My Journey

My journey through life is out of the ordinary. I had lived with my parents my entire life, until they both died within 1 and a half years from one another. Until their death, I and my boyfriend had been taking care of them. My dad became bed and wheelchair bound after a second stroke in 2020 and died in 2022. My mom was diagnosed with cancer, received terrible care and died in April of 2023, after also ending up bed bound.

Subsequently I was told to move out of my childhood home, where I had spent 31 years of my life. I had to combine grieving over the loss of both of my parents with clearing out my home.

As I didn’t receive any help being in a tough financial situation and no other homes being available, we packed our bags and two cats and took off to Eastern Europe, in hopes of finding a new home there.

The Netherlands: 1986 – 2023

I have lived in The Netherlands from the moment I was born until I was 37 years old. I was born in Den Haag and moved to Oud-Beijerland when I was 5 years old, where I lived the next 31 years of my life. Throughout this time, I’ve traveled mostly to Spijkenisse, Numansdorp, Rotterdam, Den-Haag and Leiden.

Germany, Hamburg: 2019

I have visited Germany only once so far – and I went to Hamburg. This was to visit my partner’s semi-hometown and to see his family.

The Philippines, Manila: 2019

In November of 2019 I went to The Philippines with the intention to stay there long term. Unfortunately, my parents were not doing well so I came back home. After returning to The Netherlands, the following things happened in rapid succession: lockdowns, my dad got a second stroke, a year later my mom was diagnosed with cancer, three weeks after that my dad passed away from cardiac arrest and 1.3 years after that, my mom was put to sleep upon her request, as her doctor refused to prescribe her appropriate pain medication.

After the passing of my parents, I initially considered going right back to the Philippines, however due to some unexpected setbacks, the flight was cancelled and we decided to visit Eastern Europe.

Romania, Bucharest: 2023 – 2024

Upon leaving my childhood home, I first decided to take a trip to Romania. With Bucharest being the capital and the easiest to get to with two cats, I booked an Airbnb for 3 months. A lot happened in that time – good things, bad things. After our three month period, we decided to have a look at Bulgaria.

Bulgaria, Ruse: 2024

With Ruse being easy to reach via Bucharest, we booked a taxi and went on a less than 2 hour trip to Bulgaria. We arrived safely at our less than ideal yet cozy Airbnb and started exploring the city. Seeing as there are many apartments available at reasonable rates, we decided to rent an apartment. This was a bit of a challenge with two cats (most apartments are “STRICTLY NO PETS”) and a language barrier, but we succeeded and found a nice and cozy place in a decent part of the city!