Countdown to paradise has started

We found our place. As my friend would say in a hysterical voice (you know who you are) oh my God, it’s happening! Of course it was already happening, but the happening mostly took place in my head. There was this big pile of things that we could or should be doing at a certain point. But nothing could really be ticked off without knowing where we were going and when. And now we know.

It has only been 2,5 weeks since we returned from our trip to the south west of Sardegna, where we planned to look at a bunch of houses. From Bosa to Calasetta and some places in between. Half of the owners just never responded, some houses got pulled off the market right before we left. And then there were some options that were okay, but with a little ‘it’s not ideal, but it’s a start…’ hesitation. Some days I really felt it wouldn’t matter, as long as we were there we would either be perfectly happy anyway or be able to find something better more easily. Other days I thought that would be a mistake. If we are doing all of this then we must do it right.

Thankfully a nice rental agent solved all of our problems even before they popped up. She showed me a house via whatsapp about a week before we left and I loved the layout of it. It had a nice covered terrace, two large bedrooms, a fire place and it was really – but I mean really – close to the sea and most importantly: wifi would not be a problem. We decided to have a look at this one first, since it was the best option on paper. We went, we saw and we liked. A lot. All furniture could be removed, no problem. A few days later we went for a second look and an Italian chat with the owner. And that was that. We found our new place.

There was also something else. We had never been to this town of Calasetta before. I’ve Googled, Google Mapped and YouTubed so much that I thought I knew for sure. This was great! But as M rightly said, you don’t know until you’ve walked in the streets and see it for yourself. But it was lovely. Not too touristy, nothing too fancy. Just a cute little seaside town with good restaurants and everything you would need. It felt right. It fééls right. It’s our new little seaside town.

Back home with an address and a date we could really start. I have made more phone calls the past month than I have done in the past year. Ending our contracts, finding new health insurance, buying boxes and bubble wrap, designing our moving card, finding an international moving company, book a flight and start packing. We even bought new bikes and some furniture online to be delivered at our new address. We had to self quarantaine for 10 days after passing through Paris on our way back, so we had some extra time to get things done. Time flies and now it’s only 10 days before our stuff gets loaded into a truck, only 12 days before we hand over the keys of our apartment and only 15 days before our flight.