Well today marks the start of the next phase to our adventure. We have given our notice and will be officially leaving our residence by the end of December 2015. We have not heard from the Spanish consulate yet and ideally we would have preferred to wait until the visa was confirmed prior to giving our notice. However timing is everything and in order to give sufficient notice to the landlord we needed to give our notice now, so we decided to take the chance. I guess time will tell as to how this will turn out.
We have begun the task of sorting what items we are selling and what items we will give to family, friends or donate. We separated our stuff into three categories, Sentimental, Functional and decorative/other stuff. This is not as hard as you may think. Once we started to let go of our attachment to our possessions the better we actually felt. It is somewhat enlightening and freeing to rid ourselves of all the “stuff” it is amazing just how much “stuff” we accumulate over time. We have begun to pack and sell our belongings, this will help us move to the next stage of the adventure.
The logistics of finding a permanent residence will be key to ensure we are located in a good area. We want to be located in an area that has easy access to transit, grocery stores, entertainment etc. We won’t have a vehicle and would like to cycle as a means of transportation where possible. We want to be in a good neighbourhood and be located in an area that is not focused on tourist. In order to find the perfect spot, we want to be on site and look at rentals first hand. We want to have a feel for the neighbourhood and walk around the area before renting long-term. In order to do that we have rented a two month rental to give us time to research and walk the neighbourhoods before renting long-term. The short-term rental is located in a tourist area near the sea. It is a modest apartment with all the amenities needed to function. We are located close to a bus stop and not far from the city centre of Alicante. This is a tourist area and during the summer it is very busy. We are fortunate that we are arriving in Spain during the off season and we should be able to get a “feel” for the area without the influx of thousands of tourist. The challenge is to find a long term rental within the first two months of arriving in Spain. The adventure of retiring like this is to push the comfort zone and experience the unknown.
Below are a few photos of our apartment and the view.
View from Beach outside of our apartmentKitchen area of apartment, its small but will meet our needs short term.The living room area, small but functional.our patio with a partial view of the beach. Ideal for coffee in the morning.
Well Tuesday September 22nd was another milestone for our eventual move to Spain. We attended the Spanish Consulate in Toronto and applied for our residence visa. The process began months earlier with the start of investigating what was needed for the Visa application. The documents required needed to be officially translated and notarized and multiple copies made. Here are the documents we thought we needed:
Our passports with an expiry date beyond the length of our application time line.
Two passport photos
A letter from our doctor with specific language indicating we are free of infectious deceases
Proof of medical insurance with specific minimum coverage for the duration of our stay in Spain
RCMP criminal records check
Proof of minimum monthly income that meets the requirements set out by Spain
Proof or marriage
(Now the following ones are tricky I will expand on these later.)
Proof of flight to spain
Proof of a residence in Spain when we arrive.
chicken-and-egg How can you have a flight to spain and an address in Spain to live, if you have never been there or don’t even know if the Visa will be approved. It’s like the chicken and egg thing. That’s a tough one, in order to meet the requirements and still be able to balance life if the Visa is not approved. (hopefully this won’t occur) We decided to book two months at a short term holiday spot. That will give us an address and also provide us with a short term apartment to work from. From there we can find a long term apartment to settle into.
The other key thing that we need to keep in mind is that if for whatever reason our visa application is delayed or denied, we can’t stay in Spain for longer than three months. By booking two months this will allow us to either have a a temporary residence until we find a permanent apartment or it becomes a vacation and we come back after two months if needed.
Once we had gathered all our documents and secured our flight and short term apartment address we were able to submit our Visa application. But…… wait there is still a few more details to deal with first. We needed to determine if an appointment was needed or if we could drop into the consulate. we scoured the website with no luck. We called the consulate and reached a recording. We left a message asking the simple question, did we need an appointment or could we just show up with our application. The message went unanswered. We then sent an email (in spanish) to the only email available and it went unanswered as well. We called again and left another message. After a week or so we did get a call from someone from the consulate and they advised yes an appointment was required and that the only way to make the appointment was on the website. We asked where on the site it was located. the reply was simply it is only on the spanish section of the site and we needed to find it. So off we went to the spanish section of the website and after a fair amount of looking we found the scheduling form. The process involved locating a free time slot, which in our case was three weeks out. We booked our 1/2 hour time slot and received confirmation via email. Ok so we were set, the appointment was made the documents gathered and translated.
To be safe we booked a hotel room in Toronto close to the consulate. We headed to Toronto the day before our appointment and scouted out the consulate. It is located in an office building on the 12th floor. OK seems that we are all set, off we go to the appointment. We arrive and take a number. Our number gets called and we go to the wicket and are told that a separate appointment is needed for each of us… I guess my look must of said it all… She said I will check and see if the person can do us both today. A different person returned to the wicket and this women asked to see my documents. I presented the documents which were organized, and clearly all in order. When she realized that we were organized and ready she agreed to do applications together. She was very helpful and she began looking closely at the documents and noted that two new document forms were required. This was news to us and she advised that the website needed updating and it was not updated on their website yet. We were obviously concerned and asked her what forms were required. She provided one which we filled out there, signed and gave to her. The other form was online only and MUST be filled out online and then printed and signed. They would not accept a hand written version of this form. She indicated that if we could come back today with the final form filled out she would process the applications. It was a race against time… We took a taxi back to the Hotel and found the forms on line and completed them. The forms were not very clear and cumbersome to complete. We finished the forms and returned to the consulate. By this time, it is nearly 11:45 am and the consulate closes at 12:30. We take another number and wait. We are finally at the wicket by 12:15 and present our forms to the same women. She is very helpful and reviews the form and advises that the forms are not completed as required. Yikes….. now what? We told her we were from Kingston and we would drive back to Toronto tomorrow if we could get an appointment. She looked at our files again and stated that if we paid the fees today and got everything else set up, we could mail her the other forms and she would process the applications when she got them. We agreed and completed the process paying the $762. each for the application. She provided us with her contact info and her phone extension. She was very helpful, but the process is cumbersome. We left the consulate at exactly 12:30 pm with the only thing left to do but complete ad mail the one form.
Our next stop was to Jack Asters for a beer and lunch. To say the process was easy would be a stretch, it was a challenge and stressful. We mailed the forms ensuring it is tracked and the forms will be at the consulate tomorrow. Hopefully the next stage of the application goes without a hitch.
For anyone thinking of applying for a residence visa I recommend doing lots of research and plan on some frustration along the way.
We have been doing research on Spain for several years now. It was our intent to do a vacation in Spain. The research was focused on a short stay and was geared to more tourist type locations. It is only recently that we decided to retire and move there for an extended period of two to five years. Our research has refocused to reflect our long term stay in Spain. We need good public transportation, close proximity to an international airport and of course be an area of interest to us. After looking at different locations we determined that Alicante is a perfect area for us to call home base.
Alicante has a population of approximately 330 thousand and is a port city on Spain’s southeastern Costa Blanca. in It’s old town section, Barrio de la Santa Cruz, there are narrow streets, coloured houses and a lively nightlife scene.
There is a steep climb which leads to medieval Castillo de Santa Bárbara, set on a hilltop with sweeping views of the Mediterranean coast.
There is an international airport and the comprehensive public transportation includes high speed rail access. This will allow us to move throughout Spain and Europe fairly easily. We enjoy cycling and there are very good bike trails throughout the area. This will be our first stop and hopefully we will make this our home base from which to see Spain and Europe. The next thing we need to do is develop our plan to relocate there and determine the logistics of this move.
Hi, and welcome to our blog. We have upgraded our blog and hope to add additional multimedia content to share our adventures. We also changed the site domain to be more accessible to everyone. It is our hope that you will get some entertainment and even insight into our trials and tribulations of our adventures.
The reason for this blog is really quite simple, we want to capture the adventures of our retirement life. After 33 years working in the emergency service field I have retired. My wife and I intend to start this chapter of our lives by redefining ourselves with a different lifestyle. We plan on travelling and having adventures which we will capture in our blog. We hope that our blog will provide you with some insight and inspiration if you are thinking of taking a path less traveled.
We are selling all of our belongings except for a few sentimental pieces and moving to Spain. Why Spain? That’s a good question, we don’t know anyone there, we have never been to Europe and we can’t speak much spanish… well I guess that’s what makes this an adventure. We love red wine, like to challenge ourselves and enjoy the idea of the Mediterranean lifestyle.
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