Three years ago we decided to take the leap and move lock stock and barrel to the Costa del Sol.
It was the typical ex-pat dream, lovely weather lazy days and long hot
nights. Then as a young family looking to start a new life here reality
hits home and we had to find work. This was easier said than done. My
husband is a fully qualified driving instructor and coach / bus driver
so we thought naively that he would find work easily, this was not the
case. Although his teaching licence was a European Licence Spain being
Spain wouldn’t recognise his licence, and even though a large driving
school was desperate for an English speaking instructor to teach the
theory it was not to be.
My son, on the other hand, was having better luck. He settled
into a lovely local Spanish school and was quickly accepted. His
Spanish was fluent within 6 months, a localised accent and dialect but
Spanish none the less.
Luckily I found work on the coast as PA for a Managing Director of a
real estate company but ended up doing longer hours and a longer
commute than I ever did in the UK. Left wondering why we came and
thinking if it was such a bright idea we soon realised the good side to
living here.
I know it is a cliché but it really is true the Spanish people are the
warmest, friendliest helpful people you could ever want to meet. We
have been very lucky to have been taken into their lives and families.
We were invited to Noche Buena, Christmas Eve which is traditionally a
family affair. I was asked to cook some English Christmas Fayre and we
had a traditional Spanish evening with a twist of English.
My husband eventually found work with the help of our Spanish friends
with a local coach company and he does the school runs and trips. Once
again the firm he works for have taken us under their wing and helped
us in lots of ways.
Then came our next hurdle after a 12 year gap I fell pregnant but again
this was a wonderful opportunity for our Spanish friends to help. They
soon put us in the direction of the local private gynaecologist, who
for 50€ a visit, would perform a thorough examination and scans and put
my mind at rest, the best 50€ you could ever spend.
It was when I went to the Clinic that the fun started. After just one
visit with the midwife I vowed never to see her again. She was a witch!
Not to mention the doctor we are registered with, who supposedly speaks
English, but just not to us. At one point he would only speak to my
husband about me, but not to me, which I was not very happy about.
Then at one visit when I had a problem with my hip during my pregnancy
he said that I would need to see the Pregnancy Doctor the specialist if
you like so he booked me an appointment for TWO weeks later only to
find that it was him, he was the pregnancy doctor but in a different
room! Well I was furious and he wondered why my blood pressure was
high. He seemed to put on a different hat and had a personality change
with it, he was nice and caring but I was mad!
Well to cut a long story short (as the song goes) I eventually
had a little girl on 18th September 2005 now that is a miracle in its
self as the Poveys don’t do girls so she was an even bigger surprise.
As for the birth, let’s not go there! Put it this way, the UK are
complaining about the cost of pain relief during child birth, well
Spain doesn’t have that worry there isn’t any, nothing, nada, zilch so
there’s a cost saving the NHS could adopt!
It was the birth of Leah that started the whole ball rolling with our newest adventure
our ‘new business’. Once Leah was born we went back to the UK for Christmas to
introduce her to everyone. We were lucky that the family had rallied round and we
had everything (in terms of baby equipment) waiting for us in the UK.
Then this summer we went for a short break just half an hour away at a friend’s villa.
Two car trips and taking half the house with us made reality
strike us at just how wellcatered for we had been when travelling in
the UK with a child compared to Spain.
So this is how www.travellinlite.com
was conceived, and with a lot of help from
Silver Cell Internet Services we have given birth to a brand new Baby Hire
Equipment service which, also offers the extra service of providing nappies, food
etc to be delivered direct to your destination.
Let me explain a little further what I mean, we are hoping that Travellin Lite will
provide a service which, will give families the freedom to travel. Hiring your buggy
and to have it waiting for you at your destination stops the worry of it getting lost in
baggage control or broken. I can fully appreciate any mother’s fears of their child
being in strange surroundings and not being able to keep them in a safe
environment. Hiring a babygate and or playpen gives the parents that little
bit of piece of mind.
With the recent terrorist threats and the new tighter baggage controls we can help
and put your mind at rest that you won’t need to go through extra checks with baby
equipment or pay excess baggage allowance by trying to squeeze everything in the
suitcase that would normally go in hand luggage. Even baby food, can all be waiting
for you this end. Heavy bottles of baby bath and shampoo all waiting for you at this
end. The more you think about it the more it makes sense don’t carry when it can be
delivered.
Take a look and see how we can help you at Travel Lite!
Thanks for reading.
Written by
Dee Povey
Travellin Lite
www.travellinlite.com