Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

Hello to all my fellow British Expats, I am posting this as I have decided to move from England on my own, most likely to Spain. I have just spent 2 years in Australia with my family and am aware of how useful the Ex-Pat network can be, helped us down under.

Sadly my wife and I are now separated, I have 2 kids, 15 and 12, who I now see every other weekend. Apart from that there is nothing to keep me in the UK. Having loved the Australian way of life I have struggled to settle back into life here, miserable people, frequent assaults and 2 local murders within 4 weeks of being back. Awful.

So here I am, at 46 years old, ready to move overseas on my own, exciting and a little scary at the same time.

If possible I would like to share information around some questions I still don't have answers to, so any help would be really appreciated.

1) Location: I want to be able to fly back every other weekend, so I need a location close to an airport with cheap regular flights back to the UK, London Stansted ideally but failing that Gatwick or Heathrow are are good. Having researched locations extensively I am leaning towards Torremolinos. It seems to have changed a lot from how I remember it in the 80s. Climate looks great, transport is cheap and regular, Malaga airport is a 30 min bus-ride and lots of restaurants for a single man to sample. I appreciate it may be a little noisy in the summer months but quieter out of season, I have no issue with that. I was bought up in a coastal town in the UK and always loved the busyness of the summer months and the tranquility that followed. Would appreciate any comments from Brits living there, or indeed living elsewhere that you think might be better.

Accomodation looks remarkably cheap to begin with, just a 1 or 2 bed apartment close to the centre seems reasonable with no need to get a car. Will look at somewhere more permanent when I get to know the area a little better.

2) I also wondered what the internet was like locally. I have a little recruitment business which i will simply do from Spain. Technology is so good now I can keep my UK business number even in Spain without the costs of international calls. I will need reliable broadband though so really keen to understand how good it is.

2) As a single 46 year old man, well recently single anyway, do you think Torremolinos would be a good location? I am not looking for a relationship yet, but would be nice to meet like minded people and build a social network. How easy do you think that would be here? I learnt Spanish at school but have not really used it since. I am going to throw myself into getting fluent but that may take up to a year. Would I struggle?

3) I know the economic situation has changed in Spain, how much has that affected Torremolinos? I don't need to rely on a local job thankfully but wondered what effect the economic situation it may have had. A lot of information I am reading is a few years old and I know things can change very quickly.

4) Crime - From all I have read it looks good, clearly you have to be careful everywhere but it seems safe from all I have read.

So excited and can't wait to talk to anyone living there. Have not lived on my own for years so this is a really big life change in all regards.

Feel free to comment or message me directly, would be great to have people to meet upon arrival!

Thanks in advance everyone.

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

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: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

Thanks Rosemary, I am looking forward to talking to everyone

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

Hi and welcome. Have you thought of Sevilla, great city, fantastic tapas bars and posh places, lots of student things ( cheap and cheerful) city accom. used to be plentiful. Sevilla5.com used to be a good site for info. I no longer live near so have no relevant info. Airport has a bus that connects it to train station and city, plus flights to Stansted.

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

How interesting, No I hadn't considered Sevilla, a City might be better than a tourist area. I was attracted to the low prices to rent intially and the climate. I will check Sevilla out right now :-)

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

Sevilla dismissed, one thing I really want is to be near the coast. In Australia I was in Brisbane, which is the only major City not on a beach! Was a mistake as had to travel over an hour to the Gold Coast in a county where the sun constantly shines!

This time I really want to be near the coast, so Torremolinos is still looking favourite at the moment.

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

What about Almeria region, Roquetas de Mar or around Garrucha or Mojacar might suit you all coastal, but nearest airport is Almeria, flights to Stansted in summer but Gatwick all year, maybe not as cheap as Malaga though. Could also check out around Almuñecar along the Costa Tropical, though you would need a bus to Malaga airport.

Good luck am sure you will get lots of advice here :thumbup:

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

Ayamonte, near loads of beaches, plenty choice of rentals, proximity to Portugal and loads more beaches. Greta food either side of the river and loads to do ! Lots of various nationality expats too. Sevilla airport doable, Faro airport nearer.

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

I can second that.Faro airport 40 mins away.ryanair to Stansted,Easyjet to Southend.

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

IMO the Op would be best served living near Alicante or Valencia & of course Barcelona may be an option.

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

bear in mind that if you become resident in Spain they will want to tax your UK income (with a credit for tax paid in the UK) and Spanish tax and NI equiv rates can be higher

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

Hola and Bienvenido,

If you want to fly to Stansted, then simply look at where planes fly from Stansted and which airlines then try to do a pseudo-booking at various times of the year to see how frequent they fly or in the case of Ryanair, if they fly in winter or only in the summer.

Good luck

Davexf

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

Good advice. May also be an idea to look at Luton and Southend airports as well as they are not that far away.
In Spain I would also look at an area that is served by more than one airport and also the transport links to/from the airport

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

Torremolinos would be an ideal choice, it really does have something to offer everyone. Nice promenade, without having a noisy road running alongside it, very recently has been upgraded, new planting and free parking. Many different individual and well looked after and well presented beaches, close to lots going on and of course you have got some excellent chiringuitos.

Re: Decision made to move, any help gratefully received
 

I think Torremolinos is less than 10 mins away from the airport, which might even be too close. As playamonte already said, you have Alicante or Valencia & of course Barcelona.