Love living in Spain again & why I had doubts previously

We've had a house in Spain for twelve years now and have been living here permanently for nearly ten. What started off as a holiday home with a view for far into the future for it to become a place to retire to, soon became our permanent home. 

We loved it so much we made the decision to sell up the UK house when we returned from five years living in the UAE and Mark, myself, Poppy and Lily (we only had two fur-babies at the time) move to the house in Spain. Mark would commute and I'd continue being the household manager and stay at home cat-mum.

Commuting for Mark is hard (I'll touch more on commuting life in future posts) but the reward to coming home to the sun at the end of the week is worth it. 

Since the move over full-time we have moved house within Spain and are much happier in the new house. The plot and the location to us is so much better then our last place, it feels worlds apart actually.

We never intended to move, but that's life isn't it, it always changes and what you want can change too. Which isn't a bad thing as change is good and my goodness I'm so pleased we embraced it.

For me though I did go through a spell of wanting to move back to the UK.

I still love the UK, politics etc aside, I do love it. Especially in Spring & Summer, it's just wonderful.

The commuting life was taking it's toll. It was hard, lonely and sad with Mark away all the time. It's fine now as he's only commuting to the UK and we're only apart 4 nights a week, not ideal but a must at the moment. 

When he was further a field it was harder. Saudi not too bad because I would fly over once a month and Mark would come home for a week about every six weeks. It was bearable.

Florida was much harder as the time difference was literally day and night. When Mark would be coming home from work it was almost midnight for me. He also couldn't take any leave to fly home. I would go once a month which on one hand was great, of course, but it was always so hard saying goodbye, it was tough, really tough. But it was an experience he couldn't turn down. 

But now I think we have the balance for the commuting, which hopefully won't be for too much longer!

So in the past I think that's why I have had the urge for us all to move back to the UK. I saw it as a place where me, Mark and the fur-babies could all live and I could work also and all be together.

Now though, I'm glad we didn't move over because I think it would of been a mistake and we would of missed our life here in Spain.

With the commuting aside, it's not ideal, but it works and it's not forever, we are so close to the finish line with that one!

For us living in Spain I think number one is the weather. It does get super hot, I mean absolutely sweltering, melting in the pan hot, but as long as you have access to water i.e. a pool or sea you're good. We have our own pool so that is literally where we are in July & August, haha.

The weather for the rest of the year is beautiful. Sunny, mild and pleasant.

We do get cold spells, so you do need winter clothes! But it doesn't last for too long. Not like the continuous and hideous cold, wet, rain in the UK that seems to go on for months and months and months.

When we do get the cold snaps I actually quite enjoy it. Being able to wear my big jumpers and coats, my boots and jeans, it's fun and almost a novelty. 

It does rain here, and can be torrential, the heavens literally open. But then it's generally sunny again. We had really heavy rain last week in the mornings, it was like winter and then the sun came out in the afternoon and we were back in our shorts.

Most of the time the weather is warm and sunny and waking up to bright sunshine instantly lifts your mood.

The next is probably the cost of living. It has gone up here, like everywhere worldwide, but we still find it very affordable indeed.

Then of course our house and plot size is definitely worlds apart from the UK. I mean we did have a nice four bed detached in the UK with a decent garden, but it was suburbia, in a big town and not what we wanted at all. Our house now is a modest three bed bungalow, but we have a huge garden with the most spectacular views. We certainly found a gem that's for sure.

Less traffic. It has got busier over the years, but still not as much as the UK. I don't think I could cope now driving around English towns.

We are constantly discovering new places and areas all the time. When we've been for our walks recently we seem to walk just that little bit further, not much, 5 more minutes, turn a corner and there's a whole new stretch of beach or nature walks, coffee shops and restaurants. 

I'm sure there are tons more good reasons for being here, but they're the ones that came to mind first.

So, yes, I have fallen back in love with Spain, and am so pleased we moved here and stayed.

It's not perfect, nowhere is, but it's pretty close!

♥ Heather 

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