We’ve been living in Glava for five months now. Is that a long time? Not necessarily. But so much has happened, we’ve done so much, so it feels like quite a substantial period. We reached 30 degrees Celsius at the end of the summer. We almost hit -30 degrees Celsius, just a few days ago. There’s half a meter of snow where the grass stood half a meter high four months ago. Two apartments are now ready and (almost!) listed on Booking.com. In short; a lot has happened and plenty to tell.
The first weeks in Glava were mainly about organizing, arranging, making appointments, applying for things, getting to know people, and mowing the grass. And mowing the grass. And mowing it again. Yes, the grass was very tall and needed some extra attention. And as for the paperwork? Most of it went fairly smoothly. Only with the bank and with the Transport Styrelsen (Swedish RDW) did we encounter some (typical Swedish?) challenges. Having to come in person to the bank to make an appointment to personally open a bank account is quite… funny.
Well, all in all, it all worked out quite well. However, importing the cars turned out to be quite a challenge. I can’t resist giving you a brief summary of my visits to the inspection station.
- Request proof of ownership Volvo (on paper)
- Request proof of ownership Land Rover (on paper)
- Import inspection Volvo + MOT
- Import inspection Land Rover + MOT
- MOT inspection Volvo because the system didn’t work during step 3.
- Import inspection Land Rover (because rejected due to a too heavy front axle)
- Re-inspection Volvo (because the detachable tow bar wouldn’t come off during the MOT inspection)
- MOT inspection Land Rover (because the system didn’t work during step 6)
- Re-inspection Land Rover (because rejected at step 8 due to ‘Illegal LED lights’)
- Re-inspection Land Rover (now approved with ‘Illegal LED lights due to a wrong assessment’)
Fortunately, the coffee there is good. 😊 And now? Now we have two cars with Swedish passports. And a Dutch trailer… because the struggle to get that imported has been abandoned.
In addition to all these important ‘side issues’, we are working hard on renovations. We do a lot, learn a lot, make a lot of mistakes, and achieve great results. At the same time, we keep our children alive, try to see some of our new surroundings, and so far, have had family and friends over about two-thirds of the time. It’s hard work and it feels like a vacation every day.
As I write this, we are about to list the first two apartments on Booking.com and the website has just been completed. While officially ‘nobody’ knows about our existence until today, it’s amazing to already have three official bookings for 2024. 😊
In short: tomorrow Ellis goes back to school and we continue busy with wallpapering, coating, painting, rerouting water pipes, dismantling kitchens, hanging curtains, choosing furniture, and occasionally looking outside to see if it’s snowing. It’s a beautiful life. In our next blog we will dive into everything that we are doing to make the building and the apartments nice again. See you soon.
Peter & Nienke, Ellis & Felix
