Re: Costa Brava
 

That's where your problem lies, jobs are few and far between, and with unemployment in Spain running at, officially 27%, and in reality 35 - 40%, unless you speaak fluent Spanish, of have relatives that can give you a job, then you are looking at bar work, restaurant work etc, and pay for that is something like 4 or 5€ an hour without a contract. If you have a job to move out to, which is a legally contracted job that will get you access to the Spanish healthcare system, then it's possible, but without, then you will need a good cash back up to last you several months, If your family is of school age, then you have that to factor in, State schools are free, but you have to pay for all books etc

Re: Costa Brava
 

Sadly it's not that easy, I know, but we are determined

Re: Costa Brava
 

Very true. I also find it to be one of the nicest areas, but job wise there's nothing on offer. We'd only go there permanently, when we have everything paid off, and enough savings for a couple of years. Like you said, it's only season work and pay is pretty bad. If you're a professional, or are multilingual the most jobs are in Barcelona.

Re: Costa Brava
 

I have thought about working for myself, selling greeting cards, and partyware, is there a market for this in Spain?

Re: Costa Brava
 

Greeting cards in Catalunya? No way. Only British people send cards!

Partyware, well, depends what you mean. Birthday parties are rarely done at home in Spain because most people live in flats, so they have it at a children's play place or at the park or beach

You can get ballons and stuff anywhere, the local kiosko or chino

Re: Costa Brava
 

Hello
it might be pretty up there,
but far to cold in the winter.

Re: Costa Brava
 

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. I am the Concierge for the Spanish section and thought that you might find it helpful to know that the moderators for the Spanish forums are Fred James and Bevs, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

Re: Costa Brava
 

There might have been in the past in the mainly expat areas, but there were plenty of other people doing the same thing, and shops quickly went out of business. Remember if you are working for yourself, then you ahve to apy Autonomo, a SS paymeent for the self employed, and that can be aroung €250 a month, and has to be paid every month, along with rental for the premises etc whether you do any business or not.

Re: Costa Brava
 

Driving thru a town a couple of days ago and we passed a

TUPPERWARE shop

:eek:

but again I have to correct you about Southern Spain.........
it is possible to get greetings cards here amongst the unwashed - just they are in Spanish and they don't translate the way UK greetings cards do.
:blink:

And McDonald's in Granada is a favourite place for kids birthdays, choking up all the parking spaces, screaming kids all over the place.
not the place to take the secretary for lunch nowadays

Re: Costa Brava
 

interested in this post is there really a big difference in lifestyle and prices between costa brava and say costa del sol??

Re: Costa Brava
 

Enourmously. They are effectively different countries

Cosat Brava has a different language, different climate, different food and different appearance to the CDS. They are part of very different cultures.

Andaluces and Castilians call Catalans "Polacos" because as they are so different culturally then they may as well be Polish

Re: Costa Brava
 

There seems to have been a unusual amount of interest in the Costa Brava/Catalunya as a destination for British people in Spain. I think I count 6 members here on the forum, as well as a race car engineer who has a job waiting for him here - that I met by chance in the local town car park !

I've pulled together some threads that I and others have answered questions about recently, and that some of which will be useful to all.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/spain...nently-835221/

http://britishexpats.com/forum/spain...-there-835694/

http://britishexpats.com/forum/spain...slator-834691/

Re: Costa Brava
 

Doesn't get that cold and you still get good sunshine. It would be boring to just have a desert around you, like it is in some parts of the south.

Re: Costa Brava
 

I'd say you can eat out just as cheap as the costa del sol. Of course there are more expensive tourist places too, but you have the options. Lifestyle depends what your looking for really. If you only want higher temperatures all year round like Heike und Alan, you'd probably go for costa del sol.

Re: Costa Brava
 

if you don't understand the difference then the best thing is
don't bother coming at all

it is like asking is there a difference between Margate and Blackpool or Blackpool and Bournemouth (or Brighton).

sorry this is negative but Spain is 195,000sq miles with a population of 47 million whilst the UK is 243,500sq miles with a population of 64 million.

yes there is a lot of space spare but that is mostly mountains which tends to keep the Autonomous Communities more remote from each other, as well as the Provinces within each AC which are generally much larger than any UK county.

Although Spanish is the "official" language there are others in different parts of the country (mostly in the north) but there are accents/dialects in the same way as as we have Geordie and Brummie etc which don't mix.

hth