Ashley Gets Lost

I shared a link to my blog in a Facebook group, and I got a ton of new visitors who all want to know things. Like how it’s even possible to move to a Greek island. Well I have news for you. It is very possible with the help of many doubloons! This is a basic overview, and I’ll write another post going over our moving process soon.

I’m going to share random photos from yesterday/last week just to keep things interesting. Most should not require an explanation.

I’m skipping the WHAT? That’s just like an exclamation of surprise! Moving on to the why. This is speaking for myself. I’m sure my husband and son have their own lists.

• America is scary these days. Have you read the news? It gets scarier every week, and I know I have become desensitized to the terrible news. Another child brought a gun to school last week and ended several people’s lives. I lived within 45 minutes of at least three different mass shootings, one of which being Columbine High School. I was in middle school in South Dakota at the time, and I remember that we didn’t do an ounce of school work that day. It was terrifying, and none of us could work, including the teachers. Now it happens so often that people just carry on with their days, suppressing their sadness and anger and fear because if they don’t, it’s just too much to bear.
• Politics. I’m not going deeper because I’m not here to alienate or start fights, but I am over it.
• Have you been to Greece?! Or at least seen pictures? I mean come on. Who wouldn’t want to live in such a paradise. The food! The people! The sea! The history! And good lord, the cats!
• I am also of the mind that I was meant to live a life of grand adventure (and an adventure to me can be a walk down the hill, a day at the beach, or a trip to another country). Of course my life in America started getting real jazzy in the year before we left, making the leaving more difficult, but I was mentally prepared to move and confident that I would thrive. This is my grandest adventure so far.

How? This is where things start getting complicated if I dig too deep, and I am not here to establish myself as an expert on Greek immigration law. There are several ways to get a visa here.

The digital nomad visa lets remote workers who can prove they’re making at least 3500 Euros a month extend the usual 90 day visa to a year, and you can renew it if you still meet the requirements.

There is also the Financially Independent Visa, which I believe is for anyone who meets the financial requirements. It’s currently 2000 Euros a month, but I believe it’s going up soon. It’s mainly aimed at retired people.

Personally, we chose to go the Golden Visa route, which at the time we started this process, required us to invest at least 250,000 Euros in Greece. To meet the requirement, we bought a house!

They have recently raised the amount you need to spend. We bought when we did because we heard it was going up, and we knew we couldn’t afford it if it was much more. You can’t get a mortgage here on the property you’re using for the visa. You have to buy it free and clear. Luckily our house in America had gone up in value enough for us to cover most of this cost with a home equity loan.

With this visa (and the others I mentioned), we can’t legally work in Greece. The point is to bring money in without taking jobs from Greek citizens. Luckily my husband owns his own business with a friend and can work remotely. He starts work in the afternoon, leaving the first part of his day open. The only way my son and I could work would be through a remote job based in America, which is the plan for my son.

My plans are to lay around with my tits out, learn Greek, grow a garden next year, write a book, pet as many cats as I can, and maybe learn to drive a manual. I am also considering volunteer work.

In conclusion, I am one lucky bitch. I’m lucky the value of our home in Colorado could make this possible. I’m lucky I don’t really need to work here. I’m lucky to sit on my porch listening to sheep bells (also praise be that the cicadas are done) and staring off into the bay. The stars are bright and the wine is cheap. My heart is full.

And in absolutely exceptional news, our house in Colorado is finally sold. Signed, sealed, and delivered to a family that used to live in the neighborhood and are so happy to be back. It kind of feels like the first day of the rest of my life. The curse has been lifted. We now own our home in Crete free and clear, and we won’t be paying a mortgage, a home equity loan, utilities, maintenance, and for tragedies such as dead trees and a moldy attic in Colorado anymore. Yes, a moldy attic. Don’t worry. It’s clean enough that you could eat off of it now.

I’ll be back soon to detail our process of actually getting here!