A journey through time and space
The preparation
Easy to say you decided move to the other side of the globe....
But considerably more difficult to do so, it would turn out…..
Our nice newly renovated house on Tynningö was sold in 2020
when we made the decision to move to Costa Rica in 2019, the feeling was euphoric, but it was a long time until the move would take place (autumn 2021) and all the practicalities were far away. But the closer the departure came, the more stressed we became to figure out all the practical things that needed to be fixed in connection with emigrating, everything from legal issues connected to settling in Costa Rica, the process of buying land, to finishing all our commitments at home.
Early on, we understood that we could not use container with household goods for the move, partly because the shipping costs and import-duties were sky high and partly because most of the things we had accumulated over the years would not fit in or work in the hot and humid environment of the tropics. Books mold, paintings can´t stand the humidity, our wardrobe is completely wrong in the rainforest, etc. We soon realized that we basically had to get rid of all our loved properties!!, Do you understand? Everything from our books, photos, art, rugs, crockery, tools, clothes, decor, heirlooms etc etc. We began to sense the challenge that was was waiting around the corner.
Our lodge restaurant with jetty
"Out-door dinner on our plot with a view towards Bergholmen where our lodge is located
We were still running the lodge business at full capacity, at the same time we sold our house with all that entails work, styling, photography, showings, then moving cleaning, moving, no normal moving, we had to drag down all our belongings down all the stairs to our jetty, then ferry everything with our RIB over to Bergholmen to fill up the rock room with even more belongings. Stressful? Guess….Have you ever moved house while working full time? If so, maybe you can sense the stress, not so healthy exactly…
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July 15th, 2020 became we "homeless" so we then simply moved into a one of our tent in the lodge. It was a strange feeling to no longer have a home of your own... How long would we hve stay in a tent? What to do when summer is over? Living 100% of the time in a tent with an outdoor shower when the cold comes?, we realised there is a limit.
As fate would have it, we accidentally met some friendly people on Tynningö, P.O and Barbara who offered to let us borrow their newly built "Attefallshus" a small cabin of 20 square meters which we thankfully accepted, and moved in, the story goes that they didn´t want to get payed! (not often you meet strangers generous people nowadays...)
In our new tiny house we had both heat, electric light and a small bathroom with an indoor shower, what a luxury! However, the house was not winter insulated, so when the Lodge was closed for the season in November, we moved on to Kristina`s summer cottage on the west coast, where we would spend most of the winter.