The Truth about Living In Spain

The Good And The Bad things about living in Spain.

This July will be my 16th year of living and working in Spain and in this post i will tell you the truth, both the good and bad things that you need to know if thinking of living in Spain.

There are many British people who are now so fed up with the Uk for one reason or another that they are thinking of starting a new life in sunny Spain and although i personally think Living In Spain  is a great idea there are a few things you should be aware of first.

Ok so i will start off with the BAD things about Living In Spain…

First there is the language barrier that so many Brits struggle with and many never really bother to learn so these people struggle the most and many fail here in Spain just because of this. Ok there are many people here in Spain who speak English but most dont. if you are Living In Spain then you are going to need to speak Spanish sooner or later or have to get someone to help you and this often costs you.

Running a business here i found that the most important thing for me was to learn Spanish and it has helped me generate work for Spanish customers as well as the English expats here. The language barrier was the hardest thing to get over.

Crazy amounts of paperwork

The Spanish love their paperwork and if you are Living In Spain then you will experience this on a daily basis. From buying a car house or apartment to opening a bank account, there is just so much paperwork to fill in.

Just a few months ago we bought a plot of land to start building our new Dream house *read more about my house build here* and after living here for 15 years i was still shocked at the amounts of papers we left the solicitors and banks with. So much of the paperwork seems unnecessary and you get copies of everything to take home and store. This is something i just hate about living in Spain.

Slow service.

Yes there is a great laid back way of life here in Spain that can be great at times but the service in many shops and bars can be very slow. People are not as attentive here in general as compared to say the USA or even the Uk and it does take some getting use to.

Remember most shops and businesses are closed from 2pm to 4 or 5pm every afternoon and this is often inconvenient especially if you are running a business in Spain and need to buy materials all day long.

Wait then wait some more.

Making appointments for just about anything is not easy and takes time. we had to get the water connected to a new property here some time back and needed to fill in 3 different sets of paperwork and then wait for a guy to visit the house to give a price for the work and this along took 3 weeks. then once we had the go ahead to connect the water it still took 5 days more before someone came to do it.

Many times i have waited in for trades people to come to my house like an electrician or plumber and its very hard to get them to commit to and exact time and many times they just turn up when they feel like it. This is also a pet hate of mine  Living In Spain.

Ok so now the GOOD.

Well there is so many great things about Living In Spain that the things i have stated about seem to be insignificant but worth mentioning.

The weather here is a big plus…here in my home town of Almeria the weather is warm most of the year round and we had just 6 days of rain last year….YES JUST 6 DAYS in the entire year..  You can plan that BBQ on the beach knowing that its not going to rain and you get to live a more out doors type of life that i just love.

As i am writing this post right now from my local beach just 5 mins from my house and its 8 pm and its still warm and sunny here.

The cost of living in Spain is lower than that of the Uk even though the wages are lower you still can live here for a lot less than in the UK.

Just last week we paid the road tax on the car and it was 48 euros for the year and the road tax for my motor bike was just 8 euros for the year.

There is no TV licences here and food and drink here is a lot cheaper than that of the Uk. Remember here in Almeria the Tapas are FREE. that means that when you are out and you order a beer or wine you get to choose a plate of food included in the price of the drink.

 

You live longer in Spain

There is a lot of research and proof that people live longer healthier lives in Spain read the proof here…...live longer in Spain

 

Living In Spain is great but to really enjoy the good parts you need to do plenty of research before you make that move to Spain and please if there is one thing you do make it to start learning Spanish as this above anything else will help you most to make your move to Spain a happy and permanent one.

 

What do you love most and what do you hate about Living In Spain ?

Comment below.