Transcription - Retire Rich in Freedom with Eva Noelle Fassbender

House Of Peregrine (01:04)

welcome back to the House of Peregrine podcast. Thank you so much for joining us today. Have you ever had that feeling that maybe life could be slower, sweeter and more grounded? That somewhere across borders or oceans, there might be a place that offers more freedom? My guest today knows that feeling well and she's built her life in business around helping others follow that call. Eva Fassbender supports people who are ready to make the leap to Italy.

as a place to truly live and be free. With a background in business strategy and a passion for intentional living, Eva guides soon to be expats through the emotional and practical side of relocation, finding clarity, making smart decisions, and building a sustainable life in a place that inspires them. She also runs the Sardinian, a travel company that curates meaningful holidays and custom trips to the beautiful island of Sardinia.

In this conversation, we talk about the dream of moving abroad, heritage, and what it really takes to make that dream your reality. From designing a life that reflects your values to navigating the risks, rhythms, and revelations of starting fresh, brings honesty, structure, and a beautiful dose of possibility. If Italy is calling your name, or if you've ever wondered what it takes to answer that kind of call, I think you'll find a kindred spirit in Eva. I hope you enjoy today's podcast.

House Of Peregrine (02:22)

welcome and thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

Eva (02:26)

Thank you so much for having me.

House Of Peregrine (02:28)

I want to start out because the story, the part of the story that I really love that I think maybe you don't get to tell as often is your story of your, how you came to live So start, I always ask people the question like, when did you know you wanted to live in a different country? And so maybe start there and take us through your wild journey.

Eva (02:51)

Yeah, for sure. So yeah, it's actually true that people often at the first glance don't get really to ask me why I'm here, because they are maybe more interested in coming themselves. And then at the second or third conversation, sometimes they wonder about that. And it's also very nice for me because it's a story that is very emotional and also

I didn't get to choose Sardinia, but Sardinia kind of chose me as I was three years ago on a travel to find in Italy, to find my long lost family. So basically my mom, when she was a child, her dad left Germany to come back to Italy to Naples. The family is from there.

And so 50 years later, I found myself in Naples in that place to look for him. Just with a kind of castrolina, which is like a small postcard from this time where there was a poem in Italian, to my nonna from him and a photo which was super old. So these two things. And yeah, I went to the place. It was empty. was nobody basically.

House Of Peregrine (04:02)

So,

right, but back up. So where did you find this postcard? Like, you can't just start there in the middle of the movie. Like, you found this postcard. Did you find it? Was it given to you? Okay.

Eva (04:15)

It was given to me, yeah. So basically

my nonna, my grandma, she still had it from back then. And so I basically asked her, I already knew this story from all my life, but it was never so present, so clear to me. Also as being the grandchild, I think there's a different kind of thing. You don't grow up with a...

House Of Peregrine (04:38)

So was ⁓

like a question you were always kind of, it was part of your family's history, but it kind of stayed with you, this question. Like it doesn't, did it not make sense? Did it just, did you wonder about it? Were you sad about it? What was the experience?

Eva (04:41)

wonder at you.

Yeah, so I wondered about it, but even more my mom, think, always had like this, let's say, wandering, I guess, not so active as she would have gone there herself. Also, I think there's a lot of emotional things connected with that, right? So you maybe wonder about it, but you are also scared.

to find something that might not be as as you would have wished for, right? And so I basically decided to go there and find out whatever is there and if someone would I don't know lock the door in my face or something like this, it wouldn't have hit me so hard, you know.

House Of Peregrine (05:36)

Yeah, so you were kind of doing also for your mom.

Eva (05:40)

Exactly. I think more for her than for myself, actually.

House Of Peregrine (05:41)

Yeah.

wow. And so you kind of grew up with this, this clue to who the other part of your family might be. And so you followed it. Like, that's very brave. How many how many cousins and sisters and brothers do you have that didn't do that?

Eva (05:59)

I have one brother who didn't do it. think that I always have been so much more connected to Italy. I traveled a lot there, especially in the South. I love the South. Been a lot to Puglia, Campania, also Naples a couple of times before. And then at this point I decided to, okay, now I have to check this out. And the journey was incredible because in the end I ended up in...

House Of Peregrine (06:08)

I see.

Yeah, nice.

Eva (06:27)

in Lazio, to Rome actually, so in a completely different place, because also my family, my Italian family, Naples.

House Of Peregrine (06:39)

So you already grew up as a multicultural kid because it sounds like your mom's Italian. Yeah.

Eva (06:39)

And so, yeah.

A little bit, yeah.

So my mom is half Italian though and I mean we were growing up always with this background but never active so basically not speaking Italian.

House Of Peregrine (06:54)

Yeah.

really? So your mom's half Italian, but you grew up speaking which language? German. In Germany. Yeah. My kids are growing up in the Netherlands speaking English at home, so I never assume. And my partner and I are both American, it can be anything. So I always love to hear what people, the languages they have running through their lives. So.

Eva (07:00)

German, because I grew up in Germany exactly. Yeah.

yeah yeah yeah

House Of Peregrine (07:19)

Thank you for going over that because I think it's actually remarkable that you had this story. You take this and was it a plan you had or was it something that you kind of did on impulse?

Eva (07:32)

It was more an impulse. This is really like booking a flight and going. Yeah, yeah, yeah. was something. No, no, no, no, for sure. I think not everyone would do that. I think that it's the best way to do it because maybe you wonder for 10 years about this, not really actively, but somewhere in the back of your mind and you think like, okay, I don't have the time. don't like, like always in life, right?

House Of Peregrine (07:35)

Wow. Do you see how brave that is? That's not everyone would do that.

Eva (07:57)

Maybe I don't want to even know about it really. And so you wonder a little bit. And so if you have like a small push, I also had this mini push from the outside, let's say someone that was asking about it and says, okay, you know what, let's do it now. Immediately this weekend, no flight back and just see how far we go. Yeah, yeah, was like this like a movie.

House Of Peregrine (08:21)

That's, I love that. So this mini push from Destiny Called, I guess, is a way to put it. Okay, I'm glad we didn't miss that part of the story because that's actually, I hope your grandkids hear this story. Anyway, so you find yourself in Italy with the postcard and that's it. what happens then?

Eva (08:23)

Mm-mm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Me too.

So basically I went to the communal which is like the where where this is central part of the village where I was in the periphery of Naples it's a small small place a little bit in the outside and I went to this I didn't have an appointment or anything they were about to close and I said like hey guys so in my broken Italian right because I learned a little bit of Italian before

but it was not at all fluent, okay? So I was starting to ask if they could open again for me and I had this postcard in my hand. I was trying to explain the thing and they saw the postcard and as you can imagine, an Italian guy from a small village seeing this thing.

from the 50s, was like, okay, what is that? And yeah, and so they got involved in this, like also emotionally, he let me in again. And then everyone there, all the three people that worked in this space stayed for the afternoon, trying to figure out this thing with me. There was also a contact from a grand aunt, grand aunt that I have who still lives there.

They called her because they know her personally and she refused she said like no I might know about this thing But I don't want to have anything to do with it. So this was the first pushback and I was like, no, no, okay Okay, maybe this was not a good idea But then the end of this afternoon because you know that you cannot just give someone this kind of information, right?

House Of Peregrine (10:04)

Wow. Yeah.

Eva (10:15)

So even in a small place in South Italy, it's a little bit, there is some kind of data security, data protection that they try to keep. But yeah, well, in the end, I had like a small piece of paper when it was all the addresses of my aunts and uncles in Latina.

House Of Peregrine (10:23)

Yeah. Yeah.

Wow.

So that was the first pushback. But do you see how, I mean, some would say crazy it is to just go and then you got in. Like these are stories that people write about for generations. You understand. So then tell us what happens.

Eva (10:50)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So basically from there I took a car and I went north there to Latina and tried to find the address. I had three addresses in total. I decided to go to the one that was the furthest away from the other two which were together kind of in the same street. It was a strategic decision because I thought like okay if someone is not happy to see me

for whatever reason because you never know who you encounter. My heart was pumping as crazy. And yeah, I jumped out of the car and just rang the bell and there was a very nice lady opening the door with two dogs and two girls actually. And she was explaining to me that she's the wife of my uncle and that yeah, that she's going to tell him about me and

In this moment, I I don't remember everything, but I remembered that it was very important for me to tell her immediately in any way. Like I was reading the deep L before, right? Like, okay, what do I want to say? What do I want to say? Keep it in mind, keep it in mind. And I wanted to say that I will stay in the area for the next couple of days, whatever happens. So if they want to contact me, this is my number.

and there's no strings attached, nothing. I would just hang around basically. And if they want me, I will be there. This is what I wanted to get across. And yeah, this was the moment basically. I have a photo of this.

House Of Peregrine (12:27)

Yeah. Wow. Wow. And so then

you've so you found you made contact, but then you needed to wait for them to because this has come out of the blue for them. They might have even known about you or more about you. Or maybe it was just a family, something than the family. But you didn't know. But so they're having to grapple with you showing up on their

Eva (12:55)

Exactly.

House Of Peregrine (12:56)

So you were actually taking a huge leap of faith to then wait. So you waited for a few days and what happened?

Eva (13:03)

Yeah, I waited a few days. I was all over the place really. I was trying to keep it together but I really was hoping deeply that they would reach out. And when they reached out, I was so happy just to have this chance to see my uncle and the family to meet them. And they invited me very casually for a pasta on Sunday.

Yeah, really a simple thing. I went there, it's like almost like a farmhouse. yeah, they welcomed me into their home and we had pasta together, like with red sauce, very, very simple thing, but super nice. And I was very happy.

House Of Peregrine (13:43)

Yeah. And did you know you would, you didn't know if you're going to make that connection, but you did. So that was your first kind of, you went to Italy finding who part of your mom was, right? And then what happened? So you got to know them a little bit. And then what was your next move?

Eva (13:44)

Mm-hmm.

So it was a little bit more complicated than I was hoping for. In this moment there, I understood that the brothers and sisters were a little bit in dispute about things that happened a long time ago. So they were not talking to each other, which was more difficult because also they were talking not with each other in another language. basically, in this moment, what I had to do was

House Of Peregrine (14:23)

Yeah. Yeah.

Eva (14:28)

in this moment, I was trying to figure out how can I get to know the other ones without offending the third, let's say. But they were very kind, they were very understanding, they were bringing me to the other part of the family. And in this moment, there was another emotional breakdown.

of the two, my two cousins, the two young girls. They, for the first time in five years, I think, could talk to her grandma, which is my Italian grandma, when she was on the phone, because she wasn't physically there, she was in Sardinia, which is the crazy...

full circle story at this time but my aunt called her and these girls started to cry and she started to cry and then I started to cry and basically everyone that was there in this table started to cry and yeah we kind of reunited over that I guess.

House Of Peregrine (15:06)

Yeah.

Wow. You know, I don't know if I'm sure you've heard of this, but this is what a lot of people refer to as like a cycle breaker. So you basically physically broke a cycle of silence between the women in your family. Yeah, between them too. Yeah. So that's that's probably not what you were intending to do, but that's what happened. Yeah.

Eva (15:24)

Mm-mm.

Between also them. Yeah.

Exactly, exactly. yeah, yeah. And you never know.

You cannot prepare it. think that people who have these kind of stories, they can relate deeply to that. You kind of are in a constant mode of, okay, everything can happen now. They can pop up someone that you wouldn't expect there. Someone could be very angry with you, very disappointed or something like that.

You are just in, it's very stressful also emotionally.

House Of Peregrine (16:12)

Yeah, absolutely.

And you're taking a massive risk, but it then took you on the rest of your journey to where you are today, which, so you were in Sardinia or you're in, ⁓ not Sofia.

Eva (16:26)

I was there,

I was in Lazio, which is in Costa Roo.

House Of Peregrine (16:28)

Yeah, Lazio, okay.

And so then that must have changed your life. Did it make you want to take more risks? Did it make you want to travel more? This experience of reconnecting with your family, what it set off in you?

Eva (16:42)

So that basically led me to, mean, obviously I wanted my family to participate in this, right? Because basically there was me that satellite that did something more or less independently, no matter what.

and there was a part of me that was left behind in Germany and this was the real thing that I wanted to do. For Christmas I waited a couple of months and I gave a present to my mom for the next day of Christmas morning which was going to Rome and going to Latina to see them.

And so this is what I did and they had a, there is a big tradition where everyone comes together in the first day of Christmas, all the family to come together to eat. They didn't know that we were coming and I brought my mom there. This was the next step.

House Of Peregrine (17:38)

Wow. So she didn't know until then that you had found part of her family?

Eva (17:43)

She knew it, I was calling her, so in that moment when we all started to cry, basically I called her and she was on the phone. But as you can imagine, it was a little messy. It was a language barrier, incredibly difficult to communicate. And so when she was there, this was really incredible because there was also my Italian grandma there in this moment. She came back from Sardinia.

House Of Peregrine (17:47)

good.

Eva (18:06)

to past Christmas and yeah so this was the real unification.

House Of Peregrine (18:09)

Wow.

Wow. This is like, yeah, so beautiful. So beautiful that you had the courage to do that. And yeah, I'm glad that it worked out. It doesn't always work out that way, but it's incredible that it worked out and you were able to make that connection. And so what I want to know is did it change your plans? Because I know what the next chapter is traveling. You decided to travel.

Eva (18:38)

Exactly. So after a little bit, it was almost one year later, I went on a travel to South America. I was going from Mexico to Guatemala to Colombia. And in Colombia, I met Sardo, which is a person of Sardinia, a Sardinian guy who was there for vacation. And it was very interesting because we met in a bar with a lot of people around us.

and we were talking and he said like, I'm from Sardinia. And I said like, wow. So I'm gonna be in Sardinia next summer because my family, they have houses there since forever and I reunited them just lately. And so we're gonna meet there everyone. Yeah. And so.

House Of Peregrine (19:20)

Wow.

And so that started,

what did that start off? Meeting this guy in this bar.

Eva (19:29)

So actually he was, first of all he was blown away by the story. Italians I think is even more an emotional topic because there are these stories sometimes because a lot of Italians in this time go, went for work in other countries especially also in Germany and he was so touched by this small poem on the postcard.

He was like, can you send it to me? So I don't care. You don't have to give me your number. I will delete it immediately. But just send me this photo of the postcard. And I said, yeah, sure. And yeah, so this started like a big romance. And in the end, I wanted to go to Argentina. But I lost my flight and I went to Sardinia.

House Of Peregrine (20:00)

Bye.

what did the poem say? Can you tell us what it translates to?

Eva (20:17)

the poem said, translated like in the way that I would do it in English because it's a little bit lyrical. The sun of this place looks like your eyes that I will always remember until the rest of my life.

House Of Peregrine (20:39)

Wow. And say it, can you say it in Italian? I don't know if you speak enough to like, can you say it in Italian as well? Cause we have Italian listeners.

Eva (20:46)

I can't say it in Italian, I just have to because word by word. Just one second.

but

House Of Peregrine (20:58)

Nice.

Eva (20:58)

And then Pasquale

was my, my nonna.

House Of Peregrine (21:03)

cute.

And do we now know the story of why he never came back?

Eva (21:06)

No, actually there is no real story about that. So we couldn't really figure out. He was a... What I understood from my family is that he was private person, let's say, not so...

Yeah, not so outspoken, not so communicative maybe. And this was a kind of a family myth. was something that was there, but that was not talked about so much. So I could never really understand why he never came back, why he was never looking for my mom. Yeah. And also I think it's a little bit difficult for them to answer that.

House Of Peregrine (21:49)

Yeah, of course. You can't answer for other people's reasons. But what we do know is it started your own love story.

Eva (21:53)

Exactly.

This is for sure. So from this moment, basically, when I came here in Sardinia, I did a, let's say a test run, like often people do when they go to new places. I rented an Airbnb, which was beautiful for one month. This was my try period. And in this month, I got to know the island very well, because I mean, I've been here before. It was 10 years before that I was in the north of Sardinia and I was never in the south.

I discovered that part and I got to know a bunch of super nice people. I was welcomed into open arms. It was an incredible time. I love to remember these moments. I enjoyed myself a lot.

House Of Peregrine (22:41)

So this was the beginning of your love story with your partner and also the beginning of your love story with this place. Amazing. And so as you were settling, as you were thinking about, do I love this place and having this romantic beginning, what were the questions you were asking or tell me that story? Because you say,

Eva (22:44)

Mm-hmm.

⁓ Exactly.

House Of Peregrine (23:02)

You weren't planning on moving to Italy. That was not your plan. This was not anything to do with... This was not like part of your five-year plan or something. And so how did you square that by letting yourself kind of be, you know, seduced or romanticized by these things? Like what was your process? If there was one, which there doesn't have to be a process, by the way.

Eva (23:05)

No.

Mm-mm.

No, no, no, no.

So.

So yeah, think that I wanted to... I was curious because I was always all my life curious about Italy and I knew that there was something, right? Since forever and it was not that it was never an option for me. I didn't actively think about it, but if someone would have asked me like, hey, you can live here in my apartment for a year.

For sure, I would have gone to Rome, but also to anywhere, any place in the south. And my work allowed it. And so I was very, let's say I had a warm, easy landing and that started exactly that process to fall in love with this place. I think that for everyone that is coming to a different place, doesn't matter how far it is, you have to adapt, right? So you learn a lot of things.

But Sardinia makes it very easy for you and I have to say that the thing that made this process as smooth as possible were the people. Everyone was so kind of me. I had this great connector which is my boyfriend who introduced me to everyone. It was the best thing because people were kind of having my number from him calling me.

asking me out like, hey, you want to come for a coffee? You want to come for an aperitivo? And a place like this enables that. You can go to the mare for a passeggiata. You can walk a little bit together. You can drink something together, have fun. Here, it's really true. Like when you're sitting alone in a bar, people ask you, why are you alone? Yeah.

House Of Peregrine (24:57)

It's not normal to be alone at a bar.

Eva (24:59)

I mean, maybe it is, but people would recognize.

House Of Peregrine (25:04)

Yeah. And that made you decide you wanted to stay long term. Luckily, also maybe with your boyfriend, but also with the place.

Eva (25:05)

Mm-mm.

Yeah.

Exactly. was really after this month, I was thinking like, hey, you know, if this is going nowhere, it doesn't matter for me because this place is so amazing that I'm going to stay here. Yeah.

House Of Peregrine (25:25)

Wow, that's a big deal to

stay no matter where your relationship goes. Because that's often where couples get in trouble, right? They're somewhere for someone and then the relationship is the only thing holding them in that place. That can breed a lot of resentment and problems. And so that's really, it's really nice you had that assurance that you were also falling in love with the place. Which helps that you're, you that's your mother's half Italian like that.

The story keeps coming back that you're following your mother, right? You're following her other half of her heritage. So that's really cool. So then you decided to stay. What happens next?

Eva (26:01)

So what happened next? mean, in the end, we really did it. Let's say we made the circle complete in a way in summer. Now it was summer two years ago when we all met in Alguero, which is in the north, is where my family has houses. we had a family reunion, let's say.

And then there was also my boyfriend, which was from here. So yeah, this was my next.

House Of Peregrine (26:25)

⁓ wow. So everyone met and

was that healing in a lot of ways for your family? For your mom and her? Yeah.

Eva (26:33)

I think so, yeah, yeah,

yeah, definitely. Something. Exactly. So to the Italian grandmother, yeah, that was in that moment there. She spends like the summer months in Sardinia and the winter months in the mainland.

House Of Peregrine (26:37)

That's amazing. So everyone came to your grandmother.

Yeah.

Wow, cool. And so now

you've realized that this is actually a place where other people might want to come. What made you start wanting to help others do something similar? Maybe not find their family from a romantic postcard, but there is something romantic about moving to another country and there is a process of being seduced by a place or being open.

to living in a place. So how did you learn that that was a passion you had?

Eva (27:21)

So I think that when you move to another place, you understand the beauty about it and if you feel so welcomed, for sure many people can relate to that, that have the same process, that you want to kind of give this generosity to someone else too.

It's something like a shift in your mind, I think, when you get to experience this kind of welcoming and opening community that gives you all the that you kind of want to spread this joy.

House Of Peregrine (28:01)

Yeah. Yeah.

I always tell, I tell the story. don't know if I've ever told it on the podcast, but my, had, when I moved to the Netherlands, we were coming for just a year and I had three little kids under five and I had reached out via via to people and someone said, I have someone who lives in Amsterdam, but they're moving to Zurich.

And I was like, we're going to miss them. like, yeah, but you can stay in their apartment. They said you could stay in their apartment while you find a place. So I've never still met these people, but they let me with three kids stay in their house for two weeks, more than two weeks while I found a house. Again, you only understand throwing yourself across the ocean and doing these crazy things if you understand it. And that actually, that act of generosity carried me through my first year.

just knowing that someone would let me live in their house. And actually we ended up hiring their nanny and their cleaner and everyone that helped us through our first year from that one act of generosity. They didn't ask us to pay rent. They just, they were doing their own move. They had their own things going on. had two babies. So it's just this, what you describe changes lives. This act of just this generosity or like you said, opening your heart.

I just think it's part of the magic of people. And it's on full display when you move abroad, I think, or when you're considering a new place. And so that's really cool. So now you've decided to make a life in Sardinia. That's what you're doing. And now you're helping others do the same. So tell me, you've written an article recently about freedom and how you can truly be free in Sardinia.

Eva (29:22)

Yeah, definitely.

House Of Peregrine (29:39)

Tell me the sales pitch, if you will. I hate the world's sales pitch, but what do you tell people who are considering moving there?

Eva (29:43)

Mm.

So not so long ago, then here when we already had the blog around Sardinia, we were helping already companies to organize retreats here, vacations, right? Not long after, I started to share my insights about relocating, about living here and about my own strategies.

How do I set up my tax system? How do I apply for residency here? How do I manage things and what I'm looking into? Also sharing the opportunities because what I saw myself a lot that first of all lots of the information were in Italian and so there was a huge lag and there's

a lot of misleading information, not updated information around these topics. I started to share that and from there, one of my posts on LinkedIn kind of exploded. It was a post which described a strategy for retiring rich. And the twist around it was like retire rich in freedom and in time.

This was, let's say, the starting point from this chapter.

House Of Peregrine (30:56)

Yeah.

And what does that mean? Because we know now, at least I'm from the US, and so there's a lot of people having this conversation, maybe other places too, that you can retire or you can have midlife retirement as well. You don't need to be in your 60s or 70s like you are in the US when you retire. Or I don't know how it is in Germany. Do you retire at a certain age? Right. yeah. And so, but we know now that people are taking

Eva (31:18)

Yeah, more or less, exactly.

House Of Peregrine (31:23)

breaks when they have children to retire before they return to full-time work or they're finding different strategies. Like you said, they're coming up with different values. And so you're suggesting that part of your wealth is also being rich in freedom and time. And so explain this because this is a really beautiful notion that I think people are really thinking about right now, obviously, because your article went viral.

Eva (31:50)

So yeah, in my opinion, people are looking maybe in the first place for what kind of incentives there are, what benefits could I have from living in another place. This is why there are a lot of offerings around that, not only in Italy, but in Spain and other places where regions offer you

a certain amount of money, if you renovate an old place and all of these kind of things. But what really pulls them in is the person, someone who is there like a friend, someone who gives you a hand. And I think that if you are thinking

about to move, let's say from a busy place, I myself moved from Berlin, so the change couldn't be more drastic. So especially when you want to, when you're looking, let's not say retiring for retirement, but looking for the rest of your life or for the next chapter.

House Of Peregrine (32:37)

Yep.

Eva (32:52)

then the combination of the beneficial part and increasing life quality come together and this is why it got so much attention because it combined these two ideas of you can be wealthy in a way that is maybe more sustainable you can increase your life quality without being actually rich but

having using the opportunities that are there using the system that you might thought was broken or not working but that parts using them strategically to build your own freedom this was i think the

House Of Peregrine (33:32)

Yeah. So build your own freedom, build the idea of what you want your look like. Because what is rich? no one knows what rich is. And sometimes we get lost in trying to become safe by working all the time or by running all the time and just stopping to consider what you want your life to look like can really make a massive difference. And so how did you determine that Sardinia was the place you could do that? We see all the time online, at least I do,

one euro houses in Italy or France or castles for sale. And this, think there's even a Netflix movie or series about this. And then there's the blue zones, like all this, these things are coming out to try and show us there's other places, the ways of living, at least again, on Netflix, that's not the whole world, but a lot of the world. But what are the things that we're not thinking of? What are the things that you see?

that really make the difference in people's lives.

so they can be rich in time.

Eva (34:31)

Yeah, it's a very good question. I think this is very individual for everyone, that is something else. But there is this common dream to be in a place that you enjoy, maybe not because it's offering you a lot of...

activities but it's offering you the things that matter to you. So matching you and what you are looking to build, the life that you're looking to build with a region or a place, this is

the thing in the end. So I understood that matching the person to a place can be a very complex thing because people sometimes expect something different, find themselves in a place that they thought was nice, but there were missing the crucial factors, as I said, for example, the connector. So the is what you define it to be.

If the freedom is going to the beach every morning drinking an espresso, then this is your kind of freedom. It is my idea. Surrounded by

House Of Peregrine (35:36)

Yeah. And

And so what are people missing if they take that opportunity and think it's all going to be fine? What are the, what are you seeing people, the mistakes they're making or the mistakes or the dream they have in their head that's not the reality?

Eva (35:53)

So I think actually you hear these stories a lot. People jump on a plane and go, right? I didn't myself hear these stories personally so much. mean maybe once or twice, yeah. But more from afar. either it's because people now are a little bit more prepared because they have

more access to information about it, or if they are really serious, they ask Chat GPT what do I do first? And maybe this is a little bit more conservative answer, for what it was before or what you can find on the internet from the first three hits on Google. So maybe it's for this, but as I said, for me, there are not so many stories that go completely south where you say, okay,

This was very bad idea. What people are missing sometimes is that they have to adapt. think this is something that you hear a lot, right? And also for me, don't have to say it, also for me, not everything was super easy and super fast and I also had to adapt to cultural things, to language, to...

get to habits of people here and you are finding a community, if you are able to find a community that is open to that, which is interesting because Sardinia is an island, you wouldn't expect people to be so welcoming, but they are. if you are looking for a place, try to go there and try to understand how people are.

House Of Peregrine (37:20)

and if you wanna be around them.

Eva (37:22)

Exactly. You see yourself being surrounded by people who love to eat all day, people who care a lot about elderly, about children, people who maybe spend like 15 minutes in the cash This is something that you will sooner or later deal with if you live there.

House Of Peregrine (37:23)

Yeah.

Yeah. And that's a big, that's something you love, right? And that again, in New York City, spending 15 minutes at the cash register would never fly. That's not the value of the people there. It's more transactional. It's less about that. Or if you're in even Amsterdam, it wouldn't be that way. Or maybe even in Berlin, it wouldn't be that way. But you, something in you is craving that or found that you really loved it, which is, which is really beautiful. And so

Eva (37:47)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-mm.

House Of Peregrine (38:11)

When people are thinking of moving to Sardinia and they contact you, what, having an espresso by the beach and being surrounded by nature, that's an amazing way of describing it. What are some other things that you tell people? Like some of the things they might not know about Sardinia that they would gain as part of their life?

I got the people, I got the eating.

Eva (38:30)

So I...

Exactly,

exactly. The people in the eating. I think what people might or misconceptions that they might have is it's not accessible. So because it is true there are three airports here. The major one is in Cali where I live and they think like, okay, I don't know how can I come home or to my parents, my family abroad? How can I deal with my job because I have to travel a lot?

This is something I think that people, let's say a very crucial point for someone moving here that comes from a different context. So they are surprised by that or try to be transparent also around it because in the winter months the connections are a little bit less. In the summer month you can go everywhere. You can go directly to London, to Barcelona, you can go to Berlin or to Düsseldorf where my family is.

and obviously all the bigger cities of the mainland for sure. So yeah, it's an island, but it's connected also with the ferry if you want. You can come with a car. It's a little bit longer and I personally don't do it, but you can. And then there is a misconception, I think, around people that are maybe not necessarily in Europe, but further, that Sardinia is very...

chic, because there's the Costa Esmeralda, which is in the north. And I saw a beautiful illustration the other day. It showed the island. And then it said, like, what people know about Sardinia. And it was highlighted, the Costa Esmeralda, with the yachts and the rich people and the villas and, you know, aperol spritz everything that is attached to this kind of lifestyle, which might

be lived there sometimes in certain areas or for certain people. But all of the rest of the map showed the island, which is not promoted like crazy maybe. And yeah, this is I think very revealing.

House Of Peregrine (40:38)

Yeah. So do you feel like it's like a little bit hidden that you can kind of be this, we say down to earth, like, like really heart, like people who love to, you know, community minded, this is kind of hidden. It's not highlighted as much.

Eva (40:54)

Yeah, I think that the incredible nature here, if you Google Sardinia now, you're going to see beaches. And it's true. It's it is beautiful beaches. One of the in my opinion is the best sea that you can find here in Europe. It's one of the best for sure. You can still find empty beaches in the off season, especially.

But you have also mountains and you mentioned Longlivety. You have people here a lot that are like 100 or older. You have amazing food. You have so many possibilities and for me, Kalyari especially, because I'm a city girl and I couldn't sacrifice this, but I find everything here. And so this is the thing.

House Of Peregrine (41:22)

Wow.

Hmm. Yeah.

Eva (41:43)

This is what made me say also.

House Of Peregrine (41:43)

That's amazing. Yeah. And so now you you're in love with this place and you just kind of want to show it off and bring people there if they want to be there. Why shouldn't someone come to Sardinia? Like if they're considering a move there, what's incompatible? So they don't want to they don't want to maybe change. They don't want to take into account the place. Are there any other things that you're like, no, stay off my island. It's fine.

Eva (41:50)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so if you are a really big city hustler and you love the hustle culture, I think this is completely wrong for you, right? So if you are very,

driven by lots of activities and you want to move all the time. You want to take flights every weekend somewhere and explore everything. I do that too. I travel also far twice a year if I can and also do some city trips during the year. But if you need constant input in it, I think that

The trend is going in another way, but there are for sure people that can honestly say they need this kind of lifestyle, then I would not recommend to come here.

House Of Peregrine (42:59)

Yeah. And why do you think the trend's going this way? Do you think people have realized that there's other kinds, like you said, of ways of living, ways of thriving, ways of counting wealth?

Eva (43:09)

I think that people are just fed up with that. I look at myself, if I look in the mirror, I see that I was enjoying this for a certain kind of period. But now, I mean, I'm 33 and I'm also looking into the future and I want to build something for myself that

I really like and that is mine. And I think a lot of people can relate to that. And I'm dreaming of this farm. I have this farm dream. I think you kind of have to choose between the beach and the farm. But if there would be some farm, which is not so far from the beach, I, this is my thing.

House Of Peregrine (43:55)

And you see yourself being able to live that dream there, which is really important. Yeah.

Eva (43:59)

Exactly.

And the place enables it. It's the people and the place. And if these factors pull you in, you're in.

House Of Peregrine (44:08)

Yeah, nice. That's really beautiful. the life that maybe you were living before, like you said, was for a season and maybe even for part of our cultures, it was for a season. And now it's kind of moving out of this season of striving and hardness into maybe a more attuned. We're learning that human bodies even like

more slowness, more softness, or more attunement with nature, as evidenced by all these people living so long, know, these things we're seeing. What do you think people can gain from even just considering a move? Do you help them go around the island and imagine a life there so that they can make an informed decision?

Eva (44:53)

Yeah, so me personally, I don't take them by the hand and walk with them, but I give them, I'm more the first touch point, let's say, I try to give them orientation and connection. And this is really what I do. And this is the real value. I think that, that I provide in, that others don't, let's say that, to, tell you honestly, from my own experience, Hey,

These are the situation, this is what you have to know, and those are the people that can help you. And these are experts, you know, because I cannot buy a house for them. I cannot consult them in their tax setup, but I can tell them who is going to do that.

House Of Peregrine (45:37)

so you're their first contact. And then you have a network of people that you refer them to so that they can make decisions like buying a house or finances, taxes, all these things.

Eva (45:40)

Mm-hmm.

House Of Peregrine (45:52)

you do need a network and we say that all the time with House of Peregrine is you need to build your network and there isn't the government, no one's going to provide you with this network, you have to a little bit build it yourself and so that's kind of the value you're bringing is providing access to this network of others who can help you with the very specific things you'll need for moving to Sardinia and so do you think, why do you think that

Eva (45:56)

Thank

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

House Of Peregrine (46:18)

network is missing around the world. I have this question all the time. Is it because we're doing something new or is it because... why?

Eva (46:25)

Yeah, I think that has never been like really institutionalized, let's say, because it's hard also for me to measure or evaluate the value of network. And so there is not necessarily a business around it in the way that

If you want to make this your work, you have to find a way to monetize it, right? Like everyone. And so how do you value a number of real estate experts that you provided to someone? This is the big question. And also for me, it feels very strange if I give someone an advice and charge for that.

And so I think it's also for this, that there's not so much maybe offering around it, or maybe this is why it's more difficult, because you have to draw the line kind of. Yeah, could be this.

House Of Peregrine (47:20)

Yeah, interesting. You just answered the question way more like I would have than I actually realized, so that's good. Yeah, finding value in it, even though it is so valuable, especially at certain key moments to have that person. The first person I talked to that helped me land in the Netherlands with three little kids is one of my best friends now. She was my first contact and now one of my best friends. And I don't think she made friends with everybody. She did.

Eva (47:39)

Yeah, exactly.

House Of Peregrine (47:46)

But I think that that's how important this first contact person is. If they're in your life, even for 10 days, they change your life. And I think that there's something really important about that person having a heartfelt connection to this process and to the place you're coming so that they can actually give you a taste of what you're up for. And so when people are thinking of moving, you and I both did it in a much, like I was not thoughtful.

Eva (47:55)

Mm-hmm.

House Of Peregrine (48:14)

It was not, it was like getting the list of countries, narrowing it down. But when it came down to it, once we decided Amsterdam, we didn't decide Netherlands, we decided Amsterdam. We just went with like a month's notice and just came. And there are some, in some ways that needed to happen for me, but I always try and encourage people to make, don't be afraid of what you want. And that's what I see in your story.

Eva (48:27)

Wow.

House Of Peregrine (48:39)

You weren't afraid of what you wanted. You were like, I want to know this. I'm going to go see where this postcard leads me. I'm going to go knock on that person's door. they don't want to see me? That's fine. I'll wait. That's a really, really beautiful way of going about the world. And not everyone has that courage. But what people do know is they want something different and they want to be they want to explore different ways of living life, different places. And that that's how you were a trailblazer.

And so now you're helping other people to do that. And that's the person you want to have on your side, I think. So yeah.

Eva (49:14)

Definitely,

yeah, I agree.

House Of Peregrine (49:16)

Okay, and so you're also doing a magazine which we can briefly talk about, right? It's a magazine, The Sardinian.

Eva (49:23)

Yeah, it's kind of an online blog slash magazine. It's a curated collection of experiences that I did here myself that I enjoyed the most, but I didn't find them anywhere in the, let's say in the big catapults of other platforms. And maybe also I couldn't find them in English. And so

I wanted to provide that information, wanted to share it with the world and I wanted to help others. So we have like a small map where we time after time put the places that we really enjoyed and refer them. And yeah, this is the Sardinian. It's called the Sardinian. yeah, there we share our own experiences here.

House Of Peregrine (50:02)

Nice.

So if someone's wanting to come check out Living There, they can find that resource and then kind of just follow it and then maybe contact you, maybe see how things are going, or see if they can maybe become connected with some people. And yeah, that's really...

Eva (50:11)

Mm-hmm.

Exactly.

House Of Peregrine (50:18)

Yeah, it's really nice. mean, we all know how it feels to be in this position of wanting something different, but not knowing what it is. And so that it's such a beautiful process. And I'm really glad that you're helping people do it in Sardinia. You fell in love three times, found yourself three times in one country. I just I think it's such a magical story that I hope that you're I mean, I know if you have kids or grandkids, they will be telling for tell.

Eva (50:24)

Mm-hmm.

the story.

House Of Peregrine (50:44)

Yeah,

forever. So thank you for sharing it with us today. So if people want to reach out for more information about moving to Sardinia, where can they find you? What's the best place? Where's the best place to connect with you?

Eva (50:55)

I think that right now LinkedIn would be the best place. think there you could get like a glimpse about my activity, my profile. You can subscribe to the newsletter, which is for free. And yeah, you can also check out the blog, the magazine and also reach out there if you are interested in activities in Sardinia, to organize a travel or are looking to do a vacation. And yeah, we give you like a

our very personal experiences and help you.

House Of Peregrine (51:24)

Nice.

Okay, so on LinkedIn, it's say your name. It's Eva Noelle. Say your name. Okay. On LinkedIn. And then your website is

Eva (51:30)

fastbender, Eva Noelle Fassbender exactly. It's

thesardinian.com.

House Of Peregrine (51:38)

Perfect. And we'll link those below as well as your article, Retire Rich in Freedom.

Eva (51:45)

Thank you. Yeah.

House Of Peregrine (51:47)

Cool.

Thank you so much for coming on today. I really appreciate it. And thanks for sharing your story. And maybe we can share a picture of the postcard if you're up for it so everyone can kind of see that. I think that would be really nice.

Eva (51:59)

That's a very good

idea, yeah, I'm going to share it with you.

House Of Peregrine (52:02)

Okay, great. Thanks again and thanks everyone for joining us for the House of Peregrine podcast. We will see you next week.