Can Bulgaria Really Give Our Family a Better Future Than the UK?

Can Bulgaria offer us as a family a better future than what we can get in the UK? When people hear a better future, they often think that we're talking about money. For us, it was about time, freedom, space and the kind of freedom that we wanted our kids to have. Welcome to Fresh Start 6, a family of five that left the UK, moved abroad and bought a house in rural Bulgaria. But that's not where the story ends. I've just been called by the farmer. The guy's fixing my car to take this down to him straight away so we can get this exhaust off the engine and we can repair it. Hey, well done. Hey, wait, wait, wait. Wait, let me just... Well done. Well, it's a bit hard though still, but they are turning. See, another, another cucumber's coming. Oh, get off. No, look, there's two actually. There's two coming here, look. One there, you see it? And there's one here. Yeah, so there's two of them. So you see when you cut off, do you see it? In Bulgaria, you're going to find out there's loads of roads like this. And while I'm driving, let me give you a tour of our boat car. That is our marine GPS. This is our depth sounder, VHF radio, infotainment system. And I've got a CB radio down the bottom there. The engine's too hot, so he's going to drop me back home and then pick me up later and we can continue once it cools down. He's got to get back to farming, so he's going to go back to farming and the combine harvester for a few hours and then pick me back up later. Such a beautiful day today. Lots of dogs running around. Monika, hello Monika. Monika, Monika. Monika's giving me hugs. Here, have a big hug, Monika. Aw, Monika. What's going on over here? Some of them are turning red, or is that a different tree? Oh my gosh, have you guys tasted one yet? Let's try a yellow one. And oh my gosh, these are plums and they are so nice. And then you guys can go this way. No, there ain't really, but it's a bit wet. I don't know if you want to wait there. Yeah, wait there a bit. These are a little bit green, but they are the same. Yeah, exactly. I'm gonna, yeah. Because look, that looks like it. Definitely. This definitely looks like the one. You've got to compare it. But you can't if it's not so ripe yet. I think that's what happens, yeah. So I think it ripens up yellow and then maybe it goes red. But this isn't ripe yet. You can make jam with it, but it isn't going to be enough. With those ones there is though. Yeah, mine's probably just like lime and lemon. Wow. The other cucumber tree that I planted is coming up. It's blossoming. So after it blossoms, it grows another cucumber. These ones will be more sweet. I didn't realise there was that much plums on the tree. It's turning now, all of them. So anyway, I'm pretty sure these will be more sweet like in the shop. And these ones will be more tangy like that, unless they get red. This one will probably be less tangy. It will be probably more sweet. But I bet these will still taste better than the red ones, if it's yellow, because it's red. Look, they're really turning now. Right there, you guys can stay there a minute. But look, look at them. At the moment, yeah. Oops. Miniky, Miniky. Come here, Miniky. Miniky, come here. Here, here. Hey, look at the video. Oops. What's the water on her face? Where'd you get that from? So Vanessa's been practising Bulgarian, as I did say to everyone that they should be practising during the week. So what have you been practising this week? Da otidem. Da otidem tam. That's let's go over there. But if you want to say do you want to go over there, it's iskashlida otidem tam. So iskashlida otidem tam. Other one, yeah, let's get that done, then do it. Hoide pova go svasim posle da go napivim. You've been putting a lot of work in, Vanessa. Ava, what's been your sentence for the week? I take that as nothing. Ava, what have you been doing this week? Harvesting cucumbers, picking up plums. What have you tasted this week that we've actually grown ourselves? And how did it taste? Cucumbers. Yeah, and how does that taste? Sweet, but the cucumbers taste better than the shop though. Better than the UK's? Yeah, that one I can't even eat it. It isn't that hot today. It's actually cooled down. I think it's probably only about 25 today, but we've been picking loads and loads and loads of plums. I know. Not drasti, not drasti, it's strasti. The strasti. Strasti like a true Bulgarian. Yeah. Strasti. Not strasti neither, strasti. Strasti sounds confusing to me. Right, Ava, you found out how to say cucumber in Bulgarian. What is it? Say that louder. And if there's many, I think it's krastavisti. We've got tons and tons and tons of plums. We're going to be making juice, organic juice, natural juice, juice, juice, juice, only juice. What? What's that? What have I been doing? I've been trying. I've been fixing this boat car. Well, I say I, me and a local farmer has been fixing the boat car. So I've been trying to get this car ready. So I was trying to, and I know a lady would be like, what have you been doing? And katvosom pravila means, are you doing? Yeah. Yeah, see, I'm getting there. I'm trying. And what did you just say? Katvosom pravila. Yeah. Ah, you got me on that one. And what does that mean? It means, what am I doing? Katvosom pravila. Yeah. You weren't sure what you're doing. I told you to do something. And you turned around to me and said, what am I doing? Yeah, that's it. It would be katvosom pravila. Yeah, katvosom pravila. Da. I'm trying. He is trying. I'll be Bulgarski by the end of the week. Can Bulgaria offer us as a family a better future than what we can get in the UK? Apparently, it depends on what you want from Bulgaria. So we left the UK because we were continuously working all the time and not having time to ourselves. That's one reason. And even having a business and being successful at our business, it was still a chore. Normally, being successful, you normally have lots of time to do things you want to do. And it's quite opposite. The more successful you got, the more big you got. The less time you had to yourself. Yeah. UK was all work related. Yeah. It's not working for someone else, it's working for yourself and having everything but not got anything really, you know. Yeah. And you still miss something. And that's what we originally wanted. And we missed our kids. We very rarely spent a lot of time with our kids. They would often, after school, come in to work with us. Tax and costs and bills. They're, I think, the main reason why people are leaving the UK. Instability of guaranteeing you're going to make money every month to pay your bills. And even though you're in a full-time job, for some, that you may not even have enough left over to even live after you paid your bills. And then you're still working 50 hours plus a week. So there's no benefit. It's finding that balance of being able to enjoy what you do, make money. And be able to keep it. And even though it's not just about keeping money, it's having your sanity, your freedom, because money doesn't give you freedom. If I was in the UK and I called a doctor right now, if I called 111 right now, you will not get an appointment to see a doctor. Even if I called my main GP, I would not get an appointment to see my GP for two weeks. We're not the type of family to always be rushing to the doctors or to the emergency services. But anything can happen. And, you know, if for any reason someone breaks a limb or someone sprains something or you get something in your eye or cut something on your ear really deep, then you will need to get that sort of service. And if the service isn't there, then you will, of course, struggle. Britain's become more AI dependent. So you go to the shop and there's AI controlling the cashier services, less jobs. If you go to the library now, even the gym, AI is controlling who goes in, who goes out, what routines you even do in the gym. I know Bulgaria is starting to actually adopt some of these things, but it's not widespread. Exactly where we are at the moment, there is hardly any AI outside of our house. That's something which gave me the incentive to think, you know, I want to go back to a time when people actually went out in the streets and actually networked and sat outside cafes or restaurants or even bars and communicated with locals and each other. And I see that still in Bulgaria happening even to this day. And I'm hoping it doesn't change. But that's definitely a bonus for me and our family. There is an even bigger reason why we chose to leave the UK, but we will obviously get to that later on in the video. As an entrepreneur minded person myself, the UK does give you more opportunities, especially as a British person, to start and grow a business. The only downside is that it's hard to keep the money you make from your business. But you do have an opportunity to at least start it. In Bulgaria, opportunities are not as fluid as you'd expect. So if you're coming here to work, think again. If you're coming here to build a business, also think again. There's a lot of bureaucracy concerned when you come to Bulgaria and you want to start a business or be entrepreneurial in the businesses or services that you're offering. That's one big difference that you'll find between the UK and Bulgaria. Plus for Bulgaria is the weather. I mean, you've got at least 10 months. Well, this year I think about eight months, but who cares? It's more than three, four days. You've got at least eight months of solid good weather in between maybe a few days of rain. But you're in shorts and you're enjoying the weather. Whereas in the UK, you've got mainly rain. You probably get about six weeks of continuous sunshine, but there is more rain. It's more damp and it's more humid. In Bulgaria, you get more months of sunny weather, but you do get the extremes of very cold winters as well and very hot summers. The cost of living. The average cost of living for a family of five in the UK, you're looking at somewhere along the lines of about two and a half to £3,000 a month. Whereas in Bulgaria, you're looking around about €1,200 per month. You can save money in Bulgaria if you live a decent lifestyle and not go over the top. Just like anything else, you pay for what you get. But for €1,200, you can live very, very comfortable. Particularly if you live out in rural Bulgaria, such as we do. If you buy your house outright and you don't have much other costs, then of course, you're making the savings there. And all you've really got to worry about is your utility costs, which is your water, your electric. Water on average is around about €10 to €15 per month. Electric, after the scam that we had, is averaging around about, I'd say, €30 to €50 per month. And then of course, you've got your actual house tax, which is around about €60 to €80 per year. A lot of people say Bulgaria is a cheap country. I wouldn't say the word cheap. It's affordable compared to the UK. But over the last year, since the Euro adoption, it has gone up quite considerably compared to before. In fact, in some of the cases, it's double what it was. Food and shopping average is... Well, compared to the UK, our food bill would be around £220 or £230 per week in the UK. In Bulgaria, even though it's changed to the Euro, our food shopping, with everything, with meat and everything, is around about €180 per week. We got our own food as well, which is... Yeah, we're starting to. We're starting to. So that's been a bonus. And in the UK, that's really holding back and not spending and buying too much luxury stuff. If you want to have the luxury stuff, you're looking at another €100 at least. In comparison to the UK, especially when you live in rural Bulgaria, you will find that you have a community in your village or even a town. But the only thing is you'll have a smaller circle in Bulgaria. Whereas in the UK, it's less common to have a tight community. Yeah, I mean, most people don't even know their neighbours. Honestly, they don't know their neighbours' name or their kids. We know people out the other side of the village. We've not really spoken to much, but we do know their names. We've got some kind of relation with them. Saying that, in Bulgaria, you've got to be careful as well, because you've got two different types of people. So like all places, you've just got to just do your due diligence, all you get involved with, and what kind of people. And what your beliefs and your standards are, because you will find out, just like the UK, not everyone is your friend. So as long as you understand that, because often people come to Bulgaria, everyone's so friendly. You know, if I went to you in Britain, everyone's so friendly in the UK, you'd think that's not true. It's the same in Bulgaria. Not everyone's friendly, but as a whole, it's a much, much friendlier place than the UK. Yeah, and you've just got to be aware that there are cultural differences as well. Understand what the culture is in Bulgaria, and you'll be fine. In comparison to the UK, I don't really think there's much of a culture, because it's really a calabash of cultures in the UK, because so many different cultures and religions and people live together, and they just make it work. Whereas in Bulgaria, it's predominantly one culture, really, one type of belief. And so when you're an outsider coming in, you need to understand what that is to be able to integrate and understand also what people are about and what the community is about. In the UK, you buy tiny little houses like this, and it costs huge money, like this. You also rent tiny little houses like this, and it costs huge money, like this. In Bulgaria, you can find bigger houses for less money. Yes, with land. So you've got the option to have outdoor space if you want to grow your own food. Be mindful. Outdoor space does mean a lot more work. Yes, so hopefully you come to Bulgaria to relax. So if that's the case, yeah, it's not going to happen. Because that's what a lot of people are coming for. As long as you go to Bulgaria and just relax and enjoy nature, you can definitely enjoy nature. Oh, yeah. The bugs, the gardening, getting stung. I've been pretty old since I've been here. I do complain about it, but I'm also not neglecting the fact that it's something like this that a lot of people wish to have around the world, and they can't get land to do anything on. So it's a good complaint, but it is stressful in a different way. A lot of you guys were asking how we do our hair being in Bulgaria and not being able to get black products for our hair. I do it naturally, you know, so I would buy things like flaxseed, and I'll boil it and make my own flaxseed gel. They have got products in the stores. If you want to buy specific like shampoos, maybe your conditioners, they have got argan oil over here as well. I think that there are some Caribbean or black hair stores nearer to the city areas, such as like Sofia, possibly. But failing that, like I said, you know, if you can go natural, then do it natural, and then you can find natural products that is all around us to complement your hair. For me, I've gone silent because, as you can see, I've got nothing to do with my hair. Healthcare is one thing that a lot of people worry about when they move abroad. When we moved to Bulgaria, that was the last. It wasn't even on our list, to be honest, because we very rarely go to the doctors or to the hospital. However, if you do live in rural Bulgaria, be prepared to drive because you will have to, from where we are, I think the nearest hospital is about an hour away. So if there is an emergency, be prepared to get yourself or that person in the car and drive. And you do need a car. Because most villages do not have doctor surgeries. And you'd be lucky if you see a doctor living there because most doctors live out in the city areas where they work. I've heard in some cases people call vets. I know. And it's not just in Bulgaria. In Turkey as well and other countries, they do use vets and they are just as good. And one of our friends we met, our subscribers told us, he goes to the vet and he gets the same medication and the vet really gives him a forward looking over and he gets well every single time. Crazy. I know. So that's something to remember. We're not telling you to go to a vet, by the way. But, you know, do not ever go to a vet. Do not ever do it. Don't, don't, don't, don't do it. Go check them out, just in case. Anything can go wrong. You can get on the train and it's delayed and you're still late for your job. You lose your job. We're going to boat car, anything can happen. But we're going to enjoy it. We're going to take our kids on our own schooling, road schooling journey. And also we're going to actually educate ourselves to different races, cultures, religions, and also what people are doing elsewhere in the world and take you guys with us. But most importantly, and I can't wait to go back on the water in Columbus because it's been a while. Columbus has been in the UK, sitting in storage. We've got him back over here now and we're going to take him on the longest single and the journey I think he's ever going to be on. I think I'm actually scared. I don't think Columbus is ready. I mean, I'm still fixing him now. Of this video, I've got to strip him down and fix more stuff. And then you can see in the last video, the exhaust broke. I mean, as we said, we're going to do this road trip. We woke up one day, as we do, we're going to go and explore some of the world. And the same morning we went to the pet station, fine, turn it on, turn it off, and turn it on again, sorry. And then the exhaust literally splitting off. And that could have been on the day we was going on this road trip. So thank you God for looking after us. But this, you know what? I'm looking forward to the adventure. Columbus is on the mains. I'm going to go and fix him. We're going to take you guys with us on the road and also on the water. And just look where we're going to go. I don't know yet. Just follow us and see where we're going to end up. Yeah, right. So guys, have a peaceful week ahead. And thank you so much for following and hitting that subscribe button, as I'm sure you have done. And if you've not, please do. Just like, I'm not begging or anything. Just tap that. Tap and share. And also, a lot of people don't realise, you can hype the video. On the bottom, there's a thing called Hype. You can hype the video. If you like what we do, and we are making genuine content, just press the Hype button. Give us a couple of Hypes or whatever. It does help share the video. What type of person is Bulgaria for? Yeah, the type of person that loves a little bit of seclusion. They want to grow their own food. The type of person that loves community, but also loves their own time as well. The type of person that loves nature. If you love camping out, if you love an organic life, if you are the type of person that can also make your own income, so you're not reliant on a system to make your money, you can be entrepreneurial and think of ideas on how to make money, then also that's good for you. The type of person that doesn't mind just being one with nature. However, you got me. And although I do like the countryside, I do like the whole community thing. That's what I'm about. I do like to have a beach, ocean, a lake near me. And yes, you can find this in Bulgaria, but I'm into boating a lot. And I do miss it since I've been here. I've done none, actually none at all. And for me, I'll be by the water every single day. Not saying I need to live by the coast or I need to live right next to a lake or anything like that. But it's just I have an option of going and doing these kind of activities on a daily basis or whenever I want. And unfortunately, Bulgaria doesn't offer that. Being an entrepreneur myself, there is also red tape within the community and culture of this country. It just seems like sometimes they don't want to deal with British people like some other countries do. Not saying they won't talk to anything like that, but it just seems like a little bit of closed system going on in Bulgaria. I've actually got nothing wrong with that. But for some people, it can feel like you're not going to go anywhere in this country. Even your ideas will get looked at and not get any kind of response. And that's something if you don't want that, then maybe Bulgaria may not be for you. And it'd be very frustrating if you're an active person in your mind and you want to do stuff. Bulgarians are more laid back and take your time. And if you're not prepared to learn the language, then definitely I think Bulgaria is not for you because there are a lot of people, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of people that live in Bulgaria that still don't know the language, but they will not integrate. A lot of Bulgarians will not integrate with you if you don't know what it is even that they're talking about. So if you're not prepared to learn the language, I think it might be a little bit difficult for you to get going and get moving and make progress in Bulgaria. Especially in business. As a personal, you can come in and just not talk to no one and it may work and it will work. But yes, if you definitely move forward in building relationships and just try and learn, like I am, try and learn the basics. You don't have to be fluent, but just try and learn the basics of saying hello and how are you and just can I have and how can I help you or thank you, how are you. That will get you a long way. It may not get a long way of business because you need to elaborate a bit more. If you're someone that loves to travel, Bulgaria is located in a great location where you can go to places like Serbia, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Slovenia and it's all within like a 15 hour drive. Not only can you explore the eastern block of Europe and also the Balkan countries, you can go across the border into Asia and then also have a good time as well. And if you like traveling to Asia and going on a plane, Bulgaria has got a mass airport called Sofia and it's huge, but it doesn't have the same amount of flights other countries have. So it depends where you are in Bulgaria. If you're centrally or north central Bulgaria like we are, you can drive to Romania and Bucharest within two and a half hours and you can go to Istanbul, which has got the biggest routes in the whole world to go to Asia and other countries, including USA for a lot cheaper cost and you can drive to Istanbul or take a train to Turkey and then catch a plane to any destination in the world. The options of traveling isn't restricted just to Bulgaria. You can travel outside to get even better deals and travel where you want to go a lot easier than going to the UK because most flights have to go through the UK to come here. With Turkey, it goes direct. One of the biggest pluses about living in Bulgaria, of course, you have got Bulgaria, which is great, but you also have lots of other countries that surround you. Turkey, which is a massive country, it's got a lot of opportunities and also you've got the massive airport there, where if you do want to go anywhere in the world, you can find it for a fraction of the cost. Exactly. And again, I speak to a few Bulgarians and they say they go to Romania for shopping. They go to Erdiye in Turkey to shop as well because it's cheaper. It's cheaper in Bulgaria as a whole. Depends, especially for washing products. For some people, it is crucial that they save money and you've got the options of going to Turkey. I know it sounds crazy going to another country to do shopping for a day and you can do that in Bulgaria. They're the two places, Romania and Turkey, if you want to save money on lots of things. There's also some things we're used to in the UK you cannot buy in Bulgaria, but you can find them in Romania, which their culture is very similar to the UK now. They're using a lot of things I see in the UK, which I don't see in Bulgaria. So there's certain things it's worth driving an hour or so across the border. It depends where you are. And just go into a local hardware store and I found out that it's way cheaper than Bulgaria to get stuff over there. Is the future more positive in Bulgaria? Than it would be overall in the UK? That depends on you. You need to know what you want for the future. You need to have a future plan. Have a plan of coming, wherever you go, whether it's Bulgaria or anywhere else and just thinking, right, if this doesn't work, what do I do next? Have a plan so you're not trapped in anywhere and you can move forward with your plans. You may have Bulgaria for now. It's a very safe country. A country you can grow and get to know yourself. I'm learning myself a lot more and what my skills are. I've learned so much skills being in Bulgaria. So living in Bulgaria, you definitely will pick up a lot of skills, especially if you live in a rural town or village. You're definitely going to find skills you never knew you had. You'd be worth a million dollars if you leave Bulgaria. A year in Bulgaria will give you all the skills you could never learn in college or university in UK. In order for your future to be benefited by living in Bulgaria, I think one, you've got to be open to travel. Two, you've got to be open to integrate and learn different languages, different cultures. And I'm not just talking Bulgarian. It could be other countries outside of Bulgaria as well, but you do need to be open to learning those things. Bulgaria is a free country. When I say free, I'm not talking cost. I'm talking if you go out on the road, you can literally do whatever you want. You can just be yourself and people will judge you regardless. Look at you and think you're crazy, but they're probably just as crazy as themselves. But you can just express yourself in Bulgaria, especially in rural areas. There's no one to complain. There's no one judging you. They're doing stuff which is questionable. You're doing stuff to them is questionable. Everyone just gets on with it. And Bulgaria allows you to have that freedom of being yourself, which is something you cannot do in UK now. You're always judged for being yourself and it's always made that you are not normal if you think a way or do something which is not the system. So Bulgaria gives that option of getting out of that mindset and finding yourself. There's a lot of people, right, in UK, are so ingrained in work, not even talking to their friends. And if they do, it's on WhatsApp, it's on some kind of social media. They don't go out and they've completely lost who they are. So when they go amongst people, they look down. They walk in the street over there and look down. In Bulgaria, they look forward and they look at you and they'll look you in the face. Even if they're not talking to you, they'll stare at you as you go past. But I'd rather that communication with people looking down and you've physically got to say hello to them to make them look at you. You don't have to in Bulgaria. You just say, and they look up and say, And the relationship carries on. And it may not be a lot of words, but Bulgaria gives you the opportunity to be human again. The visa is another thing that is so long winded and lengthy. We are going to be taking you guys on our visa journey. So stick around, follow us on YouTube and also the other social medias. And we'll be sharing our family's journey with you on the visa process in Bulgaria. Until then, we are starting our road trip. So if you are not already following guys, follow us. We're going to be exploring in our boat car. Yep, our boat car is called Columbus. If you see us on the road, say hi, hello, flash your lights, we're used to all that. We don't think you're crazy, honestly. Someone, one of our subscribers called Sharon. Hello, Sharon. You said, oh, it's not made to go on long trips. It's a recipe for disaster. That's what adventure is about. You know, we cannot live life in fear. Again, one more point, moving to Bulgaria is not living in fear. Turn off the TV, turn off all the news, all the media and just live. Stop living in fear. Stop living of what they're telling you is happening out the world. And you don't see most of it here to be fair. Just live your life and not be scared of something going wrong. We're just showing you what a normal family is like that leaves their normal everyday life in the UK, move abroad and start fresh from knowing nothing to starting to understand cultures, understand different languages, homeschool our kids, road and travel school our kids and yeah, just experience a new life. If you think we're normal, you've been lied to. Yeah, I know. We're not normal. Follow our videos, see what we get up to. Love you all. Bye. Bye-bye. Ciao, ciao. Bye.