Hello from England!
 

I've just found this forum as myself and my husband are planning to move abroad in 3 years from now when our children have all finished college.

We are starting to research now and I thought this would be a good place to start talking to people about making this kind of move.

We've been looking at Spain and Portugal so I am looking forward to reading about the experiences other people have had, in particular with regards to learning a new language and taking pets.

Re: Hello from England!
 

Hello and a big welcome to BE.

Excellent information can be found in the BE Wiki, not forgetting the Living and Moving Abroad forum that will help you, there is also a lot more information in the Europe Forums. Yet another set of great help is the permanent threads at the TOP of each forum, they are very pertinent to that particular forum and makes sensible reading.

Moderators deal with any problems that arise such as inappropriate posts, spammers etc, you will find their names at the bottom right hand side of each forum's index in bold font.

Please contact me if I can give you any further help.

Rosemary

Re: Hello from England!
 

Have moved your thread into the Spain forum as this seems to be more suitable to your needs. I would suggest that you also start a thread in the Portugal forum to gain ideas from there.

Hope this helps you.

Rosemary

Re: Hello from England!
 

The only thing I would say is that Portugal is more expensive than Spain.

Re: Hello from England!
 

Beer´s cheaper in Portugal.

Re: Hello from England!
 

I doubt it! Here it is 1.00 to 1.20 for a small beer.

Petrol is dearer there too.

Re: Hello from England!
 

Paid €1 for a bottle at an English owned Quinta last Saturday. In April 0,60 cents for a beer in Pomarao.


Petrol´s dearer, tobacco´s cheaper, houses dearer, textile products cheaper.

But I prefer Spain overall too. :)

Re: Hello from England!
 

60 cents is cheap I presume that a Quinta is a bar?

What about food in bars/restaurants?

Re: Hello from England!
 

hi and welcome, I have heard people say Portugal is cleaner, the building laws are strange, maybe just different ( more strange than Spain ? ) and it is full golf courses, not that I know nor necessarily believe it all.

Beer prices are not something I would bother about, food, housing and transport, health care, leisure/hobby possibilities.

I did like a lot of the food in Portugal too.

Good luck with your research.

Re: Hello from England!
 

This particular one is a rural hotel, ofcourse if you go drinking in Vilamoura´s marina you pay top dollar.

Haven´t been for a meal in Portugal for years so can´t comment on that.

Re: Hello from England!
 

Can we please concentrate on the OP's questions rather than the price of worldwide beer :D

Re: Hello from England!
 

Thanks for all of the replies! Beer prices are not really important as I'm a wine drinker and the hubby like bourbon!

Seriously we have plenty of time to research, he runs his own business online and we have no reason to stay where we are in Lincolnshire once the kids have finished college, so we have decided to move somewhere where we can enjoy a warm and relaxed lifestyle.

I'm looking to see what areas people recommend, and where it's best to avoid, we don't want to end up in Little Britain near a resort, we're looking for something inland and rural preferably. I'm quite happy to learn a new language, and early planning will give me the time to do that.

I'd be interested to know what kind of pets people have moved with them, I currenly have reptiles, parrots and skunks as well as the usual cats and dogs. I would prefer to keep my parrots and skunks and the dogs, but would happily rehome the rest if necessary.

Re: Hello from England!
 

Careful !! Bourbon? In my experience Spain doesn't seem to hold with these nasty foreign things, especially if they have a local equivalent or if they come out of France. Mind you they seem to have a defective eye when it comes to UK's whiskey - oodles of the stuff around and at good prices in the major supermarkets such as Al Campo. Have even seen the girls from the chinese round the corner struggling with a trolley load.

Food doesn't have to be expensive, the locals save the best for home and ship the poorer stuff to the UK. Just the cucumbers to Germany. Inland the problem can be getting rashers of bacon and SAUSAGES. Olive oil spread from Sainsbury's can't be had as they use olive oil out of the bottle. . But then you can't have everything, and thats what people move for - the local experience, the good weather - has it stopped raining in Granada today ??

Oh and welcome

Re: Hello from England!
 

The pet travel company in my sig can help with your lovely pets.

Good luck in your planning and eventual move :thumbup:

Re: Hello from England!
 

In that case you need to be in my neck of the woods, no Little Britain colonies, lovely pretty rural area, all mod cons and all you need within easy reach, very friendly folk, local farmers co-op right beside me selling local wine at 75 cents a ltr.:)
Lots of country properties at knock down prices with plenty of scope for your livestock and lots of reptiles in the campo to replace the ones you have to leave behind. ;)

I move back and forth regularly with my Mutt, by road and sea no problem.
I have neighbours with everything from peacocks and donkeys to ostriches running around in their gardens fairly close by, but don't get the wrong idea it's still very peaceful and quiet. :thumbsup:

Re: Hello from England!
 

I have come to love where I live - although I was very homesick at first.

I think that we are in an ideal location - an hour to the east of Málaga and 30 minutes inland from the coast. Also an hour from the pleasant resort of Nerja and about 90 mins from Granada and the Sierra Nevada.

We are in a hamlet 5 mins drive from a medium sized town/village (pop 3,500) which has all amenities - shops, restaurants, health centre, library, gym etc.

There are some expats - but not too many, and those that wish to mix seem to get on well though there are many others that prefer to keep to themselves or mix with a small group of friends.

All in all - pretty perfect I think :)

(we also moved over with a cat and a dog and that went well - though now, despite vowing not too - we also have 4 rescue cats and 6 rescue dogs!)

Re: Hello from England!
 

I seem to remember some tv prog, probably from France :frown: where some expats were taking a bottle or a jug in and shopkeeper just filled it up from a barrel. HMRC would shudder off their stools. :thumbsup:

Re: Hello from England!
 

Many years ago it was the same in UK.

Rosemary

Re: Hello from England!
 

I do remember real ale came direct from the barrel, was a pub on Cambs\Beds border that poured the real ale direct from the spigot - really lovely pint of of Well Bombardier, then the refurb team moved in and it had to come down a grotty pipe. That would have been about 1978 (?). The Watneys Red Barrel era ruined all that though. Earlier abt 1969 (?) remember being in Aus and being served with a large jug of lager - that was a novelty!!

Re: Hello from England!
 

Can you check your pm please

Re: Hello from England!
 

Hello Sandradmrsp

Jill & I are making the move in 2012 and have already done lots of research and a couple of trips/holidays to sus out a few areas.
Properties away from the coast even a few km's seem to be a lot cheaper.
There is a downside to this though, for us at least, in that the further away from the coast you get the necessity to have a car increases and also the temperatures are much lower out of the summer season. There are large areas of population in certain parts of the coast and consequently everything you need, shops, restaurants, bars, supermarkets, DIY stores etc. to service this population. There is also more chance of public transport on the coast.
This is important to us as we do not want to move once we are too old and doddery to drive a car, a good 20-30 years away but a consideration.:rofl:

Don't get hung up about Brit enclaves because there are also lots of other nationalities that tend to live in groups. Usually though there are good mixes with lots of Spanish also. You may also need to speak to someone in your own language sometimes and knowing where the Brits are may be useful. We have been told though, to be wary about help and information given by the Brits as they may not have your interests foremost in their minds.

Southern Costa Blanca and Murcia tend to be drier than further north and south in the spring and autumn. The winter temperatures in CB are also higher than further north and south. Although the Ayamonte area, close to the Portuguese border has milder winters also; probably because it is the Atlantic coast

All this information was gleaned from looking at average weather information from various internet sites. Members of this forum will have their own opinions as they actually live there so their insight will be more helpful.:thumbsup:

It is difficult to get general information about local taxation even car tax as every area seems to have its own way of doing things or interprets the rules differently. Even simple things like getting a mobile phone contract need official paperwork of one sort or another. This is something we are finding from replies to our postings here.

Anyway all the answers are here on the forum, you just need to ask or search previous threads. Everyone is very helpful but you do have to put up with some ribbing and banter along the way which adds to the fun:p

Good luck with your move

Steve & Jill

Re: Hello from England!
 

Well, one thing less for you both not to worry about because the annual vehicle tax is computerised. The rate is set locally and is not open for discussion or wrong interpretation.

The rate is not National nor even Regional. It is local, i.e. set by the Town Hall where the vehicle is registered. Therefore the same car, same age, same spec. can and does attract a different rat of tax in different areas.

Re: Hello from England!
 

Didn't I just say that?:confused:

Re: Hello from England!
 

Not many round my way waste their time with bottles or jugs, it's usually run off into 5 ltr water containers or similar, a few at a time.
Their cars are often creaking under the weight when they drive off.
As for barrels they'd be a waste of time as well, as it comes direct out of a number of giant containers through seven different big taps, one for each type of wine and I've yet to see one of them run dry.
There's quite often a few locals already legless when I go down there at 10am on a Saturday morning.
The best of the wines actually costs over 1 euro a ltr locally, and at least six times as much in the big cities where it is highly rated, so in between serving the locals in bulk, the staff are kept busy running some off into expensive looking bottles with fancy labels, some of it then being packed into presentation boxes before being sent off.

Re: Hello from England!
 

I suppose the beauty of it is that it's produced on site and is virtually direct from farmers to customers, as far as the locals are concerned anyway.
Almost no mark ups at all from in between ppl. like greedy merchants, shopkeepers, restauranteurs and all the rest who normally grab such a big slice of the action, in fact many of the customers are the farmers and grape producers themselves, so no chance of anyone getting ripped off.

Re: Hello from England!
 

The area of Spain where we have bought a property could suit you. Lebrija is a market town, about 15 miles from Jerez and about the same distance to the coast. This is Costa de la Luz, on Spain's Atlantic coast and completely different to the rest of Spain's southern coastline. There is a very small British community in the development where our property is, but otherwise it is a very Spanish town and area. There is a rail connections from the town are currently being improved and will include the high speed rail link to Madrid (at the moment the train routes are to Cadiz, Seville - both about an hour away in opposite directions and of course Jerez).

We haven't moved to live there (yet) - we bought the property as an investment and rent it out - but have always enjoyed visits. There's lots to do in the area - walking, golf, birdwatching (the Donana national park is about half and hour away.

Re: Hello from England!
 

I remember someone (can't remember who) said to me "The downside to Spanish wine is it doesn't seem to come with screwtop bottles very often" when I replied "why would a country that grows the corks want to fit screw tops and do themselves out of business" he could only reply with a muted "mmmm"
I know it is possible and now the supermarkets are supplying in plastic tops and cardboard bricks but still applies in general.

Re: Hello from England!
 

A lot of Spanish wines now have plastic corks.

Re: Hello from England!
 

Although I could fill all sorts of containers with all sorts of local, cheap wine, I much prefer pouring mine from a proper, glass bottle, I find it tastes better.

I'm always amazed to find that wine can be cheaper than water if bought direct from those containers, it doesn't seem right.

Re: Hello from England!
 

Mine comes out of a Lidl Brik - mixed 50/50 with tap water and ice ;)



(OH says I'm cheap to run!)