We lived in Hungary for (many?) years.

cdw057 wrote:

I posted some replies or alike before. we had Alanya (Turkey), Batumi (Georgia) and Burgas (Bulgaria) in mind. The choice and we signed the contract for Alanya.

Also I think I mentioned in a few posts that Hungary is getting more and more expensive (repairs. Gardeners etc). Going very quickly in the direction of Western Europe. You might think we (me) are decadent which is fine, still apart from hapiness and health  money remains important (being able to go to restaurants, buy cigarettes, alcohol, bed linen, pots and pans, spices, vegs.... _

I do not know how I will die, straight forward heart attack or lung cancer (Lung cancer is fine, I will drink, smoke, forget my cholesterol pills, but eg Alzheimer can be a real challenge for the partner (I have seen it happen (even for undre 60s))

Hungary has been great to us, friendly, good neighbours. me as a chesspplayer received like a hero.

However, we can just not pay for it all in the way things are going (perhaps for 5 or 10 more years and then?) We have been extremely fortunate to sell our property (looking back it could have been 30 K more I think)

WIth the differential between selling and buying I think we can live comfortably for 4 years in Turkey. Yes, there is a shitload of things coming on to us, admittedly we only moved within the EU so far, but still a bit of experience (for me, Netherlands to Lux and back to Netherlands, then with my wife from Netherlands to the UK to Luxembourg, to Hungary and now to Turkey.

Indeed I have little experience for living in Turkey, but the same applies for Hungary and the UK (and we lived there happily)

Of course you can not buy happiness with money but a good dentist helps, so do good spices and lamb,....
In a way I am modest, in another way I am not.
Drinking coffee in the early morning with my wife on the terrace, Going for lunch and/or dinner, etc (combined with getting older does not sound too bad).

Bloody thing getting older and being confronted with it,
We just have to accept it I suppose, BUT just a few years
back , all was good , all were healthy (at a certain stage of the video below we had 6 cats (not featured) and 2 dogs.
Now only two friendly cats.

On youtube just enter           christof001

Sounds like you are saying a final goodbye rather than tot ziens.

If you can, stop smoking.  I knew someone dying of emphysema.  It wasn't pretty.

Too much bureacracy (Hungary and Turkey alike), it is already planned for me to come end of next year to my old neighbourhood and say an additional good bye,nbo doubt about it me and my wife did like our time in Hungary.

Wat een mooi huis en tuin; blijf lekker waar je ben mijn vriend.

As we have fortunately (or not) a big garden, with a lot of trees (one of the (5!) neighbours to our plot complained about our trees hanging over his plot (partially) and I have to say he was right.  Correcting the situation (I think for 2 or 3 years) set us back EUR 1500, I hope other neighbours will stay relaxed with the new owners (as we took our decision and have sold). But even "small" things like that can create serious issues for budget.
But it is not only that an annual increase of 10% in in salary will and is dripping down (restaurants, gardeneres, repairs. ...) I really do like Hungary, but considering I/we can not afford it anymore).

Side, but not the main reason
Of course I should stop smoking, but I do not and 3 packages in Hungary per day starts to hurt (not so much in Turkey)

I will continue to follow and possibly reply for a number of years I think,
I really love some of the posts of the "loyal" posters

cdw057 wrote:

As we have fortunately (or not) a big garden, with a lot of trees (one of the (5!) neighbours to our plot complained about our trees hanging over his plot (partially) and I have to say he was right.  Correcting the situation (I think for 2 or 3 years) set us back EUR 1500, ....
Of course I should stop smoking, but I do not and 3 packages in Hungary per day starts to hurt (not so much in Turkey)

I have a problem with my neighbour's trees. He has a huge pine tree and the cones fall into our garden.  I have to spend some hours per year picking them up each year.  I've started poking them back through the fence when I find some. I really want him to cut off the top 10m and give it a massive trim.  Couple of other trees he has need a good 3m off the sides as branches drop their leaves behind my shed and I have to clear them up each year.  One particular tree is now bending and touching my shed roof.  I don't mind the actual trees but I do mind that I see he has gardeners trimming his trees but never gets them to deal with the ones hanging over our property line.  It's very ignorant behaviour.

I used to plan my giving up smoking  and say I'm giving up on say, Friday or whenever.  I came to realise that stopping right now is the best way. No need to wait.  One only needs to just do it.  So I just stopped.  It was hard for a couple of years but now, 25+ years later,  it's not a problem any more. Forgotten about it.   In 7 years, all the cells in the lungs will be replaced and the risk of lung cancer is greatly reduced to near normal.  One might think of it as an investment with a more guaranteed return! Or at least return of lower risk.

fluffy2560 wrote:

cdw057 wrote:

I posted some replies or alike before. we had Alanya (Turkey), Batumi (Georgia) and Burgas (Bulgaria) in mind. The choice and we signed the contract for Alanya.

Also I think I mentioned in a few posts that Hungary is getting more and more expensive (repairs. Gardeners etc). Going very quickly in the direction of Western Europe. You might think we (me) are decadent which is fine, still apart from hapiness and health  money remains important (being able to go to restaurants, buy cigarettes, alcohol, bed linen, pots and pans, spices, vegs.... _

I do not know how I will die, straight forward heart attack or lung cancer (Lung cancer is fine, I will drink, smoke, forget my cholesterol pills, but eg Alzheimer can be a real challenge for the partner (I have seen it happen (even for undre 60s))

Hungary has been great to us, friendly, good neighbours. me as a chesspplayer received like a hero.

However, we can just not pay for it all in the way things are going (perhaps for 5 or 10 more years and then?) We have been extremely fortunate to sell our property (looking back it could have been 30 K more I think)

WIth the differential between selling and buying I think we can live comfortably for 4 years in Turkey. Yes, there is a shitload of things coming on to us, admittedly we only moved within the EU so far, but still a bit of experience (for me, Netherlands to Lux and back to Netherlands, then with my wife from Netherlands to the UK to Luxembourg, to Hungary and now to Turkey.

Indeed I have little experience for living in Turkey, but the same applies for Hungary and the UK (and we lived there happily)

Of course you can not buy happiness with money but a good dentist helps, so do good spices and lamb,....
In a way I am modest, in another way I am not.
Drinking coffee in the early morning with my wife on the terrace, Going for lunch and/or dinner, etc (combined with getting older does not sound too bad).

Bloody thing getting older and being confronted with it,
We just have to accept it I suppose, BUT just a few years
back , all was good , all were healthy (at a certain stage of the video below we had 6 cats (not featured) and 2 dogs.
Now only two friendly cats.

On youtube just enter           christof001

Sounds like you are saying a final goodbye rather than tot ziens.

If you can, stop smoking.  I knew someone dying of emphysema.  It wasn't pretty.

I agree, it's easy to brush off an illness like cancer until one day out of the blue you get some bad news.
3packs of smokes a day is what? 60 cigs?
Wow how can you find time to do anything else but smoke?
If you found out you had lung cancer or some other cancer since just because you smoke it doesn't mean another body organ will not get cancer instead of your lungs.
The treatment for cancer is worst then just jumping off a cliff.
Having them take out your voice box isn't pretty.
Any sort of illness is hard on the whole family no matter what illness it is.
Stop seems silly to say at this point but then again it's never to late to change and stop smoking.
What is your wife to do if you fall ill in a stange country and don't speak the language?
That would be a nightmare for her.

3 packs a day was a joke, right?

Have you considered doing the gardening yourself? Maybe finding a hobby and keeping yourself busy (no time for chain-smoking) would have solved your financial concerns?

No joke as for the smoking, I do have enough hobbies and unfortunately gardening is not one of them, nevertheless I am happy that I am reaching 60, much better than most of my family, my father died at 39, both my grandfathers before 50, my grandmamas both before 70, amazingly my own mother is still alive and kicking (above 80).
Perhaps I have 10 more years enjoying restaurants, looking Netflix, playing chess and computer games, sitting with my wife on the terrace and enjoy coffee in the morning and wine in the afternoon.
Lets see what happens there are always pluses and minuses to all properties and lifestyles.
Probably this is my last move (possibly before returning to the Netherlands when I am 70 or so).
I have been lucky in my life, health, happiness and financially.
As for finances, the way we sold and bought our house will allow us to go to a restaurant every single day (this does include a bottle of wine for the two of us).

cdw057 wrote:

No joke as for the smoking, I do have enough hobbies and unfortunately gardening is not one of them, nevertheless I am happy that I am reaching 60, much better than most of my family, my father died at 39, both my grandfathers before 50, my grandmamas both before 70, amazingly my own mother is still alive and kicking (above 80).
....
As for finances, the way we sold and bought our house will allow us to go to a restaurant every single day (this does include a bottle of wine for the two of us).

Although genetics plays a large part,  one could always think of it as risk reduction.   Average lifespan of someone in Europe I believe is just under 80 years old depending on country.  But there's no reason with medical advances to push that out to 90+ and I mean a good 90+, with all faculties working and available.  Technology can only improve those odds.

I've always liked that story of  someone falling off a tall building and as they pass a window, someone inside shouts out "How's it going?" and the falling person shouts back, "So far so good".   It's not the fall that does you in but the impact with immovable surfaces at the end point.   I guess it means why take the risk of falling when you know the outcome of that particular journey.

cdw057 wrote:

No joke as for the smoking, I do have enough hobbies and unfortunately gardening is not one of them, nevertheless I am happy that I am reaching 60, much better than most of my family, my father died at 39, both my grandfathers before 50, my grandmamas both before 70, amazingly my own mother is still alive and kicking (above 80).
Perhaps I have 10 more years enjoying restaurants, looking Netflix, playing chess and computer games, sitting with my wife on the terrace and enjoy coffee in the morning and wine in the afternoon.
Lets see what happens there are always pluses and minuses to all properties and lifestyles.
Probably this is my last move (possibly before returning to the Netherlands when I am 70 or so).
I have been lucky in my life, health, happiness and financially.
As for finances, the way we sold and bought our house will allow us to go to a restaurant every single day (this does include a bottle of wine for the two of us).

I'm not going to tell you how to live your life or give you advise you never asked for. I loved smoking for many years but I was a mere one-pack-a-day kinda guy, Started smoking when I was 17 and I really enjoyed it. But at 37 I decided to give it up. I had tried a couple of times but this time it was for real. The thing is, I never looked back. I still can get the sensation of "wow, wouldn't a fag (pardon my English) be wonderful now?" but honestly the drawbacks are too many. I have never looked back and although I know my life was thoroughly linked with smoking then, I can't help but saying to myself: "what was I thinking". Just the smell of cigarette smoke on my clothes now make me do soul searching Lol.

I guess what I am trying to say is that even if I identified myself as a big smoker then I had really no big problem identifying myself as a non-smoker after. One of the best decisions of my life.

I started smoking in school with my friends to look ."cool".
We girls went from cigs to smoking cigars just to not be outdone with being different.
Smoked in nightclubs as an underaged 17 year old to look older and to have something to do with my hands.
Was never more then a 1/3 pack a day smoker.
Except when I worked in a bar in NYC, nothing to do but smoke while waiting on people between their drinks, boring.
My mom would of murdered me if she smelled smoke on me.
I quit for good at age 20 when I knew I was going to be a mom.
Once in a very great while I might have one cig if with friends who smoked and we were drinking wine but it wasn't much fun and the next day I was sorry for it.
My HU husband started smoking in Hungary at age 8!
They used to sell single cigs frm a vending machine.
He hasn't smoked in years, I refused to kiss him for ages until he quit, the smell was terrible.
He quit 2 times cold turkey . It's been at least 30 years since his last cig.
He carried a pack of smokes in his cab in case a client wanted one.
I had an attack of bronchitis years back from working inside a smokey casino.
It was terrible , felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest.
I went to the doctra dnhe told me t quit smoking! I said I don't smoke.
That's how bad second hand smke can be.
My sister had asthma, it got her in the end.
Well nce sme HU guys came to her place for lunch, they lite up and she threw them all out of her house. Good for her!
My father always had a cig . He rolled a pack up in his T-shirt like James Dean.
That was the old generation where even doctoors said it was OK to smoke.
My step- dad was such a huge smoker that my mother had t wash her ceiling all the time and walls in her kitchen.
Her window were always open  for some fresh air.
He smoked so much that he often had one burning in the ash tray and was already lighting up another one.
He would fall asleep at the table with his whiskey with cigs burning away.
My mom had a nice soild oak table that she always kep polished and nice.
After she married that huge smoker she had nothing but burn holes n her table top.
Sorry it's a bad habit , I never allowed people to smoke in my home, if they did it took forever to get the smell out.
Once my husband got a free comp in Vegas for a hotel room.
We lived there but hought we would use the cmp for fun.
It was suppose to be a smoke free room but it smelled like smoke.
I couldn't sleep because the smell was bothering me so much.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Once my husband got a free comp in Vegas for a hotel room.
We lived there but hought we would use the cmp for fun.
It was suppose to be a smoke free room but it smelled like smoke.
I couldn't sleep because the smell was bothering me so much.

That reminded! We did a coast-to-coast by cars, NYC to LA, about 10 years ago and Las Vegas was on places we planned a stop. Had booked a family room at the Flamengo hotel. Everywhere inside was carpets on the floor and after decades of smoking that hotel reeked. Everywhere. The constant smell of cigarettes engrained in floor carpet, wall, the craps and black jack tables was simply disgusting. It's my lasting memory from Las Vegas, the smell of old cigarette smoke...

PalCabral wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Once my husband got a free comp in Vegas for a hotel room.
We lived there but hought we would use the cmp for fun.
It was suppose to be a smoke free room but it smelled like smoke.
I couldn't sleep because the smell was bothering me so much.

That reminded! We did a coast-to-coast by cars, NYC to LA, about 10 years ago and Las Vegas was on places we planned a stop. Had booked a family room at the Flamengo hotel. Everywhere inside was carpets on the floor and after decades of smoking that hotel reeked. Everywhere. The constant smell of cigarettes engrained in floor carpet, wall, the craps and black jack tables was simply disgusting. It's my lasting memory from Las Vegas, the smell of old cigarette smoke...

As a games dealer, the very first thing I did when getting home from wok was shower no matter waht , had to wash that odor away.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

PalCabral wrote:

Once my husband got a free comp in Vegas for a hotel room.
We lived there but hought we would use the cmp for fun.
It was suppose to be a smoke free room but it smelled like smoke.
I couldn't sleep because the smell was bothering me so much.

That reminded! We did a coast-to-coast by cars, NYC to LA, about 10 years ago and Las Vegas was on places we planned a stop. Had booked a family room at the Flamengo hotel. Everywhere inside was carpets on the floor and after decades of smoking that hotel reeked. Everywhere. The constant smell of cigarettes engrained in floor carpet, wall, the craps and black jack tables was simply disgusting. It's my lasting memory from Las Vegas, the smell of old cigarette smoke.....

Strangely enough Mrs F and I had the same experience in LV.  The hotel was awful. Dirty with a line around the edge of the carpet.  The bathroom fittings were rusty too.  I was shocked at how crap it was.  But I guess they don't expect you to spend too much time in your room.  We had free food somewhere or another like MGM and it was dreadful.  Free doesn't mean good.

Mrs F and I were just discussing earworms (music/tunes you cannot get rid of).  Well, we think there are smell worms as well.  Particular odours that really stick in your nose and are nauseating.  Like sewage gas or cat vomit or old fast food (McDonalds particularly) in a dumpster.

The only good thing about getting older is that we all do it together.
There are better places to settle but I think we would all have difficulty finding them right now.
The cost of tests, re tests and the possibility of quarantine would put anyone off . It is a high extra money making tax.
So I am happy to just stay home with the devil I know.