We're so glad that we gave rural Albania a chance after the chaos of the cities. We adored Valentine, Miklo and Miklo's family. They are the epitome of everything we love about travelling. Would you have coped in the cities?? Or run for the hills..?!? 💜🤟
Very serene that olive picking .. a big contrast with the rat race we have in the 'civilized' west. Liked the atmosphere of the video. .. so you... getting in touch with the people in the country. Thanks! And Merry Christmas
Thank-you Towah. Picking the olives is back breaking work, but very rewarding. We saw several Praying Mantis in the olive trees and a few of their nests. It was lovely being out in nature after the stress of driving in the cities. 🤦🏼♀️ Merry Christmas to you too. 😘🎄💜🤟
Awee guys first I laughed my head off it was just like Panama traffic! Insane! JUST LIKE IT! Double parking, cars going in every direction. BUT I also got teared up with mama and papa .... such simple, humble and nice people! God bless them you don't always see people like that. The cheese folks in Kotor seemed nice. Don't know how you ended up parking out there with these folks but you had such a positive and amazing experience .... andnpicking olives wow - how cool and different was that! I'm thinking you must be heading towards Turkeye! Past Athens ... hope that was great! ❤ stay safe guys! And have an amazing Christmas 🎉 wherever it catches you! Be safe and blessed. 🎄🙏🕊
Hi Elaine, We really couldn't cope with the insanity of the traffic. We needed 25 pairs of eyes at least. At one point there was an amputee, pushing himself along in his wheelchair, down the middle of 2 lanes of traffic. 🤯 It was just too much. We found our overnight stops on an app called Park4Night and we deliberately look for places that are rural and offer something different. We don't like staying on campsites if we can help it. Sometimes it's necessary, but farms or just wild camping spots are our favourite. We seem to be drawn to some people, who always turn out to be what we call "Salt of the earth", sweet, humble and all around lovely. We will be spending a few more months in Greece before heading to Türkiye and Athens was incredible. Watch this space for the videos. (*Spoiler alert, there will be two of them*) 😬 Wishing you guys a very merry Christmas too. 😘💜🤟
@findingxanadulife 🎄🎄🎄 stay safe and glad Athens did not disappoint. Our visit was amazing. Enjoy Greece and its food. We love it! We have not been to all islands. Rhodes was really nice too. The old town is nice. We went out to Anthony Quin Bay and had lovely seafood there, visited some archeological site as well. Been there twice. Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, Cyprus. Rural areas is where you really get a feel of locals. That's why in moving to Spain we want to meet locals not just expats. Yes, it will take time. And just was in a zoom call about the financial aspect and they brought up property taxes which I knew about but they mentioned income tax? We won't work but we need to file an income report and pay taxes on our retirement as well? That blew my mind. They used an example of a client that had to pay 6 figures 😡 i may be confused but we may have to rethink moving there. We can go to Portugal or Italy and we'll have to learn a new language but who knows if they will have similar tax requirements. Thinking logically, why would so many from many countries live there and like it and no comments of taxes be ever mentioned or folks would not keep moving there. We are getting on a call with our lawyers and though this is not their expertise they might clarify. I do worry that we like to travel and what happens to the security of our property if we are gone for a month as an example. Mind you after our experience in living in Panama we are more aware of things that we never thought of. But every country is different. Living in a house different than an apt and coming with a dog an apt might not work out well with us. Won't give her up for sure!
@elainebramson7042 We want to visit lots of the islands, but it's not very easy with Perse. When we looked at the ferry to Corfu, they only took motorhomes up to 7m and Perse is 7.4m 🤷🏼♀️ We're still looking for a way. Yes, you would have to pay income tax in Spain on your pension. We have to pay tax on mine. Thankfully the UK have an agreement which means they accept that we pay tax in Spain and don't charge us again, or we would still be paying tax on the UK too. We had to pay double tax for a while when we moved. It is the same in Portugal and Greece, not sure about Italy. In fact from the info we have been given, we would pay more tax in Greece than we do in Spain. Hopefully your financial advisor can work out the figures for you and it will still make sense. Oh hell no, dogs are family. 🐩🐕 Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, hope you have a peaceful time. 😘💜🤟
@findingxanadulife do your best with Perse. He'll no about our dog is right. She's 10 and attached to the hip to us. Sleeps with us. Mini white schnauzer. We've never paid taxes on our retirement. Never had to file for taxes in Panama. We filed in the US Embassy try year but not in Panama and we did not pay taxes on retirement. That is gonna be new to us. Lord have mercy! Thanks for the heads up. 🙏🐾❤️🎄
@elainebramson7042 Bless her. 🐩 Hopefully the cheaper coat of living, would offset the cost of paying the tax. 🤷🏼♀️ At least you can check out all our and make an informed decision. Merry Christmas to you and your family Elaine.🎄 Much love. 😘💜🤟
Well the star of the show was clearly that dishy Albanian olive farmer, oops did I just say that out loud 🤭 What a wonderful thing they have going on there and how amazing to be able to stay. If we ever get over that way, perhaps their site will be up and running by then. It was great to see you get stuck in with the olive picking, and how gorgeous was the mum, they seem so welcoming. A world away from the cities, but yet still, I can't imagine the majority of our rural folk being quite as open arms as they were. Just so heartening to see! What was that drink called again that you had at the Christmas stall? With honey? I like the sound of that. And have you noticed lots of stray dogs at all? I know its a problem there, and I'd find it so heartbreaking - if we had better space or a home, i think we'd end up bringing one back with us. Anyway lovely video, much love and looking forward to seeing Greece ❤🤟 (I had to delete and start again as I wrote this under my personal youtube without realising, thought I'd better start again so you knew it was us 😂)
Haha Dan..! Yes, Papa was very handsome for his age...🤪 The whole family were absolute diamonds. We will definitely go back and see how they are doing with making their dreams a reality. It would be lovely to think they could complete it in a few years. Olive picking is back breaking work. Maybe that's what gives them such a sense of humility. 🤔 Like you said, a complete world away from the chaos of the cities and the young people with their blackened windowed expensive British cars that may or may not have been obtained by less than legal means .. Anywhoozle, the alcoholic drink was called Raki. It's like methylated spirits until Kurt worked his magic on it. I think I'll just stick to Dad's Drambuie. There were hoards of street dogs. That was also part of my meltdown in Shkodër. Dogs asleep in the middle of roundabouts and on paths, running into the roads, one had been hit on the road and not made it, but had just been left in the road. 😭 Thankfully the rural areas are better, they seem to take care of the strays too, but it's really tough to see. We have just been adopted by a new cat and we're sure there will be another dog at some point... Personally I want to take them all home and if we re-settled somewhere like southern Albania, we would probably have a whole flock of them. 🫤 Spoiler alert... Thankfully Greece seems a bit better. Still strays, but more people look out for them. Ps. I often have to delete and start again. It's a pain in the proverbial when it's a wordy response. 🤣🤣 Much love guys. 😘💜🤟
Hi Gareth, Sorry to hear that. Maybe we were just lucky..?!? Thanks for all the comments during the past year. Much appreciated. Merry Christmas to you and Mrs. Duff. 😬🎄💜🤟
Where do you find these so remote places, I am impressed as foreiners ,you must have searched a lot...Shame that you did not like the North, but probably you had your focus and time! Cat neutering, still very painful, in Albania😢!! It has started to move a bit, but very far to the standards of other European countries!! Have a great time, wherever you go!
A lot of it is purely by luck Beti..! 🤣 We use an app called Park4Night and deliberately look for places that are rural and quiet. We want to go back and visit the rural north. We just know that Albania cities are not for us. 🤣 Much love to you guys and Gëzuar Krishtlindjet 😘😘💜🤟
We adore farm life. We could see ourselves with a little smallholding. Olive picking is backbreaking work, but very emotionally rewarding. There weren't that many bugs to be fair. We did see several Praying Mantis though and carefully moved them onto a tree that we had already harvested. Apparently they like nesting in those olive trees. None of them attempted to hurt us though. The 2 cities were something neither of us wish to repeat. Our nerves couldn't cope with it. Driving straight out onto a busy roundabout without looking and expecting others to move out of the way, seems to be a normal thing in Albania. 🤷🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️💜🤟
We're so glad that we gave rural Albania a chance after the chaos of the cities. We adored Valentine, Miklo and Miklo's family. They are the epitome of everything we love about travelling. Would you have coped in the cities?? Or run for the hills..?!? 💜🤟
Merry Christmas, guys. After four weeks of not being able to watch your videos, it was lovely to catch up with what you have been doing.
You were missed Paulette. 😘🥰💜🤟
Very serene that olive picking .. a big contrast with the rat race we have in the 'civilized' west.
Liked the atmosphere of the video. .. so you... getting in touch with the people in the country.
Thanks!
And Merry Christmas
Thank-you Towah. Picking the olives is back breaking work, but very rewarding. We saw several Praying Mantis in the olive trees and a few of their nests. It was lovely being out in nature after the stress of driving in the cities. 🤦🏼♀️
Merry Christmas to you too. 😘🎄💜🤟
Awee guys first I laughed my head off it was just like Panama traffic! Insane! JUST LIKE IT! Double parking, cars going in every direction. BUT I also got teared up with mama and papa .... such simple, humble and nice people! God bless them you don't always see people like that. The cheese folks in Kotor seemed nice. Don't know how you ended up parking out there with these folks but you had such a positive and amazing experience .... andnpicking olives wow - how cool and different was that! I'm thinking you must be heading towards Turkeye! Past Athens ... hope that was great! ❤ stay safe guys! And have an amazing Christmas 🎉 wherever it catches you! Be safe and blessed. 🎄🙏🕊
Hi Elaine,
We really couldn't cope with the insanity of the traffic. We needed 25 pairs of eyes at least. At one point there was an amputee, pushing himself along in his wheelchair, down the middle of 2 lanes of traffic. 🤯 It was just too much.
We found our overnight stops on an app called Park4Night and we deliberately look for places that are rural and offer something different. We don't like staying on campsites if we can help it. Sometimes it's necessary, but farms or just wild camping spots are our favourite.
We seem to be drawn to some people, who always turn out to be what we call "Salt of the earth", sweet, humble and all around lovely. We will be spending a few more months in Greece before heading to Türkiye and Athens was incredible. Watch this space for the videos. (*Spoiler alert, there will be two of them*) 😬
Wishing you guys a very merry Christmas too. 😘💜🤟
@findingxanadulife 🎄🎄🎄 stay safe and glad Athens did not disappoint. Our visit was amazing. Enjoy Greece and its food. We love it! We have not been to all islands. Rhodes was really nice too. The old town is nice. We went out to Anthony Quin Bay and had lovely seafood there, visited some archeological site as well. Been there twice. Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, Cyprus.
Rural areas is where you really get a feel of locals. That's why in moving to Spain we want to meet locals not just expats. Yes, it will take time.
And just was in a zoom call about the financial aspect and they brought up property taxes which I knew about but they mentioned income tax? We won't work but we need to file an income report and pay taxes on our retirement as well? That blew my mind. They used an example of a client that had to pay 6 figures 😡 i may be confused but we may have to rethink moving there. We can go to Portugal or Italy and we'll have to learn a new language but who knows if they will have similar tax requirements. Thinking logically, why would so many from many countries live there and like it and no comments of taxes be ever mentioned or folks would not keep moving there. We are getting on a call with our lawyers and though this is not their expertise they might clarify.
I do worry that we like to travel and what happens to the security of our property if we are gone for a month as an example. Mind you after our experience in living in Panama we are more aware of things that we never thought of. But every country is different. Living in a house different than an apt and coming with a dog an apt might not work out well with us. Won't give her up for sure!
@elainebramson7042 We want to visit lots of the islands, but it's not very easy with Perse. When we looked at the ferry to Corfu, they only took motorhomes up to 7m and Perse is 7.4m 🤷🏼♀️ We're still looking for a way.
Yes, you would have to pay income tax in Spain on your pension. We have to pay tax on mine. Thankfully the UK have an agreement which means they accept that we pay tax in Spain and don't charge us again, or we would still be paying tax on the UK too. We had to pay double tax for a while when we moved. It is the same in Portugal and Greece, not sure about Italy. In fact from the info we have been given, we would pay more tax in Greece than we do in Spain. Hopefully your financial advisor can work out the figures for you and it will still make sense.
Oh hell no, dogs are family. 🐩🐕
Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, hope you have a peaceful time. 😘💜🤟
@findingxanadulife do your best with Perse. He'll no about our dog is right. She's 10 and attached to the hip to us. Sleeps with us. Mini white schnauzer. We've never paid taxes on our retirement. Never had to file for taxes in Panama. We filed in the US Embassy try year but not in Panama and we did not pay taxes on retirement. That is gonna be new to us. Lord have mercy! Thanks for the heads up. 🙏🐾❤️🎄
@elainebramson7042 Bless her. 🐩
Hopefully the cheaper coat of living, would offset the cost of paying the tax. 🤷🏼♀️ At least you can check out all our and make an informed decision.
Merry Christmas to you and your family Elaine.🎄
Much love. 😘💜🤟
Well the star of the show was clearly that dishy Albanian olive farmer, oops did I just say that out loud 🤭
What a wonderful thing they have going on there and how amazing to be able to stay. If we ever get over that way, perhaps their site will be up and running by then. It was great to see you get stuck in with the olive picking, and how gorgeous was the mum, they seem so welcoming. A world away from the cities, but yet still, I can't imagine the majority of our rural folk being quite as open arms as they were. Just so heartening to see!
What was that drink called again that you had at the Christmas stall? With honey? I like the sound of that.
And have you noticed lots of stray dogs at all? I know its a problem there, and I'd find it so heartbreaking - if we had better space or a home, i think we'd end up bringing one back with us.
Anyway lovely video, much love and looking forward to seeing Greece ❤🤟
(I had to delete and start again as I wrote this under my personal youtube without realising, thought I'd better start again so you knew it was us 😂)
Haha Dan..! Yes, Papa was very handsome for his age...🤪
The whole family were absolute diamonds. We will definitely go back and see how they are doing with making their dreams a reality. It would be lovely to think they could complete it in a few years.
Olive picking is back breaking work. Maybe that's what gives them such a sense of humility. 🤔 Like you said, a complete world away from the chaos of the cities and the young people with their blackened windowed expensive British cars that may or may not have been obtained by less than legal means ..
Anywhoozle, the alcoholic drink was called Raki. It's like methylated spirits until Kurt worked his magic on it. I think I'll just stick to Dad's Drambuie.
There were hoards of street dogs. That was also part of my meltdown in Shkodër. Dogs asleep in the middle of roundabouts and on paths, running into the roads, one had been hit on the road and not made it, but had just been left in the road. 😭 Thankfully the rural areas are better, they seem to take care of the strays too, but it's really tough to see.
We have just been adopted by a new cat and we're sure there will be another dog at some point... Personally I want to take them all home and if we re-settled somewhere like southern Albania, we would probably have a whole flock of them. 🫤
Spoiler alert... Thankfully Greece seems a bit better. Still strays, but more people look out for them.
Ps. I often have to delete and start again. It's a pain in the proverbial when it's a wordy response. 🤣🤣
Much love guys. 😘💜🤟
So funny when you said "I wondered where you were going with that" 🤣
We do tend to wind each other up a lot...🤣
Merry Christmas. 🎄💜🤟
Who knew Albanians were so friendly. The ones I've met over the years were less pleasant. 😁
Merry Christmas guys. 🎄🎅❄
Hi Gareth,
Sorry to hear that. Maybe we were just lucky..?!?
Thanks for all the comments during the past year. Much appreciated.
Merry Christmas to you and Mrs. Duff. 😬🎄💜🤟
Very interesting video. Merry Christmas in your adventures x
Thank-you Roger. Merry Christmas to you too. Much love 🎄💜🤟
Lovely video. Merry Christmas x
Thankyou. Merry Christmas to you too. 🎄💜🤟
Where do you find these so remote places, I am impressed as foreiners ,you must have searched a lot...Shame that you did not like the North, but probably you had your focus and time! Cat neutering, still very painful, in Albania😢!! It has started to move a bit, but very far to the standards of other European countries!! Have a great time, wherever you go!
A lot of it is purely by luck Beti..! 🤣 We use an app called Park4Night and deliberately look for places that are rural and quiet. We want to go back and visit the rural north. We just know that Albania cities are not for us. 🤣
Much love to you guys and Gëzuar Krishtlindjet 😘😘💜🤟
We don't appreciate farm life enough. I like the open land spaces I just can't deal with bugs... The madness on the streets was crazy.
We adore farm life. We could see ourselves with a little smallholding. Olive picking is backbreaking work, but very emotionally rewarding. There weren't that many bugs to be fair. We did see several Praying Mantis though and carefully moved them onto a tree that we had already harvested. Apparently they like nesting in those olive trees. None of them attempted to hurt us though.
The 2 cities were something neither of us wish to repeat. Our nerves couldn't cope with it. Driving straight out onto a busy roundabout without looking and expecting others to move out of the way, seems to be a normal thing in Albania. 🤷🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️💜🤟