2017 – The year of big decisions​

I hope you all are well and had a great transition into 2018. When I’m asked now, what has been my most adventurous year so far, it definitely is straight up 2017. I mainly found an re-found myself over and over again. Yes, so people might ask what that’s about to mean, so there’s some explaining to do. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

Starting 2017
I was working for a massive company in Ireland and felt stuck. I’m talking pretty much stuck since I did not like the job this much at the time and had to struggle each day to try staying positive. Don’t get me wrong here, I did a pretty good job and got some of the hardest tasks in the department to take care of. Some days were good, some bad, some mediocre – pretty much as always.
I did work out multiple times a week and lived reasonably healthy. And that was pretty much it. As I wanted to progress within the company, it just felt like everybody around me did get more opportunities than I did. The rage inside me started getting stronger and stronger as I noticed employees with less experience getting the positions I applied for as well. With this kind of negativity in my belly, I know that I had to make a break since that feeling itself would keep me from getting excellent opportunities in the future.
So, I did the most reasonable thing I could think of. I quit. From the moment I resigned the job until I left the company physically, it was a vast relieve and just for this short time, my post felt excellent again. Strange thing, isn’t it?

Taking some time off
I stayed in Ireland for a while to have a good time with the workmates who became my friends. Then I pretty much packed my bags and went home to my Mother’s place in Austria. It felt a little bit weird at first since it was a long time, about fifteen years to be precise when we last lived together. I was a teenager back then, and living was kind of complicated for both of us.
Within a few days living with my mother and her husband, I felt pretty much joy and freedom. It seemed to be the most natural thing ever. Even going out with my friends who stayed in the nearby city, where I last lived felt like nothing has changed since then. Well, with the idea to build a campervan from a cargo truck in the back of my head I started looking for vehicles and researched the internet for previous builds and experiences.

Starting the conversion
I have never done such a thing before, and although I considered myself to be an excellent craftsman, I had no opportunities to show my skills for a long time. So I knew personally, that I could do this, but people around me did not really believe the scale of things I wanted to pull off.
You’re a computer guy. You haven’t crafted things for ages. So you’re going to buy a van and toss a sleeping bag inside? Blah blah blah. Yeah, shut up!
I know one thing about me: If I want to do something and there’s a source of motivation, I can and will do it. Well, said and done. As I started progressing with the van-conversion people began to drop their jaws when they saw what I did with the van. Which gave me further motivation, and I really started snowballing at this point. I made my plans as I went along and spent hours just walking up and down inside the van just to figure out what I wanted to be in this and that corner. Turned out pretty well as you can probably tell by the previous blogs I made about the Van-conversion.

Starting the journey
As I started, I was not in my thought-out timeframe. In fact, it took me far longer to build the van than I expected. Missing parts like the “lost in transport” solar modules slowed down my progression and as a general rule of thumb I did not work when I wasn’t in the mood for it.
So I started late, and instead of the whole Mediterranean, I decided to go to Greece before winter hits Europe. Leaving the rest for another time. The reason for it is the simple fact that I wanted to visit a dear friend of mine, so I started off south.
Oh boy, I can tell you I was excited and nervous at the same time, driving into the unknown, purely on my own. Almost everything I possess in my stealth camper-van. At the first stop where I wanted to make myself a real coffee, I immediately found out that I had left my trusty Nuclear power plant (aka. My Coffee maker) at home. Since I had a reasonable fixes schedule to keep at the time, turning around and heading back to Austria was not an option anymore. Instant coffee it was at the time then.

My first guest
Yvonne, a former co-worker, was interested in visiting me and Croatia to do a tour to some of the filming locations from Game of Thrones. I mainly picked her up at the airport in the evening, and we headed off into the night. Having a second person in the converted van was a charming thing, and I enjoyed the time and company in Croatia to the fullest. Leaving the car behind sometimes made me worry a little bit, and still does on occasions. But I think that’s an entirely reasonable thing to do.
The time went by in a blast and summer faded slowly with increasingly more clouds and the occasional rain breaking the bright streaks.

The first trip with my sister and her boyfriend
The two of them caught up with me in Croatia, and we immediately went south again. Along the beautiful coastline of Croatia, which is a pleasure to drive we slowly but surely made our way to Greece, where we spend some time together before splitting up. Tom and Sonja wanted to go surfing on the Island of Limnos. I, on the other hand, had had bigger fish to fry.

 

The trip with Didi
My dear friend flew to Greece where we had a perfect time and the conversations, as well as the tour we did, was just incredible. Both of us being on the same page in most things in life, I still loved discussing with him and the stupid stuff we do. “Rock Paper Scissors” over who has to prepare dinner tonight and things like that. There are not many persons where I can be entirely myself and still be within my comfort zone. Didi is one of them, since over sixteen years now, which made everything a pure joy.
When he left for Ireland again, I stayed a few days more at my friend’s place in Greece until I had to go for the next adventure with Sonja, Tom, and Melanie.

The journey with “the gang.”
Hooking up with a stranger and Tom and Sonja again to take yet another trip to the parts of Greece, where I haven’t been so far was a wonderful time. I really enjoyed the company, and although we could not take every person’s interests into account all the time, the trip was a fun and engaging adventure. We found places you would not believe, took care of the two new dogs and engaged in sightseeing while sleeping at the beach for the occasional swim.
If you follow the Blog on regular bases you know, I just started this chapter, so I will not spoil anything here.

After the tour – Winter is coming
I hooked up with my friend and his family in Greece again and during times were traveling is not this easy and enjoyable due to the temperatures around I really felt like getting a job and staying here.
There are just a few things I have to take care of and find out, what is right for me at the time as well as not walking into a single direction to get caught in a situation I don’t like this much. I really wanted to get a job here and start working but keeping the car and living in a city at the same time seem to be quite tricky. Almost unmanagable if you consider the laws and rules around.
Same with the jobs outside of Athens. There are many opportunities within Athens but by far too less outside the megacity. Well, I can tell you this much: I have found Jobs here I would be entirely capable of doing, and at a particular job interview, the local manager wanted me to sit down and start working immediately. The downside was the salary at 450,- per month for a forty hour week. Some of you might say that is not legal and you are right. It’s under the minimum wage for Greece, but some locals I’ve been talking to told me that the combination of the economic crisis and the pressure from the EU open a lot of new doors and grey zones to exploit the ordinary people. Not the rich ones, as always. And I really don’t want to get into politics or stuff like that since a conversation about this very subject on the Internet has in general as much use as tits on a fish.

The bottom line for me is mainly that I want to stay here for a while, but there are specific issues to overcome this year so it will be a challenging time. The different options include the “must do” getting back to Austria, sort out what to do with the Camper-van. Getting the van to have a Greek license would cost a fortune, and when I stay here for a while, I would be better off with a regular car or bike. Selling the Van here would not let me near the sum, I put into the van conversion and would also hurt my heart a little bit. Regarding jobs basically, everything is open and in the unknown for me.

So there are lots of unknowns and some difficulties to overcome in the year 2018. But if you think about it: It was the same amount of issues at the start of 2017. Where I needed to move on and overcome some obstacles despite giving in to some fears I had.
What a great year for new opportunities this one will be. I am thrilled to challenge the Issues I encounter along the way and curious to see which direction my life will take me.

 

Wishing all of you a good year of 2018