Living in England.  Dreaming of Montenegro.

I’m Melanie Owen-Roberts and I’ve always had a bit of a thing for Eastern Europe, since living in Croatia back in the days when it was it was part of Yugoslavia.  I studied the language  (then called Serbo-Croat) at a college in Zagreb, as part of my Russian university course.

It was a heady time for me.  I was transformed from a poor student into a rich person overnight, a full English grant in my bank account to pay for ridiculously low living expenses (compared to home) and a rocketing inflation rate in my favour.

It was a very happy time for me full of exploring, care-free living and a complete lack of pressure and expectation to conform.

Fast forward years later to my thirties.  I found myself in a position to be able to look for a cheap investment property for my pension pot.  And that part of the world was calling my name.  The plan was to buy, renovate and sell on swiftly to cash in on the property boom, that had emerged.

But my plan got completely turned on its head.  Montenegro well and truly got under my skin and I didn’t end up selling my apartment after all.

Montenegro & a simple life

In all honesty what happened was a total surprise to me.  As the daughter of a foreign diplomat I have spent a lot of my life moving house and living in new places.  So I wasn’t expecting to either hold onto one property for such a long time – or become as emotionally attached to a place as I did.

You see, what actually happened was that over the years, dealing with the highs and lows that come with owning a place abroad, a different side of me slowly emerged.  A side of me that appreciated the slow & peaceful, within surroundings that are both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

And I realised that Montenegro had become a place where I feel it’s OK to be me in way that I’ve not quite felt in English culture.

So now I’m edging my way towards my dream of living in Montenegro full-time one day.  I am making a slow escape from the rat race and have my sights on a simpler life in the sun.

Hope you can join me on the journey. No need to pack much.  Let’s get off the beaten track together!