Our Move To Spain
More Things To Know
Social Customs In Spain: What Americans Need To Know
Most of daily life in Spain will feel familiar. People are polite, helpful and generally happy to see a new face around. But a layer of everyday habits works differently here. Social customs in Spain can be different. They won't cause real problems if you get them wrong, but they make life smoother once you know them.
Costa Blanca Weather: Saharan Dust, DANA And Snow
Costa Blanca weather is just all sun and fun. One morning you wake up and the light looks wrong. The sky is a dull orange-grey. The sun looks filtered. Your car, clean yesterday, is now coated in reddish dust. You didn't imagine it. This is calima, one of a handful of weather events that catch new residents off guard on the Costa Blanca. Knowing what they are and what to do when they hit, saves you a confused call to a neighbor and a ruined pool cover.
Driving In Spain: US Drivers Read This To Avoid A Ticket
Spain drives on the right side of the road, just like the US. That's one less thing you'll have to worry about when driving in Spain. Everything else takes getting used to. A few US driving habits are worth erasing from your memory since holding onto them here, is a fast way to earn a ticket. The rules, the customs and even the road types work differently in Spain. A few of them may surprise you the first time you run into them.
Personal Privacy In Spain: It’s Different Than The US
Privacy doesn't mean the same thing in every country. Some things that feel normal in the US may surprise you here. Some things that feel invasive back home are just routine daily life in Spain. Knowing which is which saves you an awkward moment, or worse an accidental legal problem.
Pool Covers In Spain: The One Mistake That Actually Matters
There are roughly 38,000 pools in the Marina Alta area alone (that area includes Jávea, Dénia and the small nearby towns around them). It works out to close to one pool for every five residents. That's a lot of water sitting outside in the sun all summer. It's also a lot of water quietly evaporating every day.
A pool cover is one of the cheapest, most overlooked upgrades you can make. Getting the wrong type of pool cover is a common mistake and one that costs owners far more than the cover itself.
Digital Access And Backup Strategy — Forget The File Cabinet
A few years ago, we created a digital access and backup strategy for our important documents. It's worked out really well. Now we can pull up any document on our phone, laptop or tablet in seconds. It's also much safer than keeping paper copies around the house.
Most people don't realize how many important documents they have until they start packing for a move. Birth certificates, tax returns, wills, insurance policies and more. You don't want to carry all of those documents halfway around the world. The usual move is to stuff it all into one folder and hope for the best. We'd rather not bet on a folder full of papers being left on a plane, surviving customs or a lost suitcase.
Dogs in Restaurants, Shops and Beaches: What Spain’s Law Allows
Watch two restaurant terraces on the same village street for an afternoon and you'll see it. One server greets a dog with a water bowl already in hand, the next points at a non-existent sign and shrugs. Both reactions are common and both come from the same source. A law that changed the rules in 2023 without notifying the businesses affected by it. That inconsistency is the whole story of dogs in shops, restaurants and beaches in Spain. This post will save you an awkward moment or two once you're settled in Spain.
Home Security Systems In Spain: How To Avoid Getting Fined
There's a lot more to consider with home security systems in Spain than in the US. Home security systems in Spain are common in new home construction. Expats who buy an existing home usually install a system if it doesn't already have one.
There are many professional firms that you can purchase systems from, but if you're thinking about doing it yourself, it's not as simple as just ordering some cameras or a video doorbell, installing them wherever you want, and forgetting about it. Real planning is required to make sure you don't run afoul of Spain's privacy laws.
Relocating To The EU? Save Money On Airfare
Going back and forth to the EU to plan for a move is a significant part of relocation costs. We've tried to plan our move related trips to coincide with vacation trips to save money on airfare. While airfare to Europe has never been cheap, prices keep rising due to all of the current things going on in the world.
One day while getting ready to book a flight, I accidentally reversed the airport codes on the website, going from Spain to the US and back to Spain. The surprise? The exact same transatlantic flight can cost noticeably less if the round trip starts in Europe instead of the US. Same route, same plane, even the same airline — different price depending on which end of the ocean the ticket originates.
Hard Water In The Costa Blanca: The Hidden Cost
If you've never given a second thought to the water coming out of your tap, the Costa Blanca will change that. Hard water in the Costa Blanca region is a given since a large part of it sits on limestone bedrock. As water travels through it, it picks up dissolved calcium and magnesium along the way. The result is what's called hard water. It's one of those small daily-life differences that catches a lot of newcomers off guard.
You'll find more about the basics of what hard water is and how it shows up on your utility bill on our Utilities page. Here we talk about what it means in day to day life and what to check before you buy a home.
Gardening In The Costa Blanca
Here in Portland the challenge with gardening is too much rain and not enough sun. Gardening in the Costa Blanca flips that completely.
Over 300 sunny days a year, summer highs that sit in the 30s C (80s F) for weeks at a time and barely 500mm (19 in) of rain a year, most of it arriving in short autumn downpours rather than a gentle drizzle.
The Risk Of Wire Fraud When Buying Property in Spain
Somewhere between agreeing on a price and signing at the notary, real money has to move, often hundreds of thousands of euros, wired across an ocean to a bank account we've only ever seen typed in an email. That single moment is exactly where wire fraud when buying property in Spain does its damage and it cost American buyers $275 million in 2025 alone.
It has nothing to do with someone hacking an account or stealing a password. It's about someone convincing you to send the money yourself, to the wrong place, at the one moment you're not expecting to double-check.