The Slovenian Dream

Slovenia. A country of warmth and hospitality. A country where the size of your host's smile is dwarfed only by that of the plates of food they are serving. A country of endless green forests and spectacular mountain vistas.

We have been waiting to visit Slovenia for a very long time. Six years ago Nick and I visited the small French village of Praz de Lys, and fell in love with the alpine life style. Small villages full of quaint chalets, and tiny bistros serving local wine. This was the life we wanted. Someday, somehow, we would make it happen. We would become the clichés; buy the run down shack in the hills, renovate it slowly and haphazardly, and find some way of scraping together a living. Heck, I might even have tried writing about it.

It was not long after, that some clever soul convinced us to go back to uni and get our teaching certificates. We had never really intended on becoming 'real' teachers, but with a quick search of available jobs showing us just how much we could make in the Middle East, we thought, 'this is it, this is our way to the chalet. Five years of working hard in the desert and we could be living the dream'.

The plan was simple. We would find that run down wreck of a home, for a fraction of what it was worth. We would do those haphazard renovations, that would cost us next to nothing as we would cunningly source our materials and skilfully do everything ourselves (even though we have no hint of such necessary skills). We would then open our doors to guests who would return year after year for our effortlessly warm hospitality, expert ski guiding skills and summer photography courses. Simple.

We searched high and low in the French Alps for that perfect place. We were nowhere near ready to buy anything, but it never hurts to look and dream. It quickly became apparent that all those run down wrecks in France had already been snapped up. That was not, after all, the place for us. The search expanded. Our search technique consisted of looking at Google images and real estate websites. It was this that lead us to the small central European country of Slovenia.

I defy anyone to Google Slovenia, and not want to live there. Don't take my word for it, go have a look. Stunning, isn't it? To top this off Slovenia does have lots of affordable properties. Affordable properties with all the mountain views and quaint features you could ask for. So this was it, we had a plan. Slovenia it was.

Now those who know us well, know that we do little without extensive research. We had never been to Slovenia, but this was a small issue. We would go at some point. However, while I have worked in hospitality a reasonable amount, we had very little understanding of how to run a hotel. To rectify this we started watching as many reality programs as we could. It soon became apparent that there are few jobs that are more demanding or likely to fail. Dependent on the seasons, and taking near constant work, the hours are long and the market fickle. Being teachers we are used to over three months' holiday a year, this was possibly more of a commitment than we were able for. As teaching became more enjoyable, and the long holidays more appreciated, it dawned on us that perhaps we would be better sticking with what we know, and instead of taking care of people when they go on holiday, we just get to go on more holidays and have people take care of us. The dream of a Slovenian chalet is still out there, just on a distinctly smaller scale.

So as you can understand, Slovenia had a lot to live up to during our visit last month. Six years of longing and anticipation. While I’ll save details for a later blog, I will happily share that it not just lived up to expectations, it surpassed them with ease. The outstanding food and wine, the colourful streets of Piran, and the hauntingly beautiful Lake Bohinj all added up to something rather special. Never have I left a place and so strongly felt I need to go back. This feeling being so strong that for a while all plans for our next holiday were put into jeopardy.

With all this in mind, we returned to Morocco, and after a little thought realized that holidays there are not quite enough. We do need to live there after all, or as close as we possibly can. The time has come to dust off that portfolio and spruce up the CV.