el collado kid

And now i'm on my bike of that i'm certain , and more much more of this i'm sure it's curtains
Sorry

bfg69bug

As one of the "younger" members of the forum, I can give you my point of view :

Let your kids finish their education if you have any. Let them learn a trade or get a qualification before they come to Spain. There is no "bar work" or "easy" jobs for us as foreigners to get here. Have them learn Spanish before they come over. Dont move to the middle of nowhere if you want the kids to have a life. If they are old enough, get them driving before they come over here.

If your kids are 0-10 years, move whenever you like, the earlier the better.

If you are going to retire here and have no kids, it can be great, but the same caveats apply - learn some spanish.. dont expect do do everything here that you used to do there - there are "clubs" and "groups" in the more "expat" areas, but elsewhere you will be lonely.

If you need to work to survive, make sure you have enough money in the bank not to need to - think 10k per person per year, at least.

Not everything is rosy / peachy.. leave the rose coloured spectacles in the history books, and realise that every single person here, regardless of who or where they are, will try to rip you off, and will chat sh*t. Until someone actually turns up, believe nothing that anyone says. Your fellow brits will be the worst.

Being a "long term" renter (5+ years) remember that the owners just want the money. If something breaks, its very rare that they will turn up after 3 or 4 calls / messages etc, and then they will say its your fault. On "rent day", they will be at the door at 08.00 wanting cash in their sweaty little hands. Renting is not cheap. A "decent" house within 40 min of the coast will be around €1000 a month. Further Inland is alot cheaper, but if you are coming for the beach / golf life you will soon get sick of driving for an hour to get anywhere.

Dont get me wrong, I will probably be ridiculed for saying all this, I will probably be disagreed with. They will be right, there are some nice people around.. but they are rare and will probably vanish as fast as they showed up.

I would say "save for your own retirement / rainy day" - put at least 5% of your income aside, in a jar etc for when you need it - you never know when things can become unstuck.

Remember things are not as cheap in Spain as everyone thinks, and cheap things are normally chinesium and will break after the first use. Decent tools and household items can be expensive, but worth it.

If you are happy to spend all your time with your partner, or wandering around town having a coffee nodding to the locals and laughing and saying si si si when you havent got a clue what anyones saying, you´ll fit right in. It soon gets tiresome tho - believe nobody when they say "ohh yes i´m intergrated well into the society and i have lots of spanish friends etc etc".. and then they go shopping in a carrefour hypermarket and the only word of spanish that they say all week is "no gracias" when they are asked if they need a carrier bag...


Dont believe what anyone says, go into things with your eyes wide open, ask lots of questions.. have some long holidays here to see if you like it first.

el collado kid

I think your reply is very good and informative and will give people an excellent view of live in spain well done.I agree with most of what you say ,i was very interested in the children part.

AdiosAmigo

Thank you so much for taking the time to post this.

I was always a firm believer that reality was never going to be how it looks in the dream and so thank you for confirming this. The more I research and the more I speak to the wife about this I think we are going to do exactly as you say when we retire and take some long holidays. Who knows which way we will decide after that but at least we will fully understand how it feels to live there when not in holiday mode.

One final question to you.....If your still young, can you see yourself staying or is moving back to the UK a possibility ??

Thanks again.

Boseley

I live on a remote Canary Island, my relatives lived on the Iberian peninsular and seemed to associate with many from their country of birth. I thought about such an existence, but having arrived in this archipelago, from the Caribbean, in 1962, the magnetic pull of the islands was too strong, and once I was able I disposed of my business and chattels I settled here.

Many here are like me, immigrants, mainly from the Caribbean or South America, my neighbours are Venezuelan and Cuban, the man mending the road is from Ecuador, a doctor I know is from Cordoba in Argentina. Few maybe seven or eight are from the British Isles, the English language is rarely used and rarely spoken.

The climate is kind, the people are friendly, the young are polite and still show respect to their elders. I have had so far no regrets about moving here, like most of the other immigrants I applied for, and was granted nationality.

So here I will stay.

bfg69bug

oh dont get me wrong, there are people and familes that 'make it work' and live here like they would of done in the uk.. But many people feel isolated and lonely and 'seperated' from life. They sit inside their houses watching their english tv only going out to go to dinner or to go shopping in a big supermarket, or to drive an hour to play golf on their own all day..

the times when anyone could come here, have a great time drinking cheap beer, driving around in their english car however they want and generally 'living the high life' have gone. The beer is still cheap, but the 'recklessness' or the 'village life' is gone, consumed by the multi-cultralism / modernisation of the country which is technically what everyone wants or needs but doesnt enjoy because it 'ruins' the illusion that they have that is shown on every tv program and film in the uk.

There is more unemployment here in spain than the uk. There are more people living under the poverty line. There are more people on benefits here than ever. It is not paradise unless you come here with an income from elsewhere and can afford to live in the way that you are accustomed to.

to answer your question, would i go back to the uk.. Ive no idea what 'the uk' is now. I havent been there for years. Ten years ago i used to be in the uk one week of every month, just for fun, to see friends etc.

if i could go back in time i would never of come to spain in the first place.

We have what we have, and we grow and make the most of it. If i could go back to my house in the uk, as it was when we left in 1999 then i would.move tomorrow.

to answer to the curiosity, im 38. Ive been here since i was 17 in 1999. And no, i didnt finish my a-levels. We as a family have struggled, survived, but never really lived. We as a family have never claimed unemployment, we have survived with what we had.

Welcome to spain as a 'working class' family.

bfg69bug

Thats interesting, that no english is spoken.. A far cry from fuengerola / andalucia costas in general. The young here are .. Not polite, but are rude and loud.

Probably the difference between 'brit' kids and 'south american'.

we as a company, until last year, employed solely south american workers - we have found that they 'get on with it' more than the spanish counterparts. This year it seems there are more romanians applying.

Moses2013

bfg69bug made some good points but I wouldn't throw away the dream yet and like anywhere common sense is required. A retired person will have a different life than a 38 year old today and a lot will depend on your finacial situation. Some people don't give up their life back home and just take holidays. Others downsize and manage to buy a smaller holiday home in the location that suits without moving permanently, so it's all possible.

bfg69bug

i meant no 'anger' or 'animosity' towards anyone, its just my opinion and i believe that everyone is entitiled to that - everyones point of view helps.your decisions

Moses2013

I didn't see it that way at all and all your points were all very good. I just think in this case the OP is overthinking. As far as I know, is that he was dreaming about a holiday home and now comparing full time living with holidays. Regardless of buying or renting, life for a pensioner spending a few months in the sun will be very different to the life of a young couple with kids and no job. Normally it's the other way around on this forum and the young couple with kids and no job believes they can live the life of a pensioner in Spain.

Barriej

We haven't moved yet but have spent the last 15 years visiting the area we ended up buying in. Although we purchased something totally different from our original plan.
I suppose we are lucky in that we have family and friends of said family living in the same area. so we have an already built social network (and no they are not all Brits)

Im looking forward to a simpler life, cooking fresh food and enjoying the different culture and lifestyle in Spain. Ok I will still have beans for breakfast and chips etc, but we live near the coast here in the Uk and enjoy fresh fish and I expect that to continue.

The first thing we are going to do is enrol in Spainish lessons and try to speak some at home (we already try to now)
Then we are going to do a bit of travelling around to see some of the different cities (Her in the Uk I drive over 1000miles a week for my job and have seen i reckon 65% of the Uk)

The one thing we won't be doing is treating it like a never ending holiday. I rarely drink now and don't tend to do on holiday either, I like walking, painting, working on my car. Once in spain I will not be working so I will have lots more time for the things I enjoy. I might even try to finish the book I started writing years ago..

I don't believe anyone should just up and go anywhere. The programmes on TV show a rose tinted view. How can people dream of moving to Australia when they have never even been there (I have and its not somewhere I would move to)

Lmj2018

AdiosAmigo

Some very good posts here. Thank you all.

m2m2012

I don't know the answer, but I wonder how many people that move to Spain do so because in the UK they have such feelings and such a life (see the red text just above). Better weather, new surroundings and a fresh start might make all the difference for some people.

amideislas

Well, I'm glad that hasn't happened here. Sounds awful.