Meet Carmen and Tom, one of the first digital nomads in Trogir
Why Croatia?
As travel devotees, my husband Tom and I had long talked of spending a couple of years living in Europe once our kids were old enough to appreciate the experience. Initially, we assumed our British citizenship would open residency doors throughout Europe, but Brexit sent us back to the drawing board. However, after reviewing the various temporary residence programs on offer, Croatia stood out for a multitude of reasons:
Temporary residency – Croatia offers a digital nomad program offering the possibility of a 12-month stay.
Lifestyle – Croatia is famous for its friendly people, relaxed attitude to life, and live and let live mentality. As a bonus, the scenery is beautiful, the cuisine fantastic and the climate favorable.
Finances – Croatia offers a high and modern standard of living at a lower cost than Australia.
Healthcare – High-quality healthcare is both accessible and affordable.
Communication – In part due to the importance of tourism, there is a high prevalence of English speakers in Croatia.
Security – Reports often recognize Croatia as one of the safest countries in Europe.
Why Trogir?
Not speaking the language, when we first landed in Croatia, we chose to live in Split for easy access to the expat community and international school with its English speaking teachers. However, within a couple of weeks, we realized that it would be easy to stay anonymous in a city as large as Split rather than become part of the community. In Trogir, we found the old-world charms and many of the amenities of Split on a much smaller scale.
Following advice from other expats, we enrolled our tweenagers in the local school where all the teaching is in Croatian. The teaching staff have been incredibly supportive in helping the kids integrate, and making friends has not been a problem, given English is a compulsory subject at school.
With the compact nature of Trogir, everything is walk-able, and we have been able to dispense with the need for a car. This accessibility and the pervasive feeling of safety allow our children to have unprecedented freedom. They walk to school and football independently and relish the ability to disappear with their friends on the weekends. We didn’t see these things as possible while living in Australia at their current ages.
The smaller population of Trogir has allowed Tom and I to make connections and friendships within the community more readily. I love that we ended up in a bake-off after our neighbor showed up unexpected with a ‘welcome to the neighborhood gift. I like sitting down at our favorite coffee shop and having our order appear without asking. It warms my heart that the old ladies at the green market ask after our boys every time they see us. The people we’ve met in Trogir have gone out of their way to help us feel at home, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Advantages of Working From Home
The digital nomad program in Croatia is open to people who conduct business online, provided they can meet the minimum monthly income or cash at bank requirements specified. So if you’re someone who can motivate yourself to meet deadlines without someone looking over your shoulder, this program is a fantastic way to access life in Croatia. While working from home is not for everyone, it has been a stellar life choice for our family. We have been in the audience for every key event in the boys’ school life, and not once have I needed to ask someone’s permission to stay home when one of my babies is unwell. In addition, with family living in the UK, the ability to generate an income without being tied to a physical location means we can enjoy long holidays with grandparents without sacrificing our income. The flexibility of our work situations has also paid dividends now the kids alternate weeks between morning and afternoon school.
Tips & Tricks
Research which type of temporary residence permit is most appropriate for you, and determine what documentation you will need. Ensuring all necessary documentation is notarized or apostilled is easier before leaving your home nation.
Bring an ample supply of patience. Bureaucracy is an unavoidable part of Croatian life. Many things, particularly those involving the government, take longer than expected and all you can do is keep a sense of humor and roll with it. On the plus side, the relaxed attitude to deadlines also extends to other aspects of life. For example, my oldest son thought it was fabulous when one of his teachers was 15 minutes late to class because she was drinking coffee with her friend at the cafe next door.
Change the way you shop. Growing up, I remember my mother going to the butcher, the greengrocer and the baker to buy fresh produce and only purchasing packaged goods at the supermarket. These days in Australia, most people favor the convenience of big chain supermarkets over more traditional ways of shopping. When you move to Croatia, I encourage you to return to your roots. Support the old ladies in the green market selling fresh produce from their gardens, hit up the butcher to mince your meat to order and stroll the fish market to find the startled-looking sardines. It’s good for the soul to buy from the source, and if you cook based on what’s in season, the quality will surpass anything you find in the supermarket.
You’re going to need access to cash. Segments of the Croatian economy still operate solely on a cash basis, so you’ll want to carry cash everywhere. Ensure you have a bank account that lets you withdraw from an ATM without excessive fees. Digital banks such as Wise or Revolut are great for this as they also allow you to convert money from one currency to another easily.
Cultural Integration
Croatian is not an easy language to learn. If you have any doubt, mention your intention to take lessons to a local -they’ll be quick to tell you what an uphill battle you face. As a native English speaker, there is little that I find intuitive about the Croatian language. For instance, it makes no sense to me that someone decided that a table is male, but a chair is female. Why? So far, I’ve learned twelve different words for ‘your’ and six different versions of my name. And don’t get me started on how hard it is to get my mouth around long strings of consonants and letters such as č, ć, dž, đ, š, ž, lj and nj.
Learning Croatian might be a challenge, but that’s not a reason not to try. And because Croatian people recognize that it’s hard for our English-speaking brains and tongues to grapple with their language, they support and encourage even the slightest effort, even when you don’t get it quite right. Croatians are proud of their culture and heritage, and if you want to shake off the ‘tourist’ labels, making an effort to understand traditions and communicate in the local dialect is a great way to start.
