I have been 'living the dream' in Spain for just over 1 year now, after moving from the UK to get away from the expensive, badly run, increasingly violent country that I have loved all my life! Just 1 year is not long by any standards, especially when I meet people every day that have been here for 8, 9 and 10 or more years!

My wife Dawn and I fell in love with a small place about 10 minutes inland from Torrevieja, which is called Ciudad Quesada, (pronounced: Thwee-a-dad Ka-saada). Quesada is a growing Spanish Urbanization that now has it's own Town Hall. It is made up of a mainly English, Dutch and Nordic population, with some Spanish, but not many!

Quesada is a beautiful place on the top of a large hill that overlooks the entire south Costa Blanca. You can see all the way to the sea and the famous salt lakes of Torrevieja. The area is supposed to be the second most healthiest place on earth to live due to the air flow from these salt lakes, so who knows, I might live longer!

But why did I make this move; I hear you asking yourselves...?

Well, there comes a time in life when you can see exactly what is happening around you, and if you're good at looking ahead and see bad things coming, then some people want no part in it... I suppose I'm one of these people.

You see, for years' I have paid my money into the UK system, and abode by their sometimes 'mind-boggling' new rules and laws, and I've paid the ever increasing bills for our utilities, I've watched the kids getting mugged, stabbed, killed on our TV news... and then you realise and say to yourself...

Why am I putting up with this? Is my 5 year old daughter going to be a part of this future in the UK?

So instinctively, you look for an alternative, and my alternative was to move to Spain, get a better lifestyle for my 5 year old daughter, and ourselves of course, learn a new language, start a new business and enjoy the wonderful climate! I don't mind paying into a system that treats people equally and fairly!

At first glance, Spain seems to be a fairly 'cheap' country to live in! By cheap, I don't mean 'nasty and cheap', I mean that the cost of living is quite low. But I think it's like most places in today's world, things have gone up in price tremendously, and now, I don't find Spain as 'cheap' as it was 10 years' ago, meaning that it has got more costly to live here at present. Having said that, it is STILL cheaper than the UK.

But, I have moved here and taken my web design company with me after re-naming it aptly; www.quesadawebdesigns.com and started to help build the web design market in a very 'behind-the-times' country as far as Internet technology goes. For example, in the UK, you can get high speed broadband for under £10 per month! Here in Spain, until a year ago, people were paying up to €80 per month for half a meg broadband! It is a little better now, but it still has a long way to go to reach the UK standards and pricing.

The same goes for the Mobile phone industry in Spain. Way behind in technology and way too high in price! So not everything is great over here, but it's a real sight better than in the UK!

It's difficult to integrate with Spanish people when you have so little of them habituating around you. So my next best thing was to design a new website for a chap that has property over here, but still resides in the UK. He wanted me to build him a website that really helps Ex-Pat's to increase their enjoyment of living here in Quesada and advise them and other people that want to move to Spain, especially to the Quesada area. It advises just what to do and the pitfalls that they may encounter if you are residing, or want to reside in Quesada, Rojales, Spain and other areas!

So, Quesada Online was born! This is a brand-new website especially built for people residing in Ciudad Quesada and surrounding areas. However, everyone is invited to browse through the helpful advice and a fantastic Quesada Forum! If you can't find answers using this website, then you might as well give up! It is already number one on Google for certain search words and is destined to be top of the rankings for many years' to come. It will gain in popularity mega-fast as it provides useful and informative information that people need to know when moving to Spain.

Go and take a look, it goes live in the second week of September 2009 and the Quesada Forum is fun to use! Leave a message or two on the bulletin board and see the response and help that you get from people that are probably replying using their own experience in moving to Spain issues, or other things!

So, if you decide to move to Spain, you will obviously need transport! One big problem that I had when I bought a car here in Spain was getting the correct parts for the job. Usually, this wouldn't be a problem for a Spanish vehicle, but trust me to buy a right-hand drive, Japanese motor that is 12 years old (but looks like new).

Well, when I first bought this car, 1 year ago, it went like a dream, and to be honest it still does. But I had a few problems that weren't under warranty.

...I hear you all cackling on about warranties now! "How do you get a warranty on a 12 year old car?"...

Well, yes, in Spain, I have been reliably told that all garages have to give a 12 month warranty on all used cars. Well that's why it probably cost me so much to buy it!! They have propbably added the cost of the engine and gearbox warranty on top of the price.

But anyway, I am drifting... So, here I am in 40 degree's of heat in the middle of a Spanish heatwave, with no car air conditioning! I went to a total of 5 garages who all said, sorry, can't get the parts! So it was down to me to find a place to buy them.

Forget Spain for getting foreign spare car parts..! You might as well wait until it snows here at Christmas time! That's NEVER! ...By the way, it's barbecue's on the beach and a nice swim in the sea every Christmas day here on the Costa Blanca!

So onto the trusted Internet to look for my car Air Con parts! Well I have to tell you... just in case you need car parts in any part of the world, I found an amazing website that delivers worldwide! And they have thousands of car parts, tools, car air conditioning parts and more, all delivered right to your doorstep! Give it a try if you ever need anyhting for your vehicle, especially for your car air conditioning, they certainly got me out of a real hot spot: Auto Climate Care in the UK. You won't find more helpful people too if you give them a ring!

Anyway, moving on... let's talk about the Spanish property slump! Well everyone else has had their say... it's my turn now...!

What about people that buy property in Spain solely to use as a holiday home or a property rental for holiday makers? Well, they seem to be doing well with holiday makers' as they are still flocking into Quesada every summer. Some come over for a Christmas Barbecue on the beach too!

Yes.. as I mentioned earlier, when the weather is good, which is quite often in December, the tradition here in Spain is to gather your family, and spend Christmas day on the beach and even have a Christmas Day swim in the Med!

We have some fabulous beaches here in the Costa Blanca. They boast of 25 miles of Award Winning Blue Flag golden sands! That's another reason why people love the Quesada area. It is away from the hustle and bustle of the younger, 'more likely to get drunk' British kids, but it is within 10 minutes drive from these glorious beaches and Seafood restaurants sitting along the beaches!

Apart from Quesada being a really lovely area to live, buying property right now is an investor's dream! The property slump has hit Spain badly in all areas and NOW is the RIGHT time to buy if this is what you are looking to do in the future. Don't wait any longer as these low prices won't stay low forever.

We speak to people every day that have come across for a holiday and fall in love with Quesada and the surrounding areas. They go away wondering if they could afford a holiday home here, or go away even thinking about moving over here permanently!

Well, if this is you...? Yes, come on, be honest with your uncle Andy.. it's crossed your mind because I can feel it in my water! You would certainly THINK about it wouldn't you?

Well just to tickle your fancy a little, take a look at this great property website who refuse to have any property on their website UNLESS it's well below the current market value! This means that you are ONLY looking at real bargains!

They haven't got masses of properties, but that's because they are sticking to their word and NOT allowing properties at market value or above to advertise on their website: Properties in Costa Blanca only sell these low-priced giveaway properties for owners that are really desperate to sell for one reason or another. So go get yourself a bargain, or drop them a line, apparently, many of their bargains don't even get the chance to get listed on their site because people snap them up before they can add them!
www.properties-in-costa-blanca.com

And to give you the 'complete package' so-to-speak, if you DO already own a property in or around Quesada, then I have found you one of the BEST property management companies that I've come across so far! This is a family run business that REALLY takes pride in their work and are totally reliable and professional in their approach. This company really does have an eye for detail and if you need your property or pool or garden looking after, then I would suggest you use this company without a doubt: www.property-rentals-in-spain.com

So, I have given you a nice insight to living in Spain and also given you some really good links for you to use if needed. These websites will definitely be very useful to people living in, or wanting to live in Spain. But please, make sure you visit Ciudad Quesada in Rojales, Alicante region, Spain. You will LOVE the friendliness of the people and the Spanish feel of the town, and just around the corner, you have the Cave houses in Rojales still with people living in them!

Come and see for yourselves! Please contact me if you need any information or advice about Quesada or moving across the water! My email address is andy.burton@hotmail.co.uk.

In the meantime, thank you for reading my Blog, and please look out for more very soon!