Taking the pups to Spain – Phase 3

Well, we have success with Brinkley in getting his PETS passport issued. I have received a phone call from the vets to say that his test results are back from DEFRA, taken less than 3 weeks, and his results are positive so they will be able to issue his passport. Brandy’s results aren’t back yet so fingers crossed his will be ok as well. I then need to take them back to the vets to get the relevant paperwork.

I am so pleased Brinkley’s have come back positive, poor pup was so traumatised by the blood being taken I really couldn’t face putting him through it all again. He clung to me so tightly after the vet had taken the blood and wouldn’t consider any treats, however, this did only last for about 30 minutes, after which he was back to his normal self.

This means that Brinkley will be able to travel back to the UK without the need for quarantine from mid-September, so if we do come back for any length of time (on a visit only, you understand) we will be able to bring him too – oh, please let Brandy’s be ok too!

What a week, what a task!

When making the decision to move your life to another country, there are major decisions to make on a whole host of subjects, the biggest decision to be made is obviously ‘do you move?’. Having made that decision, the next biggest decision I have found is ‘what to take’. As the move is a permanent one for us, the new house will be our home and we don’t want it to feel like a holiday let. To enable us to feel it’s our home means we want our own things around us. A lot of web sites suggest travel light and start again and that may suit some people, but not for us, we want most of our possessions to go with us.

As we are going to be renting initially for 6 months while our house is finished, and the villa is furnished we also have storage costs to consider. So, the next task is to decide in principle what we were going to take and then get quotes from both UK based and Spanish based companies to see what it will cost for the transportation and storage.

As always, using forums for recommendations and comments is useful, as this is not something friends and family can comment on as no-one else has gone through such a move. Searching the internet brings up so many companies, plus we receive the magazine ‘Living in Spain’ which has adverts in so there is plenty of information available, narrowing down is the problem.

Having found a company on the internet through looking for furniture packages to check prices for various items in Spain, I did a search on forums and found positive comments about the company so e-mailed them with a basic outline of what we were considering taking and asked for a guide price. I did this with several companies to check how service promises and prices compared.

I also remembered that when I had told my work colleagues I was leaving to move to Spain, one had mentioned that she had a relative in the region we were moving to, and we should contact them but of course, now the time had come, I couldn’t find the card so – mental note to get in touch and get the details again.

We all use the phrase ‘it’s a small world’ throughout our lives and this is certainly apt for this instance. One of the companies that responded quickly to my request for a quote was signed and I recognised the surname as that of my work colleague, I had by chance selected the company she had recommended.

Their quote was good compared to others, they covered insurance, storage which is based only a few miles from where we are moving to and had positive comments on some forums I am registered with, so they were our choice to move our possessions.

So, Instyle-Instorage are moving us to Spain. I’ll let you know how we get on.

http://www.instyle-instorage.com/

All we now need to do is agree on what we are taking. The larger items are not a problem, but try emptying a cupboard and deciding what to take, that’s where the coloured dots come in (as explained by Brinkley in http://2littlepuppies.blogspot.com/

Green means it’s going to Spain, anything with a red, yellow or white dot means it’s not – just different methods of disposal. Scaling down a house is not an easy task, trying to decide what to keep and take with you, what you take purely from an emotional point of view and which are purely from a practical one, is difficult. Sometimes the initial thought to keep something is then considered the wrong decision after you mull it over for 24 hours. There is no easy way to do this and we’ve got to take plenty of time to ensure we don’t get rid of something which we later wished we’d kept. After all, some things may have more relevance once we have moved than it does before purely because our friends and family are no longer nearby.

Fortunately for us, there are many items which we agree on, it’s the items which one of us wants to keep and the other doesn’t that lead to some interesting discussions. There is also the feeling that you don’t want to start getting rid of things too soon and be living in a shell. Don’t under-estimate how long this can take though, unless you are completely ruthless, which I’m not.

Arranging the trip.

Our initial plans were to take our Freelander loaded up with stuff we would need in the first few days of being in Spain so that if there were any delays in getting things from the containers, we would be ok. There would be plenty of room for the 2 of us, the 2 pups and cases. We would drive down to the south coast, take a ferry across to France and then drive down through the scenic parts of France & Spain to our new life but unfortunately, our car was stolen last week and completely burnt out, which left our plans up in the air.

We had already agreed to give my little car to my dad when we left to upgrade him from his little ‘K’ reg Peugeot 106, no power steering, no electric windows, no stereo, so taking mine wasn’t possible. Not to worry, we’ll hire a car to Plymouth, take the ferry to Santander, northern Spain and then hire a Spanish car to drive down. It would mean missing France out but I thought hiring a car in France and then swapping at the Spanish border would be too messy with 2 dogs, so sailing to Spain would simplify the arrangement.

I started to look into the various ferry services we could use, specifically looking for the facilities for Brandy & Brinkley, after all it was a 19 hour sailing and I needed to know they would have somewhere to exercise, somewhere to sleep, somewhere to eat and somewhere to pee.

We decided that the facilities on board the Brittany ferry Pont-Aven we best. The dogs would each have a small kennel, there was an exercise area and we could access them whenever with a digicard. Others limited visits to specific visiting times. The ferry sails on a Wednesday at 12 noon, so we started to complete the on-line booking to sail one-way on the 14th May. Having ticked the box for 2 dogs, 2 passengers and no car, the quote came up minus the dogs. I tried this a couple of times, knowing there was something wrong as there should be a charge of £25 per dog.

Still no luck getting the dogs included so I went onto the FAQ section to see if I could fathom out why, but nothing. So, I rang the ferry company who told me that you cannot take dogs on as a foot passenger, even though they will be kept in kennels on board, you have to drive them on in a car. But, we currently don’t have a car to do that and I cannot see the car hire company being too happy at us taking their car one-way.

OK, we now have a little dilemma to solve. Where can we get a spare car from that doesn’t need returning to the UK? Easy answer – dad’s old ‘K’ reg Peugeot 106, with no power steering, no electric windows and no stereo BUT if it got us on board the ferry, it didn’t matter if it collapsed in Spain, we would at least be there with the dogs.

So that’s the plan, we load the car up on the 13th May with 2 dogs, a suitcase and me & Neil, drive down to Plymouth and take the ferry to Santander so we can drive through Spain.

Should be an experience!

Taking the dogs to Spain, phase 2

5 weeks after the rabies injections, the pups needed blood tests, these in themselves are not pleasant (read more in http://2littlepuppies.blogspot.com ). It does worry me that if one or both tests come back negative, we have to put them through it all again and that it could delay our departure. However, I had been thinking about this more and questioned whether we needed the DEFRA certificate to take the dogs to Spain, or just to bring them back. Having seen a glimmer that it wasn’t needed to take them to Spain, I spoke further with our vet who confirmed that providing you can show they have had the rabies injection they can be taken into Spain, you need the DEFRA certification to bring them back to the UK without the need for quarantine. Whilst our plans do not include a long term return to the UK, I think it prudent to continue to try and get the full certificate, however, if it’s not in place before we leave the UK, we can continue to sort it whilst we are in Spain.

This means we can decide on a moving date and start to pack. We’d always talked about going out in April, but by now that was too close to have everything arranged, so pick a date in May. We decided to look to move the week of the 12th May, so the next issue was travel arrangements, a little blip this week had changed our plans considerably, but more of that next time…….

We have our NIE numbers – Yippee!

In all the research, the visits and the planning there are certain moments that make it feel that we are a step closer to getting our dream and moving to Spain. One of those moments happened on Friday and was receiving a copy of our NIE numbers, which Dan had collected for us in Spain. It feels real, watching them print off through the fax machine was a key moment, thanks Dan, a very pain free way of sorting out our numbers.

Healthcare

One of the key concerns in moving abroad is what happens if you are ill, or at least it should be.

Whilst we are happy to moan about healthcare in this country there is no doubt that many of us have never considered the need to budget for private healthcare. Some have the benefit of an appropriate policy funded by an employer, but it’s not really like paying for it out of your own bank account. There is then the question of are there doctors nearby, how do you make an appointment, where are the nearest hospitals, do you have to pay and how do you get any medication you might need?

It’s a complicated topic and you need to really check it out for your own circumstances but for Neil & I it is fairly simple. As we are both below retirement age, and will be for a number of years yet we will need to have private healthcare cover. However, because we have been working full-time and paid our NI contributions in the last 3 years, we will be eligible for free healthcare for up to 2 years when we first go out there. We need to apply for an E106 before we go and then on arrival we register with the local healthcare authorities and our cover is in place. So, the next stage is finding suitable insurers to offer us private healthcare once the E106 expire. Contributors to various forums suggest that premiums are cheaper from Spanish companies than the UK ones that cover expats, at least I will have time to check that out before we need to decide who to take our private health care with, and we don’t need private cover from day 1 but I do need to consider our current age and that as we get older the premiums will increase.

However, if in the meantime we start to work in Spain and make contributions to their system, we may become eligible for cover and not need private cover.

And just to make a complicated topic, further complicated different regions in Spain have their own laws, so I need to check the situation in Almeria when we get there – just to be sure.

Whilst one of the main reasons for moving to Spain is the more relaxed and healthier lifestyle, especially the benefits living there should have on my arthritis, it would be foolish to assume we won’t need healthcare and not ensure we have it in place.

Find me a map!

Having ordered a map of Andalucia on line from WH Smith, I have now had 2 e-mails from them confirming they are sorry they are unable to fulfill my order but 'Please be assured that we will continue to try and obtain this item(s) for you'

Such a rare piece of artwork, and when they track it down it will be all mine for £4.99!

¿Dónde puedo comprar un mapa de Almería?

(or where can I buy a map of Almeria?)

Following our travels around the Spanish countryside in the middle of the night, we decided it would be a good idea to buy a detailed map of the area, after all we were going to be spending a lot of time there and the map we had was very basic, it only showed the new toll road in dotted lines, under construction. So, we decided to call at the service station we had spotted on the night we arrived and pick up a map before we set off for the day. Having used my Teach Yourself Spanish program on my Nintendo DS to make sure I knew what I was asking for, off we went.

The shop at the services looked relatively well stocked but there were no maps immediately to be seen, so I plucked up the courage to speak to the assistant and use my well rehearsed question. She understood what I had asked but I was amazed by the response. It transpired that they didn’t have any maps of Almeria, nor did they have any maps of Andalucia – but she could sell me a map of Portugal! ¿por qué? I asked (almost a proper conversation and I didn’t need to check my DS before speaking – progress indeed!)

All I got was a shrug of the shoulders. I thanked her, wished her a good day and we left. During our day we would look in a variety of shops including the Hypermarket in San Juan which sells everything from fishing rods and tackle, sun loungers and lads mags, every type of food and drink, toiletries and pots & pans – infact everything you may need while on holiday (bearing in mind it is a holiday resort) but not a map of how to find your way around.

Note to self : add to List of things to do before our next visit – order a map of Almeria from W H Smith!

Our house, in the middle of the street………

When you buy off plan, there is something very satisfying about actually seeing YOUR property. To stand there and look at the bricks & mortar that make up where you are going to live is incredible. To see that they have actually built the property you were expecting, balconies in the right place, doors and windows in the right place – it does help you sleep at night. Ours is on the left of the photo, with the balcony on the the front. We were also going to have a chance to visit the show home, a 3 bed-semi similar to ours, although a few differences, mainly the lack of balcony from the main bedroom and a smaller roof terrace.

Driving into San Juan again felt very good, and we were both surprised how much building had gone on since we were there last November. It looks as if they have just about finished building all the houses, obviously a lot of work to do as far as finishing them off, but it does give a good idea of the size of the development. The show house is still classed as being on a building site and so we had to wear very attractive hard hats between the road and being inside the door – all of about 10 yards, by the time you have sorted out which hat fits who, you’re in.

And it’s good.

You go into the show home via the back, so you are first into the kitchen, which is a galley style but quite long and tiled everywhere. It has lovely granite work surfaces and is nice and light because of the back door and the interior door both being glass. There are grills to all the lower windows and the back door which is re-assuring.

From the kitchen you can walk through to the small hallway that leads to the 3rd bedroom, which we will use as a dining room, the downstairs shower room, which is huge, fully tiled and the only thing I found odd was the coloured panel on the wash basin cabinet – orange!

Past the granite staircase with wrought iron rails and you are into the lounge area, which I found, much to my delight, is quite a bit bigger than I had imagined. Immediately, I loved this room and could see our 2 big leather comfy settees would fit. Neil quickly identified the place on the wall for the TV, and we would have plenty of room for the dogs to run around, as the do. So far, I love this house!

Upstairs, there are 2 bedrooms, the main one has full length doors leading onto a balcony and the other bedroom has access to a balcony at the back from the staircase. Both balconies are large enough for a table and chairs for an early morning cuppa or a late evening night cap under a starry Spanish sky – how wonderful.

A further staircase leads upto the roof terrace, with all round views from the mountains to the sea across the roof tops – I cannot wait to get the sun loungers out – and the giant chess set.

We weren’t allowed out the front of the house as that led on to the building site but we could see enough of the outside to know it’s going to look good. We were told when we reserved the property that they couldn’t be sure what colour each of the houses were going to be, but I secretly have a preference for either of the blues and my least favourite is the pink, but in a conversation with the site office, we have been told ours will be either of the 2 blues – oh, I do hope so.