What have we been doing for 3 months?????

Where do we start.....the last blog was in March and we were staying at the Mar Menor in Murcia (Spain) and generally enjoying ourselves, although coming to the conclusion that we needed to start thinking about what we were going to do in the long term . Funny as before we left Hong Kong, a couple of friends who had a year out said "give it about 9 months travelling and then you will start to feel you need to do something, need some focus" - and they were right!.  I think by this time we were both probably thinking we would end up back in Finance, but perhaps try another location.
However we had always thought an option could be to set up a holiday letting business, ideally a place with a separate building which we could set up as a rental, but we were open to different ideas. We had already decided Murcia was not where we wanted to be and to be honest, we had felt like that about most of the places in Spain - it was strange, we liked the country and there was a certain draw, but we hadn't found any specific location where we wanted to settle. We started to explore further afield and were looking at places on the map which seemed interesting and in our trip south, back in January, we realised that we had "by-passed" Almeria - and within Almeria was a place called Mojacar. This name seemed familar to Patrick as he had an aunt who was a travel agent back in the '70's who had visited Mojacar and brought back a pink tee-shirt with the name Mojacar in black and a picture of the Indalo man for his sisters (so he says!). So on this basis we decided to take a day trip to check it out.

Indalo Man -The Indalo Man is an ancient symbol found in the province of Almeria over 100 years ago. Also known to some as the “Indalo Puppet”, it was first found somewhere in the Las Velez mountain range of northern Almeria province in a cave known as La Cueva de los Letreros (Cave of the Signboards), near Velez Blanco by Antonio Gongónia y Martinez in 1868. The cave itself was made a National Historic Monument in 1924. The symbol is said to date back to Neolithic times and seems to depict a man holding a rainbow in his arms, over his head.


And surprisingly, we found the beach front - Mojacar Playa - and the old town nestled on the Mountain side, all white washed buildings - Mojacar Pueblo. This town had a pleasant feel, the beach looked good, the old town was interesting and it was clearly a holiday area but not as commercial as the Costa Del Sol or Costa Blanca. Consequently, we visited an estate agent and explained our ideas and before we knew it, we had a couple of days set aside for property viewings!

Mojacar - Pueblo

Mojacar - Playa

After seeing what seemed like a vast amount of properties from the economic list (or Patrick's list) that were not so good, we referred to Nina's list i.e. added a few zero's and actually found a property we both liked, there was something about it which made us feel we could do something with it, although there was plenty that needed updating. It caused many sleepless nights and many discussions but we came to the conclusion that whilst there are obstacles like money, regulations, laws and taxes, you only live once. And it didn't seem right to let the tax implications stop us. Whichever way you move......in a similar way to breathing, you will have to pay tax somewhere!.

So, we decided to put in an offer and see where it went from there.

As the Spanish legal system is not one to be hurried, in April we moved closer to our ideal location to stay at - Valle De Este. This had an amazing golf course which had stunning views but given that we don't play, that was the only attraction. The apartment we had was ok but as usual not very clean, however all good experience to take note of for our own business and we know our place will be clean and ready for people to enjoy themselves without the need to don the marigold!
Valle De Este was a quiet location apart from the local boxer dog - Jack. He was not a yapper but he did have an aggression problem, Patrick encountered him when the red mist had descended (Jack not Patrick) he had seen the local labrador and they had history. However, even Patrick was shocked by Jack's aggression - he was in the red zone and it didn't matter that he was being hit on the head with the dog chain or being hit on the side with a golf club - he was not snapping out of his mission to do some serious injury to the other dog. Unfortunately, the lady with Jack, who was in her 60's, had no control of him. She was trying to separate the dogs and was hit with the dog chain in the process - resulting in a nice bruise. Eventually, Jack decided enough was enough and let go of the bloodied labrador. A week later, we met Jack and his owners and it was a different dog. He was a typical boxer and his face was so mischievous and like butter wouldn't melt. But thankfully, he will only be walked with a muzzle on in future. Naughty Jack!

Anyway, the month of April was a blur getting to grips with the purchasing process in Spain. Here, when you agree an offer, you have to pay a reservation fee which if you change your mind, you forfeit. The process in Spain is somewhat laid back to say the least and if you want to have a survey then that's your choice but most people don't bother - if its standing, its ok! - and the lawyers have their way of doing things! But you can't buy a property without an NIE number and you can't get an NIE number until you've got an agreement in the pipeline which seems a bit 'chicken vs egg' but it's  the way of life which we need to adjust to. This adjustment is particularly challenging when given our background of corporate banking where everything is documented approved and verified down to the purchase of a biro!. Here it is what it is.

In addition, as most will know, Spain has had problems re building illegal homes or more accurately no correct documentation. there are many parties involved such as local town halls and the Regional/County registers. So we needed to be sure that all is legit with the property we had found - and unfortunately, the documentation had been prepared but not approved - so we are still waiting for the approval to come through - as at the end of June!!

During the wait we decided to go back to the UK for a couple of weeks to see Hannah and James and our friends and families. Also, we were able to attend Sarah and Charlie's wedding which was a very nice day and luckily wonderful weather.

As we needed to return to Spain to complete the purchase, whilst waiting for the paperwork, we are living in the accommodation that we will be letting out!! Fortunately, the owners are very decent people and have been great in allowing us to stay here - and it has been an excellent opportunity for us to acclimatise to the local area and the house.

So, our next update, will hopefully confirm our purchase and we can share more information/pictures etc.......it is really exciting and if you'd asked us both in June last year "Where will you be in a year's time? " I don't think either of us would have said "Spain" but what a year it has been and we are really looking forward to the next year!!

Adios Amigos,
Nina and Patrick x

Mar Menor

So where did last month go??? Well we spent the time in Cambrils and explored all of the surrounding areas from Del Etbe, where they grow the Arroz rice, to Tosse Del Mar, up near Girona, with a day trip to Barcelona  - as you do.

Also, we were a few minutes from Tarragona where the world’s largest yacht - Azzam - was moored. It was amazing and looked immaculate, but if you can afford USD600 million to mess about on the water,  then I guess you can afford the army of cleaners!

Our base in Cambrils was great for a month, but it didn’t quite manage to tick all of the boxes. Ultimately, we didn’t find a place or area we liked enough to settle and if we were to extend our stay then it would have required signing up to a 12 month contract and when taking in the opportunity or lack of work, we decided that we needed to look further afield. Further south where the climate is warmer.

So we departed Cambrils and stopped for an overnight stay in Valencia, which was a lovely treat as we stayed in the Westin and it was also the start of their local festival. What seemed a bit odd to us was that it started at 6pm so was still light, why go to the effort of a firework display when it is still light? The reason is that they are focused only on the noise and smoke. And boy! the noise was immense and so loud that it hurt your ears and you could feel the vibrations in your trousers…..well that was what Patrick said!!......

Valencia is a lovely city and the architecture is beautiful and it was very nice to see it with more life and colour since our last visit a month ago.

However, we were bound for the Mar Menor Golf resort which is our home for the next month. To be frank, I was expecting it to be very quiet and a bit of a ghost town - lots of apartments and villas all shut up with the odd few golfers pottering around in their gawdy coloured clothing, but in fact, only the gawdy trousers bit was correct. Maybe its to divert attention from the long walk after a little ball? As you can tell, golf was not our priority but it seemed that the decent accommodation is on a golf resort, hence we are here and it will be our base to explore Murcia and La Manga. However, we are reaching the point where we will need to decide what we do if we don’t find something suitable. Hopefully, we can stave off that decision for the next few weeks - particularly as the weather is 24c and bright sunshine - so that ticks one box!

Will keep you posted in the next week or two.

Adios Amigos

The Blog is back!!

Well it has been a while since the last update and the reason is that we have been really busy and also tecnically challenged! As there was a small hitch with our laptop, in that it no longer worked after our last journey from northern to southern Spain. However the summary is as follows:

One month in France
Christmas and New Year back in the UK
From mid January until now Spain.

So where were we back in November? Ah yes, we had left Nice for Bourdeux and spent a couple of nights there in a really smart revamped townhouse. Although the set up was part of the owners house and I don't think they really wanted to have guests, but basically needed them to pay off the renovations. Bourdeux could be pretty if you removed the graffiti and doggie do's (maybe a gap in the market to promote best practice when you have a dog i.e. buy some bags) and improved the parking, apart from that it was ok but not top of Patrick's list as you may have gathered.

After Bordeaux we moved on to Saintes, pronounced ' Sontes' and here we stayed in a hotel which ....with an extra half a million, could have been fantastic. It had all of the original features and staircases etc but unfortunately hadn't been updated and was on the market for EUR 850k. ...Over our budget!! This is where the fun started and we began our search to see if there were any properties we liked enough to setup home and create a business. We travelled to Royan, La Rochelle and Cognac and numerous towns and villages in between and unfortunately came to the same conclusion, that every where needed an injection of life to make it appealing, it was so quiet and everything was too far apart. From Saintes to La Rochelle was 90kms and the scenery in between not the most inspiring.  However, we did see a little townhouse in Cognac that had potential but unfortunately nothing else did.
After Saintes, we were a little stuck on where to stay or go so in the end stayed in La Rochelle for a couple of nights and then found a villa on  Il de Re which is reached via a 3 km bridge, similar to Wales and the Severn bridge and you have to pay €8 to get onto the island......but they let you off for free! It was known as the exclusive area of the region like Sandbanks in Poole, but I think it was really a marketing ploy. It was nice and we had a good villa and were able to cycle for miles and miles but again it just lacked any real life, so didn't do it for us.
Eventually, it was time to leave France and head back home for Christmas and New Year but with a feeling of ...not quite despair, but really wondering what we should do next as it had not turned out as we had hoped, but c'est la vie!

Back home and we were off with a bang and up to London for Williams christening and first birthday. Nina is a Great Aunt! This was a great day and he is a lovely little chap who is very laid back and relaxed with people. This is probably a  a reflection of his mum and dad. It is hard trying to think of all the things we did but mainly it was catching up with Hannah and James and the rest of our family and friends.
Christmas was a nice time as we had 2 Christmas days. One with Patrick s family, where both his sisters were able to be there which was the first time all 3 had been together at Christmas for about 20 years and the second one was on Christmas day itself where we were back up in London with Nina's family. We were delayed by about 3 hours due to a puncture on our hire car and they had not supplied the locking wheel nut so Patrick could not change it, much to his annoyance. However a very very nice man from the RAC was able to come out and get us going!
The rest of the time was spent seeing friends and catching up with all of the events and happenings since we had been away. As well as dealing with the mundane items of sorting out rent renewals etc.
However, as we were of no fixed abode at home we had to decide on where we went to next.
This came down to 2 options......Italy or Spain.
For preparation, Patrick ordered 2 maps from Amazon and the Italian one did not arrive so the gods were telling us to go to Spain. Not very scientific but some things are meant to be!

Spain
We had booked a villa for a month at Miami Playa which is south of Barcelona, but unfortunately the accommodation left a lot to be desired and neither of us were willing to spend a night there! This did cause us a bit of a headache as we had no internet or phone connection at the time, so needed to get that sorted before we could find somewhere we could stay for the night. Fortunately,after much driving around, we stopped in Cambrils, sorted out the phones, Nina disappeared for ages seeing a couple of apartments and Patrick started searching for a hotel.......and finally found one in Vilaseca.
Now we had a base for the night but our plans were in disarray. We had thought about going south to the Costa del Sol whilst we were in Spain, so now brought that plan forward and over the next few days stopped in Valencia,  Marbella and Alicante and visited many places in between e.g. Torremolinos,  Benidorm and Puerto Banus! Also we were fortunate to be able to meet up with Patrick's cousin who lived just outside Marbella and see the local side of the Costa del Sol.
Although our experience of Miami Playa was not what we had hoped,  the positive side was that when we stopped in Cambrils we did really like it, so during our last leg of going down south, we managed to book a one bedroom apartment for a month in Cambrils, so now gave us a base. It is a great apartment and in a good location near the beach and port.......and also the train station which is a bit annoying when the Barcelona express chugs through and the driver is tooting his mate on the platform, but all considered we have made a good choice and can now explore this area more.
The downside of travelling is that we have unfortunately lost our laptop as the hard drive packed up between Alicante and Cambrils which has limited our online ability. It is quite interesting in how dependent we now are on it and how behind both France and Spain  are in their technological capabilities. Every apartment we have looked at in Spain is without or 'sin' (local lingo) wifi connection, so we are limited to the mobile phone networks and they are slow and expensive, which is surprising when compared with Thailand where the infrastructure does not appear to be as mature but they have greater phone and Internet connection with top ups available everywhere. Here it can take half hour just to top up your phone (with France Orange shop having the record in taking over an hour to get a top up!).

But  hey we are at least able to get our blog up and running again and have joined the local library so we can get some books and dvds. ....and are beginning to learn a few words of Spanish.

So adios until the next update.......