# retirement to spain 'a blog'



## tonemar (Nov 9, 2010)

After many years to thinking of retiring, we are going to take the plunge.
There are so many questions and obstacles to overcome it's daunting
At long last I have a retirement date, 15 months to go. mind you I'll be nearly 70. 
I quickly realized that sitting in an all inclusive hotel in Benidorm is not living in Spain.
So, the point of this topic, I am happy to post regular blogs on how things are going,
reporting on estate agencies, officialdom, and generally what happens. (pc correct off course!!)
If I get enough positive responses I;ll do it.
My reward...........Maybe some help along the way, and I may be able to help others.
Tony


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

tonemar said:


> After many years to thinking of retiring, we are going to take the plunge.
> There are so many questions and obstacles to overcome it's daunting
> At long last I have a retirement date, 15 months to go. mind you I'll be nearly 70.
> I quickly realized that sitting in an all inclusive hotel in Benidorm is not living in Spain.
> ...


Nice idea...but there are stickies and loads of threads which give all the advice an immigrant might require. But then each person who comes to live in Spain is unique and has their individual experiences which may not follow the usual path...

We took early retirement over seven years ago and came to Spain from Prague four years ago. I have to say we found no obstacles...compared to moving to Prague, Spanish 'bureaucracy' was child's play!

Provided you have sufficient means and don't have to worry about bills, the cost of living, fuel and so on life in Spain can be extremely enjoyable. In your case you won't have to worry about finding work which is a major obstacle you won't have to navigate.

Yes, you are right. All-inclusive in Benidorm is not 'living in Spain'. Benidorm itself is merely one of the many different faces of Spain. But Spain is a modern, European country although it is currently experiencing severe economic difficulties and on the whole things work well.

I'd suggest you get stuck into learning Spanish...In most places that aren't 'Little Britain in the sun' you'll find it hard to make friends and deal with every-day matters without some knowledge of Spanish. It's right anyway to learn the language spoken in your new home.

The key to a smooth transition is preparation and you'll find information on this Forum to help and guide you through every aspect of your move, from house purchase to health care to buying a car in Spain or registering a UK car..

By the time fifteen months is up you should be well-prepared and rarin' to go!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> Nice idea...but there are stickies and loads of threads which give all the advice an immigrant might require. But then each person who comes to live in Spain is unique and has their individual experiences which may not follow the usual path...
> 
> We took early retirement over seven years ago and came to Spain from Prague four years ago. I have to say we found no obstacles...compared to moving to Prague, Spanish 'bureaucracy' was child's play!
> 
> ...



you're right, of course - he'll get pretty much all the info he needs here to make the transition as smooth as possible

a first hand account could be interesting though, as long as there's no 'naming & shaming'


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

xabiachica said:


> you're right, of course - he'll get pretty much all the info he needs here to make the transition as smooth as possible
> 
> a first hand account could be interesting though, as long as there's no 'naming & shaming'


Our move to Spain was so smooth and uneventful describing it isn't really worth a paragraph, let alone a blog!

It would go something like:

'Drove from Prague to Spain, got NIE/Residencia after a wait of less than an hour, found house we liked, learnt to speak Spanish fluently but badly, made loads of friends....' Not the stuff to stimulate the imagination....

But then we'd experienced the bureaucracy and complications of every-day life in the Czech Republic......

Once I stood in a queue at our local post office long enough to listen to the whole of Act One of 'La Boheme' on my IPod. I wanted to buy one stamp.
When I got to the head of the queue I was told I was in the wrong line....I had to queue for the next cashier, who sat less than a metre from the one who refused me the f***** stamp.
So I stood in the next queue but got only to the Rudolfo/Mimi duet in Act Two....then I got my stamp.

Living in the CR taught me something my mum, teachers and decades of life in the UK hadn't managed to instil: patience. Or perhaps resigned fatalism would be a more appropriate description...


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> Our move to Spain was so smooth and uneventful describing it isn't really worth a paragraph, let alone a blog!
> 
> It would go something like:
> 
> ...


lol - ours would be more like this

decided in July that we were moving to Jávea


found temporary accom. on the internet with a view to long-term

got on a plane to Alicante in November with a suitcase each (how the heck did the kids bring so many toys :O), rented a car, drove to Jávea

hated the house so next day went to a few agents & found somewhere else to move into a week later

the following day went to the school we had contacted previously - & the girls started the following Monday

a few weeks later dealt with NIE number & padrón


it must be said though, that this was 9 years ago when rules were different, 'residencia' wasn't a requirement unless you were working or a pensioner, and we weren't looking for work here or wanting to start a business here


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

tonemar said:


> After many years to thinking of retiring, we are going to take the plunge.
> There are so many questions and obstacles to overcome it's daunting
> At long last I have a retirement date, 15 months to go. mind you I'll be nearly 70.
> I quickly realized that sitting in an all inclusive hotel in Benidorm is not living in Spain.
> ...


Many of us old-timers on here spend some part of our day just on the forums helping others and giving advice which, apart from the factual, is based on our own experiences. We also do a little policing by gently slapping the wrists of those who think that they can just go to another country and try to cheat the system (frequently they are the types who would scream blue murder if somebody tried to do the same back in their home country).

Some of us (self included) spent many long years in the approach to retirement, researching all the options including, climate, country, area, altitude, type of environment, type of community before getting down to the nitty gritty of selecting a home and either buying or negotiating a rental contract, import a car (plus homologation) or buy one and, of course - the move. 

There have been many who, with all the above work arrive here only to find that their calculations were sadly amiss (sometimes because they couldn't take the culture shock/the climate/the environment/the language/health/family) money ran out or for whatever reason had to either move on or move back.

Very few of us could be said to be "living the dream" and I am one of the lucky ones who is - not my description but somebody else's - actually doing it, but then it* is* what I planned!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> All-inclusive in Benidorm is not 'living in Spain'.
> 
> 
> In most places that aren't 'Little Britain in the sun'


Hey Mary. What is with all this "living in Spain"? and "Little Britain in the sun"? You usually tear me appart if I use words like that! Or is it G-'n'-T talking? maybe you are in your bath again! Perhaps you should get Number One to top up the water on a chilly evening like this. 

BTW 42 springs to mind!


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## Leper (May 12, 2010)

Welcome to the forum, Tony. You are 70 and finally making the plunge. I am sure you will be an inspiration to others. Would love to see you blog on here.


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## Navas (Sep 2, 2012)

Leper said:


> Welcome to the forum, Tony. You are 70 and finally making the plunge. I am sure you will be an inspiration to others. Would love to see you blog on here.


Me too! I always find people's individual experiences interesting to read


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## Joy Nudds (Jul 14, 2012)

Tony,

I did exactly this at the same age too. I have now been living in Spain since the beginning of October and have kept a diary/blog of the whole process from coming over in March this year and finding a house to date. I have taken photos of everything relevant and intend to continue until the projects we planned to have done on the house are completed. they are well under weigh!

Of course we have all read Driving Over Lemons and I think people are interested in other people's lives. I guess I have a thought that I would like to publish this 'Journey' and wish I had done so on a daily basis. Hopefully when I get it all edited and the photos in place, someone will be interested but my advice is to do it as you go along being aware that it's easy to become a slave to making the daily entry!

Good luck!
Joy


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> Hey Mary. What is with all this "living in Spain"? and "Little Britain in the sun"? You usually tear me appart if I use words like that! Or is it G-'n'-T talking? maybe you are in your bath again! Perhaps you should get Number One to top up the water on a chilly evening like this.
> 
> BTW 42 springs to mind!



I've gone off G and T..must be the weather.

No, what I meant was 'living in Spain' as in living not being on holiday. Of course Benidorm is one face of Spain, liked by many but not by me...but then sobre los gustos...

'Little Britain'.....yes, they exist...but although not my taza de te I don't 'frown' on them./ Just keep away!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Navas said:


> Me too! I always find people's individual experiences interesting to read




Providing of course they are interesting indeed....As I said, mine weren't in the slightest. I guess some of the things that happened whilst we were living in Prague were bizarre enough to be of interest to some.

Blogging like tweeting is a very popular modern pastime, I know, but I do share Thrax' strapline about Twitter and Facebook. As he says, before Facebook et al no-one cared what you had for breakfast and still nobody does...

But millions can't be wrong and I'm sure a well-written eventful blog will be of interest to some.

I got as far as a third of the way through 'Driving Over Lemons' and gave up. Same with those Peter Mayles 'Provence' sagas. Too twee and middle-class and not really that interesting to most seasoned travellers. I'm not a seasoned traveller in that my travels and residences abroad haven't included really wild and unexplored places, far from it, but I do prefer 'doing' rather than reading about whatever -if I can, that is.

I'd be interested in a well-written blog about life in say Moscow or Kabul. That's because it's so different from our norm. I visited Moscow in 1987 and I'm really interested in how life has changed since then.

So if anyone can point me to these kinds of blogs... 

Thios thread has made me ponder about the deeper significance of blogging. It really is an amazing way of sharing things that can't be experienced first-hand by all of us. It also 'shrinks' the world....a truly 'global village'?


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Thios thread has made me ponder about the deeper significance of blogging. It really is an amazing way of sharing things that can't be experienced first-hand by all of us. It also 'shrinks' the world....a truly 'global village'?


Mary, you, personally, know my chosen route or preferred method of acquainting friends and family in many places in many countries about our life in our little village - a newsletter. A few of the said f&f have actually been here so it is even more meaningful for them. A number of those f&f don't speak English (or not very well) so I now have to produce a Spanish translation of the text. Fortunately for the minority of speakers of other languages (Portuguese, German, etc) they can either understand enough English or Spanish to obviate my need to translate into those languages.

Personally, I do like to hear of how other people cope with the ups and downs of life in their non-native country and have often found their ways of doing something to be a help (see my albums - Gardening Tips - which came from one of SWMBO's old school chums).


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> Mary, you, personally, know my chosen route or preferred method of acquainting friends and family in many places in many countries about our life in our little village - a newsletter. A few of the said f&f have actually been here so it is even more meaningful for them. A number of those f&f don't speak English (or not very well) so I now have to produce a Spanish translation of the text. Fortunately for the minority of speakers of other languages (Portuguese, German, etc) they can either understand enough English or Spanish to obviate my need to translate into those languages.
> 
> Personally, I do like to hear of how other people cope with the ups and downs of life in their non-native country and have often found their ways of doing something to be a help (see my albums - Gardening Tips - which came from one of SWMBO's old school chums).


I enjoy your newsletter, Alan..but I think it's because I 'know' you and am therefore interested to learn what you get up to.

I find some of the info on this Forum very interesting and helpful. One of the reasons we got our NIE/Residencia so easily was that we downloaded the form from the sticky so had already completed it and had all the documents/photos needed to hand.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> I 'know' you


Mary, the quotes are most unhelpful - people who are aware of our respective ages might think you are using the verb "to know" in the sense that it was once used, not so very long ago!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> Mary, the quotes are most unhelpful - people who are aware of our respective ages might think you are using the verb "to know" in the sense that it was once used, not so very long ago!


We should - both - be honoured - and grateful - were that the case.

Well, we had a day worth blogging today....Our Little Azor has been limping for a couple of days so we took him to his vet. I parked the LR while Sandra walked him to the clinic. She was aware of a man following her and indeed he was....to get a closer look at Azor!! So now she's at the age when men ogle her dog......

Anyway, once at the vet's we waited for two hours as an emergency was brought in - a dog with two broken hips, hit by a car. Fair enough but OLA had to put up with being muzzled and growled at by other dogs and given disapproving stares by the kind of daft people who think all large dogs must be aggressive.

So once he got inside the surgery he was even more apprehensive and scared than usual...in fact he was terrified. When she tried to examine his leg, he growled fearsomely at our lovely vet, snapped viciously at her and knocked her flying. Fortunately she could see he was terrified and not by nature aggressive and she knows him anyway.

But when she had finished - she managed to give him an injection - he went over to her and held out his paw with a little whimper which is how he says 'Sorry'. I could have cried....

Virgil, if you are reading this...How does your RR Milo react to the vet?


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## tonemar (Nov 9, 2010)

*retirement to spain 'a blog2'*

Many thanks for your interesting replies.
You know it suddenly occurred to me that planning a move like this, it's a bit like having your first child, your the only person in the world who's done it!! until it suddenly dawns that actually there are quite a few.

One thing I enjoy about the forums is the positive attitude of many people, it wasn't long ago that the British press were indicating that David Cameron was arranging boats to stand by off the coast of Spain to rescue everybody.

Well the die is cast, I'll post now and again, promise I won't name and shame, and won't bore you daily, but may ask some question.
Again thanks for your replies
Tony


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

tonemar said:


> Many thanks for your interesting replies.
> You know it suddenly occurred to me that planning a move like this, it's a bit like having your first child, your the only person in the world who's done it!! until it suddenly dawns that actually there are quite a few.
> 
> One thing I enjoy about the forums is the positive attitude of many people, it wasn't long ago that the British press were indicating that David Cameron was arranging boats to stand by off the coast of Spain to rescue everybody.
> ...


Good luck Tony. You will not regret your decision. Way to go, as they say in the US of A.
I think making this kind of move when you retire isn't so much like giving birth as of having a 'rebirth'.
You have two basic choices when you retire...you stay put in your familiar surroundings, making the occasional foray into the wider world via vacations and the like.
Or you uproot and make an entirely new life for yourself.
So in effect you ARE the child, experiencing a whole new world of pleasures and pitfalls, joys and anxieties.
It does indeed 'put years on you' but in the very positive sense that you are *adding* to your years of active enjoyable life.

The old saying 'A change is as good as a rest' needs amending, imo. It should go 'A change is a battery recharger'.

That's how I see it anyway.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

We moved here just over 2 years ago and as we had expected (from advice on this forum) living here is nothing at all like being on holiday here. In fact only this week my OH said that at no time has she ever felt like being on holiday and neither have I which came as a big surprise to me as I really thought I would spend the first couple of months getting out of the 'holiday' mode. Never happened. As some on here have often said, same life, different country, which is true up to a point, but of course living in Spain presents it's own problems and issues as well as experiences we could never have had in UK. We have met some awful people (mostly British but a couple of Spaniards) and some wonderful people (British, Spanish, American, German, French, Italian and Greek) which I doubt would have been so easy where we lived in UK. My OH's parents have lived here for over 10 years and once we moved my parents followed us within a year. And their method for retired folk worked really well. They rented a property for 4 months over the worst of the British winter, made loads of new friends and had a very exciting and fulfilling social life. They went back to UK and realised where they needed to be. Five months later they were here. First house they tried for 11 months (length of contract) realised where they wanted to live (nearly 100m away!!) and now live there happily with everything they could have wished for. Their various pensions (private and state) mean they want for nothing and their living standard here is so much better than back in UK. Some of their new friends spend 6 months here and summer in UK which they find the best of both worlds, but my parents have been back to UK once and won't go again. They are learning Spanish at 79 and 82 years of age, go to dances, Gib and around 6 Spanish towns and cities (Granada, Seville and Toledo for example), play Pétanque, joined a camera club and so on. If you are financially secure, this can still be the place to be.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

As I've said before, it will work, BUT YOU have got to make it work, it isn't just there waiting for you stop by.


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## virgil (May 3, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> We should - both - be honoured - and grateful - were that the case.
> 
> Well, we had a day worth blogging today....Our Little Azor has been limping for a couple of days so we took him to his vet. I parked the LR while Sandra walked him to the clinic. She was aware of a man following her and indeed he was....to get a closer look at Azor!! So now she's at the age when men ogle her dog......
> 
> ...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

virgil said:


> mrypg9 said:
> 
> 
> > ....
> ...


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## virgil (May 3, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> virgil said:
> 
> 
> > OLA goes to the vet about twice a year for routine examination and his anti-sand fly vaccine and collar. I'm sure you know there is a horrible disease herewhich many dogs get, Leishmaniasis, which is spread by bites from sand flies and mosquitos. It's treatable but not curable.
> ...


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

You are obviously new - OLA is Our Little Azor!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

virgil said:


> mrypg9 said:
> 
> 
> > So you have two dogs then Mary, Azor is the Rhodesian Ridgeback, so what is OLA then?
> ...


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## Foeller (Dec 11, 2012)

Keep up the blog!  I love reading other people's experiences.


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## virgil (May 3, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> virgil said:
> 
> 
> > OLA = Our Little Azor Aka as 'Azorito', 'Nas Azorek' when in Prague, 'The Boy', 'Baby Boy' or 'Little Man'. Yes, we're daft, we admit it....
> > OLA had chicken last week...we shared it. OH doesn't eat meat.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

We have Rubio and Scruffy. Rubio is blond and a 'pretty boy' and gets mistaken for _una hembra_ and we are asked if he/she is the mother or sister of the other one. Scruffy is just ... well scruffy. See pics in my albums.


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