Sharing with friends our plans to move to Spain 

After we had the get together with our family, we wanted to inform our friends about our plans to move to Spain, right away. Because some of our friends are also family friends and we wanted them to hear the news directly from us.

An important side note is that my husband and I have always fantasized about moving to a sunny country and living a more laid back life. We were even looking into possibilities when our daughter was 2 years old. The time just didn’t feel right then, but the desire of moving abroad never went away. Maybe it would be something we would do when we retire. Or maybe, when our daughter has grown up, new possibilities will cross our path. Because we didn’t really want to wait until our retirement. 

This major change in our life, might come as a big surprise

“It felt so right and logical for us”

Our last date night in Holland. Not fantasizing anymore about moving abroad, but planning our move.

Anyway, we never shared this with our family and friends. It was just something that my husband and I would casually talk about over the years in the

kitchen while cooking, in the bathroom while brushing our teeth, or on date night etc. So when we had the revelation about moving to Spain, it felt so right and logical for us. But because we never shared it with family and friends, we knew that for them this major change in our life might come as a big surprise.

There were still quite a lot of covid measurements during that time and because of this it wasn’t always easy to just meet up with friends. For the same reason why we informed our family by text, we also informed our friends by text. To give them a moment to let it sink in. And all of our friends received the news in the most positive way. They called right away saying they want to meet up very soon to hear everything about our plans.

“But now everything pointed in the right direction and we were taking our chance”

Of course our friends were surprised, as we expected, but they were also showing a lot of interest. We told them that this was something we have always wanted to do, the time just wasn‘t right. But now everything pointed in the right direction and we were taking our chance. We didn’t want to wait until our retirement, we wanted to live the life that we dreamt about for many years right now!

We have had really nice conversations with friends and some of them even told us that they would like to do something like this too. Only they don’t want to leave their family and they have their jobs, it’s a security. And I fully understand this, every person’s life is different and it is such a big step in a life to take. But some friends told us that they hope to take the step too in a few years. And I‘m rooting for them to find the right time and right place like we did.

It’s my husband and daughter that I want to spend most of my time with

I think it also depends on your personality and situation if moving to another country can be a success for you. Me, my husband and my daughter as well, are introverted. In Holland we were living our lives as extroverts. And although I am a social person and can truly enjoy a nice dinner with friends, at the end of the day it’s my husband and daughter that make me feel complete. It’s them that I want to spend the most of my time with, without too many distractions of daily things.

The last time in Holland, ‘Next time we will see you in Spain’

Because of the covid measurements it wasn’t possible to have some kind of farewell party with everybody. But we also didn’t want that, we prefer to meet with our friends separately. But with my husband’s family we had a nice farewell dinner. They bought us gifts, we made pictures with the polaroid camera and with a camera where you need to develop the pictures from a camera roll, and we just laughed and chatted like always.

In a very short time we have arranged everything. The end of August we came back from holiday and December 10 is the day that we flew to Spain with our one way ticket. That’s nearly 3,5 months and in this time we met our friends and family for the last time in Holland. ‘Next time we will see you in Spain’ we said when saying goodbye. 

It felt surreal and real at the same time 

And yes this felt weird and emotional, that’s why I did my best to keep everything as casual as possible. And although I was looking forward to moving to Spain, this wasn’t easy for me and I shed some tears. At some moment it felt so chaotic in my head. So surreal and real at the same time. 

But every weekend we would meet up with friends. And were also so busy with packing and arranging everything, that I didn’t have the time to take a moment to reflect on it. But I felt grateful for the friendships and the moments we shared together, following by feeling grateful for the opportunity that was given to us to move to Spain.

More quality time we spend together

Now, 3 years later, my mum in law has visited us many times already. And my parents come 6 weeks on and off. Also other relatives have visited us and we had some friends coming over. In Holland we would see friends and family just for a couple of hours or we would see them on birthdays, but over here we spend more time together in a very different setting. There is more quality in the time we spend together and that is really valuable.