Passport renewal in the post this week. Had to send it off to the UK. Still not happy about that photograph. They came in a nice set of 6. Like kitchen knives. I only needed 2 for the passport so I ditched the rest. Still looking for property, receiving daily alerts and getting more hungry to find our new home in Spain. Spent hours looking for a book ... anything related to Spain, but still haven't come up with anything recent. Have joined a few Spanish speaking groups in Sydney via "Meet Up". Haven't attended any meetings yet ... well I only joined 3 minutes ago via the web!
Friday, January 31, 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Looking for books...
Went to Kinokuniya bookstore after work. I had this idea it would be good to immerse myself in all things Spain by reading as much as I can from travel books and even novels that have stories located in Spain.
Actually, I went to Dymocks at lunchtime, but with little success, hence the trip after work. Anyway there were some books on the shelves although it took ages to find anything on Spain. I was really keen to find some literature on travels in Spain, but when the books are sorted by Author its means that all the countries are mixed up and titles aren't much help. Most of the publishing dates were quite old so I ditched the four books I collected and focused on the basic travel guides.
Well .. not much success there either. At first I was quite excited by two books although one did have the "R" word in it! "R" to Spain and "Buying a Home in Spain" seemed really good. Well .. no actually. It is now the year 2014 and both of these books were published in 2006. Just crazy really. Just crazy. The world moves so quickly and legislation changes so why even keep this stuff on the shelves ..very disappointing you guys at Kinokuniya! The real give away was the semi cream brown edges of the pages, like something out of a museum. Ah! will have to keep looking!
Actually, I went to Dymocks at lunchtime, but with little success, hence the trip after work. Anyway there were some books on the shelves although it took ages to find anything on Spain. I was really keen to find some literature on travels in Spain, but when the books are sorted by Author its means that all the countries are mixed up and titles aren't much help. Most of the publishing dates were quite old so I ditched the four books I collected and focused on the basic travel guides.
Well .. not much success there either. At first I was quite excited by two books although one did have the "R" word in it! "R" to Spain and "Buying a Home in Spain" seemed really good. Well .. no actually. It is now the year 2014 and both of these books were published in 2006. Just crazy really. Just crazy. The world moves so quickly and legislation changes so why even keep this stuff on the shelves ..very disappointing you guys at Kinokuniya! The real give away was the semi cream brown edges of the pages, like something out of a museum. Ah! will have to keep looking!
Monday, January 27, 2014
Passport Pictures!
Found a gap in my diary this morning so popped down to Australia Post and had some Passport photographs taken. Always in dread of these! As expected, $16 later the clerk handed over 6 small pictures of a stranger. Is that really me, my face looks as though it has been crafted out of yellow clay and started to slowly drop. I had to take my glasses off for the pictures and thus even more was revealed. Eek ... where once mirrors were a source of entertainment they are now something to avoid. I don't want to get old!
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Passport
Need to renew my British passport. Completed and downloaded the form today. Costs around 147 pounds. Have to get a couple of new photo's and then send off the documents to the UK. Can take about 4 weeks ... so they claim.
Thinking it through...
Spent yesterday and today setting up "Proceed to Spain". The site is currently pointed to the Blogger address, but I have purchased the domain name and will redirect that over the next few weeks.
I have also set up a Scoop.It! page which you can access from this site because I have embedded the code which creates a sort of slide show of my current curated articles for that site. I am learning a little bit more each time I go into the Scoop.It! site and curate. Things like the hidden tax issues when buying property. Not that these are really hidden costs, but as you read through the information you will find that they can be "variable" costs when property is revalued, effecting the amount of tax you have to pay!
Meanwhile, Sarah continues the property search. It can be frustrating, seeing properties that look great at reasonable prices. But how are they situated, what is the immediate area like, how does it feel, what is the community culture and so on. Being in Australia, so far away is an issue that we will have to overcome. The current plan is for us to accompany Dave and Fi when they start their house buying search in June this year. Not sure if I can go as it depends on work. Sarah will have to go I'm certain.
I have also set up a Scoop.It! page which you can access from this site because I have embedded the code which creates a sort of slide show of my current curated articles for that site. I am learning a little bit more each time I go into the Scoop.It! site and curate. Things like the hidden tax issues when buying property. Not that these are really hidden costs, but as you read through the information you will find that they can be "variable" costs when property is revalued, effecting the amount of tax you have to pay!
Meanwhile, Sarah continues the property search. It can be frustrating, seeing properties that look great at reasonable prices. But how are they situated, what is the immediate area like, how does it feel, what is the community culture and so on. Being in Australia, so far away is an issue that we will have to overcome. The current plan is for us to accompany Dave and Fi when they start their house buying search in June this year. Not sure if I can go as it depends on work. Sarah will have to go I'm certain.
Welcome to "Proceed to Spain!"
Welcome to "Proceed to Spain!"
I have much to tell you. This is the story of a journey that started in my mind many, many years ago when I was a younger man. But first I would like to explain the title of this site.
Having decided to make the move to Spain, Sarah, my wife, suggested I write a book about the journey. So I had the idea of creating a website to record the steps along the way. I was looking for a title and came up with all sorts of headings, but the domain name was either not available or was too expensive ... names like "Living in Spain", "Return to Spain" were all taken.
I hit on the name "Always Spain" although I wasn't comfortable with it because I kept seeing "Always Pain"! Then at the bottom of the page I noticed the "Proceed to Checkout" button. This means that you are ready to commit to the purchase and it hit me that this would be a great title. Sarah and I are now very committed to moving to Spain and so there is no looking back, the journey has begun and we will "Proceed to Spain!"
Another little tip here about our thinking. Yes, we are taking this journey because we intend to live out our years in Spain, for reasons that I will explain later, but we have no concept of the word "Retirement" ... in fact that is the last time I shall use the "R" word in this story. For us it is a rite of passage, a chance to reinvent ourselves once again. It is a birth and renewal of the soul.
Welcome once again ... lets proceed to Spain.....
I have much to tell you. This is the story of a journey that started in my mind many, many years ago when I was a younger man. But first I would like to explain the title of this site.
Having decided to make the move to Spain, Sarah, my wife, suggested I write a book about the journey. So I had the idea of creating a website to record the steps along the way. I was looking for a title and came up with all sorts of headings, but the domain name was either not available or was too expensive ... names like "Living in Spain", "Return to Spain" were all taken.
I hit on the name "Always Spain" although I wasn't comfortable with it because I kept seeing "Always Pain"! Then at the bottom of the page I noticed the "Proceed to Checkout" button. This means that you are ready to commit to the purchase and it hit me that this would be a great title. Sarah and I are now very committed to moving to Spain and so there is no looking back, the journey has begun and we will "Proceed to Spain!"
Another little tip here about our thinking. Yes, we are taking this journey because we intend to live out our years in Spain, for reasons that I will explain later, but we have no concept of the word "Retirement" ... in fact that is the last time I shall use the "R" word in this story. For us it is a rite of passage, a chance to reinvent ourselves once again. It is a birth and renewal of the soul.
Welcome once again ... lets proceed to Spain.....
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