Jally Good Day

A year later... are we still living the dream? Well, it's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun. We have somehow been in Spain a year already and we can confidently say there is no looking back. I remember saying to people before I left "I will either see you in 3 months penniless and homeless or I will never see you again". It's nice to say we are neither of the above and we have also visited our loved ones and had many, many visitors. As you may know, when we arrived in Valencia we decided to let our hair down for a bit and then try to secure a job and a place to live. Unfortunately it didn't work out for us that way but this opened a few doors for us and we made the move to Alicante and it was all uphill from there.  "Mate, this iz rate good 'ere init" - Joey  We drove to Alicante from Valencia which was slightly scary as I don't think the Spanish are the most careful drivers, but we got here in one piece...

The cost of living in Spain The cost of living in Spain, like any other country, obviously depends on what kind of lifestyle you want to live. If you want a luxurious, millionaire lifestyle then believe it or not, you're going to need millions. For us, the move to Spain wasn't to make a lot of money and have luxurious things but to earn enough to get by, put a roof over our heads and fund a few activities or hobbies every now and then. The cost of living in Spain is lower than other European cities. Minimum wage is considerably less than it is in the U.K but the cheaper cost of living seems to make it even out. You have to take in to consideration that Madrid and Barcelona will have a higher cost of living than the likes of Valencia and Seville. However according to Expatica it is 42% cheaper to live in Madrid than it is London.  I can confidently say that it is cheaper to live in Spain and your wage will get you a lot further than it would in the U.K. As an exampl...

Getting an NIE number. So, before we start, this is the main reason we wanted to start a blog. If you don't have a clue what this is then please continue reading because it is very important and it will become more apparent. We read so many different things about getting an NIE number before we arrived in Spain and even during, what the process was, how long it would take and we can tell you that the way it worked for us had absolutely ZERO similarity to the ten plus blogs and pages that we read. This is our experience from trying to attain it in in Valencia. It may be different in other towns/cities. What is an NIE number? Basically an NIE number (Número de identidad de extranjero) is very similar to the national insurance number you are given in Britain when you turn sixteen. It basically is so you can pay Spanish taxes when you are working and it is also like an identity that the Spanish government   give its foreigners. Its almost the first step to residency i...