Becky & Mark: the UK techie couple building the coworking ecosystem in Bansko

Becky and Mark talk about their expat experience in Bansko. The couple moved to the Bulgarian digital nomad hotspot with Becky's daughter. They open up about the expat community, starting a business, and what's it like for them and their daughter. 

Mark: We're from Colchester in Essex in the UK, I eventually actually bought a property here. I remember arriving it was about a meter of snow and absolutely lovely with the mountains etc. Come back to sign the contract in the summer of that year and I was completely shocked to find it was 35 degrees.

Becky: When we moved here we brought my daughter Lily with us. She was 10 when we moved here, she spent a couple of months in the local primary school. And then she graduated from there and moved on to the secondary school. She is amazing. She's super active, she loves being outdoors.

Lily: My name is Lily. I'm 13 and I go to school and Raslow, when I first went to school in Bansko it was really hard because they didn't speak any English. So I met this girl Tilly, she's English. And we got put in the same classroom and she would help me and then there was this one teacher and she would have to go in different classrooms with me sometimes and teach me the lesson in English.

Mark: So Bansko as far as lifestyle is absolutely wonderful. I mean, the massive advantages here are the low cost of living, the wonderful food, the fresh mountain air. Actually, I think initially when I came here it was kind of known as a ski resort, but now it's becoming an all season resort with summer activities, mountain biking, wonderful spas, outdoor pools.

Lily: I like to do snowboarding, I have a friend Chris, and when I went to the mountain, he taught me how to do a 180 snowboarding in the air. So it's yeah, it's quite fun. In the summer, it's quite warm and I like to go to the pools with friends and chill.

Becky: You couldn't find a friendlier a group of people as far as the expat community. It doesn't matter who you are, what your background is what you enjoy. The activities are vast, you only have to join one of the Facebook groups or the WhatsApp groups or drop into one of the bars or the coworking run by the expats and immediately you will find your tribe, your group of people.

Mark: And Bansko is not a big town. So as a family coming here, you know, just walking around the streets, you're gonna bump into other families and people you know, so...

Becky: It's definitely nice because I think the locals get to know you quite quickly. And, and as I mentioned, it's safe in that respect

Mark: I mean, you know, the kids are still playing on the bikes down the streets. It's a really safe place to live.

Becky:

They're out on their bikes, they're playing in the streets. It's so safe, it's really safe. You really don't need to worry. We have a number of people here that have children, various different ages, so it's really growing.

Mark: Actually, one of the biggest things I've probably seen in Bansko over the last 16 years is the infrastructure change and the improvements to the town. The town is just looking 100% better than it was - lovely restaurants opening now, bars, children's play areas. All the roads have been replaced, as well as infrastructure as far as technology with new fiber networks.

Becky: I think you need to be open to change. You need to be open especially traveling with children, you need to be open to the fact that occasionally things might not go your way. But very quickly after that, it settles down. You just need to be able to read the children and make sure they're coping okay and be there to support them when they are having those wobbles.