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Moving To A Foreign Country? — How Not To Do It

Top tips and a cautionary tale

Julie van Maanen

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Photo by WantTo Create on Unsplash

Just over a week ago, my husband, 3-year-old and I arrived in Vitoria, northern Spain, planning on a new life. We left Cuba three months ago and basically spent many weeks staying with friends in the UK, organizing paperwork, visas and Covid jabs so that we could come and settle in Spain.

A week and a little after arriving, we are moving to live on an old bus. Not quite the dream I had in mind.

Why Spain?

My husband speaks little English, and as a musician who will need to supplement his income doing other work, being where he speaks the language seemed the best idea. Plus, I know Spain well, I love it — the culture, the cities, the way of life, the weather — and I feel it’s a great place to raise a child.

But I never tried to live in Spain before. Here comes the cautionary tale.

When you travel as a young, single person and a backpack, as I used to, you can basically rock up anywhere, decide you like it, walk around and look for a job, eating bread and cheap snacks for nutrition until you get a little settled.

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Julie van Maanen
Julie van Maanen

Written by Julie van Maanen

Top writer in Parenting. Multi-lingual traveller, writer, learner, teacher. Raising my little girl in Cuba and Europe and cannot wait to show her the world.

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