Moving and living in Spain

Hi Maggie

I came by myself with a dog and 2 cats and left my friends in the UK.

Fear is from the head. What is your heart saying?

I have been blessed with wonderful neighbours and met lovely helpful and kind people.

I have just done my first August here. Sweating is not nice but then neither is freezing cold in the UK.  Life is an adventure. Try not to put obstacles in the way. Only you and your husband can know what is right for you.

Be free of fear Maggie and embrace your new and exciting adventure together or just rent for a while and get a feel of where you want to be.

In honesty I don't miss UK. I would like an M&S but then there is Internet ordering! !

Health care is wonderful in Torrevieja hospital and no long ques!

Best wishes to you both.

Gill

The most important advice I would give is do not buy anything in this current climate. The £ will soon be on parity with the € which means you will be paying an awful lot for your home out here. Then if the £ recovers to its usual position £1 =1.20€. You will be into negative equity on your property.  Get a rental dip your toe in for a couple of yrs. By then you will know what you want and hopefully the £ will have recovered.

If your from ROI ignore everything I have said as you will be operating in euros

Hi Maggie,

as others have given good advice I won't bore you with more! I live near Denia and know the area very well. If I can help in any way just let me know.

Kind regards, Steve

Hi Maggie,

You are doing the right thing :)

I moved over here over 10 years ago when I was 21 and don´t get me wrong it wasnt easy, but I had to find work etc whereas you can enjoy every aspect of life in Spain (if you don´t need to work)

I would never dream of going back to the UK now, I have a better quality of life and the sun is always shining.

Good luck with the move!

Kind Regards

Haylee

Thankyou Hayley for taking the time to reply it has helped.

Thankyou so much Steve that is great.

Hi Maggie,

I note your location being Denia. I live midway between Denia and Javea so have knowledge of the area. My wife and I retired here permanently in 2011 having bought our property in 2004. With respect to having made the right decision you have the advantage over many of us in that you have no ties to back home. If you are not familiar with the area I recommend that you initially rent somewhere and take your time to explore all that is available to you, I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed as the Costa Blanca is reputed to be in the top 3 most healthy places in the world to live. Ask yourself what you would do on a daily basis if remaining at home and then compare that with what you could do if living here in Spain. In all probability you would be either confined to the house because of the weather or wrapped up in layers of clothing to keep warm for the best part of the year. Every day when I raise the blinds We thank the day we moved across here, invariably there are blue sky's and the temperature is considerably better than at home. In fact the winter months are sometimes a welcome relief from the summer and the important factor is that you can still get out and about.

Fear not about health issues as in this area you have one of the best hospitals in Spain and I can tell you from first hand experience that the medical system here is better than the NHS and speed of service in terms of waiting times is swifter. Obviously if you do not speak the language you will have to employ the services of a translator of which there are several available.

In terms of making friends you will find that eventually your attitude changes over here I believe mainly because of the wonderful environment we live in, people are far more friendly and outgoing and even if that is not your current attitude you can't help but get swept up in the general friendliness of people, not only the Spanish but from the variety of nationalities that all live here and in the main for the same reasons, the great outdoor life style.

There are many opportunities to make friends through a variety of associations, clubs and probably most of all through the number of U3As that are present in most areas and are all advertised in the numerous free ex-pat papers.

If you need to get your 'Big Shops' fix there are some very good larger departmental stores in the major Town/Cities and if the worst comes to the worst hop on a cheap flight back home.

I could go on and on but that will bore you so suffice to say we love it and all those in our community have no regrets so give it a try but rent first.

GOOD luck,

Pete

Hi me and my husband moved over here, San Miguel area, 2 years ago and we love it. My husband was retired, but I was still working, so i was nervous about the change and the fact that I would not be working . I have not regretted anything. I have children and grandchildren, but flights are cheap so we still see them lots. Hope you'll be very happy, I know it was the best thing we've done😃

Hi Pete,

Wow what a reassuring letter, l woke up this morning full of nerves in my stomach and fear in my heart so your letter has made me feel so much better.

Yes it does make it easier to go when you are not leaving family behind, we have our son, wife and grandaughter home at the moment from Dubai, the thought of saying goodbye to them next Tuesday is so hard. We live our life on Skype speaking to our sons every week, which thank god we have, but they are getting on with their life's so this time is for us now.

We are both very friendly, my husband is a mad golfer and l love my keepfit, we also have a little dog so love our walks with him. I have a lovely job, although becoming more difficult, working in a nursery and the before and after school club but most of the staff are very young so difficult to socialise with them out of work.

We downsized 3 years ago to a tiny, beautiful village thinking it would be a lovely community but unfortunately it hasn't worked out that way.

It sounds like you have a lovely life and yes we want that as well, l and l say l as my husband is so looking forward to it and has no fears except for the low exchange rate.

We have only travelled to the South Costa Blanca so don't know the North at all but heard it is beautiful so had to check it out. We have a rental organised for September  in Cumbre del sol (hope l have spelt that correctly) not far from Moraira.

Thankyou again for all your advice.

Maggie