# family of 4 moving to Alicante in mid August , advice needed



## sunshineseeker (Apr 10, 2009)

Hi everyone, thought i would introduce my family, my husband, 2 children and myself are hopefully moving to Alicante in mid August when the sale of our house goes through, i thought i would let you know how far down the route we are and was hoping you can help with the missing pieces!! My son who is 14 has been enrolled in the British School of Alicante as we thought that with his age it would be ideal for him to continue with studies and my daughter who is 11 will go to the local spanish school. we have been advised that Gran Alacant or El Campello are 2 good areas to start with (!) we are going to be long term renting. I realise that you will be in the middle of the tourist season so happy to move a couple of times until we find a place that we will be comfortable in. we will then look at what is around and hopefully find a job beginning of next year (although if we were lucky enough to find one before, giving the market, then that would be fab) I would like to know a little more about the schools in those areas (or any other areas that are local to my sons school) we are very excited about starting this new adventure, we all speak a little spanish and will need a tutor so that we can learn more and also to help my daughter settle into her school............. any advice would be greatfully recieved x phew.......hope i haven't bored you already........lol


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## Chica (Mar 23, 2009)

Hi there sunshineseeker and :welcome: to the forum. You must really be exited. If it's sunshine you are looking for there is plenty of that around at the moment.

It's an excellent idea to long term rent so that once you have found your bit of paradise it's nice and easy to move isn't it!

As far as schools are concerned I'm afraid I know nothing. My children have fled the nest
so no need for me to worry about that.

There are a few teachers that regularly post on the forum but not sure whether they would know about your particular area but I would stick around and see what others can offer as far as advice/ suggestions go.

regards


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

sunshineseeker said:


> Hi everyone, thought i would introduce my family, my husband, 2 children and myself are hopefully moving to Alicante in mid August when the sale of our house goes through, i thought i would let you know how far down the route we are and was hoping you can help with the missing pieces!! My son who is 14 has been enrolled in the British School of Alicante as we thought that with his age it would be ideal for him to continue with studies and my daughter who is 11 will go to the local spanish school. we have been advised that Gran Alacant or El Campello are 2 good areas to start with (!) we are going to be long term renting. I realise that you will be in the middle of the tourist season so happy to move a couple of times until we find a place that we will be comfortable in. we will then look at what is around and hopefully find a job beginning of next year (although if we were lucky enough to find one before, giving the market, then that would be fab) I would like to know a little more about the schools in those areas (or any other areas that are local to my sons school) we are very excited about starting this new adventure, we all speak a little spanish and will need a tutor so that we can learn more and also to help my daughter settle into her school............. any advice would be greatfully recieved x phew.......hope i haven't bored you already........lol


Hi there!
Good idea to start with the Spanish, and keep on going with it, even though you might get bored and tired! The children will pick it up quickly enough, I wouldn't worry about them.
The thorn in the side of your plans might be the jobs. What kind of field will you be looking in? Unemployment's high in Spain at the moment....
Good luck!


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## Guest (Aug 4, 2009)

Alicante is a busy city, we visit there fairly often and love it. Learning Spanish is the key thats for sure. You should find something to rent fairly easily despite it being tourist season. Work may be a little harder depending on what it is you want to do, but the way to find work is to be here and ask around. Good luck with everything


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## sunshineseeker (Apr 10, 2009)

thank you all for replying, we are really excited and cannot wait,(seems that selling a house over here despite the recession is painfully slow though, managed to sell reasonably quickly but solicitors have no sense of urgency!) with regards to the jobs, i have noticed that Spain seems to be suffering really badly at the moment (it isn't much better here!) so i thought it easier to list our skills, i have been in working in London with a building society and have run all aspects of this including sales and management i then moved within the company to the training department until being made redundant this year, I also ran a scout group for many years and my husband has been in retail sales and kitchen fitting, we are both sociable people and would turn our hand to anything, happy to do cleaning of apartments/helping at schools/looking after properties/running a shop/bar looking after animals..really anything that involves people, we are also very computer literate. so in a nutshell (probably like most seeking the dream) we are happy to do anything that will bring in a wage, not looking for a get rich scheme just something that we can live in spain and give the children a better/different way of life.


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## Suenneil (Feb 17, 2009)

sunshineseeker said:


> thank you all for replying, we are really excited and cannot wait,(seems that selling a house over here despite the recession is painfully slow though, managed to sell reasonably quickly but solicitors have no sense of urgency!) with regards to the jobs, i have noticed that Spain seems to be suffering really badly at the moment (it isn't much better here!) so i thought it easier to list our skills, i have been in working in London with a building society and have run all aspects of this including sales and management i then moved within the company to the training department until being made redundant this year, I also ran a scout group for many years and my husband has been in retail sales and kitchen fitting, we are both sociable people and would turn our hand to anything, happy to do cleaning of apartments/helping at schools/looking after properties/running a shop/bar looking after animals..really anything that involves people, we are also very computer literate. so in a nutshell (probably like most seeking the dream) we are happy to do anything that will bring in a wage, not looking for a get rich scheme just something that we can live in spain and give the children a better/different way of life.



Hiya and welcome! I did post a response to you yesterday - but for some unknown reason its not here 

Anyway - welcome again!

I can see you have already had lots of comments that I hope are useful to you and I wish you all the very best in your new venture!

I would be especially careful about the job situation - maybe you have some funds put by to take you through 6 or 12 months after the house sale ? ..... unemployment is running at around 18% and rising - work is extremely difficult to find for Spanish and expats alike, so if you need to find work pretty much straight away you will have a fight on your hands!

I dont want to sound negative but it is a fact at the moment and likely to get worse once the summer season is over and those currently employed in the bars etc are back out looking for work.

BUT you have the advantage over some if you are speaking the language ... and as we always say it only takes one job to come along to make it all good again .... 

Best of luck
Sue :ranger:


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

sunshineseeker said:


> with regards to the jobs, i have noticed that Spain seems to be suffering really badly at the moment (it isn't much better here!) so i thought it easier to list our skills, i have been in working in London with a building society and have run all aspects of this including sales and management i then moved within the company to the training department until being made redundant this year, I also ran a scout group for many years and my husband has been in retail sales and kitchen fitting, we are both sociable people and would turn our hand to anything, happy to do cleaning of apartments/helping at schools/looking after properties/running a shop/bar looking after animals..really anything that involves people, we are also very computer literate. so in a nutshell (probably like most seeking the dream) we are happy to do anything that will bring in a wage, not looking for a get rich scheme just something that we can live in spain and give the children a better/different way of life.


While it is great that you're willing to do anything, you need to know that the job situation isn't easy here at the moment. like the UK or worse. I strongly urge you to start putting out feelers in the jobs area right away so that you know what you're coming to. Look in local papers here and you can try places like 
infojobs.net
on internet.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> While it is great that you're willing to do anything, you need to know that the job situation isn't easy here at the moment. like the UK or worse. I strongly urge you to start putting out feelers in the jobs area right away so that you know what you're coming to. Look in local papers here and you can try places like
> infojobs.net
> on internet.


Take a look at this thread

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/26949-local-papers-where-you-live.html


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## MarkM (Aug 5, 2009)

*Spain*

Hi Sunshineseeker

Good luck with the move!

Where you are risk will be if you do not research adequately before you make a move. It is tough, very tough here at present and the last thing that you want to do is to commit to something and come unstuck for lack of understanding. I have seen it too often.

Slow the process down or, at least, put the hours of research in.

Some specific comments;

1) Unemployment in Spain is circa 20% and, probably amongst the Ex Pats, even higher still. So, as has been requested, put feelers out now.
2) Rent and do not buy for at least a year. Don't worry about missing the low of the market; it will not change that quickly and better to be safe than sorry. It allows you to be sure of the area without massive financial commitment.


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## sunshineseeker (Apr 10, 2009)

thanks again, we have been researching for a long time and when I was made redundant in Jan it just seemed a good time to "go for it". planning to rent for as long as it takes, we don't want to use the money to buy a property until we are happy that we are all settled. on a different note I was wondering though if anyone had any information on the junior school in Gran Alacant and knowledge of tutors for my daughter, I know that we need to be in the area to get the school space but seem to get mixed messages on the help that she will get in the school so if anyone has experience of it i would be greatful, as i said we have been learning Spanish for a year but this will only give her the basics so i would like to get her help as soon as we get there. thanks for reading


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## tania_26 (Aug 5, 2009)

hi there sunshine seeker..... it's been lovely to read your story... my husband and i are thinking about doing the same thing, our circumstances are a bit different however. our children are 2 and 3 and my husband works overseas so doesn't matter much where we live. we have no committments in the uk...[or anywhere] apart from ourselves so we thought why the hell not.... our boys will have an amazing experience.. w ewill be putting them into a spanish nursery.
i was wondering if you could tell me a bit more about how you got started, how you decided on the place your going to and how you chose your schools thank you.. look forward to hearing your reply x


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## sunshineseeker (Apr 10, 2009)

*how we made our choice..*



tania_26 said:


> hi there sunshine seeker..... it's been lovely to read your story... my husband and i are thinking about doing the same thing, our circumstances are a bit different however. our children are 2 and 3 and my husband works overseas so doesn't matter much where we live. we have no committments in the uk...[or anywhere] apart from ourselves so we thought why the hell not.... our boys will have an amazing experience.. w ewill be putting them into a spanish nursery.
> i was wondering if you could tell me a bit more about how you got started, how you decided on the place your going to and how you chose your schools thank you.. look forward to hearing your reply x


Hi Tania, first of all i say go for it, you only have 1 life so try to experience it all... how we selected the area was more luck than judgement, i spent many hours looking at forums and googling the schools in spain, the NABSS website is a good place to start, there are other sites including think spain, living in spain a practical guide, and i have listed below a couple of other useful bits of info that i had saved on my favourites, (i cannot put in the links unfortunatly, but there is a mine of information so spend time researching.
spanish town guides/Move to Spain.
idealspain
Relocate to spain
whatsonwhen angloinfo 
costa blanca schools and international schooling
practicalspain/NIE / NIF Registration

as you can imagine i then had to narrow it down abit as there is so much information that i felt at one point my head would burst..(could have been the wine i had as well!!lol) so i went for Alicante as it had the highest concentration of international schools as my son is going into GCSEs this was the biggest priority. we then came for a visit, i arranged to see three of the schools which i felt would be suitable for my son, (i emailled many more!) then we really went for the one he felt most comfortable with. I have then used the forums to ask loads of questions, to which i have had many helpful replies. I need to sort out my daughters' school when i get the residency in the town and then that will be another piece to the jigsaw. i am sure that this will give you more questions so i am going to send you a pm with my email address and feel free to email me as i am very happy to talk about other research ect. I should be in Alicante after the 21st when we complete on the sale of our house and i will update the forum with what happens next!!

2 points i think for you is to work out what is important to you as a family, and then look to rent long term i am sure that everything else will slot into place...


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## Suenneil (Feb 17, 2009)

sunshineseeker said:


> Hi Tania, first of all i say go for it, you only have 1 life so try to experience it all... how we selected the area was more luck than judgement, i spent many hours looking at forums and googling the schools in spain, the NABSS website is a good place to start, there are other sites including think spain, living in spain a practical guide, and i have listed below a couple of other useful bits of info that i had saved on my favourites, (i cannot put in the links unfortunatly, but there is a mine of information so spend time researching.
> spanish town guides/Move to Spain.
> idealspain
> Relocate to spain
> ...


Hi SSS

Sounds like you have got most of it sorted! hope you can start relaxing a bit more as time moves on 

Its great that you are happy to share your experiences and info with Tania - and of course communicating by pm is open to everyone .... but it would helpful if you are discussing general info on relocating / schools etc if you could continue on the forum .... 

Remember that the forum is for everyone to access information, help and advice (and general chit chat of course! ) so the more that is "visible" the more its potentially helpful to others already on here - or any new visitors to the forum looking for help.

Plus we like to hear how everyone is doing! and how people are settling in ....

Look forward to hearing your update after the house sale completes! 

Sue :ranger:


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## sunshineseeker (Apr 10, 2009)

Suenneil said:


> Hi SSS
> 
> Sounds like you have got most of it sorted! hope you can start relaxing a bit more as time moves on
> 
> ...


Hi sue, thanks for this, i am never too sure where to post info to, (showing that i am such a newbie!) should i just go to the main forum then? when i get to Alicante i will be happy to post an update as i am very excited and like you love to chat..lol


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## Suenneil (Feb 17, 2009)

sunshineseeker said:


> Hi sue, thanks for this, i am never too sure where to post info to, (showing that i am such a newbie!) should i just go to the main forum then? when i get to Alicante i will be happy to post an update as i am very excited and like you love to chat..lol


Hiya
If you are sharing info related to a topic such as this, then its ok to pass on stuff that you have found useful etc .... its not advertising as such! its just your opinion which is always welcome ..... we obviously dont want other forums being put forward as being something to try though lol .... we want to keep everyone here with us!  but the stuff you shared with Tania was fine.

Theres no problem you talking privately with anyone if you choose to (PM or email or whatever - its nice if you make new friends on here!) .... but if its related to an original thread or part of an ongoing discussion then we prefer it on the open forum for the reasons I mentioned above ..... if any other "newbies" start looking at the forum they can pick up hints and tips from current or old posts that way, or start a new thread if they dont see what they are looking for. If we all started communicating via PM the forum would be empty! lol 

Its good to have you here and it will be great when you finally settle in Alicante and can hopefully become a regular contributor and friend of the forum!


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## grahunt (Jan 22, 2009)

I have a good friend who lives in Gran Alicant. If you want his details as he has small children and maybe able to help with the schools information then PM me. He is Spanish but speaks perfect English.


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## tania_26 (Aug 5, 2009)

hi there... i would be interested in his details, the more information i can get regarding schools and locations would be great, as we are coming over for a visit in october to try and decide.... my sons hopefully will be going to state school. i'd love them to learn fluent spanish and as they are so young [2 an 3] i think this could be possible, i myself don't speak a word although i intend on taking up lessons.. any suggestions on the easiest way would be great.. lol. as my brain these days isn't what it was. lol


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## sunshineseeker (Apr 10, 2009)

Suenneil said:


> Hiya
> If you are sharing info related to a topic such as this, then its ok to pass on stuff that you have found useful etc .... its not advertising as such! its just your opinion which is always welcome ..... we obviously dont want other forums being put forward as being something to try though lol .... we want to keep everyone here with us!  but the stuff you shared with Tania was fine.
> 
> Theres no problem you talking privately with anyone if you choose to (PM or email or whatever - its nice if you make new friends on here!) .... but if its related to an original thread or part of an ongoing discussion then we prefer it on the open forum for the reasons I mentioned above ..... if any other "newbies" start looking at the forum they can pick up hints and tips from current or old posts that way, or start a new thread if they dont see what they are looking for. If we all started communicating via PM the forum would be empty! lol
> ...



Thanks Sue, I certainly will be a regular contributor as i find reading the information really useful so i will be posting an update, don't want the forum to be empty.lol


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## tania_26 (Aug 5, 2009)

i'd like to say a huge thank you to all that have replied to this thread, your info has been very useful and has helped make some tough decisions... will keep you posted on how things go... thankyou again xx


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## Suenneil (Feb 17, 2009)

tania_26 said:


> i'd like to say a huge thank you to all that have replied to this thread, your info has been very useful and has helped make some tough decisions... will keep you posted on how things go... thankyou again xx


Hi Tania

Yes, please do keep in touch and let us know how it goes ..... and feel free to come back as and when you feel the urge!

Sue :ranger:


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Suenneil said:


> Hi Tania
> 
> Yes, please do keep in touch and let us know how it goes ..... and feel free to come back as and when you feel the urge!
> 
> Sue :ranger:


Yes, keep in touch, its quite frustrating sometimes, you get involved in what people are planning and hoping for, then they disappear and you never hear from them again!! 

I'm nosy, I wanna know what happens!!!!!:boxing::boxing:


Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

tania_26 said:


> i'd like to say a huge thank you to all that have replied to this thread, your info has been very useful and has helped make some tough decisions... will keep you posted on how things go... thankyou again xx


as the others said - do keep in touch

in a few months you'll be giving advice!


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