What’s Next?

As we’ve been reexamining our plan for a long-term base, it’s been a bit of a challenge. We really love Romania, and when I think about what’s next, I go back and forth. But we have some upcoming travel that puts us in a prime position to explore other options, so I feel like we need to do that at a minimum.

What's Next? Austria

After spending the last 2 years in places that really didn’t care too much about the Christmas holiday, or even New Year’s, we decided that in 2013 we were going to go somewhere that really got into the holiday spirit. It seemed like Europe would be a great place, so we originally planned on being here during that time of year.

I had read about all the holiday markets, some of which have been occurring for hundreds of years. That was also something I wanted to experience.

There are lots of great places to experience the holidays in Europe, and we settled on Vienna. Neither of us have been to Austria, but I’ve heard so many good things, especially about Vienna, so I’m quite excited. Tigger just goes with the flow. I don’t think he really cares where we are. I’m the one who likes to make a big deal of events and celebrate, but it’s nice of him to just go along with it. He has fun, though.

While doing research about places that are more progressive but still affordable in Europe, the Czech Republic has really stood out as a place with potential. Since we’ll be practically next door while in Vienna, it makes sense to head to Czech next. We have plans on attending a travel industry conference in Spain in late January, so that will make our time in Czech a little bit more rushed. We plan on visiting Telc as it seems to be a rather unique city. We’ll also spend time in Brno, a city which has been highly recommended to me, and I went to check out Olomuoc before we head to Prague.

What's Next? Czech

We’ll be in Spain for a short time for the trade show. Depending on what our experience is like in Czech, we’ll either return there and continue to evaluate it as a base, or we’ll head to Germany to check it out.

We will be housesitting in Ireland beginning in mid April, and because of the Schengen Zone restrictions, we’ll have to either get a long-term visa somewhere or we’ll have to leave the Zone before we head to Ireland since our 90 days within the Zone will end toward the end of March. Dang restrictions!

It feels weird for me to, once again, to have an answer to the question “What’s next?” but it’s kind of nice, too. As long as there is still plenty of room for spontaneity, that works for me.

Have you been to the Czech Republic? What are your favorite places?

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24 Comments

  1. As someone above mentioned, what a nice dilemma to have. I think experiencing the holiday markets would be a fantastic thing. Good luck in your decision. I’m sure wherever you end up it will be a great life experience.

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    • Yes, it IS a nice dilemma to have. Although, it would’ve been nicer to just be able to stay in Romania and have a place to come back to after our Vienna holidays. Such is life, and hopefully we’ll fall even in more love with another place we find along the way.

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  2. Great to see the choices you’ve both made together for the forthcoming months. I think we can both identify with you about wanting to spend some time in a country where the festive season is a bit more in swing rather than our awful experience celebrating Christmas Day in a KFC (don’t ask, new Japanese tradition) eating the worlds worst replacement for a roast chicken for Christmas lunch.

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    • HA! I was just talking to someone else about Japan and their KFC Christmas celebration today! Too funny you mentioned it as well. Yeah, not a big fan of that celebration idea.

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  3. I really like the Czech Republic. Working on and off for two years in Austria, I’d often make Czech Republic my ‘holiday’ destination. My absolute favourite place in the country is a medieval town in the south called Czech Republic. It’s a tiny little place (about 14,000 inhabitants), but it has a medieval castle, loads of gorgeous architecture and it’s in a beautiful setting on a bend in the river Vltava (the same one that flows through Prague). It’s pretty touristy, though, but mostly just during the day, as many people visit as a day trip from Prague. If you stay overnight, my favourite place is Krumlov House, a very chilled out, smallish eco-hostel. My partner and I are actually going to be in this region again from January till roughly April next year, so maybe we’ll bump into each other!

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    • Could you confirm the town’s name? I think you have a slight typo there. 😉

      We should be around during part of the time at least. Would be great to meet you guys!

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  4. I would imagine that Europe in the winter season is just beautiful!
    I am stuck in Ohio for the holiday season, BORING. lol. 🙂 Safe travels!

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    • It should be. We had a brief taste of winter when it snowed at the beginning of October. Even though I’m not a huge fan of the cold, we’re actually looking forward to it. Sorry about Ohio, man. Rough break. 🙂

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  5. Oh, what a great dilemma you have! There are some lovely parts of the Czech Republic that I’ve visited over the years – Olomouc is quite nice but I found it pretty quiet, Kutna Hora is gorgeous and quite close to Prague, and I also recommend Mikulov and Litomysl – two small towns that are just picture-perfect. Another great area to check out is a national park on the Czech-German border called Bohemian Switzerland (yes, really) and it is full of the most gorgeous rock formations and hiking trails, plus cute little towns (like Hrensko and Decin) that look like something out of Hansel and Gretel. Happy travels!

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    • We don’t mind quiet. I don’t know much about it, but since a few people have recommended it, I figured I’d check it out. Thanks for the other suggestions. They sound quite interesting.

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  6. The damn visa rules! We are still trying to figure them out….will probably DM you on Facebook the closer to Europe we get. We’d love to meet up in Europe next summer, we are heading there the end of June if your still there!

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    • We might still be there. If everything works out the way I’d like, at least. 😉 You should check out my visa ebook (click on Store at the top of the blog). It’s quite helpful.

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  7. We loved Czech Republic! Hope you do too, and find everything you need there.

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  8. Ahh, okay! I misunderstood your plan then. My bad! I hear people say all the time that they avoid the Schengen rules by skipping out, getting a passport stamp and hopping right back in. And I meant that people go to Ireland and UK sometimes to skip out, but they’re really strict at passport control if you’ve overstayed the 90 days anywhere in the zone. Had a friend get in some trouble when flying through Dublin a few years back so I thought I’d throw in my (obviously) unneccessary two cents when you mentioned it.

    Sorry for the confusion on my part and have a great time on your upcoming travels! 🙂

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  9. Sounds like an exciting time for you guys! That’s the great thing about being free to choose. If one place doesn’t work out, you can always keep exploring until you find the right place for you. It’s like Goldielocks, but with countries!

    Also, a quick word of advice if you don’t mind. Be careful with the Schengen Zone restrictions. Technically, you can be in the zone for 90 days in and 90 days out before they let you in again. So, a lot of people think you can just hop out once your 90 days are up and hop back in, but that’s not true. Most countries aren’t so strict, but Ireland and the UK are real sticklers for this rule. #mytwocents

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    • I’m very familiar with the Schengen Zone restrictions since I wrote a book about visas for US citizens, but thanks! Although your UK and Ireland comment are confusing to me as they aren’t members of the Schengen Zone.

      Yes, that is a truly great freedom, and one I value a bunch!

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  10. I find all the cities you head to so fascinating! We haven’t had the chance to head to Europe yet. Here’s wishing you lots of luck with Czech!

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  11. I know you two tend to prefer smaller cities, but Prague is so fantastic! I really hope you find your niche there, or somewhere else in Czech so we can come see you in one of our favorite places in the world!

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  12. We are finding these “What’s next” decisions pretty hard! We had our first 6 months of nomadic life planned out but have now hit territory where we don’t have plan.

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    • We don’t plan, so it’s pretty easy for us when things get moved around. LOL Romania was just tough because we love it here and would love to stay longer, but that would create difficulties if I wanted to try and date, which I would really like to do.

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