A few weeks ago we talked about settling down somewhere for a while, but we couldn’t quite decide where.
Well, it is now official: We will be moving to the winter wonderland of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany – tomorrow!
As much as we love Asia, sun and warm weather – this just feels so right, and we figured that following our gut would be the best thing to do.
We initially settled for Zell Am See in Austria but missed our chance on the apartment we wanted, so Garmisch-Partenkirchen it is.
While Asia would have been cheaper if you stayed in the same place, we knew that we wouldn’t have been able to stay away from traveling all the time while we were there.
Which sort of takes away the point from what we wanted – staying in one place, focusing on our new business projects and taking them to the next level, while at the same time having fun skiing.
We made a few rough calculations on predicted costs to live in Europe vs South East Asia and found some interesting data.
After comparing flights, food costs, accommodation and extras, it would cost about the same traveling around and living in South East Asia on a budget as it would staying in a ski resort in Europe including all ski gear and ski passes for 3 months.
This would make some people think ”Wow, you can travel to all of these places in Asia for the same price?”, but for some reason we didn’t feel all that excited about that.
And in the end, the calculations and positive vs negative-lists are really just guidelines, it all comes down to what you want to do.
So after a month traveling around different parts of Germany, we are now ready to move in and spend some time in this little Bavarian resort right on the border of Austria…
Have you been to Bavaria? What did you think?
I spent a day there in 2008, that town is breathtaking as is all of Bavaria. So jealous!
Great to hear you liked it, I’m so excited! Yeah Bavaria is beautiful, we’ll make sure to explore some more of the area around there.
Sehr toll!
Sounds like a place I’d check out, I am not a fan of the cold but in favor of checking it out sure, why not but we’ll see how I feel about it after I land in Zurich then go to Hannover (2nd week in March)
Sounds awesome and very similar to what we’ve been discussing recently. I’m loving our S.E Asia travels but we are also here to stop and work sometimes and so far we’ve just wanted to travel so much our itinerary is more travel and less time to work. I’m also desperate to ski again so i’m very jealous of you guys right now!
It would be great to get a breakdown of costs, rent, bills, ski passes, etc to see how it compares to travel / location independence in S.E Asia. With you’re help I’ll hopefully convince my wife it’s definitely something we should do!
+1 here. Would love even a rough breakdown
No doubt it is beautiful, and I could spend a lot longer than 3 months there…
I just got back from Garmisch! You are so lucky!! Don’t stress about the money. Just LOVE it. I’ve lived in Asia for the last 10 years (Turkey, then China, then Laos, now India) and it’s awesome, but Bavaria is truly magical. Please check out my blog for details. Cheers, Sharon – http://www.dentsadventure.com
Oh. My. GOD!!! As much as I also love sun, this looks like a bloody fairytale
SO excited for you both!!!
That’s amazing I didn’t know that it will cost the same amount to stay in a ski resort in Europe or to stay in East Asia. Is it possible to get more details on your datas?
Wow, congrats! Looks like a beautiful area. I love mountain towns in Germany and Austria so these are some of my favorite places. Hope you enjoy your new home and life there and look forward to reading updates as you explore the area! I love this area and could spent a coupe of months just hiking during the summer!
I hit Bavaria on my first European trip and just loved it! Munich is a little too cutesy quaint for me, but the evergreen wilderness of the rest of the country is so beautiful. I hope you have a great time skiing for three whole months
I love the mountains! SO BEAUTIFUL. Be sure to have some young wine (sturm/federweisser) in the fall, it’s delicious
I wouldn’t make that choice as I hate the snow
, but I can see the appeal of Europe. After 10 years of living in Thailand, I’m sick to death of Asia and can’t wait to get back to Europe and ‘civilization’ soon.
Hope you enjoy your time there!
Congratulations on finding a home y’all like. I studied abroad in Germany and lived in the northern region. I really enjoyed it, and spent time traveling around. Bavaria is wonderful. a truly beautiful place to be.
Enjoy the skiing / snowboarding!
cheers,
~Kelly
HipTraveler
It looks beautiful, enjoy!
What a beautiful place! I’m currently chasing summer around the globe after two straight (albeit mild) winters in California and Australia…but would love to spend a ski season somewhere snowboarding every day! Enjoy and drink lots of hot chocolate!
Bavaria is one of my favorite places to be! Right now I am feeling huge twinges of jealousy. Garmisch is a wonderful village in a perfect area. I am looking so forward to living vicariously through your posts.
It makes me really excited to hear you liked Bavaria Debbie, can’t wait to spend some time there.
Wow! Congrats on finding a beautiful home. Bavaria is one of my favs. It’s probably a good idea to settle down for a bit especially when you figure the cost is about the same while you’re on the road. Change is good. There’s so much to see and do where you’ll be living, looking forward to hearing all about it.
Great to hear it’s one of your favs. I agree, change is good – and Bavaria does seem like a great area so far so we’ll definitely check out the surrounding area while we’re there as well.
ps- Can’t wait to see those ski photos!
I’m SO looking forward for some skiing – will definitely bring the camera along!
Congratulations! It is so beautiful…looking forward to updates and pics. What do you think will be the greatest challenge as you get settled in?
I lived in Germany last year near Frankfurt although I have visited the little town (in order to go up the alps) and was charmed. I’m sure you will have a great year guys xx
That is super cool. Garmisch is one of my favorite German towns.
Love the mountains, how close it is to Austria and how close it is to Munich. There is something called the Bayern ticket that lets you travel all over Bavaria for 29 euros. Up to 4 people can travel with one ticket, so if you go to a station and start asking around you might be able to travel around Bavaria for a little over 5 euros per person. You should come to Nürnberg! 
Have fun!
Thats really an excellent place to live.Never knew about such a place in Germany.Thanks for sharing the images.
Congrats on your new temporary home N & S! Perhaps I should visit?!
Sounds super amazing and super cold too. Have fun in winter wonderland.
Sounds like a winter wonderland! Skiing everyday, fire place every night and never ending flow of Bavarian beer, lets trade places?
have fun you too!
Looks beautiful! Good luck in your new home!
Woohoo! Look at you two. Settlin’ down, getting all business-y. Good for you!
I have a quick question though.
How did you get VISAs to live/work in Germany? Is it because you’ll only be there for 3 months and so on temporary visitor visas? IDK much about visas outside of Japan, but it’s awesome you can ski it up in Germany with your own place!
Booyaa! Looks like a sick place to call home for a little while. Enjoy!
I’ve never been to Bavaria but it sounds wonderful. But, I think y’all are living the dream! Well, one of my dreams. I’m not a fan of cold but I would love to live near a ski resort one winter so I could snowboard whenever I felt like it. Have a great time and looking forward to the photos and stories!
All I can say is lucky, lucky! Looks beautiful! I’ve been to Bavaria once– Regansburg. Lovely town and great spaetzle!
I’ve been thinking of settling down in a place as well to do some writing, and since I don’t ski, this might be a good spot to get some work done!
ohh its too cold…but i like to live here..
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If you love snow then Austria should be perfect location for the winter
To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to
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It looks BEAUTIFUL!! We are currently in Phuket, but before we moved here we took a train to Munich and loved it. Looks like we will be moving to Edinburgh in 2013 and personally I love the rain.
Then again we get monsoon here, but it’s just so hot all the time!
That looks cool!
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This looks like the perfect place to settle down for a bit. I’ve always considered living in a ski resort for a season and snowboard every day.
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