Let's Move to Spain

What? Why? Most of us have a 'dream country' or vision of that place we would travel to if we won the lottery or if that rich great aunt died after spontaneously designating you as the sole beneficiary of her assets.  Some of you may even be disciplined enough to have a retirement savings account that you're contributing to regularly so that someday you can 'travel the world' at 65, 67... or what will most likely be 75 by the time us 30 somethings get there. Regardless, for most of us the dream is simply that.  A dream.  And usually by the time people retire, they don't have the vitality needed to check abseiling, scuba diving, or sailing around the world off the old bucket list! There's so seemingly much risk involved with taking action when we're younger. We have jobs, kids, mortgages, college debt, car debt, credit card debt, and all sorts of other debt. Only rich people can afford to just up and relocate somewhere exotic.  Right?! 

WRONG!  It's riskier to WAIT in hopes that you'll have enough money and be in good health once you retire. If you want adventure now you don't have to be rich, you just have to be strategic in how you work and where and when you travel.  Author,Tim Ferris, already did all the work for us in his book "The 4-Hour Workweek." He cleverly points out that, "People don't want to be millionaires- they want to experience what they believe only millionaires can buy. Ski chalets, butlers, and exotic travel often enter the picture." He extolls the life-enriching benefits of taking"mini-retirements" while we're in our prime. This book a gave me and my husband the inspiration and logistics to take action on one of our dreams... moving abroad with our children for a year.

How? My husband (Davin) was given permission by his employer to work remotely for a year (he works in e-commerce sales). We will be applying for a non-lucrative resident visa which means we can live in Spain as long as we demonstrate an income in the US.  I am a teacher who recently made the decision to resign to be a full-time parent/volunteer. So fortunately, we can rely on Davin's salary (although once we realized that we both wanted to move abroad, we were ready to make it happen even if Davin didn't have work and we had to live off savings (and perhaps take on some debt for one year) because we were so excited!) Our kids are 6 and 8, young enough that they are still 'sponges' for language, yet old enough to remember the experience.

Where? In theory, we realized we could move anywhere in the world.  What a cool feeling that is! Our decision weighed most heavily on two criteria: language and weather.  Spanish was an easy choice for language.  Davin is proficient in spanish after living in Sevilla, Spain during college, and the kids have been taking spanish as an extracurricular activity. (As for me, I took 4 years of german, which has yet proved useful: more on this subject later). Because we live in Minnesota and suffer annually through a dark, cold, miserable winters that can last 7-8 months, we wanted sunshine, heat, and ocean waves! 

After considering South America and Spain we decided the latter would give us more opportunity to visit other countries/cultures in Europe without having to travel far. Thanks to google earth, blogs, and expat forums we narrowed it down to Costa Blanca Spain, and ultimately to a little town situated right on the very eastern tip called Xábia, also spelled

"Jávea".  It's an international town with a big tourist draw during the summer months, but a quiet community of about 30,000 with an exceptional climate during the rest of the year.

In February Davin and I took a snowboard trip to Chamonix, France and at the last minute hopped on an Easy Jet flight over to Jávea for three days to 'interview' the town. It was fast and furious, we left with more questions than we came with, and we managed to fall in love with the town immediately.

When? Davin and I have sipped a lot of coffee and wine on over this one! For the past few months we've meditated on the mantra "everything will work out" and have had to re-convince each other daily that it actually will.  Fortunately, we solidified our long term apartment lease! We actually have a apartment and have a move in date!  RELIEF!  This is a critical piece to the visa application process.  If the visa application process goes smoothly, August 2015 is when we'll move!  

Now you have the what, why, how, where, and when.   So...

How does this benefit me? (asked one of my friends out loud) My response: "Ummm...we'll have a guest bedroom so you can come visit",  which I do genuinely hope family and friends will do. But for those who can't or don't have the desire to, perhaps you can still find some value in this blog. This adventure began the moment we made the decision to move and has already put us through many highs and lows. By sharing our experience I hope to inspire you, provide insight to the experience, share what not to do, or simply entertain you when you're bored at work. 

So if you could move anywhere in the world for a year right now, where would you move? Leave a comment to share below.

Vamos a ir a España!  
Yeah, I had to get that from google translate...for now anyway.