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Original poster

I am having my annual bugger it, sell it all and move to Spain few months...If you know people who came back, do you know why.....

44 replies

EllenWaiteourkid · 22/08/2022 23:53

God sake even the worstest hottest looking caravans on the worst site on Bargain loving Brits in the sun are starting to look attractive..... 😂

Seriously, I am too chicken to do it ( I think) but if you know someone who threw it all up went to Spain and then came home after a years or even decades, can I ask why they came back....

TIA

OP posts:
OnTheBrinkOfChange · 22/08/2022 23:55

How old are you? Could you carry on doing the same job, working from home? It is so so tempting isn't it?!

Original poster
EllenWaiteourkid · 23/08/2022 00:00

We both retired six months ago very early for me and bang on for DH, our DS is not quite launched (thanks Covid) and is starting an apprenticeship soon, not sure we would bugger off and leave him before he is well established.

The reality is that once this inflation madness settles down, ditto energy bills, we could look at going away for a few months at a time in the spring.

You watch these programmes and people say we are never going back and then a few episodes or sometimes series on you discover they have returned to the UK.

Just really curious.

OP posts:
Lineala · 23/08/2022 00:05
  1. Because they don't have enough money to satisfy the visa requirements of 2k + pm.
  2. Because they may pay more tax.
  3. Because in the south its very hot in July/August
  4. They don't like the culture difference.
  5. I'll health and wanting British health care (Spanish is far superior so God knows why).
  6. Missing their kids.

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Lineala · 23/08/2022 00:07

We used to spend 8 months of the year in southern Spain and loved it.

Original poster
EllenWaiteourkid · 23/08/2022 00:10

All good points, the healthcare one is interesting, a friend said that she always thought the NHS the bench mark and beyond compare, her DF went to Spain fell ill (is now ok Thank God) but once he was in the system they never left him alone, in the nicest possible way. 😂

OP posts:
QueenOfHiraeth · 23/08/2022 00:10

The people we know who went but came back generally came back to use the NHS. I'm not sure what the entitlements or costs were in Spain but they all came back once becoming older, frailer and less well. Other than one couple who missed friends and said they drank too much!

ComtesseDeSpair · 23/08/2022 00:12

My ex in laws moved to North Cyprus but moved back home to Glasgow after about three years. Their marriage wasn’t in great shape and I think there was a good deal of “wherever you go, there you are” involved, they saw the move as a totally new life, which of course it wasn’t. They struggled with having little social life outside each other: they didn’t speak Turkish and weren’t especially interested in learning, which meant they were more or less limited in terms of making new friends to British people, who weren’t necessarily the sort of people they’d have ever gravitated towards back home but were sort of forced into a box with. The language barrier also made official communications, finances, admin etc quite hard and they were scammed a few times by corrupt officials.

I think you’d need to have a realistic view of what moving abroad is like and that many elements of it will be same shit, different scenery and not let that disappoint you or override the good bits.

ComtesseDeSpair · 23/08/2022 00:13

(Not Spain, but I’d imagine the reasons would have been similar had they picked Spain.)

TheVanguardSix · 23/08/2022 00:13

Budge up, OP. There's room for one more spectator!

I'm in a similar but not exact same position.
It's been a toss-up between Lisbon and Utrecht (but the reality will be Wanstead, I just know it!).

Original poster
EllenWaiteourkid · 23/08/2022 00:15

Thanks all, I think we will probably stick with being snowbirds when all this madness passes.

I was just boggled by how adamant people were that they were never coming back and then they did.

OP posts:
Celia24 · 23/08/2022 00:22

I lived most of my 20s in Spain, am now 30 and returned late 20s.

I came back purely for economic reasons. Spain has never properly recovered from their recession. I was really scrubbing by whereas now I have a good job, own home, etc. I also eventually struggled with the expat community - made a lot of good friends but being asked where are you from every 10 secs does prevent feeling at home. Also people leaving a lot like a conveyor belt.

That said, I miss it very much and am now working there remotely every few months. I haven't decided whether I'll move back permanently yet.

Original poster
EllenWaiteourkid · 23/08/2022 00:24

@TheVanguardSix

I will wave to you from the HC and in reality we will probably do a few months in the sun, but fail to make leap. This is a bit boggling to me, as I left home with £100 in my pocket to come to London, left London to follow my now DH to the North of England, left North of England to head south again with him ten years later and effectively start again and yet I am terrified of making that leap. Maybe age really does wither us, and our ability to be brave.

So I guess fair dues to those who did.

OP posts:
LightDrizzle · 23/08/2022 00:27

Old age and associated frailty.
Being widowed.

We took the plunge and moved to Portugal nearly 3 years ago. So far no regrets and no plans to ever live permanently in the U.K. again but who knows?

Original poster
EllenWaiteourkid · 23/08/2022 00:30

I also eventually struggled with the expat community - made a lot of good friends but being asked where are you from every 10 secs does prevent feeling at home. Also people leaving a lot like a conveyor belt.

Yikes, that would get trying, I don't mind the "social dance" as DH and I call it when you are trying to find middle ground to start with, with a person, but all the time could/would become very wearing I should think.

OP posts:
keeprunning55 · 23/08/2022 00:53

I can’t stop watching old episodes of Benidorm just to keep the summer alive. I know exactly how you feel, op!

willowstar · 23/08/2022 04:02

Wanting to be close to family again as they grow up/age

MarshaMelrose · 23/08/2022 04:06

They missed family and it wasn't 'home'.

MinnieMountain · 23/08/2022 05:57

They’d had enough of the ridiculously hot summers and missed their families.

Original poster
EllenWaiteourkid · 23/08/2022 10:57

@keeprunning55 Glad it is not just me....Grin

OP posts:
justaladyLOL · 23/08/2022 11:16

I know 3 who moved and returned
Heat was unbearable at time in excess of 40 degrees
It is no longer a cheap country to live in
Spanish is hard language to learn
They missed old fashioned English pubs
Theatre
They were both into history and missed being able to go to historic UK sites

maddy68 · 23/08/2022 11:22

I left the UK pre brexit. For Spain Honestly. It's the best thing I ever did. So much more relaxed etc. BUT. You do need to learn the language, the paperwork is ridiculous. It's hard work.

But zero regrets and I know brexit has made it so tough now but it can be done. (if you have money )

maddy68 · 23/08/2022 11:23

justaladyLOL · 23/08/2022 11:16

I know 3 who moved and returned
Heat was unbearable at time in excess of 40 degrees
It is no longer a cheap country to live in
Spanish is hard language to learn
They missed old fashioned English pubs
Theatre
They were both into history and missed being able to go to historic UK sites

I'm stunned at this.

I am a proper history nerd. Spain is a meeting pot of history , I go to the theatre a couple of times a month.

Who wants an English pub in Spain ? It seems to me that they didn't really try to fit in. Wanted England with sun.

WeIoveyouMissHannigan · 23/08/2022 11:27

QueenOfHiraeth · 23/08/2022 00:10

The people we know who went but came back generally came back to use the NHS. I'm not sure what the entitlements or costs were in Spain but they all came back once becoming older, frailer and less well. Other than one couple who missed friends and said they drank too much!

Spanish healthcare absolutely trumps UK in every single way.

when we moved back from Spain I was slack jawed at the state of the hospitals and the NHS in general

we came because careerwise it’s quite difficult to progress

Crikeyalmighty · 23/08/2022 11:50

We've come back from Denmark after 20 months. Not Spain I know but the issues for us were elderly parental Ill health and the fact we needed to come back to the Uk for work related stuff a lot. Since we moved out there flights have doubled in price and half as many . I know a few who have come back from Spain- several because they were living somewhat 'under the radar' and post Brexit no longer could. New rules also mean for anyone moving post Brexit, quite high minimum income levels and unless you are sponsored you can't work for a year and need 28,000 euros in bank plus private health

quickquickslow · 23/08/2022 11:58

My parents were in France for 20 years then moved back to the Uk because they were worried about what would happen after brexit, and also because of old age. They bitterly regret it and are planning to move back later this year. Quality of life there vastly superior, as is healthcare.