Our small village in France

We currently live in Guyonvelle, a village of about 100 residents in the Haute Marne province. We are about 60 miles from Dijon, a large city that draws a lot of tourists from all over the world.

Guyonvelle is in an agricultural setting. Our house is at the end of this street:

The house itself was built in 1806, on the remains of a castle that was much older, and very large. Our (wine) cellar for example is from that medieval structure and the north wall of the house is about three feet thick. The house itself is very comfortable and spacious. In addition, there are two very large stone barns and another, smaller house on the property which is on about 9 acres of wooded terrain. An abundance of space, all the more when comparing to the boats we are considering as liveaboards. Here's a picture of the front of the house:

It's been a very mild fall, although last night it dipped to about 40 degrees. We've been heating the house on firewood, with the large cooker that is in the kitchen, very cozy. We'll be going for a walk today to enjoy the fall colors, I need to mow the grass one last time before winter, and I am thinking of lighting the large pile of gardening leftovers from the past months (think large bonfire) so that's all cleaned up.

Loggers have been cutting down lots of century old trees on a neighbouring property, so our view from the house has changed a bit. Times are changing.

Waiting pattern

No post yesterday, as we are waiting for the boat broaker to digest our list of potentials, make appointments for showings and get back to us.
This has been a year in the making, actually a bit longer as we decided almost two years ago to eventually retire in Key West on a boat. Not in a house, because we are concerned that rising sea levels will eventually declare Key West, the other Florida Keys and many other places, unfit for living, cancelling out any investment in real estate there. Being from Amsterdam, we figure a boat is an investment unaffected by rising sea levels, so that became the idea. Neither my wife nor I have ever lived on a boat, but how hard can it be, right?

This is the marina we have a boatslip in, in Key West. We're all the way at the end, by the open water:

The main thing, judging from the (not so many - hmmm, wonder if that means anything?)  blogs, youtube movies and other media, is that you have to learn to do with 'less stuff'. This should be easier in warmer climates such as Los Angeles, where my job is based, and Key West. So we're looking forward to making the move and adjusting to life on the water. We don't have any plans to do long distance boating yet, however 'the great loop' could be something that we could get into, eventually.

Today we got in touch with a boat broker I visited last year, who are specialized in liveaboards in Marina del Rey. I gave him a list of boats we researched on the main website where boats for sale are listed, YachtWorld. The list contains some thirteen boats that fit our criteria: between 43 and 53 feet long, diesel engines, motor yachts as opposed to sail boats, and some other things like multiple living spaces and at least two cabins. Here's an example of such a boat:

We also booked a flight for November, to look at all of these boats, and hopefully narrow down the search to one or two that we can have a survey done on. The actual purchase could be done once we are back in France, 'long distance'. The aim is to have the boat ready and waiting when we move to LA, in January (if all continues to go according to plan).

Why this blog

To keep a diary of our daily life as it moves from living in a small village in France to Los Angeles, where we plan on living on a boat in Marina Del Rey. This move is supposed to happen in January, so we still have a few months of preparations to go. Part of those preparations will be to figure out how to make an interesting blog.