Azores forum < moving to azores

  • Another Obstacle, but STILL Planning...

    innsent av Slettet bruker i Azores forum 

    Hi, all...
    Mahilena, I am not there YET. Almost to the DAY I was to send my deposit and 1st month's rent to the woman (who lives in the UK) I was to rent her daughter's former apartment from, there was a very heartwrenching death in my family and it has taken me some months to both emotionally - and financially -recover. By the time I tried picking up where I had left off, I was back to square one, looking for an apartment/cottage again, and now having to move my "move" back up to the Fall of this year, for pretty much the very reasons Dr. Moir stated: getting into the Azores on a reasonably-priced flight IS possible, but it seems to be IMPOSSIBLE between May and September, as they ARE ALL BOOKED (I was told some of these reservations are booked a YEAR or two ahead!). So even though Dr. Moir joked kindly about it, I was (and still am) feeling pretty teed-off and unhappy at being pushed to the 'back of the line' so to speak. It's no secret there are thousands of Azoreans living stateside as American citizens nowadays, most along the east/northeast coast. And I'll bet EVERY ONE of them has one of those pre-booked/reserved seats for their annual visits homeland-wise to visit nanas and papas and the rest of the family who stayed behind. ;-)
    I kick myself,, now, for not going ahead with my plans when I HAD a flight booked, had an apartment waiting... but my family would have NEVER forgiven me. I told them NEXT TIME, as I prepare to leave, NOTHING will interrupt my plans.
    I think this has been one of the BIGGEST obstacles for me: that of family and friends, who are wary of even planning weekend trips out of town. Even when I was much younger, and used to drive, alone -and later, with my young son - all over the country to exhibit my art at conventions and shows, it was my family/friends who went to all lengths to try to persuade me not to go, warning me of all the crazy psychos who troll the highways and rest-stops, of my car breaking down in the middle of nowhere, etc. That was in the days BEFORE we had cel phones, so nowadays, as I go nowhere without one, I, too, wonder at the audacity of my younger self, driving so many miles, through and to so many unfamiliar towns and cities, with no safety net (cel phone, in case of emergency, etc.). But nothing ever 'happened' to me, or my son, in all of those 225,000 miles I put on two different - and each over 10 years old at the time - cars. I didn't even suffer a flat tire.
    And now, I am older, have raised a good son (he's stationed at Langley AFB in Virginia right now, involved in super high-;evel-clearance computer/cyber security stuff), and have a cautious but assertive head on my shoulders as I embark on the second half of my life, unencumbered by a nine to five job, or small children, or even a significant 'other' right now. This is the BEST TIME in my life to make such a big move, as I plan, to another 'country'.
    But even though my HEALTH is at stake, and would benefit greatly moving to a cooler climate, my relatives seem to be even MORE against my 'doing something so drastic' as moving to another country, even though I have told them, showed them, that the Azores is probably the closest 'other country' to America excepting Canada and Mexico, that it is not like I was moving to northern Bulgaria or Greenland, for Pete's Sake! I assure them that there is every kind of modern convenience in the Azores, all of the 'major' islands' but especially Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel, from internet/broadband to full on electric and telephones, that people drive automobiles on paved streets and couples go out to eat Italian or Chinese downtown on weeknights... but they still want me to stay here, even though 'here' is 1.) extremely bad for my physical -and emotional- health, with extremely hot and torrid summers and etremely cold and frigid winters (I'm housebound 350 days a year, thereabuts, almost always because of inclement or extreme weather), and 2.) increasingly too expensive for me to maintain my own residence: I live on an amount that, right now, sees HALF go to rent, and I still have to find a way to pay utilities on top of that (which are also increasing), forget that I haven't even figured in FOOD yet... and, 3.) ironically, the same people who are against me moving because I'd 'be so far away from family' and that they'd 'never see me again, even on holidays', are the same people who have NOT VISITED ME IN PERSON, even ONCE, in the past FOUR YEARS I've lived less than 23 miles away from them... in fact, none of them could find the wherewithall to PICK ME UP to join them for a Christmas Eve family gathering, this past year, when I was unable to drive! Yep. Ironic, hmmm?
    So my plans are intact, just rearranged.

    Third try's a charm, they say.
    Will definitely make a mention of what's happening, to this end again, sometime around the turn of summer to fall...
    And I am not opposed to making new friends who want to go to the Azores, in the event it might work out to get us BOTH THERE, a little sooner, and a lot more economically should we try the roommate thing for the first 3 months or so. If it's someone who is a 'little older', or even a little disabled, like myself, so much the better. I think it would be wonderful if more 'handicapped' folk were encouraged to do something like this, instead of so-called well-meaning family and friends trying to keep us 'grounded', holding us back from living the latter half of our lives the way WE want to...

    Thank you, for the kind words and encouragement.
    Will keep my friends here at Just Landed posted... {{{HUGS}}}}

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