Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

Francophile

Regarding the pronunciation of names, mine is Angela and my French neighbours pronounce it on-g-la. I love it!!!
Regarding the cost of living in France ( we have a house in a little village called Portiragnes 1.5 miles from the Med near Beziers but don't live there permanently), I have always thought the meat was quite expensive in France thus making a BBQ not exactly a cheap option. During the summer we would tend to eat out quite a lot but I think this year we will definitely be cutting back as between the exchange rate and the rise in prices generally it's going to make a month there much more costly than usual.
We'll just have to eat less and drink more!!!

droopsnout

iris wrote: »

Hi

Droopsnout, I found your posting regarding cost of everyday food items and petrol very useful as we are off to Provence on the 13 May. We have our caravan in storage in Vaison. However, this year we shall be bringing it back to the UK. So with the cost of petrol in France, together with the motorway tolls, it looks like we shall have a hefty credit card bill:eek:

Iris

Thank you, Iris, and welcome to the thread. As s-d-w said, it's nice to have all these new voices!

Vaison-la-Romaine - wonderful place! Love the Roman ruins, and I remember sending a donation when the floods caused terrible damage there, about, what 15 years ago?

But yes, I'm afraid the cost of living has been rising rapidly: it's the main topic of conversation amongst the French themselves. So put that with the exchange rate, and it's not too good for those who depend on an income from the UK.

You'd still have to weld me to a Eurostar train to force me back to live in the UK, though. I think I must have been born in the wrong country.

binnie

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Yes, I agree....our mountain retreat is beautiful, the people are great and have made us really welcome.....BUT....

...it is too hot in July and August and we miss green grass and rivers with water in them. (Did you know the only true desert in Europe is in southern Spain, Almeria Province, at Tabernas? It's where Clint Eastwood made his Westerns).

Our place in the sun is in Costa Almeria, it is hot especially in summer and plenty of river beds with no water.
Went to Mini Hollywood where they made the spaghetti westerns, it's a good day out with a zoo too.
xx
Still reading this thread, too much to catch up on yet.

seven-day-weekend

binnie wrote: »

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Yes, I agree....our mountain retreat is beautiful, the people are great and have made us really welcome.....BUT....

...it is too hot in July and August and we miss green grass and rivers with water in them. (Did you know the only true desert in Europe is in southern Spain, Almeria Province, at Tabernas? It's where Clint Eastwood made his Westerns).

Our place in the sun is in Costa Almeria, it is hot especially in summer and plenty of river beds with no water.
Went to Mini Hollywood where they made the spaghetti westerns, it's a good day out with a zoo too.
xx
Still reading this thread, too much to catch up on yet.

Know it well, we do our main shop there at the Gran Plaza in Roquetas de Mar - although we are in Granada Province and 1.5 hours drive away.

Francophile

droopsnout wrote: »

You'd still have to weld me to a Eurostar train to force me back to live in the UK, though.:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
I think I must have been born in the wrong country.

Me too although the first time I ever visited France I hated it. We went to a campsite in the Vendee and it was probably the camping (in a tent) I hated more but I found it hard to differentiate at the time. Swore I'd [EMAIL="i@never"]never[/EMAIL] go back. Then DH booked a surprise romantic weekend in Paris for my birthday and that's when my love affair began. We've holidayed in France now for years and when DH got made redundant we spent the money on a property there for our retirement. As soon as I arrive in France I feel like I've come home.

droopsnout

Hmm. Coming back home to this tiny village, more or less (as the Brits think) in the middle of nowhere, after being away, I get a feeling of peace, calm and security that I've never experienced before. Yes, it's always nice to get home, wherever it is, but here I do feel that I'm my own person, away from the stresses and demands of the world outside.

However, that's probably more a reflection of my own psychology than anything else!

binnie

droopsnout wrote: »

Excellent suggestions, Amanda.

Thank you for taking the trouble to post.

And, of course, for anyone who has Sky, or a non-Sky dish pointing at the Astra satellites, there's the Living In Spain channel on 293.

Has this channel dropped off droopsnout, I can't find it anywhere. I even tried adding channels.
:beer:

droopsnout

Last time I looked, the website was still there (http://www.livinginspain.tv/index.htm), but the TV channel has disappeared from 293. Didn't last long ...

I see you've tried adding channels, but the details for where the channel was are as follows:

Frequency: 11223 Ghz
Polarity: vertical
Symbol rate: 27500
Forward Error Correction: 2/3

I've just tried it and it wasn't amongst the stations listed on that frequency.

The website forum is "unavailable".

droopsnout

Further to that, I've been looking on Digital Spy for you. One poster on the forum there says this:

"I actually got to see the premises that Living in Spain TV were using and was at the launch party for the channel. To start of with, they were running on a shoestring budget. The set was tiny, a 4*4 space reserved for the desk aka the set.

"The channel has never been popular with expats living in Spain and they gained themselves a very bad reputation with the expat population on the Costa del sol. The channel was based in Fuengirola and was having funding troubles from day one. Certain "issues" were highlighted by the Expat press on the Costa del Sol.

"The last I heard from them was an email from them trying to secure advertising from the entity for which I work. That was two months ago.

"I would not be surprised if the channel has closed down. It was always more popular with Viewers who lived in the UK and dreamed of moving to Spain than with the expat community they were meant to be targetting."

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=765801

droopsnout

OMG!!!

For anyone thinking of emigrating to Spain, this thread at Digital Spy might cause some concern. I'm not saying it's typical (I'm sure it's not), but it's certainly scary. Unfortunately, it descends into bickering and abuse, but the early pages are OK.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=316137&highlight=Living+In+Spain