Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

Francophile

Congratulations donny-gal !!!

droopsnout

Happy Anniversary!! Up to 34 for us next time.

No rush re the phone. Glad you got your priorities right!!! Thanks again.

Merrywidow

Happy Anniversary Donny Gal - your day out sounds great. The rain here at the moment is UNBELIEVABLE so I am very jealous. Not long now for my dose of sun in Tenerife - can't wait.

Merrywidow

Seven-day-weekend will appreciate this. We have been talking about languages....my niece is 7 years old today (Dutch father, Polish mother - speaks Polish and Dutch) and I rang her to wish her a Happy Birthday. Her Dutch is perfect now, and needless to say we speak in Dutch together. One of her presents was a beginners course in English - apparently she want to be able to speak to me in English. She loves it when she visits me here and we have been throwing in some English words each time. Catch them young. Oh by the way......her Polish grandmother is visiting...bet she's confused this week.

seven-day-weekend

Happy Anniversary Donny-Gal! We had our 37th in October.

Merry Widow, all those languages flying around! Must be confusing. Polish and Dutch are not the easiest of languages I don't think!

Hope your niece enjoys learning English - at her age she will soon pick it uyp.

donny-gal

OK Apologies if this is advertising, but it is the only wayI can do it.

Paul at Europa Networks tells me that their website is being changed so that anyone can get a 0844 no. to connect to their phone. He does not believe after consulting with his boss that there is any reason why it cannot be used for a French no. or anywhere else tbh.

He says to email him in 3-4 weeks on [EMAIL="'paul@europa-network.com'"]'paul@europa-network.com'[/EMAIL] when he will know more about it, quote my name he will remember me! (PINA me).

I get 2.9c minute to the UK, and 4.5c a minute to France from here using them. No prefixes and no connection charges. The bonus would be if I lived here is that Europa to Europa calls are free, like TalkTalk to TalkTalk in the UK. None of the neighbours here use them, they stick to Telefonica and cards.

Hope this helps - over to you now
DG

droopsnout

Thanks, d-g!

I've put a note on my calendar to email Paul on Monday 1 December.

There is no "s" on "network" in the email addie? And the name I quote is PINA?

I am perhaps a bit dim, but I don't understand how you use a UK 0844 number to ring the UK from Spain. All I want is a UK number so that people in the UK can ring me for the price of a local call, or where I want, say, a business to ring me where normally they wouldn't ring abroad. All my outgoing calls here are through the net, and are free.

donny-gal

The 0844 number is for folks to ring me in Spain at 4p a minute (BT charge that). I get 2.9c ringing the UK using the normal number. I may have to upgrade to Bband to be able to use the net, but Spain nowhere near as advanced on Bband.

DG

Merrywidow

Thanks S-D-W -yes she will pick it up quickly. Also she will start in school very soon. As for me I downloaded a Teach yourself Spanish last week and trying to come to grips with a few good words for my holiday. Was looking up Trip Advisor's travellers comments for my Hotel in Tenerife. I could spit blood when I read "my bacon and eggs were cold" why don't these stupid people just stay home and go to Blackpool!! Before my sister in law married my brother many moons ago she went to Spain with a girlfriend. I asked her what she thought of Spanish food, "Oh I didn't try it, we ate in the Hotel"

Do these people really still exist? Hope there are none in my Hotel.

seven-day-weekend

Merrywidow wrote: »

Thanks S-D-W -yes she will pick it up quickly. Also she will start in school very soon. As for me I downloaded a Teach yourself Spanish last week and trying to come to grips with a few good words for my holiday. Was looking up Trip Advisor's travellers comments for my Hotel in Tenerife. I could spit blood when I read "my bacon and eggs were cold" why don't these stupid people just stay home and go to Blackpool!! Before my sister in law married my brother many moons ago she went to Spain with a girlfriend. I asked her what she thought of Spanish food, "Oh I didn't try it, we ate in the Hotel"

Do these people really still exist? Hope there are none in my Hotel.

Yes, they do unfortunately. There are some people who live in our village, who said it was 'cruel' that the mules have to carry loads and pull ploughs . I pointed out that they are working animals, not pets, and that the land is too steep and uneven for a tractor. To no avail.

Also my husband's cousin, the first time she came to stay here, couldn't quite believe that the restaurants here (remember we are in rural Spain, away from the coast) didn't serve 'proper tea' - they like coffee, chocolate or 'infusiones' - and when I explained that this is not the UK or one of the colonies and that they had never got into the tea habit, she shook her head in disbelief. I'm glad to say now after several visits she has actually drunk an infusion and eaten some Spanish food!

The best (or worst) one was a tale told me by another expat. Someone she knew had gone to Majorca for a holiday. She came back enthusing about the hotel, the swimming pool at the hotel, the meals at the hotel, the showers at the hotel etc. My friend said 'But did you like the island?'. The person answered 'What island?'

So the answer to your question is , yes, they do still exist.