Moving to Spain, how to move to Spain?
1. The first reason is the climate and weather in Spain
Guys, summer is here all year round. The Starks from Game of Thrones would be envious, because Winter is not coming. Personally, I lead the "outdoors" lifestyle. I adore an active lifestyle: running, surfing, sky-surfing, tennis, and of course, since childhood I have been playing football, and I'm a proud fan of Barcelona since 2006. And when the streets are sunny and warm, you can do outdoors sports all year round and with great pleasure. So no winter can’t stop you from doing your favorite things, and can’t keep you from being fit.
During these 3 years in Spain I have already met a lot of cool people from different countries, and sometimes all night until the very morning, we can "chill" on the beach with a guitar, wine or you know some “Good stuff”. And this is awesome!
Or sometimes I just want to walk along the promenade alone in my headphones. With such views and weather sometimes, I don’t even notice how the whole night passes with a couple Metallica albums.
I always lived like 70% of people in modern society. “home - car - office", "office - car - home" and so on and so on and so on ... every day. Sometimes I could diversify my life with a “shopping center” or some kind of “pub”. But I decided to break this “vicious circle”, made a couple of dreams come true, even got my first and second tattoos and all of this became possible here in Spain - in the country of constant summer - this is the reason No. 1.
2. The second reason is fresh products and their excellent quality
In the supermarket, there are a lot of fruits and vegetables that were literally picked in the gardens just in the morning, and by lunchtime they are already on the shelves in the supermarket. And the taste is completely different from my home country, since these products did not have to fly all over the world before appearing in your local supermarket.
Also, in Spain, certain fruits are dominated in certain seasons. For example, in the period of oranges, they are so cheap that it is actually cheaper to drink orange juice than plain water from a bottle. And the taste is simply magnificent. Moreover, in all supermarkets there are special vending machines that directly make orange juice in front of you. You just take any empty bottle ... of any size, insert it into the machine, press the button and see how the machine squeezes oranges, turning them into freshly squeezed juice and fills your bottle. Awesome stuff!
Bananas, persimmons, pomegranates and my beloved cherimoya - all of them are always abundant here. Everything is fresh and very tasty. Honestly speaking, when there are so many beautiful girls around, I, as a young unmarried guy, naturally follow the diet, actively play sports and go to the gym.
Therefore, the second reason is a delicious and healthy diet!
3. The third reason why I like it here is the people themselves
Guys, I don’t want to offend anyone from any country, honestly. But people in Spain are much more smiling, calm, and more cheerful. Here they are in no hurry, less likely to always compete with each other. You might think: “then they are less productive, yes?” And maybe you're right! But they are also much happier.
At first, I thought that was their big minus, because in my country we are all trying to be the best, like they say, the winner takes it all! But, right now, when lived for a couple of years in Spain, I completely changed my mind. I think that the Spanish mentality, like in AC/DC’s Highway to Hell “Living easy, living free” in this matter is much better. I try to switch myself to this way of thinking. So the third reason is people and their mentality.
4. The fourth reason is the cost of services
Here, doing “everything” is much cheaper than in most European countries. As I said, sometimes I do sky-surfing. In order to learn how to do it, I had to hire the instructor at the time and rent the necessary equipment. Somewhere near the third or the fourth lesson, the coach stopped taking money from me. He said: "I do not take money from friends." And here the matter is not even my coach, but the very mentality of people. This is not be fined. Well, of course, it depends only on you and on the size of your misconduct. If it turns out that you and the car dealer in the car are rooting for the same football club, you will get an awesome discount. Yes, they are Spaniards. Moreover, the services themselves - rental, service, study at times cheaper than in England, France or, for example, Belgium.
Also this year, I finally realized my dream, and attended a Metallica concert in Madrid. Guys, it was legendary. Metallica family, if you were also at some of the concerts this year - we like it!
5. The last fifth reason on this list and the most important for me, is the very charisma and beauty of Spain.
Nature, historical architecture, as well as modern Art Nouveau architecture, numerous parks and beaches. All this beauty surrounds you every day. I just love to walk along the beach at sunset, listening to Nothing else Matters, Stairway to Heaven. In general, here sunsets and sunrises are unrealistically beautiful. You can watch the sky for hours. So, the fifth reason is the natural beauty of Spain.
Why you should not move to Spain
To make it easier, I will immediately divide people who move to Spain into three categories:
- “newcomers – to work here”,
- “newcomers - for the seasonal living”,
- “newcomers to retire”.
If you are from the third category, then in general, everything is great here!
Especially if you are from a northern European country where the weather is not the most pleasant. So if you are ready to forget about the North European pension, you will receive an awesome quality of life here:
- healthcare at the highest level.
- the climate and food are so great, I think you can easily live up to 100 years.
- restaurants, golf clubs, beaches, the infrastructure is amazing.
- there are ramps, bike paths and special lifts for the elderly, etc. everywhere;
Here everyone cares about senior people, and there are a lot of pluses for you.
If you are from the second category “for the seasonal living”, there is already one serious minus:
- If you leave your house unprotected, wait for a surprise in the form of emigrants who can easily get into your house to spend a couple of nights there during your absence from the country.
By the way, then they are very difficult to drive out of your home. They behave quite impudently, since the Spanish government will be tolerant to them. It will not be easy to drive them out of your house, especially if these emigrants have small children!
So do not even think. Purchase house security! It’s a true story, I’ve heard it from one gentleman from Bamberg, Germany, who has a townhouse here.
If you are from the first category “visitors for work”, and you’re looking for a job security, and an excellent salary… Nah ... no guys ...
* No employment guarantees. The only people who can have any job security are those who work for Spanish government, and as far as I’m concerned, you have to be Spanish to work there. The labor market sucks (sorry for my French). And in general, they do not care for your job experience!
* Salaries are not high. The Spanish government loves to take taxes, take your contributions to the social security fund, etc.
Yes, you certainly get top-level healthcare, a good pension, but believe me, it is very difficult to save money here. Especially if you have children.
So, let's summarize.
If you are used to competitions in life and work, if you want to earn all the money in the world and you like rivalry - I do not recommend you Spain for permanent residence. But if you want to live a constant summer, do active sports, eat healthy in a circle of positive and cheerful people – this is a country for you.
