A Happy Spain Experience

I have always been happy in Spain - I bought my first holiday home in Benidorm in 1982 and after a succession of moves now have my home just outside Huercal Overa.

My son speaks perfect Spanish as no doubt will my grandson (3), and both have enjoyed or will enjoy a quality of life and freedoms that could never be given in the U.K. I have been able to spend 'quality time' with my son and now my grandson and I believe that we will all lead longer, happier and healthier lives as a result of being in the very fortunate position whereby we could choose to live somewhere as idealic as we do.

Thank you Spain

Hóla all,

last month I went to Spain and this was one of the greatest experiences i have ever made...I searched a long time to find the perfect school but I found it..it is called Alhambra-instituto and offers individual courses for beginners and advanced speakers..so if you are interested in learning the language rapily or if you only want to improve your knowledge check out their page alhambra-instituto.org

Muchos Besitos

Hey guys,
great to hear about your happy experiences in Spain. When i first moved to Spain I was having a really hard time finding a good, cheap internet connection, until i found this. If you're interested, check this out! its free, easy and reliable. It is also offered in English and Spanish! the site is called gonuts4free

Enjoy! :)

Its nice to see a forum where people who are happy add messages. I love living in spain and of course there are teething problems when you initialy get here but over time you resolve them and then it is great.

 

Viva Espana.

It is nice to see positive comments from different people about their experiences in Spain. At the moment I am shattered, packing, cleaning, writing reports at work etc. However, I will be in Spain very soon sharing my experiences with you. We are flying to Malaga on 27th and by then we hope to be more relaxed as moving to a different country is pretty stressful. See you soon

Ana

 

Ana,

 

I have moved to Spain twice ! (went back to UK once after 2 years but then quite quickly realised that Spain was for me). When you are here you will have to sort things out Medical, work, house etc and it will be stressful but we found the best way to tackle it was to do the admin stuff in the morning before 2.00pm and then save the afternoons for yourself, find a nice beachbar sit and eat tapas and have a few glasses of Rioja, then it all becomes worth while.

 

Good Luck.

 

Paul

Paul,

I know I will have to sort loads of things. I am Spanish myself and I roughly know how things work in Spain. We will have to register with doctor, town hall, etc. I have Spanish bank accounts and I don't have to worry about NIE cos I have a Spanish Social Security no and ID no.

I know it is stressful but I imagine it would be the same moving to any other country as you have to get yourself established and that takes time. You just have to be patient

Ana

Living in Spain is great.

All we here of the UK is doom and misery.

How about a holiday where you can enjoy the comfort of your own home and also experience plenty of sun, sea and beach,Spain offers more than sixty miles of beautiful beaches at the Costa Brava, along with a rich cultural history, stunning nature and many excellent restaurants.

I love my life in Spain. When people come and visit me from abroad they think I am on holiday all year round. Everyday I think I made my best decision by moving to Spain after seeing the Spain Uncut videos .

The Spain Uncut videos were the ice topping, we were decided to come, but that just made us buy the plane tickets.

So, now we are here, we started a business, we live in a wonderful place and we are enjoying the great things Spain has to offer.

 I hope everybody  can say that here they are HOME!

What a really positive post Valentinaradu

How long have you been living in Spain for and what useful tips do you have to offer others about setting up your own business? Im sure there are many of us who would welcome your thoughts / input

Wend

 

 

This message was last edited by wend691 on 09/08/2010.

Hi Wend,

 

Thank you for your nice comment. I have been coming and going for 3 or 4 years (I was working for a law office in Puerto Banus, but in another country), but last year in December, the 1st of December decided to fly in and move here.

I started the business straight away, applied for grants, found out a month ago I got them , put everything in order and work. I can tell you that I have got lots of help from the authorities for being a woman in business. If you want to find out more, and see what situation can suit you check some more info on the Spanish Woman´s Institute for Andalucia web  (http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/iam/) and the CADE web (http://www.agenciaidea.es/cocoon/ai-estatico-.html?p=/Inicio/Incentivos/&c=Incentivos).

I have to admit it was very easy because I spoke Spanish to handle everything, and now part of my business is to do the same for others .

Also, I integrated myself into the community of my town, going to reunions of the town hall, for the Foreigner ones, etc.

I am still a long way to go, there are so many things left to do, but bit by bit.

 

Also, I have joined several women groups, like WIBS (Women in Business Spain) and Sotogrande Women. If you like, you are welcomed to join us in September when we get together again.

Hope my little ideas helped.

 

Best Regards

 

Valentina

well .................

 I wish we could still work a few days each month in Spain plus spend all our vacations there........currently it's only vacation time we can spend there......fingers crossed we can revert back to our old ways some time over the next few years.  It's a fab country for sure 

Great to read the positive posts.  Spain is a great country with much to offer.  I have lived here practically all my life.  Sure, like anywhere else, there can be problems, no one can deny that fact, but the positives as described by the other posters on this thread do make for a pleasant life.

Patricia

Very informative lens. It's said Spain is one of the best country for the retirement. "Slow down and enjoy life, just like the Spanish do." It's so attractive life style. I believe the folks has a lot of peace in the heart though the OX fighting is one the popuplar sports in Spain. I also read some Alicante Informatic for travelling purpose before, I like the life style in Spain.

I have to settle for my early and late holidays to my small apartment in Cabo Roig, but its all I think about the time when I can sell up and get over there for good.

I love the place, the beaches, the people, and no one can put me off the freash fruit on the market, I live more like a vegitarian when over there.

nice to see that there are others like me that think Spain is great, and dont blame the Spanish for the mess that leamen brothers created in the world finance.

 

 I love Spain so much I have applied for Spanish Nationality. After 23 years living and working here. My daughter was born here 14 years ago. So it is important for her to have full nationality for her future here. Spain has been very good to me. I worked very hard for the last 21 years but recently had two years not working full time only part time. 

I plan to go back to work this September and open a training school for secetaries to get work experience in Accountancy, Law and Insurance. 

That's terrific, El Jefe.  Good luck with your plans.

 

Patricia

Dear All,

inspiring to read, have always enjoyed holidays there, good luck.

Norman

The "silent majority" of expats in Spain appear happy & have not been ripped off in any major way i.e. the benefit of applying commonsense checks/due diligence (given the public knowledge that some Spanish based lawyers are negligent/dishonest).

Against that background, conducting a very PUBLIC LIFE LONG WAKE over losses despite clearly acknowledging not conducting adequate research/checks & naively throwing oneself into the arms of lawyers appears FUNEREAL.

Is it time to give the majority a little break ?

Cheers,

Jon

 

This message was last edited by Jon07 on 03/09/2011.

I'm so happy to be here too! and I really like this forum! thanks everyone!

** EDITED - Against forum rules **

This message was last edited by EOS Team on 04/09/2011.

To  be fair Norman I don't think it was Jon from Sydney who made that blog post.

 

This message was last edited by Poppyseed on 04/09/2011.

This is a superb Forum & most people conduct themselves with a sense of probity/dignity.

Cheers,

Jon

As a poster with a foot in both camps ie been ripped off with an illegal build that never was and happy having bought elsewhere.

We have now been in Spain for just over a year and do not regret the move.

We attend Spanish lessons and involve ourselves in village life.

We have a lovely house with enough land to supply lots of fresh fruit and veg yet still on the edge of the village.

We now have residencias, car now on spanish plates etc etc, we are now here to stay and fully enjoying the way of life here.

The loss of a large slice of our retirement pot still causes us annoyance but the sun and tranquility of village life eases the pain.

 

 I think it was Andrew Castle (ex English tennis player and now tennis commentator) who summed up his experience with buying in Spain - off plan in La Manga:   'It has been the worst, and the best investment I have ever made".     I think he was referring to the property price slump rather than being ripped off, but he loves the property, lifestyle ect, so feels it compensates to some extent.  That about sums up my feelings as well.  

Spain is a beautiful country. But I do guess it helps that the grass is always greener on the other side!

 

You get people moving to the UK that are (strangely) just as enthralled by our country as we are about Spain!

It's nice to see some happy people. And you're quite right that it's the majority.

 

People need to remember that although there are a lot of problems out there, a lot of them can be solved and more importantly, they are the minority in overall sales.

 

It's individual companies, not Spain as a whole that is the problem. Similar to the unruly kids we saw in the London riots not long back. It's not saying that only kids were involved, and certainly not saying ALL kids were involved. Rough with the smooth I guess!

 

Spain is beautiful, peaceful, interesting and exhilarating. What you want from your spanish experience is truly down to you. Unless you're one of the unlucky ones of course...

 

But aside from all that, Yeay for Spain!

 

(Especially the Churros...)

You know, if you have problems in one country they will not disappear simply because you move to another country!!

Same adage applies, life is what you make it, you get out what you put in.......................ad infinitem!!

I love it here! I also love popping back to Uk to see family and friends and I love having family and friends over here.

I don't live in a dream world, but I do live in a place where I can pop out on my own if I want AND chat to whoever is at the next table when I stop for coffee...................that seldom happens in UK. I have Spanish friends and English and many other nationalality friends, the sea and the sunshine and I am soooooooooooo lucky to be here.

This is a Happy Experience!!                ( one for each year I've been here! )

 Yesterday's Times carried a story that said Spain and France are still the countries British people want to move to most - saying the lifestyle and the sun make it more attractive, and that the perception of a broken society in the UK was a big reason for people wanting to move.  It also said Spain is still seen as a cheaper place to live (we can argue about that of course).   A very large minority said they wanted to move to Spain...................................      I thought this was quite a happy Spain story!!!