why did you come to live in spain?

[princess peach]

I came here on a 10 day holiday to visit my uncle that i hadnt seen since i was a little girl.(He lives down the road from me now)I loved it here and had never been to spain before..went home to uk told hubby how fantastic it was and that in Gib they did his type of work.We had booked a holiday-which was cancelled due to troubles,and were asked where do we want to go instead?
we said as near to Gibraltar as possible.ended up in fuengirola
we got a bus trip down to Gib for the day-hubby asked around in Gib about his line of work,basically got given a job immediately,went to back to uk,house sold after 1 day of being on the market..and that was it..here we are.
I believe it was all meant to be.Nearly 5 years on...we are still here...

What about you...?

[ken2]

thanks for that P.P life does things that you don't expect,i went to a boot sale, ten years ago. and a lady that always had the same pitch and sold china ands glass, had a load of big plants,?? i said to her you don't do plants, her reply was they are from my smallholding, we are moving to Spain, anyway i ended up going over to her house the next day with OH. Fay, we brought her garden bench all these big garden statues, her three piece suit ect ect ect,ha ha when we got home after having a cuppa with her and her oh, and looking at her ideas,we said why don't we do that,so here we are, and she is still in u.k ha ha ha

[BENIDORM]

I came to Spain in the early 1960's, I was based in Gibraltar with the Royal Navy, on my days off I worked in a Spanish bar in La Linea, collecting glasses and wiping tables...but I had an ulterior motive..bar owners daughter...ohhh happy days.....
Then I walked alone from Gib. to Lisbon, took a few weeks, fell in love with the Iberian Peninsular, and made many visits until I moved permanently in the 1980's...
But sadly everything has changed, including me, and although I still love Spain, the magic isn't there anymore.....that is for me personally...

But for other people, no problem..still a great place to live here and bring your children up....

[princess peach]

ken2 wrote:

we brought her garden bench all these big garden statues, her three piece suit ect ect ect

so did you sell it on...or sell it all back to her ken???
bet she was cursing you two...

Beni..your post made me sad. ..would you ever consider selling your pad in spain and buying anywhere else?


The only thing that worrys me about living in spain is the future and old age...Its been something myself and hubby have been discussing a lot lately.

[dido72]

We came here because my parents were here and we fell in love with the place, it got harder to go back to the UK every time. We never expected it to be easy (and it hasn't been) and we still have some hurdles to get over but on the whole we are incredibly happy here, bureaucracy and all!! My daughter is loving school and my son will start in September (2 down 1 to go!!) so we will see how he takes to it.

[Kmoppz]

We don't live in Spain, but visit every month, and spend a long weekend.

Then during May - September we average about 10 days a month, partly helped by some work I do in Marbella every June.

We don't really plan ever to live in Spain full time, as and when I get more free time (retirement even...) we will spend 2 or 3 months at a time in Spain, then back to the UK for a while.

Would love to commute back to the UK for work, and maintain a home in both countries, but thats a pipe dream I think!

Why do we like it... The weather mainly (good for my health) and the people. The cliche, the laid back life style... not sure if that is real, or just how we are when away from the office!

But I do find people more friendly than those of the South East of England where I now live. But I'm a Northern boy... so I'm always going to think the that!

[itsmoirob]

The missus parents want to move to Spain (Nerja) and wont go unless the missus goes, and she wont go unless I go

I've never really thought I'd enjoy Spain, when I was a teenager my parents visited a few times and I turned down holidays as I thought it's be too hot and like those old Ibiza Reps kind of holidays.

Then last year the missus parents flew a few friends and me over to celebrate their anniversary. We stayed in Frigiliana and I thought "yes I could get used to this"
As soon as the missus parents heard that they kept trying to persuade that thought in to a promise.

So me and the missus agreed with each other to try it out for a year and see if it works. Rent out a cheap apartment and try and find bar jobs (were in mid twenties) and see if it works. If it doesnt just head back to the UK.

So in 5 days time we will be flying out to Malaga airport to start our new life in Spain. I can't wait!

[Free at Last]

What started me on the long road to moving to Spain was the fact that my mother died, 12 years ago, when she was 63. I had always been very ambitious and focussed on my career, but I suddenly thought why am I working all the hours God sends to get a good pension when I am 60, when I may not live to enjoy it. My health was suffering at that time anyway due to stress (something I always professed not to believe in until it happened to me) and my mother's death just made it worse.

The following year I was lucky enough to get voluntary severance from the employer I had been with for 20 years, with a very good settlement. I paid off my mortgage and after taking a few weeks off, got a part time job which was a lot less demanding. I worked a 3 day week for the next 3 years and enjoyed that, and found I could manage quite well on less than half my previous income, with the added security of still having a lump sum in the bank.

Then the idea started to form (probably from watching all the "Place in the Sun" type programmes that we would like to eventually move abroad, and I figured that if I went back to full time work I could use the extra income to fund the purchase of a second home. So I found a new job and we started looking.

We had spent many holidays in Nerja and really liked the area, or somewhere around Lagos on the Algarve was another alternative. On balance we decided on Spain as the infrastructure in Portugal wasn't as good at the time (especially public transport which is important to me as I don't drive), the Portugese language is much more difficult than Spanish to learn, and the weather in Portugal is wetter especially in the winter. We wanted to be in the Axarquia area as we knew it best and liked it, and we came to Velez-Malaga one day (had never been there before whilst on holiday as it is a working town rather than somewhere tourists tend to go) and after we had been there for exactly 20 minutes I said to the OH yes, this is where I want to live. We found a house about 3 months later and completed on it at the end of May 2003.

For the next 3.5 years we came over on holidays about 6 weeks a year and every time it got harder to go back. Then my partner's father died and he inherited some money, and at the same time we realised that houses in area were selling for about treble the amount they had been fetching 3 years earlier. We did our sums and calculated that if we sold the UK house we could pay off the mortgage and have enough left over to fund our living expenses in Spain for the next 8 years, after which we would both be receiving our pensions (the OH would actually get a small final salary pension after the first 2 years and another occupational pension and his state pension 5 years after that.

So we put the house up for sale, sold it a long 7 months' later, and moved to Spain in November 2006. Had a huge setback a month later as my father had a stroke at the end of December and I shuttled back and forth to England as his health deteriorated before he died in July 2007, but otherwise life here is everything we hoped it would be.

I am making good progress with my Spanish (this week my teacher has moved me up to a class two levels above where I was last week, yikes!) and it makes everything so much easier to be able to communicate. I do worry a bit about getting older, but I figure I will be as well off here as I would be if I had stayed in the UK as I don't have children to help look after me (which doesn't always happen for people who do have children anyway) and after witnessing my parents' treatment at the hands of the NHS I would rather take my chances here. My partner is older than me so I might well be left on my own at some stage, but as far as I can tell until it actually happens, I would want to stay here rather than go back to the UK.

[geegee]

Similarly a death in the family for me and OH was the catyalst to do the life change thing, but as to why Spain and inland Andalucia specifically:

1. Holidayed here a few times and liked it, then bought a holiday home
2. Wanted to be within easy reach of the UK re elderly relatives
3. Its hot
4. It has a lovely interior with lots of natural parks, interesting cities etc.
5. Not the best coast, but close enough for a fix when required
6. I thought the language would be easier to learn than French (even tho OH speaks French pretty fluently)
7. It seemed amenable to starting up a business with lots of enticing grants for inward investment (that of course never materialised).
8. Found a beautiful, peaceful finca and it was too hard to resist
9. Just liked it better than the runner-up France, was closer to UK than Italy or Greece etc, so it won out as the best all-round choice.

[alisonb]

My first visit to Costa del Sol was about 12 years ago. I was just looking for somewhere sunny for a week, and didn't expect to like it, but I did. For the next few years, I came once or twice a year on holiday. Got divorced and taken to cleaners about 7 years ago (it doesn't only happen to men), as did my new husband. We were living and working at well paid jobs in Leeds, but had no capital or home, and were renting. We saved as much as we could for the next few years, but couldn't afford anything decent in housing in Leeds. So when himself retired, we decided to try Spain. My husband had never been before, but we visited some friends in Almeria, didn't like it where they were, and looked all along the coast on the way back. Decided we liked the Axarquia region, and we could afford a house! So here we are (almost 2 years now) and we love it. He has asthma and arthritis, both of which have improved no end since we've been here. We live on approximately 1/8 of what we earned in UK. We draw on savings for non living costs (holidays, furniture, building stuff etc), but other than that have a good life. We eat out several times a week, and generally don't feel hard done by. So basically, we moved to Spain as we couldn't afford the lifestyle we wanted in UK. And since we were very newly married, it was all a bit romantic really!

[Cassandra]

Well, I hate to admit it but it was mainly the weather!

Of course there were other reasons as well and the whole thing started when we move just 11 miles to another town and it was so awful I made the flippant remark "We might as well have moved to another country" The seed was sown and I never did get to like the town we had moved to, even the few close friends I had there were other 'outsiders'.

An inheritance gave us the money to be able to buy a village house near to where we had holidayed a few years earlier and then just 3 years after that my OH got the magic voluntary redundancy package. I knew in my heart it was too soon to retire but thought for his sake I would give it a go and had hoped to have my own small business here. I never intended to make a fortune, just enough to have my own money and keep my brain active but Spanish corruption and endless bureaucracy put paid to that!

2½ years on I've decided that the weather isn't enough to keep me here and I simply can't do retirement, so we're off to Scotland sometime in the next few months. Maybe I'll try retirement again in about 20 or so years and maybe they'll have uncorrupted Spain by then and we can give it another go Off to feed the flying pigs now

[alisonb]

Sorry to hear you don't like retirement Cassandra. I took to it like a duck to water, evern though I worked right up to the last minute. My last day at work was 10th May and we flew here on 16th. Since then, they have asked me to go back for a day, and I can honestly say that whilst it was nice to see everyone again, I didn't envy them still working at all. I surprised myself really, as I loved work, but I love retirement even more! Maybe I'm older than you. Himself is 10 years older than me, so I did sneak off well before I should have done. I went on a 50+ course at work not long before I finished, and someone was saying how he would miss the drive to work every morning! As anyone who has tried to get from Harrogate to Leeds every day will tell you - he was mad.

[Cassandra]

Yes, a bit younger Alison and I was surprised to find I missed work so much. This week I've done 1 full day & 2 x ½ days voluntary plus a couple of hours teaching and I feel happier than I have for ages Looking forward to a proper weekend at last, a long one, no work today

[mirandamac]

As someone who has not yet made the move, it's been interesting to read why others have done it. And it's made me think again about why we're planning it! I think what came first was the knowledge that one day my daughter would move to Spain. She worked in Spain for 6 months when she was 18 and has always wanted to move back. 2 years ago, she started looking at it seriously again but for various reasons, was unable to go ahead at the time (mainly because there had been a major fire at the the lovely flat she'd bought in York a year 2 years before, it started on the roof of the penthouse & she was out of the flat for 14 months so of course could not sell then). Then last year, I began to feel that my OH had no time to himself, doing a full time job & working hard in my business. This was a business we'd started after my 'escape' from my previous job (& yes, I know that feeling of not having understood 'stress' - in my case almost a total breakdown - until it happens to you). Then, going out delivering our pet foods etc in rain, sleet, hail, snow, ice, gale force winds and just really grey days started me thinking. That seed grew and we're now busy hunting to try to find the right area for us. My daughter is also planning to come & at the moment we don't know who will get there first!

[Raquel]

I lived in Ireland at the time and was in dire need of a change of life, drastically.

My mum was living in Fuengirola , I came over for her wedding (now divorced) found it very different form Ireland. Loved the weather the beach and met my now husband...love at first sight ahhh how sweet . Went home looked around asked myself why the hell I was living in this place when there is so much more out there. Put my house on the market and moved over....lived in fuengirola for 3 years...said to myself I want to live in the real spain lol (saw it for what it was)...moved to cartama....

lived there for 3 years...asked myself why the hell I was living in this place when there is so much more out there? along with many more factors (which will not bore with as many of you are aware of anyway)(saw it for what it was) moved..back to the country I grew up in.

Happy days

[gerryh]

Why did we move to Spain?

Came to Spain for the first time about 14 years ago for a holiday. My wife hadn't been fealing well for a while. She fealt much better in the warm in Spain. Fealt better for bout 4 weeks after returning to the UK.
Her illness developed and she had to give up work. I early retied from work. We often talked about retiring to Spain.
Just over 4 years ago something really annoyed me in the UK, can't remember what it was. Said to my wife "let's move to Spain"
We came to Spain for several weeks stays to have a good look around.
Decided we liked the warm weather, relaxed life style and cheaper prices.
Moved here 4 years ago.
Love it here, no regrets.

Cheers
Gerry

[rymanskid]

well with me it started back in 1993, the first time I came to Spain with my wife ( now ex ) my father had time share and we wanted to go elsewhere but couldnt get booked so ended up in Benelmadena liked it so started coming back every year some times it was 3/4 times a year eventually decided to buy an apartment and moved out in 2000,only downside is that I wish work was more plentifull but I dont regret being here when you see the state of the UK nowadays.

[Wicksey]

My story is very similar to others here. It basically started one very cold, dank November day with my OH saying that he didn't want to spend the winters in the UK (both suffer from SAD and need more brightness/sunlight). Started researching Europe and came up with southern Spain as it was the southern-most area of mainland Europe, warmest in winter and we could drive here if nec. Got info on Torrox as we were looking for a quiet spot, came here just for a recce in Feb 96 (our first trip to Spain) and fell in love with it. Bought a piece of land and had a house built (very long and awful experience - illegal and everything else you can imagine), but that aside, came here for every holiday we could. Chose Andalucia as there's so much to see here - all the lovely cities, Sevilla, Granada etc etc, plus I love the mountains, possible to do a day trip for skiing, also easy driving on empty roads to discover the rest of Spain too.

It was always only meant to be a holiday home for the winters once we'd retired but finally the stress of work became too much. We did our sums, and thought we can buy 2 flats to rent out for income, clear mortgage and have money in the bank ..... so bu-gger it, let's go!! So at the tender age of 42 we gave up work and came to live here. The first year or so was brilliant, even though it took a while to settle in to living here full time and I did miss my friends, going to the theatre and meals with them after work etc, but better than the stress we were under in the UK.

Unfortunately the building around us/ constant noise/ everything changing beyond recognition etc got too much for us and we escaped to France in 2004 for a while. Like Geegee, it was somewhere we had considered strongly before coming here ........... but here we are again, back 'home' and very glad we made that original decision to buy here 12 years ago.

[RichardCoeurdeLion]

Benidorm

This walk you did to Lisbon. Sounds facinating, a bit like Laurie Lee.

Do you have any tales of it?

[bob]

What, Benidorm walk from Gibraltar to Lisbon? Doubt it seriously, but I'm quite sure he can tell the tales.