Yes, I'm one of many people who have taken the risk to move to Spain. A lot of people dream about it, we just did it. It wasn't always easy, but here's how we did it...

It all started when I was a 12 year old boy. We always went on holiday with family to a small village near Barcelona. During every holiday I had some girlfriends, and that's where my love for Spain started. The Spanish friends I made stayed up to 24.00h and we played outside every day and even learned some Spanish. This village was just a small one, but it was still typically Spanish. The outdoor life is best in Spain. They really seem to know what enjoying life is about. From then on I knew: "when I grow up, I want a home in Spain...."

Read more about Living in Spain in the next part

When I got a little bit older and was too old to go with my family I started to go on holiday with my friends. Since they preferred France, 9 out of 10 holidays were in nasty France....

Don't get me wrong; the holidays were good, often very good, but hey...it's still France ! The only people we made contact with were German, Dutch, Spanish or English. The French....we'll they just smelled.....;-)

This went on for several years and luckily one year we all went to .... SPAIN ! Great Holiday and gave me a chance to catch up on my Spanish. In the meantime I did some Spanish Course, but to be honest, we spent more time in the Movie theatre than in Classes.... It's the idea that counts....

And then it became quiet.... I went to Italy, Greece, Mexico and Thailand, but not Spain. Don't ask me why, It just didn't happen. Oh yes, I forgot the first holiday to Tenerife with my Girlfriend... We've had better better holidays...

I know it all sounds a little boring or average, but trust me, it get better....

Read more about Living in Spain in Part 3

After I graduated from higher technical education (?) I went to work immediately, for the Dutch Army, Telecommunications. Terribly old fashioned and hierarchical way of working they had. After that I started working for Atos Origin, a software company which was a lot better. After five years of work and one heck of a burnout I decided I wouldn't want to spend my life at the office. It's just not very satisfactory for me....

So, one day, we came back from holiday and really didn't want to go back to work. Then and there we decided to quit our jobs, buy a campervan and tour around Southern Europe. Great decision! But we had to sell our house first ! From then on we only thought about our campertrip and made all the preparations necessary.

Less than a year later we waved our friends goodbye and took our 8m campervan to Spain, where we had our second home....

When we arrived there our property wasn't even finished, which is typically Spanish, so instead of starting our trip with working on our property, we just went to celibrate the holiday immediately. We had no planning, but expected to be back in Holland after a year. That was the limit of our budget.

Me, my girlfriend and two cats started this adventure, not knowing where it would end. It was a great trip without a doubt the best thing I did so far and I can recommend it to anyone. Someday I will write down our adventures...

In the next and last part I will write about our coming home and starting life in Spain.

The sad thing about travelling is that someday you have to return home. I could have continued our trip for months, but someday you tun out of money. We didn't want to wait for that, and we didn't want to do any grapepicking(!) so we went to our new home in Spain, which was finally finished.

We did some work on our new house for a couple of months and decided to go back to Holland for a couple of months, to see friends and family and to make to some money.

It's difficult to find a proper job if you tell them you're gone again within a few months and I didn't want to work in a Call Center.

So what do I do? I start to work for a company that does fire repairs!!! You know; when you house burns down to the ground, they make sure you can live in it again after a few weeks. Amazing work, hard work, great colleages and poorly paid. I had a great time, but wouldn't dream of working there forever. There's no challenge to it, but stresswise, it's great for a couple of weeks.

Somewhere during our stay in Holland we decided to go back to Spain. The weather is better and I believe life's better in general. But we had no plan, just a couple of 1000 euro's and no idea what to do ?!?!

Sounds familair? You see these programs on tv every day, where people move to Spain, with no plans. STUPID!

Anyway, we setup a rental agency for villa's on the Costa Calida and started a webdesign company. The first year was terrible. We couldn't live from it and we ran out of savings. The second year was better, and we were able to just live from it and now it's ok. The difference with our old life? We now work harder, have more stress because of our own business, but we appreciate life more. We enjoy the sun and the precious moments with our two kids, born in Spain.

Here are some do's and don'ts when moving to Spain. We've learning by experience....

Do's:

• Learn Spanish as soon as possible. It's essential to integrate in Spanish life and as you cannot expect them to speak your language you have to learn Spanish. Start before your arrival if possible.
• Take a gestor for arranging things like car registration, NIE-number etc. Yes, it costs money, but driving 45minutes, 6 times also costs money, and it's frustrating.
• Get a lawyer when you buy a house. A notary is not enough and won't check for possible problems.
• Assesorias are good for helping with accountancy. Spanish tax can be confusing
• Get a NIE number and residencia, if necessary. It's said that a residence card isn't necessary anymore, but it can never hurt.
• Also have some (an expert) inform you about you taxes. Where you pay tax can make a great difference!

Don'ts:

• Don't go in the sun at midday, at least not in the summer. The spanish take a siesta and so should you
• Don't sell you car and give them the registration. First arrange the transfer of ownership and then hand over the car. We've had major problems with this, so trust me. Use a gestor for advice.
• Don't but a house with partly black money. Yes, it's tempting, but the law in Spain is changing and you will pay a huge amount of tax if you want to sell later on for the real price.
• Don't dive in a pool that's 50cm deep. I didn't do that, but just to warn you....
• Don't mess with the Guardia Civil. Always have you registration and license.
• Turn off your lights during the day. The Spanish will think you're crazy....