Bonus & Wendy's Big Adventure . . . .

[Bonus]

Very good. Wish we were as prepared!

[Bonus]

Sorry for the complete lack of updates recently. This pesky Tour de France has got me all distracted.

 

On the other hand, I did specifically choose this part of Spain because of the mountains and the proximity to le Tour & le Vuelta :-)

 

We will be promoting both of those Grand Tours, and the tour of Catalonia, the Enduro World Series and any other races "within shouting distance", next year.

 

With stages being so close, it would be a crime not to try and see something. That's my story anyway. . . .

[Bonus]

For the past month or so, as well as watching "le Tour de France" on TV and "live in France", "Wendy" and I have been giving some serious thought as to which path we should take next on our Big Adventure . . . . . Should we stay here and "soldier on" or is it time to cut our losses, relocate, either to the UK or somewhere busier in Spain, where we can both get jobs, save some money and then maybe rethink in 6 months time?

 

In a nutshell - all of the banks we've spoken to have said the same thing - they love our ideas - particularly the ones that involve us providing services that will set us apart from your average Spanish "B&B", they approve of our business plan - which is conservative in its estimates and they can see that our passion for what we enjoy in life - essentially cycling & cooking/providing - means that we will enjoy our jobs enough to ensure that we succeed.

 

However . . . over at the head offices of these various banks, the "Risk Departments" whose hands, post financial crisis of 2008-16, are tied behind their backs, are struggling to approve us the top-up loan we need without us having some sort of independent income.

 

This is not something we, or anyone we spoke to at the outset of our journey (including the banks!), expected and the game-changer has been the fact that the banks can no longer accept your property as security against a loan you apply for. The reason being that Spanish banks are up to their ears in repossessed properties that they have no hope of selling, possibly for years.

 

We've decided that we're not ready to give up just yet and so we're going to push on with our dream . . . . but we're going to have to change the way we plan on getting there slightly . . . .

 

Over the next few days we'll post our various changes and, as always, encouragement and ideas will be warmly received!

 

Bonus.

 

[Gen]

For the past month or so, as well as watching "le Tour de France" on TV and "live in France", "Wendy" and I have been giving some serious thought as to which path we should take next on our Big Adventure . . . . . Should we stay here and "soldier on" or is it time to cut our losses, relocate, either to the UK or somewhere busier in Spain, where we can both get jobs, save some money and then maybe rethink in 6 months time?

 

 

 

In a nutshell - all of the banks we've spoken to have said the same thing - they love our ideas - particularly the ones that involve us providing services that will set us apart from your average Spanish "B&B", they approve of our business plan - which is conservative in its estimates and they can see that our passion for what we enjoy in life - essentially cycling & cooking/providing - means that we will enjoy our jobs enough to ensure that we succeed.

 

 

 

However . . . over at the head offices of these various banks, the "Risk Departments" whose hands, post financial crisis of 2008-16, are tied behind their backs, are struggling to approve us the top-up loan we need without us having some sort of independent income.

 

 

 

This is not something we, or anyone we spoke to at the outset of our journey (including the banks!), expected and the game-changer has been the fact that the banks can no longer accept your property as security against a loan you apply for. The reason being that Spanish banks are up to their ears in repossessed properties that they have no hope of selling, possibly for years.

 

 

 

We've decided that we're not ready to give up just yet and so we're going to push on with our dream . . . . but we're going to have to change the way we plan on getting there slightly . . . .

 

 

 

Over the next few days we'll post our various changes and, as always, encouragement and ideas will be warmly received!

 

Bonus.

 

 

Love your never say die attitude. .

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[barrykm]

Hard to know what to say..but best wishes for wanting to push on, you deserve to succeed and live your dream.

 

If you don't mind the humour perhaps the Monty Python 'Castle in the Swamp' sketch may amuse.

[Stretch]

I'm interested to hear your way forward. Your attitude alone will get you through

[ZakAttak]

Good luck to both you and Wendy on trudging along on your adventure.

 

Love the positivity and the want/need to push on through despite the setbacks... might make a good movie one day...

 

     

[coppi]

Good stuff, keep adjusting your plan slightly and go with the flow until you end up where you wanted to eventually...............wiser 

 

Would the same business opportunity be equal for locals?

Edited August 2, 2017 by coppi

[Bonus]

Hard to know what to say..but best wishes for wanting to push on, you deserve to succeed and live your dream.

 

If you don't mind the humour perhaps the Monty Python 'Castle in the Swamp' sketch may amuse.

 

Always space for humour . . . .

 

The third one "burned down, fell over and THEN sank into the swamp".

[Stretch]

So Bonus....are you not able to start offering your BnB prior to doing you extensive rennovations...i.e. somehow do it in stages and build your way to your dream..that way you can still work towards it as well not giving up entirely. It also gives you lots to talk about with your guests and even get ideas from them.

 

With this day and age of Air BnB etc your options are actually endless - even if its just building a small blockhouse in the garden. I recently stayed in an Airbnb in a REALLY tiny room in a house and for my purposes it was fine.

 

the advantage of where you are is that you are able to hop across to anywhere in Europe and do some contract work to assist in raising Capital  - even if it means that Wendy stays behind and stokes the home fires for a little bit.

 

My point is....keep that dream alive...even if it takes longer than usual...and my motives are purely selfish...because we would love to come and be guests of yours! 

[barrykm]

Always space for humour . . . .

 

The third one "burned down, fell over and THEN sank into the swamp".

 

...but the fourth one stayed up..! 

[MintSauce]

I've spent the last week or so reading this thread from start to here. I definitely admire your guts to do what you've done.

 

My GF and I are currently considering a similar move. We love SA very much and the move would not be to escape the current state of affairs in SA, but rather the fact that we're tired of working ourselves to near-death in jobs we don't really enjoy. We'd happily rather go on an adventure and find something we really love doing.

 

The comment that most resonated in this whole thread was when Bonus said "Some days you just think to yourself "this is insane" and then you remember months and years of sitting in traffic trying to get to a job you really aren't too fussed about and you remember "no, THAT was insane!"

 

Good luck with your adventure!

[Bonus]

I've spent the last week or so reading this thread from start to here. I definitely admire your guts to do what you've done.

 

My GF and I are currently considering a similar move. We love SA very much and the move would not be to escape the current state of affairs in SA, but rather the fact that we're tired of working ourselves to near-death in jobs we don't really enjoy. We'd happily rather go on an adventure and find something we really love doing.

 

The comment that most resonated in this whole thread was when Bonus said "Some days you just think to yourself "this is insane" and then you remember months and years of sitting in traffic trying to get to a job you really aren't too fussed about and you remember "no, THAT was insane!"

 

Good luck with your adventure!

 

 

Glad you enjoyed the read and if it inspired you to do something different, all the better!

 

Any questions or anything you think we might be able to help you with, just ask. We're always happy to try and help.

[Bonus]

We've had lots of feedback and support since we posted that we had decided to stay here and push on with our project. Thanks for all the private messages and suggestions - some of the ideas people have put forward are things that had crossed our minds and some of the ideas are new to us. In any case it's always good for someone else to suggest an idea that had previously crossed your mind but that you weren't sure was a good one or not :-)

 

We're going over everything now and formulating a plan to move forward, at whatever speed we can manage under the circumstances.

 

These are exciting times for us and as frustrating as it has been not to be able to just "get on with it" up until now, we're slowly coming around to the idea that maybe things going slowly has been a good thing, and maybe we'll be better off for it in the long run . . .

 

Coming to terms with the fact that this is, as the thread title suggests, an "Adventure" to be enjoyed on the way - rather than just a relocation, business start up and then "noses back to the grindstone" asap to pay for it all!

 

We've certainly enjoyed it so far . . .. Let's see how this goes now . . . .

 

Adios amigos . . . .

 

B.

Edited August 15, 2017 by Bonus

[barrykm]

Buena Suerte

[coppi]

Calma calma molta vaselina...........................