Alex & Franzi moved from German Wuppertal to Zadar, and now in their vlog, they are teaching other Germans how to move to Croatia most easily. They enjoy Zadar and want to explore the whole of Dalmatia. In Croatia, they experience a freedom that we did not have in Germany lately.
Her name is Franziska Miksa. She is 25 years old, a German from Wuppertal and works as an assistant on the online project of her two-year-older boyfriend. He is Alexander Gebert, a native of Kazakhstan who moved to Germany with his mother from Kazakhstan when he was a boy. His job is a trading trainer, i.e. a financial trainer for those who want to be excellent and successful in business and trade. They have been living in Zadar for a month now, where they run their business. On their YouTube channel, Alex_Franzi and Instagram account they explain to other young Germans how to move from Germany to Croatia in the simplest possible way.
How to get OIB (PIN) in Croatia or how much money you must have in your account are pieces of information essential to know if you are German and want to take a significant step, such as moving to another country? So far, they have published four videos from Zadar, and they made their last online video diary from the Kraljičina plaža in Nin. Alex and Franzi represent a culture we commonly call digital nomads.
– We just wanted to move from Germany. Wuppertal is an industrial city with few sunny days and is not safe on the streets at night. We wanted to live in a nicer place. Our job is online, so we are not existentially tied to a particular place like the people who work in classic jobs – says Alex.
Their desire to move somewhere – preferably to the sunny Mediterranean – coincided with a recommendation they received from Alex’s student Iva.
Iva is, you guessed it, from Zadar.
– Iva was full of praise for Zadar, and when we looked at the photos, we saw that it is a beautiful town. After a month of stay, we can say that Zadar is really a wonderful town. We haven’t had a single bad experience – say Franzi and Alex.
Their pet, chihuahua Jay, was the most delighted with our arrival in Zadar.
Alex and Franzi’s apartment, rented until February 2022, has enough space to play, especially in the garden in front of the apartment.
– Jay enjoys the sun. He loves sunbathing, which he couldn’t do while we lived in cold Wuppertal. We all enjoy ourselves. We noticed that people in Croatia love dogs, which was nice to find out – says Franziska.
The German couple quickly realized the advantage of living in Croatia; a beautiful and spacious apartment in Zadar is three times cheaper than a similar one in Germany. Life is a bit slower and more pleasant, and there is plenty of time to explore places, people and customs. Little things seem to have revived Alexander and Franziska – having a carefree cup of coffee, walking through the narrow streets of Varoš or enjoying the spring sun on the Zadar waterfront.
– Zadar is a town where we can have everything we need, and everything is also at our fingertips within 20 minutes – young Germans are satisfied and happy that they chose Zadar to live instead of Dubai, where many of their countrymen live.
– Maybe in Dubai, everything would be like in Wuppertal where I didn’t have time for anything but work – says Franzi, whose working with Alex is not her first job. She left secondary school to do something more creative, so she retrained in technological design.
To work with Alex as well as possible, after they met two and a half years ago, Franzi enrolled in the study of business administrator at the Faculty of Economics. Alex, on the other hand, was a kindergarten teacher in Berlin. Five years before, he had gone to the United States, where he adopted a strategy which he now applies to teach students as a financial trainer.
– We are in Zadar for the time being. Where we will go later and whether we will go somewhere at all – we’ll see. We want to explore Dalmatia and the Croatian coast, go to Šibenik and Split. We have complete freedom that we did not have in Germany – says Alex.
They both point out that many people in Germany would love to leave Germany, but they fear what might await them out there. That’s why their video blogs will most help anyone who wants to move to Croatia. They will learn how to get an OIB (PIN), travel by car to Croatia, where to stay, how to generally make money online and how to enjoy the sunny Mediterranean coast.
– The sun was the first thing we saw when we passed Velebit. It was impressive – say the young Germans.
SOURCE&PHOTOS: Filip Brala / Zadar Tourist Board