Flashback - The Dream Sprouts

Picture: The grounds of the Savoy Hotel, Sharm El Sheikh (c) The Savoy Hotel

So, why am I moving and what's this all about?

Like many people, but maybe more obsessively than most, I've had this dream for many years now of not having to work and focusing instead on my own thing. In my case, this "thing" is to write books - humour, novels, non-fiction... and I have a whole host of ideas. I don't expect to make money from my writing (although it would be nice); it's just something I want to do. In addition to this, I would like to spend more time researching stocks and shares (a relatively new hobby). And then I would love to be somewhere hot where I could swim in the sea all year round. A little bit of travel here and there also wouldn't hurt. And if I wasn't working, I could spend more time keeping in contact with my friends. So much to do, and so little time!

So, that's the dream.

I spent Christmas last year (2012) in Sharm El Sheikh. I was worried that the sea wouldn't be very warm and I wouldn't get to do any swimming. As it turned out, the water was a reasonable temperature (I would guess around 23 degrees) and the temperature was pleasant (maybe around 26 degrees); the sun always shone and I had to push fish gently out of the way while I swam. Father Christmas arrived by speedboat, but a little late, so the children had to be taken up and down the beach to look for him. I guess it's hard for Father Christmas to find his way around when there aren't any chimneys.

I was living in Switzerland, so my booking had been with a Swiss company and the travel back to the airport was with Swiss people. There must have been only around six of us, at a guess. They were all chatting and I was just sitting there quietly, only half-listening. All of a sudden I realised that they were talking about buying property, a favourite topic of mine, so I started to focus.

One of the Swiss people must have just mentioned that they were thinking of buying a property in Switzerland. The driver, Egyptian, but who spoke very good German, asked them why they would buy property in Switzerland when they could buy a property in Sharm El Sheikh for very little money. I'm not sure whether it was the topic of buying property or the "for very little money" that got my initial attention.

The Swiss guy confidently proclaimed that Swiss property was of very high quality and he would be assured of a good build if he bought in Switzerland. The driver countered this by claiming that many buildings in Switzerland had been built by Egyptians and that Egyptian builds were of excellent quality. On further questioning, the driver conceded that property by the sea front was more expensive, but mentioned that it was still cheaper than in Switzerland and that many people from Switzerland, Germany, the UK, bought two properties and lived in one and then rented out the other so that they could live off the rental income. "They are just in their flats all day, they don't have to work, they just sit back and do what they want. It's a nice life, isn't it? The apartments, they have everything, it's like living in a hotel."

My heart flipped as it whispered to me "Is this possible, could I do this?" My thoughts sped round my head urging "Stop it, Fiona, stop it! Don't be foolish. Stop listening. Think about something else".  My heart responded with despondency "But I'm not going to be able to stop thinking about this now, I just know it, I can't undo what I've heard". My head understood that in this my heart was right.

And that's how the idea sprouted in my head to leave my job, buy somewhere to live in Egypt,  and live my dream.