We're almost landed!

Hola!

Wednesday 11 July 2018! A day that is engraved in our memories forever. The day of our departure to our new homeland Mallorca. A day full of different and diverse emotions!

We are at home, but it doesn't feel that way yet. We have a holiday, but that doesn't really feel like it. We hang in between. It looks a bit like the other times we were here. Run, fly, arrange business and (fortunately) also enjoy! The big difference now is that little by little we realize that we have more time. And that is very nice!

Our own little house is really lovely. I don't think there is a nicer place to live on Mallorca. The view is "amazing" and the many animals (including donkey Taco and the sheep and lambs) around us make life here on the hill very special and pleasant. Because we do not yet have our own pool (permit has been applied for) we have for this season a large pool set up placed. We had to use our local builder to level the ground (5m3 of sand) and to be able to fill the pool with water (20.000m3). The result is a super pool with "the best view ever"! There are still some projects planned but they will follow in time. Tranquilo!

Moving to another country also brings a lot of paperwork with it. We are so happy with our Gaspar Pizza. He is the owner of our first country house Son Flora. He has a good network with the various government institutions. The first thing we had to arrange in the row of paperwork is to obtain the "residencia". This is the proof that we are registered in Spain. The normal waiting time is currently 3 months. Gaspar has made sure through his friends that we have this within 1 week. So we are officially resident in Spain! The next thing is to register in the municipality of Alaro where we live. This is also arranged by Gaspar and will take place next Monday. Really great that he arranges this for us. Those who have been following us for a while know that Gaspar is the same man who wanted to evict us from the Son Flora mansion in 2016 after 3 months of renting. We have often had a love/hate relationship with him. Fortunately, the relationship is now fine (we have also consciously worked on it). It's also nice because we are going to talk to him about extending the rental agreement with 5 years for Son Flora.

We are now in the busiest part of the season. This means full occupancy in the country houses. We have agreed with Jackie and Alan on the spot that they will do the cleaning work until August and from then on we will take over. Of course we help them a bit. We already do the check-ins and check-outs. Nice that contact with the guests. Provides occasionally at unexpected moments work such as at 7 o'clock in the morning the "no water problem" solution at Can Domingo and around midnight the "no electricity problem" solution at Son Flora. Our guests are unabatedly satisfied with their holiday and stay. Kim from Denmark for example gave us a 5 star review on Airbnb (Son Flora) and Niels from Denmark (many Scandinavians this summer) gave us a 10 on Zoover (Can Domingo). Personally I get a lot of energy from the beautiful contacts with guests and this kind of super reviews.

How are the girls? Actually very good. Of course they still have a strong holiday feeling. Especially Maartje who is also looking forward to her backpack holiday from October. She enjoys being here to the fullest and plants all kinds of fun things together with Floor. Floor knows that she is going to live here and that makes it clearly different for her. Every day she still has contact with her super friends in the Netherlands. Important to keep this contact. The landing here will come later. Especially when Maartje is gone. The girls are looking forward to getting their scooters so they can move more independently. Floor still has to get her scooter driver's license first. This is high on the "things to do" list. They have been by train to Palma a few times already. So they are currently not stuck on mountain here.

And Louisa? He's so far that she's arranging her/his house and tree. Doing the laundry and hanging up outside (where has the dryer gone?), sweeping the terrace, enjoying the animals around her, decorating the house, getting plants. Lovely! And me? Muy bien, I must say. Of course, just like the last few weeks in the Netherlands, we have lost our patterns and routines. And yes that costs energy and is sometimes annoying (wifi doesn't work, internet TV gets stuck, the email isn't sent, how does the new printer work, how do I send a parcel, where do I arrange sand and water, what is Spanish still difficult, why hasn't Vodafone delivered my mobile number yet, still no own car). But when I hike with the girls in our "backyard", just like today, I realize how great it is here. And with that the great opportunities and challenges that lie ahead to make our adventure a success.

Wednesday 11 July is a day that is etched in our memory. Also because it is the start of (hopefully) something very beautiful!