Finally almost on my way

Good luck Kath

@kaththomas700

We wish you all the best Kath...its been a scorcher today...still the best move we made.  Beautiful, stress free and all ours.

Thank you to you both.  My health hasn't  been that good so it's time to make the move.

Kath, I hope it all works out wonderfully for you! I was wondering how you were doing and actually PMed you on a different site. Please keep us updated.

@kaththomas700

Kath good luck with your new life.

rgds ozzy

Thank you for all your good wishes and I'm sorry I appear to have missed your pm Jane. But I'm back now and trying to get rid of all the stuff I've accumulated over the years.  Thanks again

I wish you every happiness is your new home and venture, Kath and remember, we are united as expats in supporting each other with the hurdles that we encounter - don't hesitate to ask anything!

Ian

Thank you Ian

Good luck Kath, What an adventure, youre going to love it! Are you driving over or flying?

Flying  Holly1 with atl east two large bags, number two son and husband will travel with me but husband cannot  leave his elderly mum for long he'll  only be with  us couple of nights.

It's not worth  driving over with furniture since Brexit.

Hello, welcome to beautiful Bulgaria. Where is your new home? We're at the Aleksandr Stambolijski (Александър Стамболийски) Dam, near Mladen. You'll be welcome to visit us - cuppa's always waiting. Oh, and we're from Oz.

My new home is in the Burgas area about 39 minutes by local bus from the coast, which to the best of my knowledge is not full of human waste unlike here in the UK.

It's so lovely to hear everyone's happy stories. My hubby and I have bought a house in Ostritsa which is near Ruse

We haven't seen it yet,well we haven't even been to Bulgaria. Friends and family think we're mad

We want to go back to how life used to be  We're both in our 60's,but hey you're never too old for an adventure ,and to meet like minded people

Joy, I hope your new adventure is all you hope it will be! Be prepared for some surprises!

There are quite a few of us here in our 60s. I'm waiting  to reach the magic age of 67 so we can get our retirement D visa and move. In the meantime we're slowly doing up our old village house in Dobrich province.

I'm seventy and have been staying in my Bulgarian village home a few months at a time with no problems our neighbours are very nice and the village has about seven shops including a chemist, some of the shops are bars as well but we don't frequent them , a school, a library three buses to and from Burgas daily and the same number to the town of Pomorie. A large village square that has sellers of fruit, veg, cleaning stuff and locals selling off their surplus produce.  Everything a non driving old lady needs.

Your village sounds wonderful, Kath! Unfortunately ours is a bit smaller and has fewer services. But it's still a wonderful place to stay.

@janemulberry

I'm just waiting for my  pension paperwork from my company pension .. I'm not state retirement age either but you can still get a retired person on a pension  visa ..  it is more complicated but if your in the same position contact me .

Phil

Thanks for mentioning that, Phil!

I'm aware that private pensions also count and that reaching actual official retirement age isn't a requirement. Unfortunately neither hubby or I made good enough plans for retirement to help us with the D visa. Hubby has a small private pension, but unfortunately it's less than the Bulgarian minimum wage.

I hope you get that paperwork and can make your move soon!

@janemulberry

I'm going through the D7 visa process at the moment. Oh my, it's taking some doing! The criminal check is 18 pages!  Hopefully we can leave in October,though would like it to have been sooner. When does it start to get really cold?

@janemulberry

Oh that's a shame ..  iv decided to stop worrying about it so we are heading to our villa in Byala on the black sea for just over a months holiday to salvage something from the Bulgarian summer and hope by the time we get back all my paperwork will be available to process  and then back to Bulgaria to process the residence  maybe in November ..

Phil

Joy, where your house is, by October it will probably be getting chilly at night. In my village, in the north-east about 30 miles from the coast, it doesn't tend to get actually frosty until November. I wasn't there through the winter as at that stage my house had a seriously leaky roof and very bad single-glazed windows. (It now has a wonderful roof but still dreadful windows!)

I was there in October and though the days were sunny and fine, I needed the petchka lit in the evenings and blankets piled on the bed at night, plus I even wore a hoody to bed. My bed being right under two big single-glazed windows with very thin glass and only net curtains didn't help! I won't be getting the windows done till next year, so thick insulating curtains are on my To Do list so I can spend some time there in winter this year.

Goodness me on the process to get the visa! Yes, I read the list of the paperwork required again earlier today. Something of a heartsink, especially when it all needs to be translated and apostilled too! I hope yours is sorted out soon!

iv decided to stop worrying about it so we are heading to our villa in Byala on the black sea for just over a months holiday to salvage something from the Bulgarian summer and hope by the time we get back all my paperwork will be available to process and then back to Bulgaria to process the residence maybe in November ..
Phil
-@mckayphil

Enjoy your holiday, Phil!

Bulgarian bed socks for me.  I was in the village by myself for a few months last year and husband came at the end of September and was surprised that I was wearing jeans when he arrived.  It seems to me that one day villagers will be in t shirts and short the next day it's jeans and jackets, I got the message last year.

We got our residency  cards so as I had a knee replacement surgery in December last year now although my recovery has been slower this time I'm ready to sell up and move to the village full time.

I'm having to get my acro police check done again as I think probably out of date now .. I'll speak to the Bulgarian embassy in London as I got it done back in April .. November may be pushing it...  Is it cold in October ?  Well as your in Dobrich you may be ok .. I have a Dutch friend and he stays in Byala which is probably 100 miles from you down towards Burgas  till end of September an he says it's lovely and warm in the day 24degc.  It cools at night to about 10degc ..  September is the same.. black sea is to me like English winter..  my Liverpool mate across the road to me in Byala was there just after Xmas an he said it was blue sky and 24degc .. you will find that it's much different in winter up in the mountains.  We have a place in Samokov in the Rila mountains  for our ski season .. there it's -20degc at night and -10 ISH in the day.  But you get used to it . 

I believe that it really only gets very cold February, March , maybe April in our village in the Burgas municipality . We've been there in all these months and it was very cold working in the garden to clean it up a bit I needed double wooden gloves on.  We'd lit the petcka in the kitchen and had old favourites such as jacket potatoes , rice pudding and macaroni cheese.  We lit the wood burner in the bedroom overnight and of course I wore the Bulgarian bed socks.

And it could be September before I get to live there full time anyway I'll take it as it comes.

The coast and the south-east are definitely warmer than the north and central regions! The winter winds can whip across the Danubian plains.

According to Google, Joy's village, Ostritsa, has an average low of 8 and high of 19 in October. By November it's 3 to 10 degrees, then in December -2 to 5. 

So though October won't be extremely cold, it's still cool enough. Depending on the house, how well insulated it is, whether it's double or single glazed, nights may feel quite chilly. It's probably wise to go prepared!

Thanks Jane. We're packing our Artic sleeping bags. Of course we could always holiday further South for the winter. 

That sounds well prepared, Joy! Hopefully your house will be cosy, with a good wood burner and plenty of firewood, and you won't need the high-performance sleeping bags.

But if you go prepared for the worst, then all the surprises are pleasant ones!

@mckayphil Hi Phil, I went through the D visa process last year at 58, just got my second year prolonged stay card last week.

Just be aware the ACRO is a strict 6 months validity and must be the same ACRO presented at the Embassy that you then present at your local Immigration office for your residency application (500 leva per year for 5 years).

Good luck with everything and your move.

Good Morning all

l live in a village north of Varna

l lost my husband 10 yes ago

l told myself give it a year see how you feel !!!

l love bulgaria as we moved for the same reasons

to go back in time and for a better life

it's a wonderfull village and the neighbours are kind

but it certainly has  a few problems for me now l am alone and unfortunately don't drive

l think because more young people are moving here they seem to have withdrawn some of the services the bus now only comes once a week 

the water gets turned off every other day !!

IT seems ecceptable here

But it is a good place without crime and l am still telling myself

GIVE IT A YEAR !!!

Couple of years ago, I had -12 at the house (next to the Balkan Mountains near Kazanlak).

It was still clear and sunny (and snowy, of course) and I was able to walk the hills every day. Surprisingly, it was lovely.

You definitely have to crank up the wood/pellet stove and all your AC units in this kind of winter. And you'd be pretty miserable without. :-)

Actually, the first year it was miserable, as I had only 2 AC units, and the big one was a bit rubbish, so they couldn't generate enough heat to keep us comfy - and we had to beat a strategic retreat to the Plovdiv apartment. By next winter, I'd changed the living room one for a big Mitsubishi unit, and I had a 3rd AC put in the main bedroom, plus a 12 kW pellet stove in the lounge. Then it became very comfy... but expensive (500 leva electric bill).

At least I should have enough fire wood to keep me going over the winter but as I was too late to buy from the mayor last year I'll definitely have to buy some more next year.  September will be way too late to buy and store this year. I do have an electric heater but it hardly helped in 2018 .

l am still telling myself
GIVE IT A YEAR !!!
-@Truetomyself

That seems a very good philosphy! I hope your village gets the bus services back.

Stay warm, Kath!

I had no wood last year and had to be very sparing with it when I was there in late October and early March. It wasn't too cold so the small electric heaters were a good enough back up.

Now I have loads of free wood from the old roof, the roofers saved and stacked it all for me. I need to denail it and cut it up, but a winter visit should be an option this year. I won't buy more firewood yet as I have nowhere to store it. I'll need to use some of the wood from the roof to build a new wood shed!

Yes I know that I'll manage ok thank you , there's two semi derelict animal pens that don't appear on the houses skitsa and I full intend to knock them down use the wood for the fires, stack the roofing tiles for use elsewhere and make raised beds in the garden from the bricks.  I'm much too old and having been brought up by a frugal clever mum I'm well used to making do and mending.

I'll manage  very well.

@grahamstark1

Wow many thanks you just answered a big question about the acro police check .  I was wondering how long it's validity was .  Look like I'll just get another as 6 months is September.. got it just to early.  Thought my pension would be through so I got  the Acro check done.. I retired 16th April and thought I'd get my pension  letter but apparently it takes 2 months after your last pay date which was May 21st.  Oh well all part of the learning curve.

@kaththomas700

Hi Kath

We took a electric fleece last year .. uses 110watts per hour so 9  hrs use per unit of electricity.  It's double bed size has 9 heat settings and 3hr timer ..  the make is Bauer and it's very good quality fleece quite thick. We baught another different make  but it not a patch on this one  Also machine washable.

My misses gets under it lol but I ofter just sit on it an it warns your legs very nice .   Cost about £35  from Amazon or onbuy online. Worth it's weight in gold .  The best thing is in autumn when it's cooler an you don't want to make a fire up this will do the job

Phil

I'll manage very well.
-@kaththomas700

Kath, I am sure you'll be fine! But make sure you have a good strong pry bar! I thought I'd dismantle some of the woodwork in the derelict old barn. Turned out to be impossible to pry apart!