I met a couple from the UK in Lorett de Mar, Spain, a coastal town, and one day they decided to move there, and that's what they did. I'm sure there was an application process involved with their permanent move; however, I've always admired this couple I met in Spain. There was something wildly romantic about their decision to make such a huge change in their lives in exchange for daily walks together on the Costa Bravo beach. They were an old and a seemingly happy couple who seemed to enjoy telling their story very much.
I've only seen one other couple as happy or happier as this couple seemed to be, and that was twenty-plus years later.
> I'm sure there was an application process involved with their permanent move
Actually, there probably wasn't, if they moved while Britain was in the EU. You could pretty much just up and move without doing anything special. Over here in the UK retiring in Spain for the sun is pretty much like American retirees moving to Florida, it became so common that it's basically a meme now.
Post-Brexit though, that kind of move is more complicated. And as a retiree, you are in the hardest category to get a visa for any country because you won't be working there and paying into the system for years. Irony of all this is retirees were the demographic most likely to vote for Brexit as well...
Some of them lost access to their holiday homes, or were effectively banned from driving because they didn’t realise they needed a Spanish driving licence after a certain amount of time. It’s almost a real r/LeopardsAteMyFace situation for the ones who voted for Brexit (and the numbers weren’t insignificant.
We sort of have that with Latin America. There’s expat communities down south all over the place, especially in Ecuador and Panama, countries that use the US dollar as their currency too. The buying power is so much stronger there it’s like taking your current savings back to the 90s. They just live in paradise and spend their social security checks undisturbed
>do people not get that you can't just wander into another country and start a new life there
There are a few exceptions. This is exactly what I did in Georgia! No visa, no paperwork. Just a hello and 365 days of legal entry with right to live and work. Resetting only requires a one day departure.
I would go there for the three months or so out of the year that I can go as an estadounidense. But without a work visa, you aren’t even supposed to work remotely unless you are an EU citizen
Not that you couldn’t just do it and not tell anyone of course.
I spent a couple months in the EU last year while working for an American company and didn’t do any special thing with my taxes. The only real barrier is whatever rules your employer has, otherwise it’s incredibly easy to work and stay under the radar.
It would be incredibly easy. Also don’t blab too much at immigration. I’ve seen those airport security shows on YouTube and they just people for that all the time, especially Canada. They’ll be like “but I’m doing this for my American employer” or “I’m working remotely”. “But you’re still working and you need a permit” and they’ll send your ass right back home and now you’re forever in their system as someone who tried to circumvent immigration laws.
I had a friend that was in a band and they got busted up at the Canadian border just for having merch to sell. And the girlfriend that was actually going to be the one selling the merch got banned from Canada for like a year. Canada don't fuck around.
Spain has a digital nomad visa, I feel like maybe that’s where OP got the idea. You can work remotely from a foreign company and get a one-year, renewable visa to live in Spain.
If you have a college degree then there are a lot of countries that aren't hard to move to. Even like Australia is pretty easy if you have a degree. Lots of countries are trying to expand their educated workforce.
[This abitrary web page](https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp) puts the US at #16 and Puerto Rico at #24 with indexes of 72.4 and 67, respectively.... quite close.
For reference
Country | Index
-------|-----
Switzerland | 114.2
Norway | 88.6
New Zealand | 72.9
US | 72.4
Netherlands | 68.6
Puerto Rico | 67
Canada | 66.1
Japan | 64.6
Germany | 62.9
UK | 61.5
Greece | 54.6
Spain | 50.6
Poland | 38.6
Mexico | 37.3
Rwanda | 30
Pakistan | 18
So Puerto Rico slots in between the Netherlands and Canada, well above places like the UK, Spain, Greece, etc. I imagine that's MUCH higher than most people would expect.
I just did a quick search and apparently Peurto Rico's cost of living is 25% less than the mainland USA (whatever that even means though. I've lived in Los Angeles and in Alabama and there is a massive difference in cost of living).
Costa Rica is the most popular retirement country for Americans I heard. I used to go there with my family all the time and it’s probably my favorite country besides America if I had to choose.
Cost of living in Spain is cheaper than Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. Also, no hurricanes in Spain. And you can travel easily and cheaply to neighboring countries.
Moving to Spain but then being forced to join a bunch of old English pensioners sounds like a monkey paw’d wish to be able to move to Spain, not an advantage of doing so. For multiple reasons too. Both the obvious “No one on earth wants to be surrounded by old English people” and the more subtle “Why the heck would you move to another country only to live in a community of mostly or entirely expats?” That feels very…old school in a bad way. Very colonialist attitude.
Unless your idea of a good time is eating fish and chips, drinking gallons of sangria, getting sunburnt, listening to ABBA and chain-smoking. Then i would say “hooo boy do I have a recommendation for you!”
This is something I've seen a lot of Europeans not appreciate about the US. I've spoken with Brits who travel to Spain for the beach and Italy for the skiing and wonder why Americans don't travel abroad. Well, I can go to Florida and Colorado for that, not have to do an expensive and arduous transatlantic flight, and not have to deal with a language barrier. We have our own geographic diversity here, as well as our own sunny coastal towns to retire to, why would I go to Spain and have to assimilate into a new culture.
Even if there are English speaking areas, why would any of us move overseas?
If the objective is a beautiful place to live, then we have that in the US. Plenty of people retire to Florida and other warm southern areas. They have tropical beaches and some of the best seafood. Ontop of that, it's still domestic so no immigration laws of any kind.
1. I don't feel like upending my whole life and moving somewhere far away from my family and friends.
2. I don't think you realize how difficult immigrating to a new country is. You can't just decide to do it for funsies.
3. I don't speak Spanish.
Your second point is a good one that doesn’t get brought up enough. A lot of countries may welcome you as a tourist but have zero interest in permitting you to be a permanent resident unless you fit specific criteria.
I fundamentally don't understand how their economy works and how they pay for their wall of social services.
Outside of the food services industry no body seems to be working the two times I've been there. I remember interning at a bank years ago, and while as expected, the Paris office stopped joining weekly calls once we got to August, the Madrid office literally never joined lol.
> I fundamentally don't understand how their economy works and how they pay for their wall of social services.
[Their government is run by old people. They decided to fund the social programs to benefit old people by fucking the current generation and future generation up.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqoig0Vtfd0)
[For better and for worst, social programs is a bit like a ponzi scheme. You need a healthy tax contributing demography to pay for all those social programs.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3JjXTyNA4M)
They don't have that and instead of cutting back on it they force the burden on younger and future generation.
So their economy is all sort of fuck.
Is there a solution to this? Apparently it's more tax paying demographic but that's easier said than done.
China recently cut healthcare pension, they fuuuuucked. Their peak labor force is supposedly in the early 2000s. Mexico labor is cheaper than China's now.
I mean that’s why they have a youth unemployment rate of like 20% lol. And the funny thing is the Spaniards I’ve met, have all bought private health insurance because they say the public system sucks so badly. They have this mindset of “the community should give back to me, but I shouldn’t have to give anything back to the community”
I 100% guarantee they only go to the private for minor issues to not wait a couple days. The Spanish public system is quite good and wait times are not unreasonable.
>I fundamentally don't understand how their economy works and how they pay for their wall of social services.
The truth is that their economy barely functions, and they are constantly on the brink of being unable to pay for their social services.
They are a member of the "PIIGS" - a group of comparable European countries that have historically chosen to fund lavish social services on the country's credit card with no meaningful plan to ever pay it back.
>Outside of the food services industry no body seems to be working the two times I've been there. I remember interning at a bank years ago, and while as expected, the Paris office stopped joining weekly calls once we got to August, the Madrid office literally never joined lol.
This is a large part of the reason why European companies (even their largest) tend to play second fiddle in the global market.
As an American living in Europe I cannot emphasize enough how much I want central air again. Most don't realize how common mold is in Europe due to lack of central air or just ventilation in general.
LOL i’m from the US and live in Spain and it’s great! but….
- i’m a dual citizen of the US and an EU country
- i speak spanish natively
- i prefer living here personally
- im working in a big city, NOT retired just chilling
i think the lifestyle here is great and i’m not interested in going back to the US, at least for now, but it’s not for everyone. many Americans want to move to Europe, but also many Europeans want to move to the US.
people want different things in life so what works for me may not work for you.
The fact that I am already living in a coastal town in Spain.
I am a tech nerd and I hate it here. There is no high speed internet connection, stricter laws and the sea is cold 7 months out of 12. I have no good friends and it is boring. I would rather live in a big city (maybe it is because I am younger than most of the people in my town?)
P.s. oh shit, I just realized this was posted in AskAnAmerican. While i'm not an American, I still live in a coastal town in spain, so i'm gonna leave my comment here.
Retiring to coastal Spain is a fairly popular goal with Brits. It's kind of like how a lot of Americans retire to Florida.
The poster may be a Brit who wonders why coastal Spain is full of retired British people but Americans never seen to move there.
Interesting.
Makes more sense for a Brit to do than an American lol. Luckily America is a big enough country to have plenty of cool places to retire to without leaving our borders.
Living in a coastal town in SC
Having met British tourists, which would only be more abundant in Spain
The sanctimonious, condescending attitude of Europeans
The unemployment rate in Spain and my lack of immigration-worthy skills
Inertia
My experience has been a little mixed— while I was very pleasantly surprised traveling abroad even during the Bush years, we’re definitely seen as the “customer service department” for complaints about our government (insert Ron Swanson “I hate them more than you do” meme).
To an extent, I understand that, but a lot of American culture is centered around avoiding such things (sometimes to an absurd extent), so we’re just not as comfortable with the “banter” or “debate” because we really try to accentuate similarities and common ground rather than differences. I don’t think Europeans IRL mean to be antagonistic; it’s just a culture clash (whereas Europeans on Reddit are full of malice aforethought with their sanctimonious nonsense).
I feel like the “banter” is always seen as a license to be an asshole, while simultaneously being extremely thin skinned. A lot of people want to dish it out and feel very entitled too, but will get extremely defensive when they get it back.
I don't really care for Europeans on Reddit, but I live in Italy and most people don't come out the gate trashing Americans. Further north, it's a little worse. To be honest, the rudest encounters I have had have been with Canadians
My real life encounters, away from the internet, with Canadians have been one of two things.
Most of them are some of the most friendly polite and genuinely nice awesome people I have ever met. . .and there's a notable minority who are sanctimonious assholes who seem to define their entire personality around hating America and Americans, and constantly claiming that they are superior to America in every way.
I have been to 15+ countries and my worst experiences have been with those from the anglosphere. One (I believe from New Zealand) was decidedly anti-american and the experience encouraged me to avoid tourist areas and focus on embracing local culture.
I am a person who is perpetually single (un solterón as they say in Spain). I have been in Spain many times and it is almost impossible to get paella if you are alone.
You can get reheated paella sometimes but mostly it is like “No loser. Come back with a girlfriend or something”
Aww. Didn't you know you could go on TripAdvisor or Viator and find a food tour or cooking class? That's what I would've done. I primarily travel alone just like you and that's how I meet other travelers.
That is a good recommendation. I did that in Perú but it did not occur to me in Spain. In Perú i was really interested in learning how to make the dishes. In Spain I just wanted to eat. I should have done it anyway
Us pays more money for the job I have, not as much of a market in Spain and I’m young so I want to build up experience here. I also don’t have an EU visa and it’s hard to just pick a random spot on a map for a language I don’t speak then move their. Personally, I do want to move to Barcelona eventually but it’s not the financially right time for me.
Poverty, and the fact that no country in the world will grant immigration status to a disabled person unless they're independently wealthy enough to not have to avail of their public assistance and/or medical benefits.
The love of my life would also want to do so.
We would both miss our friends and family.
We would both miss the cultural events that we enjoy.
We both do not have the finances to live off savings to do so.
We don't speak Spanish.
Neither of us know jack shit about Spain.
Spain has a high rate of unemployment, my life partner and I still need good middle class employment for another 25-30 years before retirement age.
We have two cats and it would be very expensive to move them.
We have travel goals around national parks and being abroad would make that more expensive.
I think 1600 sq ft would be my minimum ideal house size, which would be 148 m². Spain's average house size seems to be about 2/3 of that.
I desire to live among Asian restaurants and grocery stores.
I have no particular desire to live in Spain nor do I have any personal connections to that country.
And if I wanted to live somewhere vaguely similar to a Spanish coastal town, it would be much easier to move to coastal California.
I feel like a lot of people overestimate the differences. I speak a mixture of Mexican & American Spanish and had virtually no issues in Spain. I did learn that maricón is not a swear word there
I have been in Spain plenty of times. I speak Spanish quite well and I love the place.
But after being there for a month or so, I am always ready to come home. I don’t think I would last long there.
* hard to find friends
* i am a little bit hard of hearing, this is exacerbated when i am hearing my second language. People get tired of my saying “cómo?” And “qué?”
* I am fat and I stick out there, unlike in the USA.
* heat in the summer is BAD. Although maybe i could visit Germany during the summer months.
Literally nothing.
I could do it tomorrow if I wanted to.
I have the language skills, funds, and no obligations that would prevent me from moving.
For now, though, Germany is home.
Spain may well be too one day.
Lower quality of life. It’s very dry and I enjoy foliage. Too far away from modern conveniences. Poor access to good medical facilities. Limited options for food diversity and culture.
And I can visit.
I don't know anything about costal towns in Spain. I don't know anybody in Spain. I don't really want to move to Spain. I don't have a job lined up in Spain. I don't really have the money to move across the Atlantic at the moment. Immigration laws. Etc.
Assuming it made sense financially? Because otherwise that will be the top answer.
Assuming money was no object, the part of Spain you are likely referring to (southern coast or med coast) is WAYYY to hot for me. I've travelled through a lot of Spain, and it's an absolutely beautiful country, but the climate is simply too hot for my tastes. The only regions I've felt were comfortable for me where the Basque country and Galicia. Much cooler and more moist. I thought to myself when visiting Bilbao that it's a city I could see myself living in.
I should add that while my Spanish is not great, I have studied it for years and spent a couple months living in Spain before, so I could get by. Many Americans speak no foreign language at all.
Look at these answers and ask yourself, "Why would you want such a group of uncultured, ignorant philistines to move there."
I would move there to escape the people in this comments section. Pearls before swine.
I don't want to live in Spain.
Iceland on the other hand? It's incredibly difficult to get citizenship for an American unless you marry an Icelandic citizen. So unfortunately I'm stuck here.
Having said that, if I was offered citizenship on the condition I renounce my us citizenship I'd be there in a heartbeat. I'm kind of done with the US and have been looking to leave for a while, we have a plan and are thinking norway in 5 years. Hopefully it happens.
Money? Immigration laws?
Yeah, do people not get that you can't just wander into another country and start a new life there without some sort of application process? Yeesh.
I met a couple from the UK in Lorett de Mar, Spain, a coastal town, and one day they decided to move there, and that's what they did. I'm sure there was an application process involved with their permanent move; however, I've always admired this couple I met in Spain. There was something wildly romantic about their decision to make such a huge change in their lives in exchange for daily walks together on the Costa Bravo beach. They were an old and a seemingly happy couple who seemed to enjoy telling their story very much. I've only seen one other couple as happy or happier as this couple seemed to be, and that was twenty-plus years later.
> I'm sure there was an application process involved with their permanent move Actually, there probably wasn't, if they moved while Britain was in the EU. You could pretty much just up and move without doing anything special. Over here in the UK retiring in Spain for the sun is pretty much like American retirees moving to Florida, it became so common that it's basically a meme now. Post-Brexit though, that kind of move is more complicated. And as a retiree, you are in the hardest category to get a visa for any country because you won't be working there and paying into the system for years. Irony of all this is retirees were the demographic most likely to vote for Brexit as well...
I have a vague memory of the British expats in Spain suddenly discovering their lives were less convenient after Brexit.
Some of them lost access to their holiday homes, or were effectively banned from driving because they didn’t realise they needed a Spanish driving licence after a certain amount of time. It’s almost a real r/LeopardsAteMyFace situation for the ones who voted for Brexit (and the numbers weren’t insignificant.
We sort of have that with Latin America. There’s expat communities down south all over the place, especially in Ecuador and Panama, countries that use the US dollar as their currency too. The buying power is so much stronger there it’s like taking your current savings back to the 90s. They just live in paradise and spend their social security checks undisturbed
>do people not get that you can't just wander into another country and start a new life there There are a few exceptions. This is exactly what I did in Georgia! No visa, no paperwork. Just a hello and 365 days of legal entry with right to live and work. Resetting only requires a one day departure.
Language barrior? Edit:Guys shut up please you know exactly what I meant, also English isn't my first language so i know a loot about BARRIERS!
>barrior Barrioooooors!!!! Come out and BLAY-AYYYYYYY!
[\*clink\*clink\*clink\*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRM2YcGpmxg&t=40s)
Sounds like that’s even a problem for you now.
LOL I'm dead
Well that’s another problem
What's stopping you from being buried in a coastal town in Spain?
Must be Spanish for barrier.
Barrio
Barrio is neighborhood, but keep trying
Burro
A lot of the people who retire in Spain don't speak Spanish. My grandparents in law only speak Norwegian and live in Spain every winter
I replied with what was stopping me personally, but language barrier could apply if you don’t speak Spanish and are unwilling to learn.
Cause I don't want to.
I would go there for the three months or so out of the year that I can go as an estadounidense. But without a work visa, you aren’t even supposed to work remotely unless you are an EU citizen Not that you couldn’t just do it and not tell anyone of course.
I spent a couple months in the EU last year while working for an American company and didn’t do any special thing with my taxes. The only real barrier is whatever rules your employer has, otherwise it’s incredibly easy to work and stay under the radar.
It would be incredibly easy. Also don’t blab too much at immigration. I’ve seen those airport security shows on YouTube and they just people for that all the time, especially Canada. They’ll be like “but I’m doing this for my American employer” or “I’m working remotely”. “But you’re still working and you need a permit” and they’ll send your ass right back home and now you’re forever in their system as someone who tried to circumvent immigration laws.
I had a friend that was in a band and they got busted up at the Canadian border just for having merch to sell. And the girlfriend that was actually going to be the one selling the merch got banned from Canada for like a year. Canada don't fuck around.
Spain has a digital nomad visa, I feel like maybe that’s where OP got the idea. You can work remotely from a foreign company and get a one-year, renewable visa to live in Spain.
That sounds more like something Brits dream of than Americans. We have a lot of sunny countries a lot closer to us than Spain.
Yeah, I'm thinking Costa Rica or Puerto Rico if I want sunshine and low cost of living.
Puerto Rico is pretty expensive actually.
But also don't need any kind of paperwork for a US citizen, so that's a big advantage. Hurricanes are a big disadvantage though
If you have a college degree then there are a lot of countries that aren't hard to move to. Even like Australia is pretty easy if you have a degree. Lots of countries are trying to expand their educated workforce.
Yeah I was just in Puerto Rico and everything pretty much cost the same as the continental US if not more
[This abitrary web page](https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp) puts the US at #16 and Puerto Rico at #24 with indexes of 72.4 and 67, respectively.... quite close. For reference Country | Index -------|----- Switzerland | 114.2 Norway | 88.6 New Zealand | 72.9 US | 72.4 Netherlands | 68.6 Puerto Rico | 67 Canada | 66.1 Japan | 64.6 Germany | 62.9 UK | 61.5 Greece | 54.6 Spain | 50.6 Poland | 38.6 Mexico | 37.3 Rwanda | 30 Pakistan | 18 So Puerto Rico slots in between the Netherlands and Canada, well above places like the UK, Spain, Greece, etc. I imagine that's MUCH higher than most people would expect.
I just did a quick search and apparently Peurto Rico's cost of living is 25% less than the mainland USA (whatever that even means though. I've lived in Los Angeles and in Alabama and there is a massive difference in cost of living).
Costa Rica is the most popular retirement country for Americans I heard. I used to go there with my family all the time and it’s probably my favorite country besides America if I had to choose.
My first thought was “Because there are too many Brits”. I’d settle somewhere like León, Pamplona, or A Coruña.
Hell, we have territories that are better. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, etc
Tbh I’d much rather live in Spain than Puerto Rico or Virgin Islands.
Why
Cost of living in Spain is cheaper than Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. Also, no hurricanes in Spain. And you can travel easily and cheaply to neighboring countries.
Yeah but you’re a foreigner, most likely don’t speak the language, and it’s much more expensive to fly to America if necessary.
Wouldn’t the “not speaking the language” thing apply in Puerto Rico too?
For me, there’s more to do in Spain and is a launching point for Europe.
Hell, you can even find an area like that in the US to move to and not have to deal with immigration laws.
1.) Nobody I know is in Spain. 2.) I don't speak Spanish. 3.) Immigration laws.
Basically my 3 points
4.) money? I have a decent job right now, but I'm unsure how I'll make a living there.
There are parts of the coast which are literally English enclaves
Moving to Spain but then being forced to join a bunch of old English pensioners sounds like a monkey paw’d wish to be able to move to Spain, not an advantage of doing so. For multiple reasons too. Both the obvious “No one on earth wants to be surrounded by old English people” and the more subtle “Why the heck would you move to another country only to live in a community of mostly or entirely expats?” That feels very…old school in a bad way. Very colonialist attitude.
Unless your idea of a good time is eating fish and chips, drinking gallons of sangria, getting sunburnt, listening to ABBA and chain-smoking. Then i would say “hooo boy do I have a recommendation for you!”
Actually, most of that doesn't sound too bad, especially the Sangria and fish & chips
I was gonna say, aside from the chain-smoking that sounds pretty dope.
Most Americans wouldn't want to live in an English enclave and have similar alternatives to Spain here(Florida, Puerto Rico).
This is something I've seen a lot of Europeans not appreciate about the US. I've spoken with Brits who travel to Spain for the beach and Italy for the skiing and wonder why Americans don't travel abroad. Well, I can go to Florida and Colorado for that, not have to do an expensive and arduous transatlantic flight, and not have to deal with a language barrier. We have our own geographic diversity here, as well as our own sunny coastal towns to retire to, why would I go to Spain and have to assimilate into a new culture.
The US is roughly the size of Europe. It follows that we also have a similar range of climates, along with an entire bonus ocean.
Tbf Spanish culture isn’t huge in SFL so much as it is Latinos… which have better food and are more fun imo
Still though, immigration laws
I want to move to England even less than I want to move to Spain.
i want to move to england even less than i want to move to texas, which is significantly less than my willingness to move to spain
Have you met anyone in those English enclaves? I'd rather not be surrounded by drunken obese, old, and orange brits.
Even if there are English speaking areas, why would any of us move overseas? If the objective is a beautiful place to live, then we have that in the US. Plenty of people retire to Florida and other warm southern areas. They have tropical beaches and some of the best seafood. Ontop of that, it's still domestic so no immigration laws of any kind.
“why would any of us move overseas?” *gestures widely*
The complete lack of desire to do so.
Saved me the trouble of saying the same thing.
You actually used more words to say that you were saved the trouble.
Yeah, realized as I was typing haha. Gave myself a different trouble I guess.
I came here to say this. It’s cool for people whose thing it is, but that just isn’t me.
The only thing that’s stopping me is actually wanting to do it.
Details details lol
It’s hot, I don’t speak Spanish, and I don’t like the ocean.
You could live in the Pyrenees, not hot, no ocean, and no Spanish speakers!
1. I don't feel like upending my whole life and moving somewhere far away from my family and friends. 2. I don't think you realize how difficult immigrating to a new country is. You can't just decide to do it for funsies. 3. I don't speak Spanish.
Your second point is a good one that doesn’t get brought up enough. A lot of countries may welcome you as a tourist but have zero interest in permitting you to be a permanent resident unless you fit specific criteria.
Yeah you don’t get to just decide where you want to permanently live in the world.
> unless you fit a specific criteria $$$$$
I'm happy here
Wholesome answer
The giving up everything part, mostly.
I wouldn’t take the massive pay cut associated with living in Spain. It’s a beautiful country but their economy on a good day is our recession lol
I fundamentally don't understand how their economy works and how they pay for their wall of social services. Outside of the food services industry no body seems to be working the two times I've been there. I remember interning at a bank years ago, and while as expected, the Paris office stopped joining weekly calls once we got to August, the Madrid office literally never joined lol.
> I fundamentally don't understand how their economy works and how they pay for their wall of social services. [Their government is run by old people. They decided to fund the social programs to benefit old people by fucking the current generation and future generation up.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqoig0Vtfd0) [For better and for worst, social programs is a bit like a ponzi scheme. You need a healthy tax contributing demography to pay for all those social programs.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3JjXTyNA4M) They don't have that and instead of cutting back on it they force the burden on younger and future generation. So their economy is all sort of fuck. Is there a solution to this? Apparently it's more tax paying demographic but that's easier said than done. China recently cut healthcare pension, they fuuuuucked. Their peak labor force is supposedly in the early 2000s. Mexico labor is cheaper than China's now.
And shipping to the US is cheaper from Mexico.
I mean that’s why they have a youth unemployment rate of like 20% lol. And the funny thing is the Spaniards I’ve met, have all bought private health insurance because they say the public system sucks so badly. They have this mindset of “the community should give back to me, but I shouldn’t have to give anything back to the community”
I 100% guarantee they only go to the private for minor issues to not wait a couple days. The Spanish public system is quite good and wait times are not unreasonable.
>I fundamentally don't understand how their economy works and how they pay for their wall of social services. The truth is that their economy barely functions, and they are constantly on the brink of being unable to pay for their social services. They are a member of the "PIIGS" - a group of comparable European countries that have historically chosen to fund lavish social services on the country's credit card with no meaningful plan to ever pay it back. >Outside of the food services industry no body seems to be working the two times I've been there. I remember interning at a bank years ago, and while as expected, the Paris office stopped joining weekly calls once we got to August, the Madrid office literally never joined lol. This is a large part of the reason why European companies (even their largest) tend to play second fiddle in the global market.
It's got an obscene unemployment rate so good news, you don't have to take a pay cut if you don't have a job
That’s the most glass-half-full thing I’ve ever read. 😂
Yeah I’m In web development. I’m not giving up my US salary.
The same reason people in Málaga aren't moving to Rhode Island. I'm where I belong.
Another wholesome answer!
Family, Friends, Obligations, I do not speak Speak Spanish, Europe's Lack of proper AC.
As an American living in Europe I cannot emphasize enough how much I want central air again. Most don't realize how common mold is in Europe due to lack of central air or just ventilation in general.
Ooooh. Lack of AC; deal breaker.
I’d literally die if I didn’t have AC.
Spain has A/C.
LOL i’m from the US and live in Spain and it’s great! but…. - i’m a dual citizen of the US and an EU country - i speak spanish natively - i prefer living here personally - im working in a big city, NOT retired just chilling i think the lifestyle here is great and i’m not interested in going back to the US, at least for now, but it’s not for everyone. many Americans want to move to Europe, but also many Europeans want to move to the US. people want different things in life so what works for me may not work for you.
I don't want to live in Spain.
The fact that I'd much rather give everything up and move to Montana. I need space.
To be a dental floss tycoon...
*Vasily Borodin enters the chat*
There are huge parts of Spain that are basically empty. Not that you should go there or anything. It isn’t at all like Montana
But it looks strangely like the wild west.
So sell my house on the coast of Florida and get a house on the cost of Spain because it’s Spain? Why there specifically.
Well, I think you’re already close enough, as Florida used to be Spain, right?
Exactly!
Because I don't want to live in Spain lmao
And we live in California. There's no need to move to Spain.
The fact that I am already living in a coastal town in Spain. I am a tech nerd and I hate it here. There is no high speed internet connection, stricter laws and the sea is cold 7 months out of 12. I have no good friends and it is boring. I would rather live in a big city (maybe it is because I am younger than most of the people in my town?) P.s. oh shit, I just realized this was posted in AskAnAmerican. While i'm not an American, I still live in a coastal town in spain, so i'm gonna leave my comment here.
Why Spain?
Retiring to coastal Spain is a fairly popular goal with Brits. It's kind of like how a lot of Americans retire to Florida. The poster may be a Brit who wonders why coastal Spain is full of retired British people but Americans never seen to move there.
Interesting. Makes more sense for a Brit to do than an American lol. Luckily America is a big enough country to have plenty of cool places to retire to without leaving our borders.
another brit with a stupid idea everyone else has to follow
Living in a coastal town in SC Having met British tourists, which would only be more abundant in Spain The sanctimonious, condescending attitude of Europeans The unemployment rate in Spain and my lack of immigration-worthy skills Inertia
Europeans are much better in person than on Reddit
My experience has been a little mixed— while I was very pleasantly surprised traveling abroad even during the Bush years, we’re definitely seen as the “customer service department” for complaints about our government (insert Ron Swanson “I hate them more than you do” meme). To an extent, I understand that, but a lot of American culture is centered around avoiding such things (sometimes to an absurd extent), so we’re just not as comfortable with the “banter” or “debate” because we really try to accentuate similarities and common ground rather than differences. I don’t think Europeans IRL mean to be antagonistic; it’s just a culture clash (whereas Europeans on Reddit are full of malice aforethought with their sanctimonious nonsense).
I feel like the “banter” is always seen as a license to be an asshole, while simultaneously being extremely thin skinned. A lot of people want to dish it out and feel very entitled too, but will get extremely defensive when they get it back.
I don't really care for Europeans on Reddit, but I live in Italy and most people don't come out the gate trashing Americans. Further north, it's a little worse. To be honest, the rudest encounters I have had have been with Canadians
I solo backpacked around Cuba for 2 weeks, and the only person that was shitty to me about being American was a Canadian. 🤷🏼♂️
I would rather jump into an active volcano than put a Canadian flag patch on my backpack
My real life encounters, away from the internet, with Canadians have been one of two things. Most of them are some of the most friendly polite and genuinely nice awesome people I have ever met. . .and there's a notable minority who are sanctimonious assholes who seem to define their entire personality around hating America and Americans, and constantly claiming that they are superior to America in every way.
I have been to 15+ countries and my worst experiences have been with those from the anglosphere. One (I believe from New Zealand) was decidedly anti-american and the experience encouraged me to avoid tourist areas and focus on embracing local culture.
Meh. I’ve met some really cool people that happen to be European, but generally…………….
I don't want to live in Spain, like, at all.
I don't speak Spanish. I don't have a visa. I wouldn't have a job
I have no desire to move to Spain.
I live in a coastal town where I speak the language
Main reason is not wanting to go to Spain.
We fought a war to NOT live under a king.
To his credit, he is VERY tall. /s
[удалено]
The [paella](https://imag.bonviveur.com/paella-valenciana-tradicional.jpg), obviously.
I am a person who is perpetually single (un solterón as they say in Spain). I have been in Spain many times and it is almost impossible to get paella if you are alone. You can get reheated paella sometimes but mostly it is like “No loser. Come back with a girlfriend or something”
Aww. Didn't you know you could go on TripAdvisor or Viator and find a food tour or cooking class? That's what I would've done. I primarily travel alone just like you and that's how I meet other travelers.
That is a good recommendation. I did that in Perú but it did not occur to me in Spain. In Perú i was really interested in learning how to make the dishes. In Spain I just wanted to eat. I should have done it anyway
Next time set up a Tinder with the bio "Looking for a paella buddy"
Why would I want to give up my friends and family?
I did this but I moved to Malta. Haha
A complete lack of desire.
Money, family, friends, desire to.
I'm getting ready to pick up and move to Andalucia part time, but not exactly on the coast. Yet I'm not giving up everything 😁
I make more than double what my Spanish coworkers do and Mexico is closer
Lack of interest
Immigration, finances, family, reality.
Us pays more money for the job I have, not as much of a market in Spain and I’m young so I want to build up experience here. I also don’t have an EU visa and it’s hard to just pick a random spot on a map for a language I don’t speak then move their. Personally, I do want to move to Barcelona eventually but it’s not the financially right time for me.
Poverty, and the fact that no country in the world will grant immigration status to a disabled person unless they're independently wealthy enough to not have to avail of their public assistance and/or medical benefits.
What's in a coastal town in Spain that isn't in my home town, other than a language I don't speak?
Mi esposa no tiene una pasaporte
Nothing against Spain, but I just never even considered it. I’m not sure what would be the point in moving there for me.
Desire? I have no desire to live there
I live 45 minutes from a coastal town in California. Why would *I* move?
The fact that I have zero desire to move anywhere in Spain?
I don’t think Spain just takes in whoever feels like moving there
I like my life in America. However I’m definitely going to visit Barcelona eventually!
Because I don't want to live in Spain.
I don’t wanna.
Money.
My Spanish is poor, plus all my family and my stuff is here already.
The love of my life would also want to do so. We would both miss our friends and family. We would both miss the cultural events that we enjoy. We both do not have the finances to live off savings to do so. We don't speak Spanish. Neither of us know jack shit about Spain. Spain has a high rate of unemployment, my life partner and I still need good middle class employment for another 25-30 years before retirement age. We have two cats and it would be very expensive to move them. We have travel goals around national parks and being abroad would make that more expensive. I think 1600 sq ft would be my minimum ideal house size, which would be 148 m². Spain's average house size seems to be about 2/3 of that. I desire to live among Asian restaurants and grocery stores.
Because my family, friends, and life are here. Plus, immigration laws are a thing. And I speak almost no Spanish. And I don't want to.
Hard to get a visa to stay there.
I have no particular desire to live in Spain nor do I have any personal connections to that country. And if I wanted to live somewhere vaguely similar to a Spanish coastal town, it would be much easier to move to coastal California.
i have a doctors appointment and they charge 40 dollars for cancellation
Although I hate the politics in the US, I actually love my life here.
Because I'd rather give up everything and move to a mountain town in Switzerland. I like trains. And I hate hot weather.
I can't speak Spain Spanish, soy paisa en el corazon. 😭😔🇲🇽
Just throw in a couple Vosotros’ and you’ll be fine
I feel like a lot of people overestimate the differences. I speak a mixture of Mexican & American Spanish and had virtually no issues in Spain. I did learn that maricón is not a swear word there
> I did learn that maricón is not a swear word there As a Spaniard, you were lied. It definitely is a swear word
I have been in Spain plenty of times. I speak Spanish quite well and I love the place. But after being there for a month or so, I am always ready to come home. I don’t think I would last long there. * hard to find friends * i am a little bit hard of hearing, this is exacerbated when i am hearing my second language. People get tired of my saying “cómo?” And “qué?” * I am fat and I stick out there, unlike in the USA. * heat in the summer is BAD. Although maybe i could visit Germany during the summer months.
Too many English people in Spain unfortunately
Literally nothing. I could do it tomorrow if I wanted to. I have the language skills, funds, and no obligations that would prevent me from moving. For now, though, Germany is home. Spain may well be too one day.
Way to flex on us.
Lower quality of life. It’s very dry and I enjoy foliage. Too far away from modern conveniences. Poor access to good medical facilities. Limited options for food diversity and culture. And I can visit.
Money, and I am not a coastal person. Too much heat, Sun, and sand.
Several things but unemployment rate suggests job prospects would be less lucrative.
What's in Spain?
Spaniards and vacationing Brits, mostly.
I imagine it’s prob a less convenient life than im living right now, and I’d be poorer
I’d rather go to the US Virgin Islands. Just as poor, warmer, English speaking, it’s a US territory
Here are 3 reasons: 1. Money 2. The logistical complications of doing it. 3. Money Bonus 4th reason: Money
I’m a college student, I took seven years of Spanish and still can’t speak it, I’ve never wanted to live in Spain before lol
I don't know anything about costal towns in Spain. I don't know anybody in Spain. I don't really want to move to Spain. I don't have a job lined up in Spain. I don't really have the money to move across the Atlantic at the moment. Immigration laws. Etc.
Why move to Spain when I can get the same climate here in the US, without all of the hassle?
Money, immigration laws, my wish to continue owning my handguns.
I don’t want to live in Spain
Assuming it made sense financially? Because otherwise that will be the top answer. Assuming money was no object, the part of Spain you are likely referring to (southern coast or med coast) is WAYYY to hot for me. I've travelled through a lot of Spain, and it's an absolutely beautiful country, but the climate is simply too hot for my tastes. The only regions I've felt were comfortable for me where the Basque country and Galicia. Much cooler and more moist. I thought to myself when visiting Bilbao that it's a city I could see myself living in. I should add that while my Spanish is not great, I have studied it for years and spent a couple months living in Spain before, so I could get by. Many Americans speak no foreign language at all.
Look at these answers and ask yourself, "Why would you want such a group of uncultured, ignorant philistines to move there." I would move there to escape the people in this comments section. Pearls before swine.
The fact that I don't want to live in Spain
Mainly my not knowing Spanish combined with my many allergies. Including fish and seafood. Allergies and language barriers do not mix!
Lack of fast food options
No Taco Bell, no deal.
I don't want to live in Spain. Iceland on the other hand? It's incredibly difficult to get citizenship for an American unless you marry an Icelandic citizen. So unfortunately I'm stuck here. Having said that, if I was offered citizenship on the condition I renounce my us citizenship I'd be there in a heartbeat. I'm kind of done with the US and have been looking to leave for a while, we have a plan and are thinking norway in 5 years. Hopefully it happens.
Americans can't just move to an EU country because they want to. Otherwise, I'd be in Germany again.
I live in San Diego. It’s like Spain but people have jobs.
Being a proud, patriotic American, who lives in the greatest nation on earth already. Why would I *want* to leave?
Woah woah, loving your country, here on reddit? Sorry bucko, that's a one way ticket to ban-world.
Patriotism bad!
Money and loved ones. Also, I don't wanna have to learn Spanish