paintermujer

Its amazing how quickly this last year has passed. Seems almost like yesterday that we were waiting to board the Santander ferry to start our new life in Spain.

We have learnt so much in that time.
Weve made good decisions and also some very bad ones.

Weve spent so much money trying to settle but luckily OH income has been good but I have lost mine.

Massive adjustments, especially for our 9 year old.

But we are happy and are very glad we made the choice to move.

There are lots of things in Spain which arent perfect but the good things outweigh the bad most of the time.

For anyone thinking of making that move, make sure you really want to change your lives forever and make sure you choose your area wisely-Spain offers such diverse lifestyles.

Make sure you have lots and lots of money and an income cos it will dry up in no time otherwise.

Believe me, you may think you have done your homework but something expensive will crop up that you never would have dreamt of.

And those with children, it will be tough for them for quite a while.How many of you adults would fancy going to a foreign school when you cant understand anyone - very isolating for them to begin with.

But hey, we are really starting to settle now and are living our valencian lives to the full but it has been very hard work.

Good luck to all those who are planning their move in the future.

It can still be done successfully.

steviedeluxe

Congratulations! Good to see you're still posting here - I believe you had problems to begin with concerning some posters here. Keep us informed!

paintermujer

Thanks.

I do still post now and again but have been busy with other things this summer.

And yes I did get loads of grief from some other members but thats in the past and they just did not understand our circumstances.

Sam Greenfield

Congratulations - im so pleased for you all - heres to many more for you xxxxx

HBG

Congratulations, and a wise post, especially pointing out your child's difficulties.

There is a mountain of difference between an immigrant with no ties arriving with just a suitcase, and a couple with a child arriving with their entire lives (and getting the area wrong to start with).

But even those with little baggage can come unstuck with an unsuitable area; the city dweller may feel lost in in an inland town without transport; but it's just as bad for someone from the country suddenly finding themselves dwarfed by skyscrapers in Benidorm.

Good luck anyway and, is it really better than Plymouth?

bil

Congrats. Hope you make it here, and are very happy.

Sam Greenfield

Well thank goodness you took no notice of them n stayed xxxxx

paintermujer

I was born and bred in Plymouth so I know the city quite well and I can honestly say "yes" Valencia is much much better than Plymouth.

We have to make it work here in Spain because apart from missing a few family members in Plymouth there is nothing else for us there.

Home is where the heart is.

paintermujer

Thanks Sam.

Mitzyboy

I like Valencia, and although you're not in the citiy iirc, its nice to be close to it.
I went up to Bonaire the other day to buy the wifes Birthday present

Glad it all worked out and you're still hanging in there

sunlover35

hi there,

i am new to this forum an just having a read through some posts-had no intention to post anythin until i had read more!! lol

its nice to hear apositive story, i am a member of another forum and i dont post on it anymore as its all doom and gloom and abrupt responses to any questions i have about my move. i have weighed up all the pro's and cons and we are very happy with our decision to move-preparing with a private tutor so our daughter had about 9 months before to get used to the lingo and not feel so apprehensive about the move.

my question really was what advice would you give to us having recently moved as most people who tell you not to go have been there for years and have seen a dramatic downturn..........you have gone in with a fresh outlook on how things are with no comparisons??

any help is much appreciated

thank you

painterhombre

Hola todos!

Hi, haven't posted on here for a while, but i do dip and read from time to time, hope you are all well, whether in UK or Spain. (etc) Sorry post is s long, but hopefully makes up for my lack of saying anything at all of late!

Amanda told me about the thread she put on here and encouraged me to perhaps fill the gaps in with my 2 cents worth, hope its appreciated!

The past year for us has been a rollecoaster ride of massive highs and huge lows, but with each mistake, we learnt something new, and have seen something new (or quite often weird or surreal) every day we live here. I still plan to write a book about the whole thing, when i get a spare 5 mins! (bargain book clearance shops at the ready!)

We have made more friends or at least good acquaintances, here in one year than many years n Plymouth, and have been fortunate to give help to other newbies who didn't know "what's what" here. Ever day is an experience for us and an adventure, something we never had in our busy but moribund UK life. Yeah we didn't listen to some peoples advice, but we weren't the first to not listen to some advice at some point here (various "opening a bar" threads?) and we wont be the last¬!

I'm still hurting from our ill fated move to the alicante area, but it was still an experience, and we still learnt lessons from it, but the main thing is that we would not have found our place in the sun here, unless we had been living in pain somewhere at the time. We just did it in an expensive way, but hey, there's no foolproof manual to moving to Spain and everyone is different with different needs and expectations and so on.

Moving to a mainly Spanish area with a tiny little but of british stuff should we ever need not too far drive away, was our wisest move, although various goods and services readily availble to expats along the coast, cant be got here which is frustrating, but oh well.......

so you know, we live a fairly Spanish life now but with an english twist!

Its hard to gauge whose advice to take sometimes, but any given is gratefully received, and i would like to think we can after only a year, at least give some form of help back to others. Why? Dunno, but i do know that i would not have done that in the UK. Our life is much better here and Valencia is a fantastic place. yes its got its faults (dur!) but everywhere has. Who knows, we may live here for ever or we we may move on somewhere else in a few years. Life's become like that now, A journey.

And an interesting one at that!

Yeah, i do miss a few things like choice as a consumer (espesh supermarkets), cheaper goods, a good 2nd hand market for stuff, cheap cars, cheap shoes aned clothes, oh i could go on), but when i weigh up what we've got here now, to what we had last year, its cool and i'm happy.

I've learnt so much of the language i am more confident to get by with most stuff now so my best advice would definitely be LEARN AS MUCH OF THE LINGO AS POSSIBLE BEFORE YOU GO, NOT AFTERWARDS.





Deciding to move to Spain is one thing, actually doing it is another, and surviving is a new story altogether. Like anything in life nowadays, if you want something THAT BAD, you'll find a way to do it! But amanda's tips in the 1st post also of course relates to what i think! (no double act jokes please! ),

........... but you can never do enough research, and something will always crop up you never would have thought of.

We dont miss Plymouth either. And i doubt it misses us.

When i check the evening herald website once a week and read of all the crime and despair, and look at where we live now, theres no contest.


Dartmoor is nice though...............

jackytoo

Just keep trawling all the forums until you get the answers you want

lynnxa

good to see you both on here & that you have settled in



just one point................does your income still come from your UK business as you said you'd be doing, or have you managed to get it going as a Spanish business with your clients in Spain?

painterhombre

hi and thanks.

Concentrating on English clients for now, i have people in the Uk who do things on my behalf. I dont think its the right time to start up here just now, things seem a little shaky here still