GoPro Fail

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Poi June 12, 2015 at 4:21 pm

We’re very excited although a little unprepared at the moment, we’ll take a look at your friends page for a few insider tips!

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Emma @ Adventures of a London Kiwi June 14, 2015 at 6:42 am

What an exciting new chapter – and Lola is a heartbreaker!!
Emma @ Adventures of a London Kiwi´s last blog post ..Are we currently in the Golden Age of Holidays: Then or Now

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Poi June 14, 2015 at 2:02 pm

She is a little cutie 90% of the time, when she’s not being completely mental but that’s the fun of a puppy.

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Emily-Ann (grownupgapyear) June 29, 2015 at 9:50 am

Sounds like an amazing adventure! And you guys couldn’t ask for a cuter travel companion 🙂

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Poi June 29, 2015 at 2:57 pm

Thanks a lot! She’s very good at putting a smile on our face 🙂

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RunawayBrit July 1, 2015 at 10:30 pm

Gah!! How EXCITING! I love Romania 🙂

I’ll let you into a little secret, Kirsty has just scored my dream job. I went to the London Search fair last year in order to try and score a teaching job in Bucharest, but they didn’t announce the schools attending until 2 days before the fair and no Romanian schools were going to be there. I ended up in India instead. I’ll be starting the whole recruitment process again shortly, so if an English job comes up in the Secondary school, give me a shout 🙂

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Kirsty July 22, 2015 at 10:27 am

Wow, there are plenty of international schools in Bucharest. I got the job by looking on TES – I will let you know if any jobs do come up at the school though! 🙂

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Ali August 16, 2015 at 3:15 pm

So…I’m a bit behind, but I’m finally coming to read about your next steps after tweeting with you the other day. Romania sounds exciting! I’ve heard good things about Bucharest, and it’s definitely high on my list of countries to visit. Good luck, and I hope it all works out, and I hope you adjust to driving on the other side of the road/car!
Ali´s last blog post ..Blood Transfusions and Hospital Stays: How I Spent My Summer Vacation

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Poi August 17, 2015 at 9:14 am

Despite the 30 odd hours driving across Europe I was still terrified when we drove into Bucharest. We spent most the trip staying in villages and on the motorway so city traffic was a nightmare. Luckily by then I was used to being on the other side of the road at least.

Our first impressions of Bucharest are great and we’re looking forward to getting to know it better. Be sure to let us know when you end up coming over this way 🙂

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Mark October 5, 2015 at 4:56 pm

Hi Poi and Kristy,
The more snooping around the more I feel like we should have a coffee date somewhere in Europe. I’m going to be teaching at an international school in Carinthia, Austria. I love your story and where this is all going. Huge smile on my face as I write this and while I read this post! We also honeymooned in Tanzania! We also had a puppy we named Lola! We’ve been planning on getting a car just so we could travel to all the neighboring countries and to run around Austria! Whaaa I’m getting so excited.

I imagine by now you’ve already started the job. We’re both still in the Philippines. The visa process has been much longer than expected but in the end things will work out. The plan is to be out there in mid-November.

If you pop over to go skiing let us know. We’d love to host yall including Lola 🙂

Love from Manila,
Mark
Mark´s last blog post ..Ultimate Packing Tips and checklist for Long term travel

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Poi October 6, 2015 at 8:50 am

Ha that’s awesome! Are we copying each others lives?

It’s so easy to get around in a car I’d definitely recommend getting one and hitting the road. The great thing about mainland Europe is how many different places you can get to so easily, especially with your own transport.

Kirsty has been at work for a while now and is enjoying it as much as she hoped which is great, we’ve quickly taken a liking to Bucharest as well which is great too.

It won’t take much convincing to get us back to Austria, we’re both pretty in love with the place and kinda jealous that you’ll be living there, hopefully we’ll get across at some point and be sure to give you a shout.

I hope the move goes well for you and we look forward to hearing how you get on.

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