1. Choose where to go carefully. Check out the weather in Galicia (on practically any day of the year) to see that Spain is not always sun, sun, sun.
2. Take a phrasebook/learn some Spanish. The idea that ‘everyone speaks English in Spain’ might be almost true in a tourist area, but will be completely wrong everywhere else.
3. Be prepared. I was told by the head of my new school that the (Spanish) children in my class (7 year-olds) were ‘fluent’ in English. Guess I might have misheard, could have said ‘effluent’.
4. Look after your health 1. Sort out your Spanish health registration procedures, the health service in Spain is free and very good quality.
5. Look after your health 2. If you return to the UK for holidays, you’ll need a Spanish IHIC card (Tarjeta Sanitaria Europea) issued in Spain (at the Social Security office, Oficina de Seguridad Social) in order to get NHS treatment in the UK. You’ve probably had an E111 for holidays in the rest of Europe if you lived in the UK, well now you need the Spanish version for holidays in the UK (or other European countries).
