Bio: 34 years of age live with my beautiful misses lisa,our two dogs we brought over with us and our adopted dog we rescued been here 2 years and still going strong!
Well it all started about 5 years ago we decided we would like to move to spain
after much reading and researching we decided to go down the work-away route.this was where you work for a host in return for lodgings and food.we figured that doing this we could find a place, where we would be happy, before we committed to a area in spain
we found a nice host in southern spain and set a date to move over, we brought a caravan just to ensure we would never be without a roof, sold all our furniture got our dogs, checked, chipped and passported.
We lived in our rental property with only deck-chairs for the lounge seating, a TV in the corner and the cushions out of the caravan for a bed.
The big day soon came it was chucking it down really hard outside but i was happy with the excitement of the big adventure ahead.
We packed what little belongings what we had left into the caravan handed over the keys put the dogs into the car and hooked up the caravan
as i tried to pull away the caravan was a bit on the heavy side and the car just sat there spin wheels on the spot.i remember me and lisa just looking at each other thinking oh s*** lol, eventually the car got a grip and we was off very slowly mind, lol. After a very short drive to the motorway we got up to speed and the car and caravan started to shake like there was no tomorrow (would we even make it out of the city let alone to southern spain ) things seemed to settle after a couple of miles except for the relentless downpour, we soldiered on and eventually reached Portsmouth
after what seemed like hours we got aboard the ferry for the 25 hr crossing.this was my first time on a boat, first time towing a caravan,moving to a country I've never been,to a place i couldn't speak the language, life didn't get anymore exciting than this,
well the crossing was terrible it was winter the waves and storms at sea was really bad until we hit the med and spain was in view. We came off the ferry, now was the time i was dreading,driving on the wrong side of the road with a 21 foot caravan in tow at rush hour . things from this point became a bit of a blur as i concentrated on driving,eventually day became night and night became day. 13hrs after getting off the ferry we had reached our destination and what a beautiful place we landed in, the views where to die for , we settled in for the night as we was very tired and awoke the following morning to take in the sights and sounds of our new surroundings (i still get that same feeling every morning i wake here).
We settled straight into the spanish way of life, meeting new people, new nationality's,learning the basics and getting a feel for the new life we chose ,after a while i started doing the typical expat thing building kennels,then moved onto making little villas for toy dogs ,then started my own gardening business out here we had our ups and downs here,don't get me wrong it really is not easy to live here and we have been ripped quite a few times, but if you have determination and wide shoulders you will be fine, yes you can miss your family and friends,you will more than likely have thoughts about going home at some point but then that sun shines ,you go to town and all the locals say hola, and your reminded why you moved here for the peace, quite, relaxed way of life,and friendly people around you.
My advise is plan well, look into everything, don't leave a stone unturned, always have a back up plan to get you home, don't come here with rose tinted glasses, if you want this life style you need money, you need to be prepared to do anything job wise,and trust me there is not a lot of work out there,i guess we was just lucky but the planning and my will to make it here and hard graft for little money, has helped us without a doubt
we moved here with 1500 gbp and a caravan 2 years later we are just as happy as the first day we came here, we have never regretted a single moment, we now rent a little finca with a pool and a massive orchard for the dogs to run free our little peace of heaven in the sun
just remember it can be done, not all stories are the horror ones
best of luck to you all stay positive
Dee and Lisa