After reading various posts from Brits in Spain there seems to be a pattern of ?it?s better than back home?. Pardon my ignorance, but I?m wondering what?s so wrong with Britain? Aside from rainy weather, high cost, and two tap sinks 😉 I rather liked it. We had a short trip there, only about 2 weeks, but it seemed to be a lovely place to me ?elegant gardens, charming architecture, educated people that seemed friendly enough, and a pleasant culture? Of course those are only things you see on the surface -I have no idea about any deep societal issues that may or may not exist. Though it seems like there aren’t as many of those deep issues in the UK as there are in the USA, for example.
My husband (Spanish) lived in Scotland for a year and said that one big difference he saw between the UK and Spain is that the British government is more efficient & better serves the people as does the judicial system. Do you agree with this? It seems like an important detail to me?
Spain is nice, I especially like their vacation-oriented lifestyle (it’s nice for an overworked American), but are things really so bad in the UK that emigrating you & your family outweigh all the hardships of being an immigrant (read the forums on corruption in government for some examples of that)?
Is climate the major reason behind the British exodus to Spain or is there something more?
Hi,
I?ve lived( and worked) in a lot of different places in my life. ( born in holland, grew up in Iran and Iraq (and hate the USA with a passion, for what they are doing there, now) Still I have never felt the urge to compare where i live, to where my passport was issued.
I am dutch, my girlfriend is russian, and we are happy to live close to the beach for now… And that?s it, no more no less. if I would feel the need to compare where i live to where i am from, i prob would never have left.
To me, and hopefully others to follow, where you live is where you decided to be… Every place has it?s good sides, and bad. Relax, and smell the roses, paella, smog, or whatever… let it go and enjoy your husband.
Stop comparing! I live close to the beach, in a enjoyable climate, I don?t suffer a lot of agro, I can say my peace of mind ( and not end up in jail for it),and, at a whole, am happy with my life.
I don?t care where my passport was issued. Me? Zwahilian? cool, as long as it lets me travel and enter the places i want to go to.
Great that you feel fullfilled, just for being from a place. Me? I care no less where I am from, just where i live and the people around me…
EDIT: Put a sock in it already… Or, start enjoying your life, or find a place where you can. Every place has it?s bad and good sides. deal with it….
Vetlel, not sure if you read Yankeegirl’s actual post or just the title. “put a sock in it already…” RIGHT. Notice she’s not bitching or complaining, which you seem to have assumed. Also note that one of the reasons I created this forum was for all of us expats from different places to come together to talk about our differences and our new home.
Yankeegirl: it’s nice of you to be so kind about jolly ol’ England, but in my opinion it isn’t much better off than the US regarding lifestyle. They work their asses off too (albeit with more vacation days) and seem to be changing into a mini-USA in this regard (ie. formulating their self-worth by their career). I’d want to leave too.
Oh yeah, and the weather seems to suck up there. 😊
Oh, and Vetlel did I mention that my heritage is German also. So you can hate me for not only being American, but you can hold me personally accountable for what Hitler did. If you held every individual accountable for the mistakes their governments made you wouldn’t have very many friends, would you. You don’t hold a grudge against your girlfriend for what Stalin did? Get a clue. If there were less hate in the world, there would be less suffering. So lose the hate. It doesn’t solve anything.
Off that topic, the reason i made this post was after reading ?the real spanish police? thread where cbram said she was to leave Spain, but that she rather go to Bulgaria or anywhere rather than return to the UK. I didn’t understand why. That’s why I asked. Thanks for your reply Expatriator.
Oh, and Vetlel did I mention that my heritage is German also. So you can hate me for not only being American, but you can hold me personally accountable for what Hitler did. If you held every individual accountable for the mistakes their governments made you wouldn’t have very many friends, would you. You don’t hold a grudge against your girlfriend for what Stalin did? Get a clue. If there were less hate in the world, there would be less suffering. So lose the hate. It doesn’t solve anything.
.
Hitler was a dictator, anyway it is history. You personally were not around when Hitler was in power.
The American people voted for George W Bush TWICE!
It is a democracy, OF COURSE you are responsible for the actions of your government.
If the American people didn’t like the actions of George W they could have kicked him out in 2004. But they didn’t. they gave him MORE POWER.
Who else is there to blame? The American goverment IS the American people. Isn’t that the way it is suppose to work in a “democracy”? That concept that you are so keen to export all over the world?
Wow Adrian, so much anger! How can you be angry at the 50% of Americans that didn’t vote for him? Is that fair? What do you expect them to do? What’s your solution or suggestion? And if they did so would it make a difference to your anger?
Wow Adrian, so much anger! How can you be angry at the 50% of Americans that didn’t vote for him? Is that fair? What do you expect them to do? What’s your solution or suggestion? And if they did so would it make a difference to your anger?
The MAJORITY of Americans voted for George W Bush. In fact in the 2004 election, he got more votes for President than any other person in history.
So, if I meet an American, I think it is fair to assume that he/she supports the policies of the government and be asked the uncomfortable questions .
What do I expect them to do? It is a democracy. In a democracy you are empowered to make changes to the government and the country.
And if we are talking about policies like the War in Iraq, he had way over 50% of support when the war started. A solid majority of Americans supported it.
Now, as the wheels are coming off and the US is in a difficult position in Iraq, support has dropped. If America was winning this was you can bet support for the war would be much higher than it is now.
And yet it’s also been made clear that John Kerry should have won the election but that he conceded victory prematurely. Sounds corrupt no? Also note that in recent elections the US gets between 50-60% voter turnout. That means that the majority of Americans are NOT necessarily voting for Bush. Since you seem to know so much about it, how many votes did Bush get in 2004? Was it more than 120 million?
The “American Democracy” as an ideal concept doesn’t exist any more; it’s rife with problems, corruption and held back by the dual party system. Democratic reform is, no doubt, necessary. Education is necessary. Start looking at solutions instead of grinding them down for something they’re not able to do much about.
The American people were lied to and supplied faulty intelligence. The same data that brought Spain and the UK into the war as well.
And what’s your point in claiming that if America was “winning” this war that support would be higher. Sounds like human nature to me. Obviously if there was more progress in Iraq then they’d feel justified by accomplishing some of the few noble goals therein.
After reading various posts from Brits in Spain there seems to be a pattern of ?it?s better than back home?. Pardon my ignorance, but I?m wondering what?s so wrong with Britain? Aside from rainy weather, high cost, and two tap sinks 😉 I rather liked it. We had a short trip there, only about 2 weeks, but it seemed to be a lovely place to me ?elegant gardens, charming architecture, educated people that seemed friendly enough, and a pleasant culture? Of course those are only things you see on the surface -I have no idea about any deep societal issues that may or may not exist. Though it seems like there aren’t as many of those deep issues in the UK as there are in the USA, for example.
My husband (Spanish) lived in Scotland for a year and said that one big difference he saw between the UK and Spain is that the British government is more efficient & better serves the people as does the judicial system. Do you agree with this? It seems like an important detail to me?
Spain is nice, I especially like their vacation-oriented lifestyle (it’s nice for an overworked American), but are things really so bad in the UK that emigrating you & your family outweigh all the hardships of being an immigrant (read the forums on corruption in government for some examples of that)?
Is climate the major reason behind the British exodus to Spain or is there something more?
Funny…well not really. 😊 I’ve just signed on here (First post) looking for information on living in Spain so your question seemed appropriate.
I’m from Liverpool, many years ago and have lived in 4 countries but the past 25 of them have been in the US. My wife bless her little cotton socks is from the Pacific Northwest and currently we live on an island in the Puget Sound.
Now our first choice for living “somewhere else” would be Cornwall. We’ve spent many happy hours there and just love it, my wife more than me. Cornwall is quite similar to the PNW in climate and she can?t take too much sun anyway. But, there’s just no way that we could afford to live, “retire” there. Spain is affordable. I like the warmer climes so we’d go somewhere in Spain that we could both agree on…He said hopefully!
Hope this answer gives you more of an answer to your question than the Yanky(girl) go home” you got from a couple of disturbed people.
Jeez how did we get from “Spain or England?” to I hate GWB in two easy posts?
I have spoken with many british (and young people, with children) and they only has not come to Spain looking for the money, but a rhythm of life, an improvement, other values, or like you prefer to call…something that didn’t find in their country. If you have liked England more than Spain, very well, I find perfect, each person is free of living where prefers, as well as there are many spaniards that they like England, but it is really curious the way in as some people they question to the british expats that have chosen to live in Spain, and the reasons are very diverse as so that you make speculations of any type, not being british and perhaps nor knowing my country
Forgive me, but I think this way. In Spain we are not perfect, but the rest of the world neither is Disneyworld
Wow, I think people are misinterpreting my post? I haven’t posted this to be confrontational, or to say that one country is better than the other. Each place has it’s pluses and minuses -that’s obvious. I was only saying that for some people it’s kind of a big decision to move away from home, live your new life in a different language (it’s also fun and challenging, but not always), move away from friends & family, etc. I only wanted to hear from British people their reasons for coming to Spain, what they miss about the UK, what they don’t, etc.
I’m from England and live in Scotland, with a house in Spain and a plan to move there within a few years. Firstly I’d say that generalisations about the UK are as inadequate as generalisations about anywhere else - within Scotland there’s a world of difference between the cultures and characters of Glasgow and Edinburgh (45 minutes drive) and in England between, say, life in inner-city Birmingham and rural Worcestershire (less than an hour in the car). The same goes for Spain, probably even more so. I don’t think of my homes as being “UK” and “Spain”, but rather “Glasgow” and “Alpujarra”.
I love having a presence (and homes) in two places and in a sense it’s not that important which countries they are - it’s the differences I enjoy. There are lots of things I love about my part of Spain - food, language, history, culture, unspoilt natural beauty, the unfussy courtesy of local people in everyday life. Oddly enough the weather is not that important to me and I almost never go to the beach. And to be honest, when we looked into buying a second home we considered access, investment, rental potential and costs, comparing a number of different areas of France and Italy as well as Spain (we can cope in all three languages).
I know when we move to Spain we will miss aspects of the UK. Hopefully we’ll be able to afford to keep a small flat or something in Scotland.
The first sane and useful reply I’ve seen on this thread, thanks. This sounds more like the sort of situation that my wife and I would like. A small flat or condo in one country and living in Spain. I’m not sure my wife can take the weather July and Aug in Spain and seeing it’s the tourist season also it ‘s probably a good time to ‘visit’ the Northern climes.
How is the weather in that region. I mean is it a little cooler mid summer and does it freeze over in winter. My that’s a broad question isn’t it? I’ll wander through google and see what I can find but any more insights from you, If you have time would be welcome. Cost of living between there and the coastal communities and real estate.
Thanks again. Ken
Oops, just notices your blog spot, I’ll peek at that.
