Reply to: Would it be practical to live in Spain and commute weekly to the UK?

[bren586]

Doing it all on budget - flights and hotels - get old, very quickly

[KaiserWilly]

Perhaps buy something like this.

5 bedroom villa for sale in Andalusia, Málaga, Mijas, Spain

or this one

4 bedroom house for sale in Andalusia, Málaga, La Cala De Mijas, Spain

You can live in Spain and commute to work to Gibraltar. It's a 10 min drive and 2-hour wait queue at the border.

KW

[Fred Bloggs]

Did a tour a few easters back based around Barcelona and Valencia, it was friggin' freezing and boy, did it rain! It was much better weather back home that year.

[Sysman]

I've been to Spain for Christmas before (parents have friends who live near Malaga). The air temp was ok, but the water was Baltic. It also rained a couple of days.

I wouldn't fancy it.

I once went to Mallorca for the last week of March. Same story. The temperature was OK but the water was so cold it took your breath away. I did get a tan in the first couple of days which was pleasant but it rained from then on (predictably the sun came out during the trip to the airport).

[Moscow Mule]

I've been to Spain for Christmas before (parents have friends who live near Malaga). The air temp was ok, but the water was Baltic. It also rained a couple of days.

I wouldn't fancy it.

[AtW]

Also never depend on RyanAir - they have a tendency to cancel your reservation and stick you another flight at very short notice (with the proviso that you can get your original seat back if you pay a premium).

Never used them, and never will...

[Sysman]

I've thought about it some more, and the best way to know what it is like is to try it.

So I'm going to rent a holiday villa close to Malaga for a month and try a commute and see how it pans out and at the weekends suss out the place.

Three months gives you a better idea of how the commuting and your time work out. Six months would give you an even better idea.

[wurzel]

No. Not if you are relying on cheapo airlines. I tried doing it weekly in the other direction but gave up and just settled on coming home every few weeks or so. TBH, some airlines are worse than others but you'll always be at the mercy of air traffic control strikes, bad weather, flight crew stuck in traffic etc. Also never depend on RyanAir - they have a tendency to cancel your reservation and stick you another flight at very short notice (with the proviso that you can get your original seat back if you pay a premium).

And the weather can be sh!t in winter in Spain. You can get some pleasant days but from my experience of working in Alicante for 2 years, forget the beach between end of October & March. Costa Del Sol also seems to get a lot more rain than the Costa Blanca so if you don't like the rain that may be the place for you.

[gingerjedi]

My dad bought a big 6 bed Villa to live in and an apartment to rent out, he used commute to Toulouse and stay in hotels on a weekly basis.

A mixture of housing and job market collapse means he now lives in the apartment and rents out the villa, he couldn't be happier and wonders why he didn't think of this in the first place.

[suityou01]

If you were to commute from overseas, SY01, you wouldn't have to put up with SY03..5 as much.

Nice to have that perspective. I think I can withstand the moaning a bit better now, thanks.

[RichardCranium]

There you go prawn, now make it happen.

If you were to commute from overseas, SY01, you wouldn't have to put up with SY03..5 as much.

[suityou01]

I have lived in Sweden for the last ten years and for about 7 of those years I have flown every week.

My current gig - I take the 7 am flight to City on Tuesday and fly back late on Thursday and work from home on Mon and Friday.

The further up the food chain you are the easier it is to get this sort of flexability.

I also take the odd week working from home as the travel is crushing. If I was working in a sweat shop it would not work.

Ash cloud - I was stuck in the UK so I went to see my brother one weekend and the other I saw some friends.

With the snow I was "stuck" in Sweden and then worked from home. Swings and roundabouts on that front.

I would say yes it is practical but I have been doing it for a long time.

There you go prawn, now make it happen.


And be sure to keep us updated

[bren586]

I have lived in Sweden for the last ten years and for about 7 of those years I have flown every week.

My current gig - I take the 7 am flight to City on Tuesday and fly back late on Thursday and work from home on Mon and Friday.

The further up the food chain you are the easier it is to get this sort of flexability.

I also take the odd week working from home as the travel is crushing. If I was working in a sweat shop it would not work.

Ash cloud - I was stuck in the UK so I went to see my brother one weekend and the other I saw some friends.

With the snow I was "stuck" in Sweden and then worked from home. Swings and roundabouts on that front.

I would say yes it is practical but I have been doing it for a long time.

[AtW]

Have you ever been there or tried somewhere outside of Brum?

Yes, Wales, Rhossili Bay:



Who needs Spain when you can have that?

Off to pub!

btw - don't get too excited when Prawn posts about villas in nice places, gold etc - his place is in Newcastle and he knows it - even Swindon was too good for him.

P.S. He did not want to pay any money for SKA when it launched, so got some free credits and STILL wasn't happy...

[Cliphead]

Yes, with a Pendulum.

Have you ever been there or tried somewhere outside of Brum?