Choosing the location in Spain!
 

We are two friends, 26 and 27, escaping the rat-race (forever), currently learning Spannish, probably taking the car (I know all about the taxes, don't worry my car is worth very little so it won't cost me much to retax), maybe doing a TEFL...

By the time we hit Spain in August-September I'll have basic Spanish, probably some kind of TEFL (although maybe a cheapo one), and hopefully a web-design business on the go in the background (UK VAT registered).

The decision to go somewhere else was made over a year ago, the decision for that place to (initially at least) be spain was made last month. I am travelling with a friend, so there's two of us. He's at least as set on this as I am - he tends to be more of a nonchallant idealist and I am more of a visionary realist.

My Income: Before I leave the country I will almost certainly have set-up a web design business with another friend. This venture could bring in the entire living income that I'll need - it'll be a UK VAT registered busiess and all my work will be done via a laptop. Or it could only provide part of my income.

If it only provides part of my income then I will need a job in spain. Things I am considering right now: Teaching English, or Bar-work (part time, I won't entertain service industry work for any longer than 25 hours a week).

Our skill in Spanish? Right now - zero. We need to start learning soon.

Why Spain? Out of our options it seems the easiest place to potentially get settled in as well as meeting all our other criteria.

What happens if Spain doesn't work out? We move to Cyprus where we'd have a free place to stay for two months and could hopefully get established in that time.

Here's our criteria for location...

1) Has to be in commutable distance of party-central. By which I mean a resort!

2) Preferably living in a university town. I get on well with student types and free thinkers.

3) Probably north west or southern coast.

4) Relatively good job opportunities for English speakers - which means jobs involving basic Spanish skills (bar-work or working in an English capacity) or teaching English.

Don't get me wrong, I will be learning Spanish 1 hour/day for the next 6 months (began yesterday ;) ) but I'll probably only get to basic level with this.

Any ideas?! :)

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

My idea would be for you to read this forum for a few days.

Everybody and their Grandmother has a TEFL here so don't waste your money. Don't know about the website business except lots of people here seem to have one! Bar work (if you can get it) would hardly pay your rent.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Sounds very exciting. But not sure Spain is the right place to live if you have little money and want to escape the rat race.

You will have to work just as hard in Spain if not harder to make ends meet.

In terms of location; Málaga is a renowned uni popular with international students and it is a pretty cool city. And then you have the whole Costa del sol to look for English speaking work.

Warning, you'll be fighting with thousands of other Brits for a job.

I cant think fo any other good uni towns in Spain that are close to resorts. I love Granada as a city and it has a really good uni, but its quite a drive to the coast.

In the North West of Spain you dont have resorts in the way you'd imagine a holiday resort.

Then you have Barcelona and Madrid, but your talking serious money for rents. Madrid is THE party town in Spain. I actually found Barcelona not a very fun place at all, it was quite conservative with few going out areas except over-priced ones for tourists.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

I wish you well, but in the present climate, you might end up having to change your name to richestorags!:rofl: It's difficult to be realistic and not sound negative, we have seen similar posts many times, but the harsh reality is it's very difficult without the language and a guaranteed job. It seems nearly everyone has a TFL and is a web designer, the market is full of them. As I say, I wish you luck, I'm sure there are many here better informed than me that will offer you more advice.

Edit. I see 2 posts have come in since I started writing!

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Back when things were booming, and they were doing 'place in the sun' type progs, they would sometimes wheel out people who had been living there and making a go of it to inspire/advise the would be purchaser.

The one thing that struck me over and over again was the number of times the successful people pointed out that they were working all the hours god sent.

Now, if it was like that then, what price now?

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

If you want TEFL work go to Madrid. Anyone who has taught there (and I have) will tell you that in Autumn or in Jan/Feb it normally only takes a week or two before you can get lined up with a job. My contacts there still have (seemingly!) plenty of work in that field, and I still get emails for business classes paying 25Euro a hour in Madrid. You will need to have a decent level of Spanish to survive there though, and if you can build up some experience before-hand (perhaps teaching English in one of the umpteen cheapo language academies in London) you'll have a head start.

Here are a couple of links worth perusing:

http://www.madridinsider.com/

http://www.eslcafe.com/

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Go for it. Malaga, Alicante, Valencia are all uni/party towns on the coast. Just keep the phone number of someone reliable in the UK to get you home should it go wrong - I’m sure it won’t.

Good luck.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

The only places for young people in Spain is Madrid.

You'll have a fair chance to teach English or bar work.

I would say get a TEFL at least so that you know partly what you do when it comes to teaching English.

You must have basic Spanish at least to survive.

For Teaching English you would need to go before September to start applying for the English Academies. A tough outgoing personality is a must too !

If I in my mid 20s (although I had finished my partying and got down to a serious career by then) I would go to to Asia to Teach English. There are plently of opportunities there and usually with accommodation and support.

You're not giving youselves much time to get into action if its September 2010 you're off. Not enough time to learn enough Spanish (talking years not months) or do a TEFL.

I'd plan it a bit better..get a proper job while learning Spanish and TEFL (get some experience too), get some money behind you.

If you were my kids, I would be reining you in a bit..;)

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Decent academies would not look too kindly on someone who only did a "cheapo" TEFL, particularly if you have no experience. A cheapo TEFL demonstrates that you are not too serious about pursuing this as a career, and whilst that may be true it doesn't look good from the employer's point of view.

Do the Uni of Cambridge CELTA. It's the industry standard.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Good luck to you and your chum :fingerscrossed:

I have two sons similar age and both have good jobs and homes in their home town in the UK. Can't live their life but I would rather they were a bit more adventurous and saw a bit more of the world. :wub:

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

There's a standard 4 week TEFL certificate course which is very similar to the 4 week CELTA. It's the experience that counts however, and that will get you the better jobs.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

I wouldn´t knock them for that, we´re all different, not everyone wants to travel. :) If they are happy as they are, there´s nowt wrong with that. I have two, as different as chalk and cheese, one is in the Forces, triathlete, fitness fanatic, has been all over the place, the other, a nethead, computer geek, but like yours, both have good well paid jobs, their own house and both very happy with their lot.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Which course are you referring to? The CELTA is a four week TEFL certificate. Perhaps you mean Trinity? This is also good, but the CELTA is more recognised.

The OP has no experience at all, so a good qualification is a must.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Thanks for all the responses. There's a few "reality check" type posts... I'm not too concerned about that. If this was a forum called "Moving back to the UK" and someone posted a plan like this to return to the UK on there I'd expect a much grimmer response. ;)

Overall I'm extremely encouraged by the overall positive reception - thanks especially for the advice re: location.

With regards qualification - I don't care at all about actually having the qualification - I only want the experience. I know the English language, particularly grammer, like the back of my hand. Not a problem at all.

All I need is classroom experience and some tips of giving lesson plans etc.

Basic Spanish? I'm all over it. After talking to a friend who has been travelling the world for ten years learning Spanish has rocketed to my #1 priority. I started an audio course yesterday and will be doing an hour a day for the next 6 months. Also going to make some new Spanish friends to practice with (I'm not kidding ;) )

No way it's more expensive in Spain than the UK, in-fact I know it isn't because I've crunched the numbers ;)

Cheers!

Rags

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

No way it's more expensive in Spain than the UK, in-fact I know it isn't because I've crunched the numbers
How can you know that when you don't even know which location is ok. Do you claim to know more than people living and visiting.

There is more to teaching a foreign language than knowing the grammer (sic)

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

you beat me to it - but I decided not to be the grammar police today;)

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

lol, same here.


Goya in Madrid may be cheaper than the equivilent of the same area in London but you´ve also got to take into account the wages over here as well. You can take an appartment in rent from as little as 700€ a month or as much as 10 000€ a month.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Yeah, I guess you have to know about punctuation and everything.

But jibes aside, I don't need the realism advice. I'm 27, I've travelled the world, and I've worked abroad before.

As for expense... I cannot know. I can only make a judgement based on the information I've collected - and I have complete faith in my ability to make a good judgement.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

If it wasn’t for the enthusiasm of the adventurous, Livingstone would have sat on his arse or got a job in an oil refinery, and Victoria Falls would not have been discovered by a white man until much later.

I know it’s an extreme example, but the principle is the same.

I admire several lady posters on this forum who are living here in Spain while the husbands still need to work elsewhere for financial reasons, and those ladies are bringing up their children in a foreign country, alone.

So let the two young men live their adventure, let’s applaud the pensioners from the UK who’ve got the bottle to walk across foreign fields, and maybe even those foolish people still buying bars in Spain, as long as they’re not spending ‘real’ money, and just a bingo win.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

I would suggest Seville or Malaga in Andalucia. They are vibrant university towns with a lot of young people.

Barcelona would be another option.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

[QUOTE= I know the English language, particularly GRAMMER, like the back of my hand. Not a problem at all.

Oh dear, I knew you were setting yourself up with that one.

Good luck with your plans though. You're young enough to give it a go and if it doesn't work out you can put on the list of experiences.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Exactly. :thumbup:

Honestly there's always a few negative vibes flying around. I have a friend who was considering teaching English in Japan, she posted on some gaijin forums and was welcomed with an influx of negative comments going on about how hard it'll be for her, how expensive Japan is, how hard jobs are to come back, how things have changed... etc... etc...

Well she went ahead and did it anyway, and by all accounts is having the time of her life.

;)

Fortune favours the positive. :D

Rich

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

[QUOTE=RagsToRich;8351252. :thumbup:

Fortune favours the positive. :D

Rich[/QUOTE]

Exactly. Only regret the things you don't do, not the things you do.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Coming to Spain is hardly being a pioneer is it. Many kids have been all over the world backpacking at 21.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

That's a good point. Being a pioneer has its advantages. People give you the benefit of the doubt and help you out because of the novelty factor.

But following the well trodden path could end with you falling off the cliff with the other lemmings.

Still, everyone has the right to give it a go and I wish you the best. A positive attitude is the right start :thumbup:

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Hiya Rags

This isn't strictly true, it very much varies from area to area as has been demonstrated on here many times. In CDS fir instance it seems a lot more expensive than, say, the Northern CB ... or thats the way it seems to me.

All you can really do is research as much as you can. It's very true to say its difficult to say the least in Spain at the moment. You have to take a middle view of the comments you receive here, and what you learn elsewhere .... and then decide if you want to risk it or not!

I've always said .... if I'd had to work when I came to Spain then I would never have come

Good luck

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Good post:thumbup:

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

or being able to practice (sic)....
sorry, nit-picking I know but you did rather talk yourself into it with your pronouncement;)

as to cost.. well as jackytoo says, how can you know without living here? You don't know where you're going to be, what you're going to do for accommodation, what your income will be, what your expectations for a social life/transport/etc will be - take it from me, a number of things, more than you'd think, ARE more expensive here. Others will correctly tell you there are things which are cheaper. But don't make assumptions too easily, that's all we're saying. :thumbup:

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

If you're going to teach English, this may be of interest...

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Oh dear. Have fun, but keep a few quid aside for the return.:confused:

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

And the most important part.... your healthcare and insurance for repatriation, just in case.

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

:rofl: I'm surprised some of the more cynical people here are still in Spain given how they clearly feel about the place!

If anyone should consider moving back to blighty, I can tell you where there will be a good well paid IT job and awesome apartment going in about 6 months time.

:)

Appreciate all the good advice and positive comments! Thanks for the location advice, I am now focused on the southern coast.

¡Moy bien! :thumbup:

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Don't ever confuse realism for cynicism..:p
(& if you head Malaga way, make sure you pack wellies and a umbrella:eek:)

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

Oops, your 1 hour of Spanish didn't go too well yesterday then :rofl:

Sorry, couldn't resist :)

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

You know, I reckon you guys are going to be juuuuust fine!!

Have fun:thumbsup:

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

My other half is TEFL qualified and has just had to turn down an almost fulltime contracted job offer from a language school in San Pedro due to other work commitments so that kind of work is still out there, even here. Based on her background I'd suggest you get qualified then go work out in China/South America/somewhere scary for a bit to build up your teaching skills as this did her the world of good. Be prepared to go find this work though, rarely is anything ever advertised. She found the addresses of all the local language schools and dropped her cv off personally - it took a while but a lot of them got back to her with occasional offers of work over the last couple of years.

Web designers are two a penny here but if you're good, have a proven track record and charge sensibly then there is generally always some work to keep you in cañas (we're always searching for decent/cheap ones!)

Over the last month we've seen a marked increase in work from new businesses and investment in existing companies both locally and from the UK so fingerscrossed things are going in the right direction

Neither of those two roles are likely to give you a great lifestyle here but if you can live cheap, have a bit of backup cash then in my opinion it's a much better place to be than the UK (aside from the constant rain at the moment) but if all else fails there is always IT work in Gib as a contingency

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

There is one language school in San Pedro who is always advertising for language teachers. Almost every few months for the past 15 years:confused:

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

some are like that - work the teachers to death for rubbish pay then on to the next mug

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

The rate wouldn't have won any awards but it would pay the rent, no idea if they are the ones that advertise all the time but they took about 10 months to reply to her so they can't be in that much of a hurry/need!

Re: Choosing the location in Spain!
 

I find that you need to just keep chipping away.

Work won't flood in but I am finding now in Asturias after being here a year, I have established a good little group of people are suggesting and helping me to find work...

...I am sure with time. Start off simple and it grows with a bit of effort.

:)