Can you ever truly live like a local when you move to another country? And after nearly three decades in Bosnia and Herzegovina, am I still a foreigner?

I've been living in Bosnia since 1998. What began as a NATO posting gradually became something I never expected, a marriage, a family life, friendships, and a place I now call home.

But something I recently read about foreigners claiming to live like locals got me thinking.

Does belonging mean speaking the language perfectly, sharing the same financial circumstances as your neighbours, or abandoning the culture you came from? Or is it something much simpler?

In this rather personal episode, recorded outside in my village garden near Laktaši, I reflect on what almost three decades of living in Bosnia have taught me about identity, integration, community, and belonging.

I talk about the differences between living on a British pension and earning a local wage, my continuing struggles with the language, the friendships that have shaped my life here, and the Bosnian idea of ćejf, taking pleasure in life's simple moments.

And there's another question I've been considering: when you've made your life somewhere else, what does it actually mean to go back home?

I'm still British. I'm not trying to become Bosnian. But Bosnia and Herzegovina is home.

Perhaps belonging isn't about becoming a local at all. Perhaps it's simply about becoming part of a place.

I'd love to hear what you think. If you've moved abroad, do you still consider yourself a foreigner? And what makes someone a local in your eyes?

Thanks for listening, and vidimo se opet!

An Englishman in the Balkans is a weekly podcast about the people, places and everyday life of Bosnia and Herzegovina, told by David Bailey, who has lived here for more than 25 years. New episodes arrive every Tuesday.

Thanks for listening. If this episode was worth your time, the best thing you can do is pass it on to someone who'd enjoy it.

Every episode, and more about my life here, is at anenglishmaninthebalkans.com.

I also write a short, free weekly newsletter, The Sunday Edition, a recap of my week in Bosnia. If you're not already receiving it, you can join here:

https://anenglishmaninthebalkanspodcast.substack.com

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If you don’t want to receive everything I publish, you don’t have to unsubscribe completely.

Use the unsubscribe or preferences link at the bottom of any email and you can choose which of my newsletters and sections you’d like to receive.

That way, you can keep the Sunday Edition, for example, while switching off emails from sections you’re less interested in.

I’d much rather you received only the things you enjoy than felt I was filling up your inbox.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has just been to the polls.

Simple enough, you might think. People vote, somebody wins, and a government gets formed.

Except, as I’ve discovered during more than 25 years of living here, very little about Bosnia and Herzegovina is quite that straightforward.

This isn't an episode about who won, who lost, or which political party I think people should support. I deliberately stay away from party politics here.

Instead, I wanted to try something much simpler: to explain how elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina actually work.

There are two entities, the Brčko District, ten cantons within the Federation, different parliaments and assemblies, and a country which, rather unusually, has three members of its Presidency rather than one president.

And depending on where you live, you don't necessarily vote for the same things as somebody living elsewhere in the country.

Much of this goes back to the Dayton Peace Agreement and the political system created at the end of the war in the 1990s.

So in this episode, I'm putting my own political opinions to one side and trying to make sense of it all from the perspective of an Englishman who has called Bosnia and Herzegovina home for more than a quarter of a century.

Because when somebody tells you that “Bosnia has just had an election”…

there's rather more to it than you might think.

An Englishman in the Balkans is a weekly podcast about the people, places and everyday life of Bosnia and Herzegovina, told by David Bailey, who has lived here for more than 25 years. New episodes arrive every Tuesday.

Thanks for listening. If this episode was worth your time, the best thing you can do is pass it on to someone who'd enjoy it.

Every episode, and more about my life here, is at anenglishmaninthebalkans.com.

I also write a short, free weekly newsletter, The Sunday Edition, a recap of my week in Bosnia. If you're not already receiving it, you can join here:

https://anenglishmaninthebalkanspodcast.substack.com

Already a subscriber?

If you don’t want to receive everything I publish, you don’t have to unsubscribe completely.

Use the unsubscribe or preferences link at the bottom of any email and you can choose which of my newsletters and sections you’d like to receive.

That way, you can keep the Sunday Edition, for example, while switching off emails from sections you’re less interested in.

I’d much rather you received only the things you enjoy than felt I was filling up your inbox.

An Englishman in the Balkans is a weekly podcast about the people, places and everyday life of Bosnia and Herzegovina, told by David Bailey, who has lived here for more than 25 years. New episodes arrive every Tuesday.

Some podcast conversations become more meaningful with the passing of time.

When I originally recorded this interview with Martin Gannon, it was simply a thoroughly enjoyable conversation with another Englishman who had fallen deeply in love with this part of the world.

Martin first arrived in Yugoslavia in 1980 after the holiday he had planned to Mallorca was fully booked. A travel agent suggested Yugoslavia instead, and that seemingly small change of destination altered the course of his life.

A chance encounter during the holiday led to a job with Saga. From there, Martin built a remarkable career in tourism, working in Poreč, Rovinj, Hvar, Zagreb, Belgrade, Mostar and many other places across the former Yugoslavia.

He led coach tours, worked with JAT Yugoslav Airlines and helped bring thousands of British visitors to the region, including pilgrims travelling through Mostar Airport to Međugorje.

Martin later became more than a podcast guest. He became my friend.

After recording this conversation, we eventually met for a long lunch in Zagreb. There was laughter, good food and an apparently endless supply of stories from Martin’s life and travels.

After Martin died, I found it difficult to listen to the recording again. When I eventually returned to it, I realised that his warmth, humour and memories deserved to be heard once more.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How a cancelled holiday to Mallorca led Martin to Yugoslavia
• British tourism on the Adriatic during the 1980s
• Working with Saga and JAT Yugoslav Airlines
• Bringing British pilgrims to Međugorje
• Life on Hvar and his family’s connection to the island
• The food, people and places Martin never stopped loving
• Bosnia and Herzegovina’s largely untapped tourism potential
• Why the Balkans can become part of you forever

This is more than an interview from the archive. It is my tribute to Martin Gannon: traveller, tourism professional, storyteller and friend.

Thanks for listening. If this episode was worth your time, the best thing you can do is pass it on to someone who'd enjoy it.

Every episode, and more about my life here, is at anenglishmaninthebalkans.com.

I also write a short, free weekly newsletter, The Sunday Edition, a recap of my week in Bosnia. If you're not already receiving it, you can join here:

https://anenglishmaninthebalkanspodcast.substack.com

Already a subscriber?

If you don’t want to receive everything I publish, you don’t have to unsubscribe completely.

Use the unsubscribe or preferences link at the bottom of any email and you can choose which of my newsletters and sections you’d like to receive.

That way, you can keep the Sunday Edition, for example, while switching off emails from sections you’re less interested in.

I’d much rather you received only the things you enjoy than felt I was filling up your inbox.