The weekend of Jul 21st, my wife and I met up with other bloggers in Budapest. I will be honest, before getting on the plane, I was a little nervous… And it was not needed at all. The 4 days were amazing! I will do it again. It even got me inspired to do something locally. in Belgium and the Netherlands. More info at the end.
For those not familiar, FIWE is an initiative from WhatLifeCouldBe to unite European bloggers and people interested in FI. When I first came across the blogposts that announced the meeting, I was enthusiastic. I even managed to get my wife on board. We decided to go. Worst case, we would have a nice weekend together in Budapest. It turned out to be a nice weekend with 10 other FI enthousiastics.
Not only is Budapest a nice and lovely city to visit with a rich cultural background. It is also a perfect scene for a frugal meetup. We have spend most of our time eating and drinking while chatting and exchanging experiences, goals and ambitions. While doing so, we enjoyed local beers and street food!
On Saturday, our host had arranged for a guided city tour. The tour was very interesting to get to know about the local history and the role of the city in the broader european history. The tour ended with great local food and some deserts.
Like most of you, we also keep our plans hidden for our friends and family. There might be
different reasons we each have. Arriving at a FIRE meetup, you know you can speak to each participant about your goals,stress, doubts, plans, dreams. You can exchange tips & tricks, learn from each other. In the FIWE case, there even were people already FIRED or just one week away from being work free. It is possible! The nice thing is that you can do all of this without being judged or challenged on the fact that it is possible or not. You don’t even need to share your numbers. In fact, nobody asked mine and I asked nobody. Of course, in a conversation, a number might have been mentioned, only when it was relevant for the story. People had different approaches for the FIRE goal. Real estate was a big player, indexing was another. One thing we all had in common: we are conscious about our money and spending. I guess the right word is frugal.
There was ample time to relax. On Sunday, we hit a spa and enjoyed a roof top hot tub view on the city and then dove in a pool build in 1566. Very pleasant to go from 15°C water to 42°C water. It gets easier when you repeat a few times.
A big thank you to Robert and Emma for organising this fine trip. Also a big thanks to all other bloggers that came to Budapest and shared their stories. Both my wife and I have enjoyed our time in Budapest. It allowed us to define some of our plans better, it brought new insights. I even think it increased the interest my wife has in the subject!
With Cheesy Finance, we are thinking of setting something up for the BENL FI blogger meetup. 15 October is the date we have fixed. Interested? Take contact with us in the comments. (I can delete the comment if its only purpose is to get in touch via email)
WOW – that sounds like so much fun! Glad you decided to go and meet up with the other bloggers! Sounds like an outstanding weekend of fun with very like minded people 🙂
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That sounds AWESOME, I’m glad you guys had such a good time! I think the blogger meet up idea for you and Cheesy Finance is a great idea, if we were in Europe I’d love to have come along. I hope you all have fun 🙂
Tristan
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ATL – good for you for spending time with “The Network”, one of my unexpected joys I receive from blogging. I wish we were on the same side of the pond… I’ll be in Zurich in 2 weeks, then London in Oct. any chance we could meet??
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I had my first trip to Budapest just a few weeks ago and absolutely fell in love with the city’s beauty and culture. I think it’s really neat you got to meet up with other FI bloggers, which I’ve been curious about in Australia as well. Sounds like a very worthwhile trip.
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Hi,
Long-time reader, not so much commenter. But also from the Netherlands, and I love the idea of having a meetup, count me in.
Ciao, Avi
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Wow! I didn’t even know that there was a group meeting around Europe… Might be interested in coming over to Holland for a meetup with my better half, the only issues are work related (mostly), but maybe we can make it work a way or another… 😛
Send me some details once you have them! (email you should have already…) 😛
ciaocaioc
Stal
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Good for you for going out on a limb and making the trip. Glad it went so well. I wish I was in Europe to participate in your local meet up, hope you have a great time!
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sounds interesting for me 🙂
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Nice job ATL. A vacation and a meet-up. It sounds like fun. I like that you are planning your own meet-up.
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What a lovely idea to have a meet-up somewhere in Belgium or Holland.
I would be very interested to join in, preferably in a location that can be reached by public transportation (close to a bus or train station).
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Hey Petra, we are looking for a good reachable place. We keep you posted
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We were seriously considering going to the meetup in Budapest, but could not attend due to our recent move. After reading your post ATL, it sounds like we did miss a lot of fun!
We are very much looking forward to the “local” meet up on the 15th of October!
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Good idea. We’d love to join on the 15th
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Thanks for the kind words ATL, and thanks for being crazy enough to get on a plane to a strange city to meet up with a bunch of strangers you met on the internet! I’m glad you didn’t regret your decision and that you and Mrs ATL got something positive out of the weekend. The plans for FIWE 2017 are already taking shape, we’ll keep you posted…
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We really liked it. and as said, the Dutch branch has started!
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We are just in the planning phase. The dat is set to Oct 15. Location is TBD. We plan to have a meetup among bloggers so we can discuss a topic we like: FIRE.
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Wow that sounds fun! I would love to hang out with FI enthusiasts one day where no one will judge me on saying its impossible like the people at my work place!
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Sounds awesome! I remember being extremely nervous the first time I went to meet up with Personal Finance bloggers. Took a few minutes to acclimate but after it was a great time.
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Indeed, after the usual “sniffing” it is great fun.
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After some consideration: yes, I’d be interested!
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Very cool that you went on a vacation and explored a new city/country while meeting other bloggers.
Thanks for sharing
R2R
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I am interested but have another appointment that day. So please keep me posted for a follow up!
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