kny

All fellow expats..

Pretty unexpectedly, I was offered a job in Gib. I'm considering the offer, looking into government pages, to forums etc.

I still need to figure out what is reasonable income to keep my current rather modest lifestyle. This of course also means Gib/Spain consideration.

Anyway, what currently concerns me the most is family situation: married, father of two, both aged 1.5y.

I do expect after moving wife would be with kids until they're 3y or so for Nursery school. During that time she would have not any income, making income and Gib/Spain decision harder. I already asked local authorities few things, waiting for their reply, if there'll be any

I would greatly appreciate your ideas, insights, comments..

Unemployed mother of two. How soon she would be bored (Gib is not that large, with all respect)? What your wives were doing? Any ideas on working day crossing to Spain (La Linea,..)?

Rents. Lack of space drive prices high, judging from online agencies it will be fun to find something reasonable (for beginning, 2 bedrooms are ok). When you were relocating, how difficult was to find place to rent? Any suggestions, common problems (dampness,..)

Rest of money. This might be hot and not everyone want to reply. Still. Considering rent, food costs for 4 adults, and with my paranoid rounding up any costs, it seems I should have ~1300 GBP available, in the worst case. I saw some prices comparisons, but still. Is that OK, is it good, is it too low? Again, considering one employed, one unemployed, two kids. Reasonable lifestyle, whatever you understand by that

I'm still looking through other forums, pages etc, but any advise would be much welcomed.

Cheers,
Kny

Fredbargate

Hi kny

To rent a 2 bed flat in Gib you must budget for at least £1000 see the following link, unfortunately not so good now they have included Spanish property, however they all seem to be prefixed with NA

http://propertygibraltar.com/index.p...&action=torent

With reference to your wife, in Gib she should have no language problems assuming she speaks English allowing her to find friends more easily.

kny

Fredbargate, thanks. I already budgeted £1400 for rents, as I have seen already the link above. Luckily, she speaks English, and with little bit of practice..

Fredbargate

If you are saying you will have ~ £1300 available after paying your rent then it will be sufficient for a very reasonable lifestyle.

kny

Thank you for confirmation.
Anyone else willing to talk about family life there is welcomed

IamStu

Wait for Fred to catch his breath! He knows all there is to know about Gib

crookesey

Everyone who I've heard of working in Gib lived in Spain, why not book into a hotel in Gib and have a good look around? You would obviously spend some time in Spain, La Linea doesn't sound that good, but you're not that far from some very decent places.

Good luck.

jackytoo

I would choose Sotogrande to live. Just a short drive to Gibraltar (and a 2 hour wait at the border) Worse than a London commute

crookesey

If you use a car it can be parked in Spain, but why bother, use public transport and walk to and from the rock?

jimenato

Many who work in Gib live in Spain - there are some lovely places close by (but Sotogrande isn't really one of them) Anywhere on the coast from Estepona to Tarifa is OK for travelling by car and there are some nice villages inland as well. It depends on many things; whether you want to drive, where you will want your kids to go to school etc.

Rents will be much cheaper in Spain - although I believe La Linea itself can be a bit more expensive because of its proximity to the rock and it's not exactly everyone's cup of tea.

An example of rent, there are many properties available here in Jimena for 250 Euros and you would get three beds and communal pool for about 400. there will be many properties in places like Sabinillas or Estepona for between 500 - 1000 and at the top of that range they would be very nice.

Fredbargate

There is no way I would advise living in Spain at the moment, the frontier is too much of an unknown. Although this year we have not seen the pedestrian queues of past years they have in the last week been of the order of 45 minutes.

My advice is always to first rent in Gib for say 6 months and during that time explore all possibilities.

kny

everyone - thanks for your thoughts. Plan is rather simple for now - if we get far enough, I'll come with wife for few days. I had pretty much same idea as Fredbargate - stay in Gib for ~6 months and who knows? As I'm not from UK, relocation itself would be fun enough, not to mention settling down
And btw - looking at weather forecast I was very jealous

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

jimenato

Yes - sad but true at the moment and no end in sight it seems. I have many friends who work in Gib and right now it's a bit of a nightmare. I nearly got a job thee a few years ago. Glad I didn't.

muckerteller

hi guys im new here and I just took a look at the web address to rent in Gib and im absoloutly shocked because is this what my dad and his comrades in the royal air force fought for in 1940 to 1945 risked their necks flying out of wartime gibralter to protect convoys from german U-boats prowling the atlantic and med stopping Rommel (assisted by the eight army of course)