Mr & Mrs Stevens moved to the Costa del Sol to start a new life, 18 months ago

When did you arrive in Spain ? and why ?
We left England in January 2000. We had normal everyday jobs which we were both bored with. We owned a nice bungalow that was paid for but we hated the rat-race lifestyle of living in the London suburbs. We had been to Spain for 10 years, on holiday and had always liked the lifestyle and the weather. We didn't fancy seeing out our last days in England, in the rain and working ourselves to death.

Have you any children and if so what about them ?
We have two children, aged 23 and 26. They are still in England but they thought it was great. After all, they are guaranteed cheap holidays when they want.

Tell me about your work here in Spain
We both work in a hotel on the Costa del Sol. He is a porter and handyman and I clean and manage reception. We find the work easy and enjoy meeting people. The hotel is busy but we have so much free time to do as we please. its great.

How did you find the authorities ?
Since we arrived we have had no problems. We went to the Police station and registered, they had a translator. Our employer gave us both a work contract which was all above board. He took care of most of it for us. We find that the authorities welcome us here and despite the language barrier, we cope very well.

Do you have any regrets ?
Yes. We should have done it years ago. Although, if we had really thought about it before we set off, we might have talked ourselves out of it. All in all, it has been the best move we ever made. We are settled now and very happy. We have relatives and friends over on a regular basis and we have made many new friends here. We didn't have any problems finding other English people here in the same position.

Have you bought a property and if so, how did the purchase go ?
Yes we bought a small villa, just off the coast, about 2 miles inland. We paid about £80,000 for it and it was a bargain. Compared to the price of our bungalow back in England, its a mansion at half the price. We found a reputable estate agent who took us to see more than 20 properties before we decided on this one. He was very helpful and helped the purchase go through smoothly. We had no surprises at the end of the day and he has since been to see us several times.

Have you any advice for people thinking of coming to live in Spain ?
Well, if they are thinking about it - don't think too long. Just do it. We wish though that we hadn't been so quick to sell all our furniture. We should have had it shipped over. However, we would have had to have storage until we bought. Make sure you keep on the right side of the law when it comes to work contracts, and make sure you fit in with the wonderful Spanish lifestyle, here in the sun.

Thankyou.

Steve and Christine came to Spain to semi-retire in June 2001

We came to Spain to semi-retire in June 2001. We had been talking about it for some three years and finally made our decision back in March. We sold a business two years ago and after a not particularly rewarding year in the UK, the decision was fairly straightforward. After coming to Spain for almost 30 years, the choice was very easy.

We moved here lock, stock and barrel and have enjoyed our time immensely. I quickly got involved in setting up the sales division of a UK telephone company and what I thought was going to be a fairly leisurely lifestyle, changed quickly.

We offer low-cost telephone services, mainly to ex-pats and get the opportunity to meet a lot of customers from all over Europe. We are always looking for new distributors and its rewarding seeing people enjoy a part-time business. I suppose the disappointing thing is that we spend little time with 'real' Spaniards and my commitment to perfecting my Spanish is taking a back seat. Christine is French so most of our contacts are either English, Scandinavian or French speaking.

I have started teaching Spanish to English residents at a 'No Smoking Club' and enjoy that too. Christine is involved with gyms and fitness training and has settled in well and has made great strides with her Spanish. I am having to speak French too, and that's fun.

Compared with Hertfordshire and London, we find the prices of eating out exceptionally reasonable and enjoy the superb seafood which is available almost everywhere. If anyone has any specific queries, I'll always try to help. shall@telforce.ws

Steve and Christine

Pete and Jenny moved to Spain in 1997 and bought a bar on the Costa del Sol

We decided we were going to put our savings into a business in Spain as we wanted life in a warmer and happier place. We had heard nightmare stories about bars in Spain and everyone tried to talk us out of it, but we had to do it to get it out of our system. Looking back it was the best thing we ever did. Our two small children settled immediately into Spanish schools - they are now fluent and teach us Spanish at nights. The bar took six months to pick up and we went through various stages of depression and regret, but we stuck with it. Our bar is now the busiest in the area and we have so many friends here we would not even think about going back. Life here is not a 52 week holiday, but it can be hard work. We still love it though.