Three small snippets of information recently in the news here in Spain have given me cause for a welcome surge of confidence for the future economic growth of the country, although they may not have been the most obvious headline grabbing soundbites that you would associate with an economic ‘recovery’. So what were these three [...]
Reflections From A Balcony In Spain: Expats Getting Younger
September 2nd, 2010Expats Have A Better Perspective On Life
August 22nd, 2010I read an interesting article recently that claimed that one of the “perks” of moving abroad is that the completely different lifestyle can result in a sunnier outlook to life. A change in the pace and quality of life is bound to bring about changes in attitude and perspective. As a result, it is likely [...]
Expat Travel: Avoiding The Spanish Airstrikes
August 6th, 2010With the prospect of the Spanish Airtraffc Controllers strikes this summer threatening up to 300,000 travellers to Spain and over 3 million travelers in total, a number of sites are giving some useful advice. Well I say useful, but in the case of Ryanair their approach has been to call on the Spanish government to [...]
Spain Radio: Expats On Air
July 23rd, 2010Researching a new project I came across this interesting online radio station Expats Radio. Established in 2005 it has just gone through a bit of a revamp and is receiving up to 1000 listeners a day, with some of its more popular offerings, such as its language classes, receiving up to 45 hits an hour.
Is The Euro Killing The Expat Dream?
April 1st, 2010Expats paid in sterling are struggling to make ends meet – and many are heading home Is not an uncommon headline to read these days, as the pound continues to take a hammering with the euro currently at it’s highest level since early January 2010. At the time of writing 1€ would cost you 90.09p, [...]
Has Spain Lost It’s Mojo?
February 5th, 2010Despite writing, and still believing, that 2010 is a good time to be positive about Spain I am not sure that is a view held by many, if recent conversations are anything to go by. Now, to be clear, these are not conversations that I have had with people currently living in Spain but with [...]
Expat or Immigrant: That Is The Question
February 4th, 2010You now how it goes. Bit bored, late afternoon, sat outside in the winter sunshine in Spain, you the only sober one as you are still on your Sin Alcohol month, and during a discussion on the current economic position in Spain, especially the high levels of unemployment and the high level of immigrants desperately [...]
Expats’ Top 10 Choice Of Countries To Live
November 25th, 2009An HSBC poll of expats lists its top 10 countries with the best quality of life. Interesting list! I would be interested in seeing a list of just British expats though as I reckon that factors like expat health insurance would rule out certain places on the list these days *cough* USA. As an expat [...]
Surviving The Recession Expat Style
November 18th, 2009For many expats living in Spain or even working in Spain there is little option in the recession other than to ride it out and hope for the best! Moving back to the home country simply isn’t an option for many, and getting a job in Spain for many is a economic or physical non [...]
Just Because You Are British Doesn’t Mean I Like You
September 4th, 2009The chances are I don’t like you! Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean I dislike you, it just means I don’t like you. Why should I, I don’t know you! Many years ago when we used to regularly visit the condo in Oldsmar, Florida we were often met at the airport by a good [...]
New Taxes Facing Expats In Spain
August 31st, 2009While all the expats, tourists, residents and businesses have done the traditional Spanish thing and shut down for August, the Spanish Tax Man has been down the gym developing some extra muscles and the odd super power – all aimed at allowing them to scrutinize the accounts and details of the foreign property owner in [...]
Expat Living: 5 Spanish Dislikes
August 21st, 2009After my recent article Expat Living: 5 Spanish Loves I thought it only right to offer a balance. It took me a long time to write the 5 loves article …….. because it was hard to narrow the list down. It took equally as long to write this 5 dislikes article ……. because I couldn’t [...]
Expat Living: 5 Spanish Loves
August 7th, 2009It is easy to say that you love the expat life in Spain, but could you explain why specifically? If you had to come up with five specific things you liked about Spain and why they made you love living in Spain what would they be? The list below is the one that I find [...]
Expat Technology: Call 2 Abroad For Cheap Calls
July 27th, 2009A issue for all expats living abroad, whether it be here in Almerimar, Spain or elsewhere across Europe, is the cost and convenience of keeping in touch with friends and family back home, or in many cases with work contacts as well. I imagine then that the ability to make cheap calls from Spain would [...]
