Meeting other bloggers in fun

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

Underground prison cave where Dracula was held.

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)