Thread: Are you an expat living in Spain ?

(I hate the term) my questions are

When you moved here what was your plan 1/2 years then decide if to stay or go 'home' ?

Moved with no intention of returning 'home' but are now considering it ?

Moved here with all intentions of staying and have not changed that decision ?

In relation to all the above did you keep an 'escape route' somehow ie property somewhere you can return to, or have you kept sufficient funds for the 'rainy day'

Just interested in how folks think, my move here was to continue/build my relationship with my then new man ( since got married) lord forbid anything should change I am not sure whether I would/could stay here nor do I know if I would want to return to UK permanently.

We bought a finca down here (love at first sight).We sold everything in the yuk, house, businesses, horses, stables, field, and just about half of all our bits and bobs. Came down in 2000 and spent the next 7 years doing up the finca. Now we spend an awful lot of time just laying in the sun saying how well we have done! Go back to yuk? Absolutely never.
This is the perfect reward for a hard life's work. We are sooooo happy....hope it lasts for another 25 years at least.(Got to get value out of the pension fund).

Country Boy... Some people come here and get their fingers burnt.. If you lay in the sun too much, you are liable to get everything else burnt....I am happy here. My wife would rather be in London. She has a problem with her skin, and is not allwed to be in the sun, so its not much fun, her being inside all through the summer. As her elderly mother and two sisters are here, she puts up with it, rather than enjoying it. As her mother is 92 years old, she isn't going to be here for ever.. If something happens to her, we will re-assess the situation.

CD

Now CD first of all your mother in law is 92 yrs young ! you lie in the sun and do not need a comma and and

I am NO expert, I make shed loads of mistakes in spelling and grammar, just having a bit of fun.

I never thought that I would be corrected in my English by a non English person.....

Only joking Val

My mother in law thinks she is young...You should see her dance salsa.

Good to read you are very happy country boy sounds like you have the life you want and loving it.

CD I love to dance err I am sure we have had this conversation before... well done your mother in law for still being active. My dad is currently going dancing 3/4 times a week at age 77 !

Ma wee hen, d'ye ken that lots o' we folk come here tae live life tae the full. Sorry Val but my Scots is no better than my Spanish.

We came for good!
My suegra is 78 although you'd think she was 98 sometimes to hear her. My wife is 18 yrs younger than me (or should it be I) and was working long hours to help us to keep on top of a mortgage in UK. We (I) had looked at a number of other locations for retirement over the past 5 years including Colombia (Wife and father in law Colombian), USA (mother in law is Texan), France (next door to UK) but all had reasons for not going to live there. Colombia - violence; USA - healthcare costs; France - taxes so we opted for Spain as a neutral country. In the meantime my father-in-law had passed away so the villa we had bought (on a huge mortgage) for them to live in in Florida was put on the market and took two years to sell at a huge loss. Mother-in-law moved to UK with us in our small 2 bed flat (Dec 2007). Three years ago we had started looking at property and decided on a house in a village two years ago (May 2007) and paid our deposit. It took us until last December to sell our flat in UK, complete the purchase and move.

As a pensioner healthcare is free, we live in a very warm, and friendly village, cost of living is a fraction of what it was in UK. WE ARE STAYING

OH dicin wi; death there loon a am naebodies hen am still a chicken !

Sounds like you are enjoying your life to the full here and good luck to you long may it continue

a' thing comes to them that wait

"OH dicin wi; death there loon a am naebodies hen am still a chicken"

Oh Val you are getting too anglicised - the word is "loun", 'tis the Sassenachs (like me) who spell is "loon".

So if you're not a hen you must come from the east and be a quine!