[Closed] Emigrate or stay?

Spain. You knows it!

Go.

I left 5 years ago and aint coming back!

Popping back to visit mates and family is fine but return for good? No f****** chance!

It's not where you live - it's how you live.

Spain. No contest.

I'd go as well....for the experience if nothing else.

Just wondering....where do the above posters live?

Our situation was similar - Mrs Eck is Spanish but lived in London all her life and then 2 years ago we decided to give Madrid a go. There are obviously difficult stages that you go through at the beginning but the way of life is great here.

I was lucky and found a job quite quickly and I'm now on my second job, working in a Spanish company and improving my Spanish no end!

Going back to the UK doesn't feel like going home any more which probably says a lot.

Do it! Even if you hate it and go back in a year, you will have had a great experience (and I'd love to come and visit!)

Moved from the UK 5 years ago (to NZ) and not regretting it, be prepared for some hassles at first but they pass quickly, don't bail out to soon, give it a year minimum. Don't get to 50 and wonder what would have happened if you'd gone to live in Spain.

If you don't take an opportunity, you'll always wonder "what if?".

My wife and I had a similar scenario a few years ago and we ended up moving to Holland for 2 years. It was not an easy decision even though we weren't far away from family & friends but we're so glad we went. It took a little while to adjust but most of the time it felt like we were on a working holiday and we still regularly talk about our time there and the things we did. Great experience.

On a slightly related note my wife is off to Spain next month (near Orgiva, 2hrs from Malaga)to work at a health spa for a week. I think she would love to work there full time and I would jump at the chance to go. Slap bang in the middle of some of the best riding in Spain. I'm not quite sure what I'd do for a job though.

Go for the experience but don't burn your bridges. I know a number of folk who retuyrned after a few years. They missed too much about Britain.

Myself I travelled widely with a view to emigrating but in the end Britain is my home and there was too uch here that is not available elsewhere.

At least with a spanish wife you won't be stuck in the ex pat community complaining about the day old newspapers and the lack of marmite.

Its not an either or situation. go for a few years and see how it turns out.

I would def live in Spain rather than London.

Oh, and it's now 10 past 10 and we're just starting our day's work despite the fact that our working day starts at 8.30.

(well, we have to go down for coffee, don't we?)

And we finish at 3 every Friday....and every day from mid-June to mid-September

I'd rather live anywhere than London.

I'd rather live in Edinburgh than anywhere

eckinspain - don't be too smug - I'm not working at all today and going out riding. 😛

spain - no brainer 🙂

I feel the need to be smug.

The one thing I didn't mention is that before the contract Mrs Flamejob needs to go to the back of beyond in Germany to learn about how to build trains for 3 months.

I'd rather say we tried it and did/didn't like it than I wish we had gone,we are going to Canada next week with the attitude of if it doesn't work out it was a big holiday and at the most it cost us a bit of money

eckinspain - don't be too smug - I'm not working at all today and going out riding.

joder 😡

Myself I travelled widely

And they dare to say Travel broadens the mind. Not to everyone though.

As strato says. I have spend the last 4 year in UK 2.5 of which I kept moaning about coming back home in the South East of France.

Now I am back home and the only thing I want is come back to UK. Even the hilldoger, CFH, TJ djglover and other racists on here can't spoil the overall that I meet a lot of nice people.

So I am looking for jobs in the north probably around Aberdeen, Edinburgh or Dundee.

i know what i would do..... SPAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys, all this is really useful.

BTW Mrs Flamejob is reading this now!

The saddest question you can ask yourself is "what if?", seriously you'll never know if you don't go. Don't worry about missing "things", it's surprising how much you don't miss.

Malaga is a bit of a nightmare and a bit out of the way, despite Spain's cheap railways but there are some nice enough places nearby (for mountains I prefer the Sierras de Cazorla to the Alpujarras). Madrid would be a no-brainer though - brilliant city. Doesn't sound like you're anticipating a permanent move but the bigger question would be how MrsFJ feels about her career and your general life plan.

Where's Mrs Flamejob from? Maybe she knows Mrs Eck.

If she learnt to drive in London she probably learnt with Mrs Eck's dad!

Do it you can always come back if it's crap.

How you doing Mrs Flamejob? 😉

Get out there & try it.
Great opportunities like that don't come along everyday.
Do you speak spanish?

I think we're going... you guys, plus a comment from one of her current colleagues 'don't be daft, just go while you're young enough'

She's from Valencia; I didn't mention that my folks live in Mallorca too.

My Spanish is at Tarzan level, though this will certainly give me a kick up the arse to learn more!

do it, never look back on life and regret it.

Oooh shittywok. They have forgotten that they told her that the accommodation would be paid for ....... NOW WHAT?

Life is a long holiday in a weird sort of way. Go while you still can and come back when you are bored.

😀

Gary_M - Member
Spain. No contest.

Spot on!

my sister emigrated to Canada. Came back for a short while after about 5 years out there. Hated England, couldn't wait to get back to Canada.

I'm visiting this summer, I may not want to come back...

Can't believe your even asking. Been in Canada just over a year now, loving it.

Oooh shittywok. They have forgotten that they told her that the accommodation would be paid for ....... NOW WHAT?

Still go; you'd have to pay rent/mortgage if you stay in London, might as well pay it to live somewhere in Malaga. Sounds like your boss is pretty chill if letting you work from abroad (is there really a lot you can't do from there with a good broadband connection, email and skype?) is not fazing them but actually being considered.

as many have already said, experience etc. better of finding out through experience its not for you, than wondering if it is.

I moved to Australia 2.5 years ago now, after a number of years of to and fro between London and Colorado - first 3-4 months of not knowing many people, hard time finding work etc was tough and I thought of returning to London; now me and my (aussie) wife have a house 7 mins from the beach, about to buy acerage (hello private, handbuilt and designed trails!!!), i have been with the same relaxed company ever since I got my first casual job with them and been 'promoted' to a point where I'm pretty much left to my own devices, and am just about to go back to London for the first time in 3.5 years.

It's hard to say it at times, but London is no longer home; I don't miss rush hour connex/tube, or everyone being too busy or everything being expensive; I say hi to random folks in the street and get a reply rather than a look as if I'm nuts, ride every day if only to work and back. The only downside for me is being so far away from certain friends and family, but phones, emails, texts and webcams make it a hell of a lot easier than ever before. You'll be in Spain; 60mins on the plane and you can be back if you are desperate - although I reckon more of your friends and family will be wanting to visit you and more than happy to provide heinz baked beans, marmite and yorkie bars in exchange for floor space and warmer weather riding.

wow, long post; but listen to Nike; Just Do It

After a sleepless night I re-did the sums and it seems that if I can do 3 days work a week for 50 weeks a year then we would still be on top.

I'll wait till Mrs Flamejob wakes up to discuss it.

I am actually used to re-inventing myself and have been: Farmer, Pilot, Entrepreneur, Student, Engineer, Businessman, Bike shop manager (eeek!), designer all over four or five countries.

Again, thanks for the support; it's great having an unpartisan group to self sanity check against.

Juan - how on earth can you call me a racist - that is both offensive and untrue. To accuse me of a closed mind is out of order as well

Call me a fool or whatever - but do not be so insulting as to call me racist.

flamejob, its better to regret [i]doing[/i] something than [i]not[/i] doing something in my opinion. im hoping to emigrate next year, fingers crossed.

could you mail me if you dont mind, on something totally unrelated 🙂

(bet thats got you thinking hasnt it) 🙂

It seems that we're going! Subject to me reading Mrs Flamejob's contract with a scanning electron microscope.
I had a long word with my boss and he is sad to see me leave the office, but thinks it'll work out.

Sounds like the decision is now made but FWIW another vote for Spain. Good luck! 😀

Made me think of this ->

Daddy?
- Yes son.
What does regret mean?
- Well son, a funny thing about regret, It's better to regret something you have done than something you haven't done. And by the way son if you see your mother tell her ...

SATAN 😆

[url=

I went to school with them.

Also consider the Racism you'll get as for a Brit in Spain...

flamejob

I went to school with them.

For a minute I thought you meant this lot 😯

Spain every time! Quality of life better, education system good .. look at how many languages their kids speak fluently at 15!!!
I started studying Spanish at uni, as I always wanted to live in Spain and wanted that 1 year studying in a Spanish uni. I bailed out after 1st year deciding Spanish was too hard (did Psycholinguistics instead) always wish that I'd kept the Spanish. Would love to live there.

GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO
PS Can I come and visit!?

Go, if it doesn't work out, come back. Imagine if you don't go and you spend the rest of your days thinking what if?

I live in Spain.
I think it is a fantastic country, well at least the parts I've seen. The weather is great as is the culture, arts, food, countryside, wildlife and most of the people in the town where I live.
Give it a go.
I find the language hard, but I find all languages hard :(.
It is a work in progress and all my Spanish friends are very helpful and patient while I mess up their language.

I am on a 2 year secondment down near Roper too. I was surprised at how nice parts of Malaga can be, and of course there is an insanely good choice of riding within a 2 hour drive, plenty within half an hour to 1 hour too. I wish I was living there rather than Gibraltar.

Good luck and remember to pop down and we'll show you some of the good stuff down here(*) that is probably the opposite of aggressive XC - we like it deeply chilled in this neck of Andalucia.

*Second time lucky as I am meant to be out with Roper this weekend on my secret trail that I failed to find a couple of months back. 😀

I live in Spain too. (Well, the Basque country) I like it a lot. One of the best things is how diverse the different parts are. Malaga is a canny city, has a great old town with some excellent bars and restaurants. The biking of course is excellent too. One of the advantages of having britland down the coast is you can get a decent curry.

Hmm sounds great, and I'd jump at it, but what's in it for Mrsflamejob?

Well Simon and Roper.....

...warm up the barbie, fill up your CamelBaks, I'm ready to relax to the Max.

Mrs Flamejob was in deep negeotiations with 'ze Germans' (providers of the Malaga contract), goth the contract sorted and flipped off the London job, so it looks like we're heading South!

It does mean I have to be without my lovely iberian princess (*puke) for nearly four months though, while they tell her 'ze most efficient way to conztrukt un train'

@andym if she isn't doing something very engaging (like doing [i]another[/i] masters or talking to me) she gets bored. She'll have plenty to do, starting with learning German.

She's a keeper!

[img] ?v=0[/img]

Good Lord!

Your wife is a beautiful looking woman. I definitely have a soft spot for the Spains! And Columbian ladies. By Christ some of them are incredibly lovely!

I toyed with the idea of moving to live in Barçelona for a bit, but I've not been able to get onto a Spainish lanuage course (local Adult Ed service are useless, and failed repeatedly to contact me to let me know when the bloody courses started, even though I've now paid 3 times to enrol..)

I had some bad issues with some of the Spainish people I knew, which kind of put things on the back burner for a bit, and I certainly can't afford it for another year or two, but I'd love to flit back and forth between London and Barça.

Mm, great food, lovely ladies, fantastic climate, nowt much that can bite you and kill you....

I'd do it. But not forever. Home is here.

Does your missus have a sister, btw...?

She is your missus therefore what she says goes-well thats what I learned from relationships lol if you want what you want/need too so you both win...

🙄

@Rudeboy - Just do it! Though those catalans are a bit temperamental; go somewhere like Valencia, way more chilled.

News in;
We have been given the contract for the relocation and the rental supplement has doubled our original budget. Which is nice.

We're going on an expenses paid trip next week to 'have a look' and they are giving us a 20ft container and a packing team for all our stuff.

They're also giving [i]me[/i] €3500 to 'integrate'.

Mrs Flamejob asked if it was for me to learn Spanish, they said 'Oh no.. we're paying for that anyway, this money is for him to be settled in his job and make friends'
She said 'does that mean he can use it for mountainbike guide training'
They said 'Perfect'

Hang on... I get to live in Spain with my amazing spouse and get paid to go riding!?

so let me get this right....

Get to live in spain....check
Get PAID to live in spain...check
Get paid to RIDE in spain...check
Get to do all this along with having a lovely wife....check

You can really start to go off some people 😆

as with the majority of people, never look back and say what if.

I've been living in China for 6 years, married for 2years (Chinese lady) Child on the way.

Mum was concerned that I was too far away, but with technology bringing the world closer, and at worse, a 10hr flight, it's not that bad.

I love it here, the food, the culture and of course my wife.
The ridings is excellent (once out of city centre) and I for one, don't consider the UK my home. We are looking forward to going there for a holiday though.

We can get Heinz, Marmite, and all the food needs (even Branston Pickle now, so I'm very happy)

Oh... and Chinese I think is harder to learn than Spanish.. but if you love it there, you'll find the language comes along with time.
(Wife says I have excellent Bar Chinese, since that is where I learnt it 😮 )

Go, don't look back

I mved to Andalucia 18 years ago with my Spanish wife and kid, best move we ever did. You know you´ll regret it if you don´t try.

Oh yeah.. we're going alright! I was updating this thread so the peeps who responded have a bit of an update.

Sounds like you've got a great deal! At least you don't have to worry about the financial side of moving which was a stress for me. I've done the "move to spain with my girlfriend and ride my bike" thing too. It's been great and I am so glad I did it but it's been hard too. Miss my friends a lot and although I've learnt a good bit of Spanish it's hard living somewhere where people don't speak your native language, guess that'll get easier.

I hope it all works out for you!

Riding your bike every day is great too!

Mackem - I'd kill for a descent curry. I really didn't appreciate how good it is in Britian to have access to such multinational food. Here's meant to be the best food in the world but it's all Spanish!

Flamejob; well, it was a nice idea at the time, and certainly something I'd like to do, but things change, you know?

I had a really good group of Spainish friends, and things were looking good for a move over there (I'd have somewhere to stay, people to hang out with, help me out with stuff, etc), but sadly a situation developed where those relationships /opportunities were severed beyond repair (there's someone who fled back to Spain, who knows they will face hefty legal action if they ever set foot in the UK again). Hey ho. It hazzunt put me off entirely.

There may be a possibility that my mum will buy a small holiday place there, actually. Thatull be perfect! I'll be able to spend winter months over there, and still pop over every now and then. Mind, there's certain relationships I have in London, that may make me want to stay here. It's not that simple. Things have changed a lot in the last 2 years.

The grass always seems greener, and all that, but when you've been cultivating and tending for your side of the fence for so long, it makes you realise what you'd be leaving behind.

Good luck, though, and I hope it all works out for youse!

You sir... are a jammy barsteward!

Deeply envious, could use a break like that in life myself - enjoy it (as if you need any encouragement!)

Hrumph.

😉

fj if you don't take I'm coming to the smoke to kick you in the lobbocks...... 😈

I'd rather be working in a London office, using crowded, unreliable and expensive trains. Not riding here because it's raining and paying higher taxes. Just so I can have a good rant on STW! 😆

Spain? Sunshine and an outdoor lifestyle? Living with your gorgeous wife and being happy? Tsk tsk!

Some people just don't know how to live! 😉

Once you start guiding can you remember to do some tours for the ahem 'advanced' gentleman???

Good luck and enjoy, I'm sure it will be a blast. Spanish food, weather, culcher..... good stuff!

Was loving the British weather today. How I love getting covered in cr@p and being cold and wet. Even had a migraine half way through to top it off.

@oldgrump08 I actually put my 60 year old uncle on my 6" bike and took him for a trail ride. It was a brilliant ability leveler. He loved the ride.

I'd be happy to lead all levels of ride 🙂

going to look at places on Thursday... Mrs has seen an amazing flat in town:
[img] [/img] [img] [/img]
[img] [/img]
But we would have to have a seperate trastero (shed) and car park somewhere else; plus there is no outside space, though it is smack in the middle of town. (she is in love with it)

or this fishermans house nearer the sea:

What do you think? The fishermans one seems way more practical (bikes etc) or is that being selfish?

[img] [/img]
[img] [/img]
[img] [/img]

fishermans place looks nice to me.

Trasteros can be a bit of a security problem, how much money have you spent on bikes?

And how far is the house from town?

I woon't fancy trying to tackle those stairs, after a few too many...

I'd go for the one with the roof terrace. Nice, to have your own little bit of outdoor space. You could put plants and stuff up there, grow food, have BBQs, etc.

Good luck with escaping the UK. That is next on our plans is move to France or Italy within the next five years. As everyone says, if it doesn't work out you can always come back.

Get yourself on 'A Place in the Sun' 😛

Daddy?
- Yes son.
What does regret mean?
- Well son, a funny thing about regret, It's better to regret something you have done than something you haven't done. And by the way son if you see your mother tell her ...

That is very, very true indeed. And given the chance I'd probably go aboroard for a few years too (Not Spain though. No thanks. Canada, USA, Italy, Ireland, NZ though)
But I know I couldn't do it for more than 2-3 years personally. I love England too much. Of all the places I've been there is NOTHING anywhere that compares to the beauty of the English countryside for me and I'd miss that too much. I'm prooud to be English and live in England, always have been, always will be
🙂

rose.tinted.specs

rose.tinted.specs

Peter? Naa.. I agree with him.. for the 10mins of summer in this country it is the best place to be in the world. 😉

I lived in spain when i was working on the Americas cup and volvo ocean race boats...TBH its quicker to get to spain and back than it is to get into some major cities in the UK

I used to think like peterpoddy british born and bred however times are a changin

definitely do it you wont miss sunny England when its hitting 40 degrees on your way to work I can guarantee you that !!!

I'm with Peter on this one. Many people, some on here quite often, have questioned how I can want to live in a place like London. I was pootling around the City yesterday, just looking at stuff, and enjoying the Bank Holiday peace and quiet, and it was one more time when I remember what an incredible place it is; it's my [i]home[/i]. I'm sure many others feel comfortable in other places, but I love it here. I know, if I went anywhere else, I'd just pine for London.

Best of luck for making the move, though. I can easily see why you're going. Were I in your position, I'd probbly do the same thing, tbh.

This week's update:
Went to Spain for the weekend and chose the s****y looking place. It's huwage!

I am already coming up with ways to store bikes NY loft styliee. Mrs even agreed to have Flameboy (my Ro-Ti hardtail) as 'wall art' 🙂

In a blink of an eye the movers came and moved EVERYTHING to the apartment in Malaga. They put my 5 (big) bikes in massive jiffy bags and carted it all off. I am keeping Mr Brompton with me and sticking it in the plane's hold when I go commute to work.

On arrival they asked Mrs Flamejob how many kids we had... and 'those are some very expensive bikes'. I think they were referring to the Scalextric set and the Lego Robotics 🙂

Bikes ready to leave
[img] ?v=0[/img]

From the entrance; what you see when you enter the house...
[img] ?v=0[/img]

I'll have to keep all the tools etc nice and tidy!

Go for it, you'll regret it if you don't.

We left the UK 3 yrs ago to live in Australia. A compnay offered me a job and flew my family and myself out here, then shipped all of our stuff over from the UK. I have since left that company and now work in Brisbane.

We did it for lots of reasons. Far better job prospects, excellent money, change of lifestyle, better weather, sick of th eway the UK was/is going.

We have flown back a few times, and each time we notice that we feel less and less about the UK. It's good to catch up with friends and family, but that's the only real attraction that the UK has.

People say that you should give it at least 2yrs, as you could be homesick during that time, but less so afterwards.

Remember, Spain is a lot closer to the UK, and flights are a lot cheaper than if you were travelling from Oz!

Go fo it, life is too short!!!