Ok, here we go. In 2007 our family went to the adventure country of New Zealand and adventured with a rented campervan. Helena and I had my two sons (Robin and Billie) with us. We had planned the trip from home for every kilometre and with an adventure every day, on both islands for over three weeks.
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ShareWe started planning six months before we left and everyone was very much looking forward to this trip. A few months before we leave, Robin meets a girl that he falls, you know, madly in love with. He is mentally in two places at the same time so it must be serious this I thought, haha, yes it became very serious. Keep up!
Table of contents
Hard work pays off
Alexandra was the girl who came into his life. Both were in high school and after two years they started planning to move in together. They worked evenings and weekends and turned down several parties in order to save everything they could to get into the property market. After a year and a half, they had €150,000 for the down payment and bought their first apartment in the neighbourhood. Sundbyberg. A two-bedroom apartment of 65 square metres and this was to be rebuilt, hmm, do you recognise this?
Apartments
Now they were both working and Helena and I were there to help. They had their sights set on getting inside the customs, so this apartment was a stepping stone. They sold it after two years at a good profit and bought an apartment in Bromma, which was also renovated and sold at a good profit. Now they are living at Fridhemsplan inside the customs after 8 years, and they have achieved what they said from the beginning.
Weddings
During this trip there was also a WEDDING and who would have thought it in New Zealand in 2007, when Robin was just sitting and dreaming away. There was a small wedding at
Lidingö, where Alexandra grew up, with her closest friends and family. As a wedding present, we all got together and arranged a trip to Magaluf in Spain and a pick-up with a long white limousine and bubbly two days after the wedding. We had arranged time off from their jobs and they had no idea, because there was no money left for a honeymoon. Experiences prolong life!
Best bargain
During this time, we bought our houseboat in 2013 because the goddess of fate wanted us to. We sold our apartment for 2.6 million and we had no loans. We could have bought a 10 million apartment in Stockholm and walked away with our noses in the air, but that's not our style.
Where should we live?
We had discussions about living in the motorhome, but working and living at the same time was a stupid solution. We wanted to travel more and take a lot of money for it, and we started looking at small one-bedroom apartments around Solna-Sundbyberg. All the 22-square-metre apartments started at 1.5 million and they were in need of renovation. This is not good enough!
A feeling
I went on Hemnet every day and all of a sudden there was a houseboat for sale. I just stared at the screen and called Helena. She came and did the same and then we looked into each other's eyes and said nothing, but we knew what the other was thinking. A houseboat for 1.6 million that looked awful, but it doesn't matter because I started sketching the houseboat in my head after only 5 minutes.
FREEDOM
We entered the bidding at 1.5 million and there were many who wanted to bid, but banks do not lend to houseboats so cash applies. There were about 30 interested parties, but most are borrowed to the roof and own nothing, so it was only we who could buy from those who were interested in such an accommodation, YES! It took us all of 2014 to rebuild the boat and we got a smaller accommodation in the end. We went from 76 sqm to 74 sqm, haha.
Houseboat
Living on a houseboat is like living in a video. The lake is almost always moving, boats go by, no cars, the ducks live all around us, there's the creaking of the rafters, the banging of the flagpoles and you can hear the lapping of the water all the time. We have sun from sunrise to sunset and we have windows on all sides. For us, houseboats and motorhomes are quality of life, we travel a lot and we are healthy. Can you ask for more?
Many want more
Of what we have materially, we don't want more because we won't be happier with a nicer car, or a new motorhome, or a bigger houseboat. We enrich our lives with travelling and experiences, and we can do that more if we want to. We want to develop the blog much more and preferably have time to visit all you wonderful readers around Sweden, Norway and Denmark. What a dream! We also have long-term plans for a movement that will take a year to get started, but we will come back to that.
Next week, Happy Friday continues and I get to write about the little things that make each week easier and more positive. It's time to add to the happy list! You may have had a bad week but take the good and share it with the rest of us.
Did you miss the last Happy Friday? Read the Social anxiety: Here is my life part 11
You might also like:
Easter, preparations and alerts
Lifting a houseboat - this is what happened when our houseboat was lifted
Adventures in Finland ... and some new things in the motorhome
Motorhome fix - finally fixed stuff in the motorhome!
Destination Sweden 2023 - here is the winner!
Camping and adventure in South Africa
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Henny says:
You're really good Peter, you make the story interesting even if it's just short glimpses of your and your family's life. I'm glad it worked out well in the end. Or are you only in the middle yet?
20 January 2017 - 6:15
Lena - good for the soul says:
Hard work and determination usually pays off! Well done!
My best joy this week was a blog date on Monday. So much fun to meet again! There is definitely something special about the blog bubble.
Hug Lena
20 January 2017 - 6:47
Snows says:
What a lot of hard work you have put into renovating different homes. Impressive!
happy Friday 😀
20 January 2017 - 6:54
Lennart says:
Interesting reading about goal-oriented work!
20 January 2017 - 7:45
Across the board says:
That's great! What a sense of purpose. Truly a Happy Day off 🙂
20 January 2017 - 7:50
åsa in åsele says:
Your son proved that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree as he, just like you, has renovated and fixed his flat 🙂 .
Practical when you are handy... and it is also an advantage to have a family that helps and supports you.
Simply a lot of positive reading, thank you thank you <3
20 January 2017 - 8:19
Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:
Great reading!
20 January 2017 - 8:24
Deciree says:
You and you by the way, are so good at writing and berätta☺️Visst it is more fun to spend the money on travelling instead of expensive money on accommodation. We do the same thing since 2.5 years ago when we sold the house :)) Now we spend everything on experiencing instead. Nicely written Peter. Piteåkram ?
20 January 2017 - 8:24
anita wåg agrimanaki says:
Lovely morning reading! Hugs from Chania!
20 January 2017 - 8:33
Travel Friday says:
A fun read, and proof that hard work pays off. Have a great weekend!
20 January 2017 - 8:34
Staffan says:
One of our good times was when we bought a boat (wooden ship 20 metres long) for 14.000:- We sailed to Stockholm and moored on Strandvägen and paid 70:-/half year in quay rent without any electricity etc.
Notice that times have changed, but the beauty of living "simply" is certainly the same!
This was not in the early 1900s but in 1963!
Would love to start again today!
Take care and keep writing.
20 January 2017 - 8:35
Goatfish says:
It's like in my youth, reading the short story of my life 😀.
No, you're a great storyteller, Peter, entertaining in fact.
Thanks for the Friday reading, more more more...
My fun this week is that I booked a summer trip. And got a friend, my old schoolmate, on it! 😀
The sad, yet beautiful with warmth, was the funeral yesterday, in a packed country church.
Year of Change hug! ?
20 January 2017 - 8:57
Peter Bergström says:
Thanks Henny: And thanks again! I am so badly forced to be in the middle of life. Helena is 41 and I am 56, so she demands that I be 90, haha and I have no choice. I don't have much more of "Here is my life", but I have a lot of stories to tell, so there will be more. Many hugs.
Lena - Good for the soul: I think you blog friends are really something special. We also get the chance to meet from time to time, but I want more. My plans that I want to implement are to take a blog trip in Sweden, and meet more of you who we have contact with through the blog. It will come!!! Sending some weekend hugs.
Znogge: You have to fight hard when you have not grown up with a golden spoon in your mouth. You just have to fight if you want something. Have a nice weekend Znogge!
Lennart: As I said, if you're in the boat... You must never give up when the wind is cold because you'll freeze to death. Have a nice weekend Lennart.
Across the board: Thank you Anette! Let's go into a happy weekend together. Many hugs and greetings.
Åsa in Åsele: Thank you for appreciating the post and that it is in the "Happy Friday" feeling. Now we make a happy weekend. Many hugs from me.
Nils-Åke Hansson: Glad you liked it Nisse! I get happy myself when you get happy. Happy Friday!
Deciree: Thank you for your kind words and they are warming. Experiences are all that matter. There are many people who have a lot of money but are stuck in commitments, and can't travel or get away. They also don't know how to break their life, poor things. I send a Stockholm hug to you and have a great weekend.
Anita Wag Agrimanaki: Thank you Chaina! How happy I am that you appreciate what I write and to share a smile at the weekend is just too good. sending some Sweden hugs to your Greece.
Staffan: What a wonderful story you offer and what a hell of an experience. 1963 when everything was not so bound by rules. I understand that you remember it and wow. When I think back to what you have written, it was not better in the past but simpler and happier somehow. Thanks for writing about this Staffan. Have a nice weekend.
20 January 2017 - 9:13
Peter Bergström says:
Geddfish: Thank you very much Gerd, it warms my heart. Here's my life is over, but I have so much to tell in my own way, so I won't stop. I think you have told two warm stories from your week, which we have to take in life. We can only do the best we can. Nice nails you got too :-). Many warm hugs to you Gerd.
20 January 2017 - 9:22
Role o Carina says:
Firstly, we want to say: What a beautiful couple they are!
And Robin looks so much like Peter 🙂 .
And what fine renovations you have made to your accommodation.
Have a good time and a nice weekend to you all.....
20 January 2017 - 9:44
Ama de casa says:
What wonderful, lovely sunshine stories! 🙂
We have not moved much. In 35 years we have had 3 homes. But it is probably the northerner in me that has caused it - "We don't move!". Haha! Then you can wonder how it is that we are not really left in Norrland anymore... 😉.
I completely agree with you that material things are not attractive. Travelling and experiences - that's life! Yes, and then some good food and drink on top of that 😀.
Here we were happy that the snow disappeared as quickly (and surprisingly) as it appeared 😀.
20 January 2017 - 10:10
Ditte says:
Thank you for a nice Friday morning read! And if you want something really badly, it can usually be arranged. Of course, it usually requires hard work, luck and determination, but most things are possible.
To live well and to have found home there I think is important and we do not live in a houseboat but in an apartment on the quay and have what you have but without the "swing". On the other hand, we have had a sailboat in different rounds.
We also prioritise travel and experiences, and as I've said since my early teens, "money shouldn't stop me from travelling", and that's how it's turned out. It is important to be determined even if you want to travel.
Positivy during the week has been various plans for the summer both work and leisure with rrsor and to be back in the Spanish summer / winter cottage.
20 January 2017 - 10:50
Vanja Persson says:
So inspiring to read your stories, I'm retired but still get excited to try new things, I don't think it will ever be too late because changes are probably only the fear and health that stops it.
20 January 2017 - 10:59
Peter Bergström says:
Rolle & Carina: I'm sure they'll be happy to read it, because they will. A damn good attitude is what it takes sometimes and Robin & Alexandra have it so they will go far. Hugs and a nice weekend to you both.
AMA DE CASA: You are not a northerner at heart and I think they have banned you up north, haha. We are rejuvenating ourselves up here in Sweden. The pensioners are moving to Portugal and refugee children are replacing them. Strange world it has become. Of course, there is a little too much good food and drink to experiences, phew... We have started to work hard with the right food because we have to lose a bunch of kilos and less wine in the weeks. I love wine with food but it is not sustainable in the long run, and now we think about a couple of months. Glad you like a happy Friday greeting from me and it is appreciated that you write it. Many hugs and have a nice sunny weekend.
Hi Ditte: Thank you for enjoying the reading today and it was filled with joy. It would be great if we could meet sometime in the spring for more than five minutes at a blog meeting. It would be very nice! I hope you are snuggling in Spain now and have a lovely weekend. Hugs from me.
20 January 2017 - 11:28
Birgitta in Umeå says:
Like Anita (who we know), I say thank you for a lovely morning's reading. You begin to dream away to something else. But having just returned from Chania, it will be a couple of months at home in Umeå before we return for boat trips on the south coast of Crete.
After 40 years in the same terraced house, we have decided to sell. In a month we move into a 3-room apartment. There might be a bit more travelling now, mostly boat trips in Greece.
Have a nice weekend in the big city (smiley)!
20 January 2017 - 13:40
Peter Bergström says:
Vanja Persson: It's great that we can inspire you and we want to do that more. Experiences make us humans happy, so you definitely shouldn't get stuck at home, that's for sure, haha. It is too late to be afraid when you are retired. This is your time, set short-term and long-term goals and go out and experience if you can for your health. The best thing is to book something first, because then it happens, and you have a good feeling in your body that something fun will happen later. Take care of yourself and many hugs. DARE!
Birgitta in Umeå: Great Birgitta! Get out and travel instead of being stuck in a house or too big an apartment. We are here and now and you are doing the right thing. Experiencing the warmth and new travel destinations tingles a little extra in the stomach, and then you know that you are alive. Very good that you tell so that more people can be infected by filling their everyday life with something that is uplifting. Many hugs to you and a nice weekend.
20 January 2017 - 14:04
Solan says:
Of course you will be at least 90 Peter 🙂 You are thinking right (according to me) who do not get stuck in bigger accommodation, bigger car etc...no swing on and travel on 🙂.
20 January 2017 - 15:16
Mr Steve says:
Now I'm reminded again that I haven't read part 11. I'll check it out later.
When I read about Robin and Alexandra, I understand that in Stockholm there is something called a "housing career".
How cool it is that now that I've been following along for a few years, I start to recognise myself in your story. Your "journey" only gets cooler the more I read about it.
PS New Zealand was my dream destination for a long time, but unfortunately I never got there.
20 January 2017 - 15:35
JoY says:
Surely experiences are much more fun than material things that are acquired. Travelling short or long doesn't matter, just changing environment and seeing something different is fun.
The past week has been great with several days of slalom in Flottsbro backen. In addition, I have managed the first 5:2 day hihihi.
Have a nice weekend
SlalomKram to you
20 January 2017 - 15:42
Anette Åhnbrink says:
Very nicely written today Peter! And the thing about buying, fixing, selling, you will probably never get away, even if it is quiet on that front right now... just wait, there may be small filures soon❤ Here is sunny, Friday and I hope to get a good picture of the sunset, otherwise it will be a sunrise, the question is just where... reading everything about Albania and Macedonia right now, so questions will be at the fair? Maybe maybe eye to eye?/ good Friday kiss and nice weekend to you both!
20 January 2017 - 15:44
Peter Bergström says:
Solan: I just have to play my cards right so I can make it to 90, haha. We can't wait to get on the road with FREEDOM and we hope to take a long trip in June in central Europe. We miss being on the road and not really knowing where we are going, so we are a little jealous of you right now. Take care and say hello. Many hugs.
Steve: I wish I could do the New Zealand trip again and record 360 videos, so you could follow along. You never know because it's a country that you don't forget. Housing is definitely a career in Stockholm and people borrow so much money just to live. I hope that there will not be a housing bubble because then at least 30% of everyone who has bought will probably go. It's so fun with you Steve who has been reading for so long and you get a puzzle together, now that we have written from two directions. I hope you have a nice weekend and I send hugs to you both.
Joy: There are more people than us who need to start thinking a little when it comes to weight and health. At times you need to help your body a little because there are so many good things to eat :-). Here there are few slopes so keep going and it is also good for your health. I send some weekend hugs to you.
Haha Anette Åhnbrink: You know me too well already. Ok, I will surely fall there again, haha. When there is a challenge or a project, I will say yes again:-). You can ask as much as you want and we will also record the lecture and post it on Youtube. It is good for others to see and get some knowledge about these countries. I send weekend hugs to both of you and we'll talk again soon.
20 January 2017 - 16:15
Emma, sun like sun? says:
Recognise that (from others) with investing in the accommodation to get somewhere money-wise. If you have no money in the family but are handy and persistent, it is a good solution. If the rest of the family is involved.
20 January 2017 - 17:23
Matts Torebring says:
It feels like you are real entrepreneurs in the whole family. One thing is clear! You leave what is done and move on! Never stand still! Now you're floating too! Just develop and move on. I think that's good work and worth celebrating on a Friday like this.
20 January 2017 - 17:48
Anna, New York - My Bite of the Big Apple says:
It makes me so happy to read about your fighting spirit, determination and joy of life! Oh, how you inspire.
Robin seems to be a copy of you, Peter, both in appearance and mind. Fine sons you have!
Warm hugs to all of you!
20 January 2017 - 18:47
Elisabeth says:
And welcome to Murviel when you are passing by?
20 January 2017 - 19:05
BP says:
That was a perfect Happy Friday post! Oh Robin clearly has dad's genes - no doubt about it. In addition, I must once again admire how handy everyone is in your family - the exact opposite of us I can say;-)
One thing we have in common with you - we haven't had a housing career either. We have moved once since 1979 when we got together, and that was in 1980 from a one-bedroom apartment of 28.5 square metres on the 10th floor to a four-bedroom apartment of 106 square metres on the second floor. You can kind of change in different ways - hahaha:-)
There we took out a loan, which we paid back in five years. No debts here either. I mean, if you depend on your housing career, it's your children who have to pay the loans - provided they don't renounce their inheritance, of course. According to a colleague who did just that, a loan of five million, for example, is not possible during your lifetime...
You got your priorities right - again:-)
Something really funny happened to me today. A phone call that had completely unexpected and totally unexpected "consequences". Do not want to go into detail here, but can say that - sometimes it is not so stupid at all to "play ostrich" and put your head in the sand;-)
20 January 2017 - 20:52
gun says:
What great renovations you've made that have paid off in the end.
Great looking couple and the honeymoon must have been a lovely surprise for them. Wishing you a nice weekend.
gun
20 January 2017 - 21:39
Peter Bergström says:
Emma Sol som sol: The housing career really pays off. Paying 10-12,000 a month in Stockholm for a rental apartment is not an option. Knowing a little craftsmanship always pays off. Hugs to you Emma!
Matts Torebring: Thank you very much for that! All the things that we get involved in are projects and they have to be completed, then it's time for the next one. I know what you are struggling with and when you win one day, you move on to the next. I can probably say that you are the same and from me you should have a lot of praise for what you do. Have a great weekend Matts and here's a big friendship hug.
Anna, New York: You are so cute Anna. I hope you are doing reasonably well, and I am sending you a bunch of hugs to make you feel even better.
Elisabeth: Of course we do and a big thank you. Sending many hugs just because I want to.
Fan BP: How can you make me so curious? Big things happen and I don't get to know a thing. Life is pretty unfair sometimes, haha. I think when you're younger you don't have time to reflect on what's important in life. Seeing the most important thing as getting quality is something that comes with the years. Robin and I see ourselves as brothers and we always understand each other. It's nice to be so close to your children so we really need each other in life to move forward. When we meet, I need to know what you went through, but until then you get a bunch of hugs from me.
Gun: I am so happy when you write and I wish you a wonderful weekend. Here are 10 warm hugs just for you.
21 January 2017 - 18:44
Marina says:
Wonderful reading and it really feels like you have "found home for real". Wishing you all the best with future projects (which you will surely succeed in)!
21 January 2017 - 19:29
steel city anna says:
That's interesting about housing careers. Even though I'm from Stockholm, I've never thought that way. I'm glad we could buy a house and it was so hard that I never want to do it again! I want to spend a normal amount of money on housing and it doesn't really matter where I live. It's nice to avoid loans, but you have to try to plan and climb in your career and make profits 🙂 yes, the same phenomenon exists in England. When will you buy a bigger house, people wonder, and I don't even understand the question. Why is it like that.
Very nice renovated apartments!
I may be a bit alien to all that has but it was interesting to read 🙂 .
22 January 2017 - 0:50
Elisabeth says:
I've never done residential neighbourhoods, but the goal has been low rent, so we can travel and do other things. We have reached that goal. Reading and enjoying your blog, but I don't comment anymore, as I want to save my shoulder. Hugs to both of you and I look forward to being part of your project in the long run!
26 January 2017 - 17:11