A couple moved to the remote island of their dreams. After 4 years, the drawbacks have them heading back to the US.

Rachel Pohl and Charles Post had a building they kept successful mind erstwhile they decided to move to the Arctic.

"If dreams were easy, they wouldn't beryllium dreams," Post, a 38-year-old trading strategist and conservationist, told Business Insider.

Post and his wife, Rachel Pohl, a 34-year-old artist, leaned into that building arsenic they moved retired of Bozeman, Montana, and purchased a location successful Flakstad, a colony connected Norway's Lofoten Islands, successful a sparsely populated area pinch less than 20 residents.

They returned to the thought arsenic they launched businesses successful a overseas country, learned a caller language, built friendships, and adapted to Norwegian culture.

Now, aft surviving successful the Arctic for 4 and a half years, the mates says they accomplished what they group retired to do. It's clip to move connected to the adjacent escapade — 1 that hopefully won't person them saying the building astir arsenic often.

"The beauty of position is to go, do it, and past look backmost and say, 'OK, is this dream still the dream?'"

For Post and Pohl, Norway is nary longer the dream. They've put their distant farmhouse connected the market, and this fall, the brace plans to caput backmost to Montana.

They moved to Norway successful hunt of a spot they could telephone location — and recovered it

Six years ago, Post and Pohl had a emotion that they had settled down excessively quickly. Despite having a community, dependable routine, and location successful Bozeman, the mates "still had that itch to look complete the fence."

That itch led them to Norway. They some had distant family ties to the state and an affinity for the distant landscapes of the Lofoten Islands, which they'd visited together successful 2019.

More importantly, location was a way to get there. The mates met pinch an migration lawyer, who helped them statesman the process of applying for Norway's skilled worker visa.

To qualify, Post said, they some had to beryllium they ran successful US businesses that they could replicate successful Norway.

Post would do marketing, and Pohl would commencement a fine-arts business. After securing activity and residence permits, they arrived successful 2022 — 2 and a half years later.

The mates returned to the Lofoten Islands, the spot that had inspired them years ago. Post said they appreciated that the distant and otherworldly islands had everything from surfing and skiing to birds and breathtaking landscapes.

They rented a mini compartment perched connected stilts complete the water their first twelvemonth connected the islands. It was picturesque but cramped.

Running 2 businesses from the abstraction made it clear that if Norway was going to beryllium much than an extended adventure, they needed a imperishable home.

They spent years looking done constricted options successful the area amid a competitive real-estate market. Less than 25,000 group unrecorded crossed the Lofoten Islands, and houses are often passed down from procreation to generation.

Few residents meant not galore homes, and nary caught their oculus until 2023, erstwhile the three-bedroom, two-bath farmhouse of their dreams deed the market.

It was a 1,800-square-foot location pinch capable room for Pohl to person a coating workplace and Post to person an office. There were plentifulness of windows, a welcoming porch, and an unfastened kitchen.

But what sold the brace was the land. The 2.9-acre spot sat astatine the extremity of a quiet road. It's surrounded by gardens, wildflower meadows, wildlife, and a distant beach.

Post remembers thinking, "This is what the squad needs. This is our dream."

In Norway, homes are typically put up for auction. Due to the house's desirable size and location, Post knew the spot would tie section and world attention, apt driving the value beyond the couple's budget.

So, minutes aft seeing the listing, Post said, he was successful the car, driving to the address. He recovered the sellers retired beforehand successful their garden.

"I walked up, and I said, 'I saw your location conscionable posted online for waste for illustration 30 minutes ago,'" he recalled. "'What would beryllium the value for america conscionable to do this correct now?'"

They informed him that they were readying to waste the location the accepted way, but he stayed persistent.

In betwixt asking them to sanction their price, he promised them he and his woman would "continue the contented of loving this place" and beryllium "great caretakers of it."

After a agelong discussion, plentifulness of back-and-forth, and a fewer cups of coffee, Post convinced them to sell the location off-market for astir $669,000 aft the speech complaint — astir $200,000 supra asking.

A batch of the process was unconventional, but it worked.

"Rachel was up successful Alberta astatine her brother's wedding," Post said. "She'd ne'er moreover seen the location earlier we bought it."

A period later, they moved in, and Post's instincts astir this being the cleanable spot were right.

The property, pinch its meadows and beach, helped the Lofoten Islands nary longer consciousness for illustration a impermanent stay.

They yet had capable abstraction to unpack a mini shipping portion they had sent from crossed the world. Post placed books and vertebrate guides onto his puerility bookshelf. Pohl unwrapped her paintings and artworks and group up her studio.

Young neighbors down the thoroughfare helped them build organization — mornings were spent sipping java together connected porches arsenic their dogs besides became friends.

In time, they settled successful and made renovations and adjustments, including coating the interior, adding a caller energy-saving power pump, and building a free-standing sauna successful the backyard.

"It took 2 years to really person Norway consciousness for illustration home," Post said.

Small factors added up and put accent connected their Norwegian dream

Building their life successful Norway came pinch a dependable watercourse of challenges.

During my video telephone pinch Post, he turned his camera toward the backseat of his car, showing 2 market bags that costs astir $300.

He said he'd walk overmuch little backmost successful Montana for similar, aliases moreover higher-quality items. The state to get him to the market shop is besides expensive, costing astir $8.50 a gallon.

Beyond day-to-day expenses, the mates pays astir $15,000 each twelvemonth for world taxation compliance.

Cost wasn't the only adjustment. Even aft 4 years, surviving overseas required other effort they hadn't anticipated.

Although English is wide spoken successful the area, Norwegian is the superior language, adding different furniture of trouble to navigating vet visits, emergencies, and moreover day-to-day tasks.

"The civilization and the connection are different, and truthful you're allocating 5, 10, 15% of your encephalon powerfulness conscionable to publication the mail, publication the nutrient label," Post said. "To do each the elemental things that we each return for granted."

When Pohl had a planned abdominal surgery, they had an particularly challenging clip navigating a new healthcare system and the connection barrier. They didn't person family and friends adjacent to thief during the betterment process.

Given their distant location, moreover regular errands — expert visits, drugstore runs, shopping sprees — often progressive hours of driving.

When I said to Post, he was successful the midst of a two-hour round-trip drugstore tally to prime up a medicine for 1 of their dogs.

In the Lofoten Islands, they're connected the different broadside of the world from astir of their group and are still navigating a civilization and connection that's reasonably caller to them.

"When you person your worst days, your hardest days, it's 10% harder present conscionable because of everything that comes pinch life here," he said.

For example, it's difficult to cognize who to telephone aliases what to do erstwhile it's 1 a.m., and you get a level tyre successful the mediate of Norway.

Meanwhile, he said, he has nary anxieties astir navigating challenges backmost successful Montana, wherever there's nary connection obstruction and "we person for illustration 100 group we tin telephone for help."

In the end, it wasn't wanting cheaper state aliases much convenience that yet called them backmost to the US: It was community.

"So galore group backmost location telephone you little 'cause it's conscionable difficult to get successful touch pinch the clip zone," he said. (The quality is astir 8 hours.) "There's for illustration this gradual disconnect that's a usability of clip and distance. It added up much each year."

When a family personnel unexpectedly died past October, it felt for illustration different wake-up call.

A travel backmost location — consisting of 4 aliases 5 flights costing complete $3,000 and taking much than 25 hours — proved excessively costly and excessively complicated, truthful the mates stayed successful Norway and grieved thousands of miles distant from family.

By this past winter, the mates reflected connected the past 4 years overseas and what they had missed: holidays spent without their family, friends' weddings missed, birthdays and baptisms celebrated complete FaceTime.

"You're conscionable watching your parents get achromatic hairsbreadth complete the phone," Post said.

After months of discussion, Post said, they decided the trade-offs weren't worthy it. They wanted to walk their clip backmost successful Montana surrounded by their loved ones.

After 4 years, they're heading backmost to Montana and trading their Norway location

As the mates plans their return to Montana successful October, they're looking for the adjacent personification eager to telephone their distant portion of the Lofoten Islands home.

Currently, their location is listed astatine astir $1.2 million, almost double what they primitively paid for it.

Post said he's not worried astir the spot trading — they've had a batch of liking truthful acold — but he and Pohl are focused connected finding a buyer who's the correct fit.

They consciousness obligated (and privileged) to find personification who will attraction for the onshore and admit the region arsenic they did. As the mates ties up their clip successful Norway, Post said he can't thief but look guardant to the mini parts of Montana he missed.

"It's a thunderstorm successful June pinch your brother. For Rachel, it's the wildflowers of the West that are ever-present successful her activity … it's your champion friends that tin publication your mind," he said.

In the end, they besides don't regret taking a chance and spending respective years surviving abroad successful specified a remote, beautiful place.

Norway was 1 dream. Now, they're heading location to pursuit another.