The year is just a few days old, and you have already changed your plans for the Year? How come and what has made up your mind in the quick decision making?
Well, I can tell you that much: The decisions were not made in a single day but over a more extended period of time, and there are multiple reasons and build-ups to the change of plans. Here’s the story for you from the beginning, just to get a better overview.
The original plan
The first Idea of building a stealth camper van and traveling along almost all of the Mediterranean sea came to me when I was still working in Ireland. Sounded good to me and I thought I can make it with ease.
What I did not think about at the time was the fact, that the conversion and bureaucracy behind repurposing the camper-van were far more time consuming than I thought. In fact, almost double the time I estimated. To be fair here, I was not in the biggest rush to get it over with and underestimated some steps dramatically. I noticed it at the end when I struggled to get going and still needed some checks on the van.
Reality changed plans
So basically I started too late, which left me not enough time to get the whole European coastline discovered until winter would hit the continent. Due to the not-so-pleasant time when it’s cold outside and rainy and snowy, I decided to stay in Greece. I was literally so in love with this country that I thought about staying here and getting a job for at least a few years or such.
So the new plan was, although it was mainly in my head: Get a job and a flat here to stop draining my bank account and make a living and eventually a B&B of some sort. The area for it as well as the city of Kavala would be perfect for that purpose.
Different options
That just leaves the issue of my camper-van. Well, you’re only allowed to take a car for six months from Austria to Greece. After that time you have a few options:
The first is transferring the van to Greece, which would cost me taxes but would enable me to use the camper-van within the country. This option would allow me to rent the trailer to other travelers or a company, who manages that for me.
The upsides: Not having to drive to Austria at least twice a year, and eventually getting a little bit of money out of it.
The downsides: I would literally pay a lot of money again for the car to be less worth if I should sell it in the future. As we all know or at least everyone who rented a car at some point in time, that when you rent a ride, you’re not the most careful driver/person with it. And the third, and most significant Issue with it is the fact that I would not get much out of it anyways. The taxes are high on additional income so the time I could rent the camper-van away would maybe finance the van itself while getting worth less and less.
The second one is to send the license plates back to Austria, so I pay no insurance and would get around extra costs during the time where I don’t need the camper-van.
The upsides: Obviously low costs during the winter, and no additional mileage as well as minimal risk of it to get damaged.
The downsides: I would still have to get back to Austria once a year to check the camper-van in a licensed garage for it to be allowed to continue driving. This would cost quite some money but would not break my plans since I would combine it with visiting my family. The real dealbreaker here is the fact that the van is quite big, too big to be parked in a city all the time. So I would need either a paid and guarded parking space within the town or a private arrangement. Despite the apparent downside of a vehicle being parked over the winter and not moved a long time, that would open up curious persons for a smash and grab or something.
The third option is pretty straightforward to drive the camper-van back home either to be operated by my family or friends for a while or sold for a reasonable price.
The upsides: Depending on which way turns out to be the best it’s either the van funding itself and being used for holidays and trips from people I know or getting the money back, I invested in it and the option to build the next vehicle before I start traveling again.
The downsides: Just a pure thought but I don’t think many people buy a camper-van in January, so selling it would take quite some time. For the second option, I would have to get through the whole procedure again and start another struggle for the perfect camper-van.
My conclusion
After a lot back and forth in my mind, I decided to jump to the third option since it seemed to be the most reasonable. Not purely influenced by the vehicle itself but also through the jobs here in northern Greece. The salary ranges between 450 and 720 Euros basic salaries with some bonuses for sold products/contracts or something. The best job offers in Greece are definitely in Athens, but that is a megacity, I don’t fancy this much living in.
That combination of facts, despite the love for Greece, made me plan my trip home to Austria and get a job there. The story of living in Greece for time will not be off the list, just a little bit delayed. The difficulties of having a stealth camper-van, as well as a flat and job outside your home country, just seem too much for the moment.
The plan now is to go for a work-at-home option with a good salary so it would work out with a small house and a secure parking space in Greece or to get the van sold for a reasonable price. This would, on the one hand, break my heart a little bit but I’d be eager to build a second one as well. I’ve learned so much from the first one, and it was definitely one of the best, if not the best time I had regarding personal development.
Well, at least that’s the situation right now and what I have planned for the future.
But Chris, you should know by now, that your plans will not work out the way you intended them to be.
Hahaha, yeah, you’re probably right but they did not come up to this point and my last year was absolutely awesome. So don’t worry I’ll be fine, whatever I do, wherever I go keep in mind with each obstacle there will be a new alternative to check out.
What do you think about the options and decisions I made and what would be your choice?
EU - Adventure 
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