Why you’ll struggle living in Spain and why I don’t (anymore)

As someone who spends a long time in Spain, It's a lot cheaper than UK

My father in law retired to his native Asturias. The cold damp weather almost killed him. He was asthmatic. He recovered after returning to Southern California.

09:22

Imagine moving to Galicia and then complaining it's cold and rainy... I guess googling the weather for 5 minutes to see historic numbers was not an option.

The complain about food is just too good coming from an american...

Small towns in the north of Spain do not offer the variety of foods, the weather is often colder and rainy, and there will be a lack of international offerings

Cierto, España no es para todo el mundo. Es para los españoles, o para aquellos que adoptan nuestras costumbres, entre ellas HABLAR ESPAÑOL!!!😂 si no, vete por donde has venido.

The fact that you make this video to explain some things that are common sense like "don't move to a place you don't know" is depressing. Honestly guys, you went to the moon and you have people asking such questions.

Why would Americans move to Europe?

Eu iubesc Spania cu tot sufletul ❤ la fel si sotul meu, la fel si copiii mei. Cunosc foarte multi migranti care contribuie aici cu munca lor si care iubesc Spania la fel de mult ca mine❤que viva España❤NO A LA GUERRA ❤

I moved to the US and found out Trump is President there...then moved back to Germany...

How old are you now?

yes but wages are low also

“Spain is not for everyone“ is a phrase that can be used for every country on this planet. It depends who you are and what you want and what you’re willing to accept.

People like that woman do no research and go based on assumptions that they made and that's why they can't adjust. They lack the capacity to understand that things are going to be different and end up in a situation where things are completely different from what they expected because they did no prior research or investigation

One point of clarification I'd like to put out there as an American. Most of this country does not have 24-hour stores. In places like New York they are common but in most other places. You may have a few options here and there, but that's just not typical. We have actually seen a sizable decrease in the number of 24-hour locations and even places that are open late unless they are a bar

I do work for Repsol in Spain. 🇪🇸 I wouldn’t move here. Just visit. At least Repsol pays their bills. 😊. I don’t like condo style living. Enjoy my home in North America, bbq, yard, 🌲, garden. It’s a very contemporary society. The rural area is more traditional. I expected more cyclists. Lot of smokers. Funny, not many Filipino, Indians, Pakistani, Iranians, or Somali ( unlike North America). If you have brown, dark hair, brown eyes, speak Latino, then you will fit in.

U have a funny accent not English that's for sure u can't hide it

for me Spain is only for a holiday not to live there never

for me Spain is only for a holiday not to live there never

In fairness. Miami is more expensive than a large portions of the USA. Seems an odd pick for comparison.

wait what!!! An American complaining about the food in Spain?

People after 10 years still waiting for a resident permit ,just mind-blowing the situation, they don't care of the Brexit agreement made towards the british

I didn’t love the weather, but it didn’t bother me too much either. 9 months of bla and then a lovely hot summer. Sometimes the springtime cold and rain was depressing because I couldn’t wait for summer, but I am a person who needs a lot of warmth and sunshine. Spanish summer is perfect for me. I loved how late the Spanish dinner time was (I’m American and I still eat dinner this late), and I didn’t mind stores being closed on Sundays. Spain douses every food in olive oil, which is amazingly healthy…. Don’t remember eating a lot of fried food though. Spanish food is amazing. When I first moved to Spain I thought it was bland, though, as I was used to spice and Spanish people think black pepper is spicy lol. But my palate changed and I came to love and crave Spanish food.

Im in US Making $3000 a month I am living paycheck to paycheck here. If make $2700 Euros, I get my taxes paid, and life expenses as well and still get 300-400 Euros for savings every month. You can't compare, not to mention the mental and emotional stress of keeping up with the Joneses here. I rather deal with these issues than suffer the stress of living every day with uncertainty.

This lady is 100% right about the squatters. Property isn´t safe in Spain. About the food being freight and unhealthy she was in the wrong though, especially being American herself.

You mentioned-correctly-that liviing costs, including taxes, are much cheaper in Spain than the USA. On the other hand, if you are on a SPANISH SALARY, Spain is no longer cheap at all. Many Spanish people struggle with rent and other costs, because housing costs have gone up, while salaries have not.

The main reason I'd never go there is the socialist government that let in 500,000 third world migrants and gave them everything for free out of the natives taxes.

I would not compare Miami. The cost of living is 17 to 20% higher than the US average!

Im spaniard living in a room whit no Windows is crazy were the hell you move into 😂

Who said communism is dead 😂😂😂
Most of the Europe is communist they just don’t know it yet

The first reason to not like Spain, the weather in the north, sort of negates all of her dislikes. Before my visit to Spain I not only checked the weather but also the water temperature. It was for that reason I chose Málaga over San Sebastián, even though the latter is exceptionally beautiful.

This is a typical example of how some people move to another country and want that country to adapt to them, instead of the other way around. IMO, that woman was very closed minded and unprepared. She did not do her homework beforehand. At all!
PS: I just read the article and holy cow 🤣🤣🤣 It was even worse than I thought. I can’t believe she complained about the food when she’s of Cuban descent!!! If you have eaten Cuban food (which btw is delicious) you know how greasy & unhealthy it is. LOTS of carbs and lots of sugar. Everything is fried or in greasy sauces lmao She’s truly “special”
There’s NO excuse for being that glib

Imagine going to a completely different country, and the country is completely different 😁 What a shock

She forgot to mention tornados. Oh we don't have those. She forgot to mention hurricanes. Oh we don't have those either. She forgot to mention school shootings. Oh we don't have those. She forgot to mention a pedophile president. Oh my nope. So the long and short of it is that wherever you go, there you are. Many people run away from themselves only to find that a change of venue doesn't help at all. If you are miserable in one place most likely you will be miserable in another. Griping about the weather as a reason not to live in Spain is as about as absurd of a complaint there is. Hasta nunca Karen.

Honestly, and at risk of sounding a bit like an armchair psychologist, it sounds like she was going through some dismotivation and emotional distress and blamed it on the country. Because all of those complaints are either exaggerated, have a really easy fix, or are just stuff that you can find out about Spain in less than a half hour of googling. Weather is easy to find out about. Mediterranean food is like one of the healthiest diets you can have and we really don't fry that much, maybe in restaurants but I've NEVER seen a menu that is only fried food. If she lived in Galicia, obviously they eat a lot of seafood, what did she expect? It's the region of Spain most known for its seafood. Which doesn't mean there aren't more conventional options like meat. What really gets me is the American fear of taxes. In the USA you also pay taxes and see almost zero return on them. While here our public spending might not be stellar, we have free healthcare, education and a ton of other social benefits that are paid for with taxes. And the VAT is almost always included in the price that you see on menus or price tags.

You can complain a lot about REAL problems in Spain like salaries, bad public spending, high taxation on salaries as well as your income if you're freelance/self-employed, culturally engraved mysoginy, racism especially towards moroccans (which I'd say is worse in the US) and a very large etcetera of things that are not even tangentially related to her complaints.

Great that she went back. Spain for Spaniards.

Expats ? No ! for Us is inmigrant with White skin and speak anglosaxon

How hard is it to use Google search?

Whoever wrote the article is an idiot. Seriously.

I loved that you said it is ironic and american complains about fried food when their food is fried lol. No really I love all these immigrants that call themselves expats to feel superior than other immigrants and then go to a country they know nothing about, they don´t learn the langauge, don´t make basic research and complains the culture is different. Yes I judge her they claim all the time imigrants don´t integrate but when they are the imigrants they complain about sea food. Really if you need to migrate because you can´t afford to have the life you want and expect moving elsewhere has to be wonderful and you don´t have to adapt to anything then just saty in the USA and rebuild your country that no longer offers the american dream as before.

Madrid has the highest elevation of any EU capital city. It’s cold in the winter.

Lady, not everyone place is for everyone,duh!

It sounds like the woman never visited Spain before moving there. A bad mistake. Even a short vacation is not enough. Spending 6 to 8 weeks in a location you are interested in moving to is invaluable. Not determinative, but it gives you some idea of prices, transport, culture, social life, etc. Six months is even better.