The Second Wave

We spent the springtime quarantine in the Austrian Alps, where we fell in love with our guesthouse, thus we rented it out to make it BTS’s (GoBeyond) first ski resort. In the meantime, we got into the Austrian way of life so much we moved to Vienna with the family in June. By the end of summer, Beyond the Standard GmbH was registered and before the big closures, we were even able to put together a corporate climbing trip in Zugspitze and a fantastic surf camp in the Azores.

It was at this time that we came up with the idea that if it becomes increasingly difficult to travel and at the same time employers become more flexible about teleworking, it is worth going somewhere for a longer time and combining vacation with work. After thorough research and consideration of many aspects (entry conditions, spread of coronavirus, quality of healthcare system, infrastructure, weather, surfing opportunities, etc.), we finally rented an 8-bedroom house with a fireplace half an hour north of Lisbon in Ericeira, Europe’s only “surf reserve”. ”. This term was not invented by us, the shoreline in front of the house was classified as a World Surf Reserve due to the 8 world-famous waves breaking here.

Ten of us eventually moved into the villa as one big family. While news of constant restrictions came from around the world, we were in a privileged situation. We surfed every single day during the camp, which eventually lasted 5 weeks, and these surf stats can only come together in a few parts of the world and in rare fortunate periods. In addition, we lived together in peaceful symbiosis, everyone did their job, we had big dinner parties, tried out the best restaurants in town, and on weekends we went on excursions to the area’s attractions. All this at 20-23 degrees Celsius, in sunshine, sometimes in real beach weather, even at the end of November. Perhaps all this was the best for our little boy, Jonas, by now 10 months old, who learned to climb, stand and sit here, who really enjoyed the intense social life, and everyone had a kind word for him.

We still believe that with a fresh negative test and with due care, you not only can travel to outdoor destinations, but it’s also very worthwhile to travel even now. There are fewer hobby tourists, restaurants are honestly welcoming guests again, you can get into the best restaurants without a reservation, there are only as many people on waves and ski slopes as there used to be 10-20 years ago, and airfare prices are more favorable than ever. A good example of this is that in the New Year period, which is classically the most expensive time (between December 26 and January 2), the return flight from Budapest to Lisbon is 30 EUR. We decided to return to Ericeira for New Year’s Eve, the land of world-famous waves, calm small-town environment, pleasant spring weather and safe community life, if only for a week this time.

In March or April, we repeat the surfer home-office month in the same house. And for those who cannot join but are already very much longing for the tropics, we will go to the Maldives to the first Hungarian organized charter boat surf camp!