Ahhhh, Texas or Spain...?

[Lowryn]

If you had to choose between Costa Del Sol and Houston, Texas - To live there with two kids under 3 - Which one would you choose?
Anyone had experience of relocating to either of these places
or
Know what the Childcare, job opportunities, schooling is like etc etc?

brother lives in Austin (has done for 18 years). Texas is, of course, pretty conservative although Austin is a bit different because the university is there so more young 'enlightened' people. Why are you choosing between those two?

Just come back from a holiday in Granada - inland is beautiful but I wasn't impressed by the coastal 'resort' areas. Much sooner live inland if I had a choice !!

DH has family of sorts in both these places and they would be able to help us...DH's stepmum lives in Spain and speaks fluent Spanish (we don't )
DH's biological family live in College Station and Houston Texas.
I guess that would make his adoptive parents non-bio?

I think you need to consider the culture of each place. They are very different and you need to think which would best suit your own personalities.

Thanks Hausfrau. I wish Germany was an option for me, I can speak German a lot better than my Spanish.
Unfortunately my Spanish consists of things learnt off Dora the Explorer and the phrase..."I'm sorry, but it is not possible for me that way" (Don't ask!)
DH has been unable to get work here and we are slowly drowning. We are facing eviction and mounting debts.
Running off to another country doesn't seem like the answer to me. I would prefer to be able to start up somewhere with some capital behind us...But as I am not earning, I feel rather helpless.

I have lived in Spain and in Texas and there would be a couple of things to consider:

-Would you be able to get a working permit for either country? If you are from the UK you can work in Spain but even if the biological parents of your DH can get him a residence permit for the US that doesn't mean that you automatically would get one.

-If you go to Spain, consider the kind of work you want to do, if your work is very specialised you will have problems to get a job if you don't speak the language fluently, however if you are planning to work in the tourism industry then it should be OK

-I guess that houses are considerably more affordable in Houston than in seaside Spain, we have sold a one bedroom tiny flat in Mallorca and with that money we ended up with a 3 bedroom house in one of the more expensive areas of Yorkshire. With that money we would have got a 5 bedroom house with a huge garden in Texas.

-Day nurseries are considerably cheaper in Spain than in the UK, but salaries are also lower.
(No idea about TX)

• Spanish society is more openly friendly towards children, I love that but I understand some English mothers find it a bit too much.

• Some areas of Spain are not exactly friendly towards immigrants, specially in areas where the immigration hass been in such scale that locals can not longer afford to get a house in their own village. Most american would love your English accent and will be ready to be friendly with you.

Of course this are only generalisations, but something to consider if thinking about the two places

Thanks Chandra. Really helpful

DH is in "Sales" so would do something similar and I hope to do studio/wedding photography.
We are waiting to hear about a working visa in Texas at the moment, I would never go over there and work illegally, but DH said that it wouldn't stop him. He seems so desperate to leave England.

I have suggested that I stay here and try to get a council house while he goes to make his "fortune" in Texas, and he considered it! I was only testing the water to see how important it was to him