This interview features Calin, who discusses what life is like under lockdown in his city, just outside of Bucharest. This is episode 5 of the ongoing series of lockdown chronicles. Find out how he and his wife are making the adjustment to lockdown in Romania, including homeschooling, and the toll on earnings.
Lockdown In Romania Episode: Podcast with Calin
I’ve known Calin for several years. He is actually one of the very first bloggers l encountered when l waded into the online world. At that point, his blog was focused on financial independence, something that l had been working towards since before the 2008 crash, but which really accelerated after the crash.
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As you might have guessed if you’re a longtime reader, I abandoned the idea of making my blog about FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) and made it all about travel. I just wasn’t too comfortable with disclosing my numbers, plus it was insanely hard to do it anonymously. Calin had also started out as a FIRE blogger, but switched to mainly writing about Romania. Somehow, our online friendship stuck.
It’s always wonderful when online friends become real life friends. We finally met a few years ago when we visited Romania, a country that l never thought l would visit in my lifetime, but one we enjoyed so much. It definitely helped having someone local to show us around and the fact that he, and his family turned out to be awesome, made the trip a beautiful one with great memories.
They in turn visited Valencia the following year, and l think they had a good time despite the fact that the Spanish siesta meant they couldn’t do a lot of kiddie activities. While their son was awake, everything was shut, and when they opened back up, he had to be put to bed 🙂 .
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Some of the lockdown in Romania episode highlights:
- His jump into the digital nomad world
- Cost of living and the exaggeration by big publications
- Hearing about the coronavirus and preparing for it
- Adjusting to the new normal
- Keeping their child entertained
- How the coronavirus has disrupted his online work, and the horrendous toll on his earnings
- What life is like in lockdown (rules and fines)
- Predictions for the nomad living movement.
Listen to the Lockdown in Romania episode:
You can find Calin on these blogs:
Romania Experience Blog (covers everything about Romania, including coronavirus stats)
Nomad Not Mad Blog (other travels)
Lockdown update: Valencia
The restrictions have eased a bit. As of May 2nd, adults are also allowed to leave their homes ( kids were finally allowed out the week prior). The time slots for venturing out are as follows:
Adults can go out from 6am – 10am and again from 8pm – 11pm for walks and other forms of exercise within a kilometre from home and two people can walk together.
Older people (over 70) and those that need caregivers have the time slots of 10am- 12 noon and again from 7pm-8pm slots.
Parents with children have the noon to 7pm slot.
The number of deaths continue the downward trend which is quite promising. Restaurants will start opening in the next few days at 30% capacity (May 11), and they are allowed to put tables outside to increase the numbers served.
We are required to wear masks on public transport as of May 4 to prevent further outbreaks.
Phase 2:
Table service only at bars and restaurants.
Cinemas, museums and theatres and places of worship at 50% capacity.
Phase 3 : The third and last phase (at least for now) will be the new normal they say, and will involve:
Restaurants opening at 50% or higher capacity.
Masks recommended, but not required.
All schools will resume in September. I wonder if that means l have to repeat my beginner Spanish class? She has been unofficially schooling us.
What a gorgeous looking family!
What amazes me and continues to do so, is that people have this “we’re all in this together” attitude which is fantastic. When l look at the protests going on in various states in the U.S., I can’t help but shake my head at the glaring difference and wonder what it is that causes such vehement actions.
There have been a small minority complaining here too, but they abide by the rules for the collective good, which is commendable. All we can ask of the government is that they continue to make decisions based on expert opinions, and not on false information. The first day out was of course a bit chaotic and it seemed few people were following the rules, but it got way better the second day. Let’s hope it holds. I don’t want a repeat of the full on quarantine.
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Other episodes of the lockdown series:
How are you faring in these strange times? I hope you are all hanging in there with relatively few problems. Hopefully, the longest March and April in history will make way for a happier rest of the year.
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Romania! My family had relatives in that country. Interesting place to visit.
Yes it definitely is an interesting place. I absolutely loved both cities we visited and would love to visit again.
Thank you again for having me, Kemkem. Since we talked, there’s an update: starting May 15th, the State of Emergency will end in Romania and we’re going to take the more relaxed approached that other countries in the West are. I don’t think it’s really the perfect moment here, since we don’t see a steady and/or substantial drop in new cases, but I guess we’ll see how that goes 🙂
They’re not planning to open restaurants yet, like the do in Valencia, so it’s still cooking at home from us. We’re getting better at this! 🙂
It was so much fun chatting with you on the podcast. I still laugh at the big fortune recollection :-). Good to know that things are being lifted there as well, but l do worry that there is no significant drop. It really makes me wonder if the border between countries will be open in the near future because if one place has it contained and lets everyone out, how can they be sure that other countries are doing the same? It’s one of the reasons that l think travel from the states to Europe is going to be on hold for a while.
Since Alina is a good cook, I’m sure you’re not suffering too much… haha! It makes things a lot more tolerable doesn’ it? To tell the truth, we are not planning on any restaurant visits any time soon.
Thank you Kemkem and Calin, I have enjoyed this Podcast. Well done Calin for persevering with the blog and pursuing his goals of becoming self-employed. Blogging is hard work and making a living from it even harder. Interesting to hear his reaction when he realized the Coronavirus had arrived in his country, like Calin we all thought the virus would stay contained in China..but a few months later here we are. It is fascinating to hear how everyone is coping in their own way. I loved the family photo, the funky hairstyle and the little one is just gorgeous.
We are going to hear about how some of the restrictions will be lifted here in the UK this weekend. No doubt it will be a very slow and calculated process. Keep well guys.
I’m glad you enjoyed the podcast Gilda. Thanks for listening. Yes, it’s quite commendable on his part, most people would have given up. It is hard work even though it looks glamorous from the outside, and for sure a crowded field, but he has been making it work all these years and l’m sure he will find a way for it to keep working. His son is quite precious isn’t he? 🙂
The speed at which the virus moved was indeed mind boggling. I am indeed curious to see how we are all coping. Stay safe as well.
I’ve seen Calin’s picture and read his comments on your blog posts for quite a while now and it was terrific to “meet” him on your podcast. I have to agree with you that the people you “meet” as a blogger is the biggest payback of writing a blog. It’s an awesome way to make virtual friends all over the world. Kudos to Calin for turning his dream of blogging as a career into a reality and I wish him much luck and success in the future. Romania has always been a place I’ve dreamed of visiting and hopefully, once I feel (way) less cautious about setting forth, it will be a country I can explore IRL. (I’ll definitely be in touch with you or Calin’s blog when I can turn that dream into a reality.) For now, like you and Calin discussed, my feeling about travel resembles an elusive pipedream and future travels will certainly be something we’ll all be approaching with great care. Stay well Kemi and Fede!
It was a fun conversation with Calin, and yes, you should definitely reach out to him if you travel there. His website touches on everything and l have always enjoyed finding out about the country. It enriched our trip there. For someone so young, he has a good head on his shoulders and has carved out a nice path for himself in the past years.
For now, travel is on the back burner for us. If it’s true what they say about not opening the border here till Christmas, we will keep discovering our backyard by train and bus, which l am totally okay with. We had started out doing just that the beginning of the year, and will keep doing it. I was always saying as much for the past three or so years, but now, will put my money where the mouth is. Haha! My friends and l speak about helping the economy here first anyway…so be it then.
Thanks for listening Anita, and for the comment. Your views are always welcome and appreciated. How glad are both not to be in our white jackets??? Haha! One of my older sisters is back there still, and she none too thrilled, but luckily she now works at a store with no drive thru and slow pharmacy.