Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

seven-day-weekend

tw0906blue wrote: »

Hey thanks Seven Day weekend! A quick response indeed. My OH is out at work - doing some consultancy type fill in, which swells the coffers :j And I can't wait to show him this thread or your links. Your "lane" looks wonderful. What a view.How long have you been in Spain? and how is the language coming along?:beer:

That is the view to the east. You should see the view to the south from our roof terrace!

We have been here just over 2.5 years. We can more or less say what we want to (as long as it is in the present tense), we can understand written Spanish reasonably well.....but we haven't got a clue what our neighbours are talking about!

This is mainly for two reasons. 1. Although our neighbours officially speak Castellano (Spanish to you and me), their dialect is akin to Geordie or Glaswegian. This is NOT on the Michel Tomas CD's! 2. They also speak colloquially - using phrases and words that are local to the area, which again are not King's Spanish. It's like where I come from in the Uk, we have a phrase' going round the Wrekin' - no-one but a West Midlander would understand it.

However, there is a man called Amador (which means Lover:eek: ) in the village and he does speak English reasonably well (one of about three people who do). Amador runs a bar and we find it very informative to watch his TV - especially the 'Trisha' type programmes which have captions saying what is happening. If I don't understand I can ask Amador. I can also ask him why it is this word and not that one (if it is about the same thing). For example, I found out the other day that there is a different word for a single parent who has never been married and one who is widiwed or divorced.

All things you will only pick up by living here.

seven-day-weekend

I wrote a long post about the car, it seems to have sunk into oblivion.

So to precis it, my strong advice is to buy a Spanish registered car. Make sure also that you have a photocard licence (the green paper one isn't legal).

missile

I echo sdw comments - buy a spanish car. If you can afford it go for a new one. Go to a garage and be very careful with second hand private sale. There are crooked people (a high proportion of those are Brits) selling stolen cars. All cars need to be registered with Guardia Civil Traffic office. This is a laborious process, even for a spaniard and a nightmare for us foriegners.

Generally new cars are a little cheaper than in UK. For some bizzare reason, (possibly the number of company cars distort the UK market?) second hand cars hold there price and are more expensive than the UK equivant.

missile

Sorry to hear of your parents troubles Limeycat. I also live near Alicante, where I have found the GC and other police services to be more helpful than their UK counterparts.

I guess you have seen that there are a huge number of old bangers running around on UK plates, many with out of date tax disk and possibly no insurance. I am not suggesting that your parents are in such, but unfortunately seem to have been caught up in the initiative to rid us of this plague.

You are supposed to notify DVLA if you intend to export a car and re-register it as soon as possible. You are quite correct one is allowed to drive for up to six months in a.n.other EU country, but it is your responsibility to prove that it has not been in Spain longer. Normally GC will accept a car which has valid UK tax disk, MOT and insurance but best to carry a ferry receipt.

Incidently these rules apply in reverse. There are quite a few foriegn nationals living and working in the UK and I notice an increase in foreign registrations. It seems our police do very little to check whether these cars are legal?

tw0906blue

Is there a gremlin on here? I lost my last post too! Anyway, I was trying to say thanks to Limeycat and know what is meant by over the top Spanish officialdom having almost been shot in the Reina Sofia Art Gallery in Madrid for having the temerity to try and deposit a bottle of water in a locker. Ok, so things are jumpy what with bombings etc. But really!

Anyway, our probelm is that we don't want to live perm. in Spain, our hope is to travel around Europe, starting in Spain, so we want to keep our car!

Any comments gratefully received.

:beer:

seven-day-weekend

tw0906blue wrote: »

Anyway, our probelm is that we don't want to live perm. in Spain, our hope is to travel around Europe, starting in Spain, so we want to keep our car!

Any comments gratefully received.

:beer:

In that case, providing you are not in any country for longer than six months per year, I believe you can keep your car on GB plates providing it also has legal British tax, insurance and MOT.

So basically you will have to take it back to the UK once a year to get it MOT'd.

I may be wrong though - maybe the DVLA will be able to help?

We have had good news! After trying desperately to get our car registered onto Spanish plates (best part of a year), we have heard that we can pick up the new plates and all the paperwork this Thursday! We even know our new Registration number. We will be legal here at last!

tw0906blue

:j :j :j
Glad to hear it! Thanks for all your comments. It has been really helpful. :beer:

Spurred on by all the comments on this thread I dusted off the Michel Thomas cd's and gave lessones 1-3 another go.....I have always tried to get to know at least a small amount of the local language as we are interested in other cultures and like to talk to the locals if at all possible. We have found that if you at least try, most people are very friendly and helpful.

Can you tell me what the locals eat for bread? I have a wheat intollerence, and although I can eat it and not die, I get very swollen inside and suffer for a week or two. In Germany it is fine as they use 100% rye in some loaves. France is tricky, and when I was last in Spain, I just missed out on the bread. Do they use only whaet is what I am asking I guess, or do they use other grains to make different types of bread?

Weather here today in the MIdlands is warm and sunny, wind was a little cool earlier on in the day but this afternoon it has been lovely. Wind is cool I guess though now it is getting later when your out of the sun. whoops off topic!

seven-day-weekend

Wheat bread here I'm afraid, although I believe in Galicia and Asturias (northern Spain) there is more variety.

Weather here is cloudy and rainy and has been for the whole of April.

Where in the Midlands are you from? We're from Wolverhampton.

tw0906blue

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Wheat bread here I'm afraid, although I believe in Galicia and Asturias (northern Spain) there is more variety.

Weather here is cloudy and rainy and has been for the whole of April.

Where in the Midlands are you from? We're from Wolverhampton.

Thanks SDW As I feared, but I survive!

We live in Dorridge, just south of Solihull, Know it? But we moved up from South London most 20 years ago for work. I still miss London! In fact we both do.

Hot and sunny, like August here now....I even have a sunburn patch on my leg where I sat out in shorts yesterday having lunch! Something very strange is going on. Spain ought to be worried, if the stats are right and most people go out to Spain for the hot weather. Lol

Is there a phrase book that you have found useful? We have the small tourist one and a dictionary. Personally I just want to get stuck in over there. I learn much better when I am surrounded by the language. Seeing it and hearing it spoken. Although it will be rather scary at first. :eek:

Where do you fly in and out of? and may I be cheeky and ask the cost?

seven-day-weekend

I know where Dorridge is and my neice and nephew lives in Solihull.

We fly from either Malaga or Almeria (this is nearest for us) usually with Monarch or bmibaby to Birmingham (or at a push Manchester) and the fares are not as cheap as they used to be - the trick is to book as early as possible. There are more flights from Malaga because it is a much bigger airport. We've found the very cheapest now is around £80 all-in return, but these are normally going at some unGodly hour in January! You can also go from Granada to Liverpool with Ryanair, I believe they go to the London Airports too.