AEA Community Charge

Hi people, I'm Pete,  my wife and two children, 9 yr old boy and 13 yr old (going on 23) girl and I are going to take the big risk of moving lock stock and all that.(poss to La zenia)

However have not got a clue what to look for work- wise, I'm a proffesional driver (pcv )and thought of starting an airport transfer business but i guess there's loads doing that. Maybe if i could find a package company that transfers holiday makers by coach or something or even large van to and from England removal stuff, but dont know where to look. if anyone can help...

Also our son is keen to keep up his football, do they have boys footie teams out there.

its really scary right now any advice really welcome, thanks..

Personally the work area is where I think you will have difficulties.

I've only read about one person who has set up a legal airport transfer business from Alicante and Murcia.  With difficulty as well.

The illegal ones are being clamped down upon by the Guardia, there are often reports in the English speaking papers of people being stopped because they have been spotted making regular trips to the airport.

My neighbour who worked in the transport business in UK and regularly drove lorries over to Spain thought he would be able to get a job there doing it in reverse.

After 3 years he gave up applying when the adds were in the paper, they moved to a different area to release some of their capital and for the past couple of years regularly goes back to UK to temp there.

You may be one of the lucky ones who does find a job working for someone else, but you need to look at the worst scenario what will you do if you don't find work.

Hi P373,

You can get everything here to keep your children happy and amused as you would in the UK,football is widely avaliable for all age groups and Charlton Athletic even have a soccer school in the area.

The reason people of your age are coming to Spain is for a better life and everything that comes with it but of course there has to be a drawback somewhere along the line.

Work can be an issue as it is not easy to walk straight into a job when you get here and yes the wages are lower on Average.

The advice i give people is to give yourself a buffer of savings or equity from a house sale to get you through the first year,do not overstretch yourself on a mortgage and be prepared to lay your hand to a different proffesion if needed.

You have to change your mindset to a certain degree when living here and stop chasing the pound,the reason we seem to envy the Spanish for their lifestyle and social values is mainly down to the fact that they consider wealth to be measured in quality of life rather than size of bank account.

A few years ago the majority of people that purchased property in Spain were either close to retirement or very wealthy,the trend now has switched to family relocation and the average age group predominantly moving here at the moment are 30-45.

With the infrastructure improving all the time there will be more job oppurtunities avaliable but it is not easy,what in life worth having is???!!!!!

Hope this helps

Georgia 

hi Georgia..

Thanks for your reply, your information is most helpful, and yes we understand about value of life out there.. Good to here about the footie for our young son he'll go mad without  playing footie.

. we have had one or two positive feedbacks about my working for a coach company doing transfers, no deffinate offers but its a start.

Also we are loking into possibly buying a small cafe/bar as some look very reasonable..we maybe able to do both you never know..we should have about enough for 18 months without to much income, hopefully by then we will be up and running in some way. we think possibly it might be more favorable to go more south, there seems to be talk of large ongoing delopments that might be usefull.

would be most interested to here your story, how you started out there, what you do ect,  once again many thanks for your advice...

Pete

Hi Pete,

I wont bore you with the whole details but to summarise;

We were your average family mortgaged to the hilt,nice house,2 cars plasma screen etc.....etc.........

One day i woke up and realised the person i passed on the stairs everyday actually spoke and at some point in our 1000mph life married me.

The little people that wandered around our house every now and again were our children.

The job that i was holding down was actually holding me down and whats the point in paying £3000 for a telly to fall asleep in front of?!

A friend i had known as a child offered me the to visit him here and offered me a job,i didn't take the job but fell in love with the lifestyle,then reality kicked in.would i miss the rat race and could i fund the lifestyle.

There have been ups and downs along the way but i have funded the lifestyle and i dont miss the rats,

I am now settled,happy and would not swap my life for all the plasma screens in china,it is hard at times but anything worth having is worth working for.

you have to be open minded and adaptable to succeed here,it is not perfect by a long way but "if only" are little words with long memories.

Hope this Helps

Georgia