Australia to Italy - living in transit

MOVE TO ITALY

Stuck in Transit

Well this just seems perfectly timed for today, and a perfect time to update you on our journey from Australia to Italia.

It’s starting to become like a game of “Where’s Wally” only we aren’t wearing stripy shirts. We have been a family in transit now since June when we finished our renovations and put our house in Brighton up for sale. As I’ve said before we thrive on change, there is no choice in the matter

We would soon be on the plane and heading for Italy…. and to our Italian renovation in Veravo Liguria.

With that in mind we had a massive garage sale and sold or gave away most of our belongings (including the Christmas tree, furniture, toys, DVD’s, etc) it was very liberating.

We had started on our plan of living a simple life.

Our house looks glorious and so elegant, we had hired furniture for two months thinking that would be plenty of time to sell, and started to pack. Bring on the agents and the dreaded “Open for Inspection” days every Saturday. Our house was on stand by for buyers, we had 30 minutes warning before the agent would arrive with prospective buyers.

In the meantime the market dropped and kept dropping, our house that we knew to be worth a certain amount dropped dramatically in price. Nobody saw this coming including us. Long story short, we can’t sell our house. We have gone through every option known to man and then some, and we are still here.

Sooooo currently we have put in an offer on a property here. If it goes ahead we will do a mega quick cosmetic renovation of 6 -8 weeks, then get it revalued and go from there. We are looking to be back in Italy early next year, and have now been in transit for 16 months since buying this house till today.

There is no question that we will get there, this is just a spanner in the works.

In a way the delay has just made us stronger, I now know we can live with next to nothing and from moment to moment. That our relationship and family can cope with disappointment, change in circumstance, and living in limbo! We are a family now living in transit….

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and the gang x

18 replies

Melissa {Suger} says:
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Sigh. I feel you. And what a wonderful thing to discover, your family, can survive. Did survive. But than we knew that already. You’ve already overcome so much. Looking forward to many more lunches in Qld and some after that in Italy. xox
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Ohhh so looking forward to that day we step on the plane and can sit back. We just keep going, each new hurdle has a way over, under, around or through.
  here’s to that first sip of vino on the terrazo!! ciao gorgeous! xx
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Momographica says:
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Your blog is so very inspiring! Beautiful job you have done here 🙂
I am really happy to hear you like my country. Please, if you feel like to, when you come to Italy,let’s have a blog meeting! 🙂 And feel free to ask questions, if you like to 🙂
Liguria is in a terrible moment right now. The weather made such disasters in the past weeks. I met with a friend from Genoa today (I live in Brescia) and she told me about their situation. The city is slowly coming to life but the countryside (Appennino) is still in a bad situation. Please be careful when you come here and enjoy your staying 🙂
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  how funny, for Aussies we are almost neighbors. I googled Brescia and it came up 333 kms away which made me laugh as 333 is my lucky number! Your home city looks beautiful, is it a large city? It is so sad about the disasters in Liguria, very sad. In Brisbane this year we had devastating floods with great loss of life, it takes a long time to recover both mentally and physically. I so look forward to catching up with you when we arrive. ciao lisa x
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Carla Coulson says:
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Lisa things happen for a reason…………what reason?? I am sure you are asking.
So I hope my book is an inspiration for you and lets you know through passion,hard work, patience and perseverance your dreams come true.
You will be realising your dream before you know it.
Carla x
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Carla I have to admit that I’ve been keeping your book for just the right moment. And that moment was tonight, I love the weight of it in my hands, the new book smell, the crispness of the pages…even the bright red wrapping. All this before turning the first page and then I was lost…now is the time to savor each word, seek the detail in each image and yes be inspired by your courage (I read the part about bursting into tears after your first shoot) we are chasing our dreams. I’ll be writing something here to share my delight, ciao lisa x
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Trisha Thomas says:
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Lisa – I am sorry to hear about your spanner in the works, and I admire your upbeat attitude and determination. It is also beautiful to read about your dream and how you will make it a reality. We all need dreams. Today I have been thinking about my Grandmother Virginia Pinney who faced a hell of a lot of setbacks in life and never let them get her down. I will be hopefully posting tonight with a couple of her favorite expressions. But one of my favorite expression is “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” I think you are doing that. Interestingly, that phrase makes no sense to an Italian– if life has given you a tree full of lemons in your backyard, you are lucky, no need to bother with lemonate. And one last thing….when you say “living in limbo” you reminded me that I must file my post on Italian attitudes towards LIMBO. My Italian in-laws were really weird about that.
Hang in there Lisa, some day soon you will be in Liguria and I think I will be dying to come visit you and check out your fabulous renovation!
Un abbraccio, Trisha
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Trisha we certainly all do need dreams even of Kitty Softpaws! My Mum is another strong amazing woman who had many setbacks yet taught me to keep dreaming. I think she would agree with your Grandmothers words. Sooo funny the way Italians would read this….Lemonade…what for? I will be very interested to read your take on Limbo…since we’re stuck in it ha ha. Italian in laws are the best aren’t they, all kinds of gems come from them. Folklore rules!
  Yes yes you will be welcome when we get started on the big reno, so can’t wait to get there.
  ciao lisa x
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Maid In Australia says:
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Wow – I admire your determination and positivity. Soon you will be living the dream. Can’t wait to read more of your adventures!
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Soon soon soon, I’ve been using that word a bit recently….especially to the kids. There’s no question now but WHEN? Look forward to chatting, ciao lisa
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LindyLouMac in Italy says:
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Sorry to hear about your setback, I admire your ability to stay outwardly smiling through it all. 🙂
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Ahhh Linda you got me summed up perfectly…outwardly smiling inwardly crying!! ciao lisa
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Lisa Wood says:
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Hi Lisa,

I so get what you are saying! We would love to be on our way, travelling Australia but sometimes in life we have to wait a bit more to really appreciate what we are going to experience 🙂

Love your style of house, and love following your journey to Italy. It will be amazing when you do get over there!

Cheers
Lisa
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  You certainly do understand Lisa, it’s about being happy in the present moment I guess. When will you set off again? All part of the big adventure and certainly a learning curve. Quite stressful though for us all, like running around in a mouse wheel. Man am I going to have some stories to tell when we get on that plane, although now Sam is resurecting his “lets go by train” idea as we don’t have to rush to get there.
  ciao bella
  lisa x
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Cathy says:
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Wow Lisa, I really do admire your determination to make your Italy move a reality. All the best for the upcoming months.
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Thanks Cathy, you know the old ad “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen”
  we are unstoppable!
  see you there soon!!
  ciao bella xx
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Misha Welsh says:
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I realised at the end of reading this post that I was literally holding my breath! What an intriguing twist to the tale that is being woven into your family’s tapestry. It will make it even stronger. I can’t wait to hear the next instalment! xo
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Thanks Misha, funnily enough my Mum sent our daughter a patchwork quilt covered in many houses, we have managed to name most of them from our moves. A tapestry sounds perfect!! I’ll keep you posted on the twists, and can I just say how much I love your blog!!
  ciao lisa x
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