Things we miss about Spain.
After 5 years in Spain (and getting our Permanent Residency), we decided to go back to full-time travel earlier this year. Since then, we’ve spent most of our time in France and the UK. We’ve especially loved France but the more time we’ve spent, the more we’ve wondered if it is a country that we could ever consider as an alternative to Spain (as a long-term base).
We haven’t had a great relationship with Spain but after 6 months away (3 months in France, 3 in the UK), there’s are some things we actually miss about Spain. This post covers them.
Things we miss about Spain
The Cost of Living
I’ll start with one of the most obvious: cost of living. 3 months in both France and the UK have shown us just how “cheap” Spain is in comparison. Last year I did a summary of our cost of living in Granada. While Granada is not representative of all of Spain, if you exclude rent & utilities (which can vary quite a bit depending on the city), basics such as groceries, eating out, pharmacy expenses, etc are mostly in line. Our “grocery and other basics” calculation for example, averaged just over 600 Euros/month in Granada. Our first 2 months away from Granada but still in Spain, they averaged 717 Euros. So pretty close.
I did the same calculations while travelling in France and the UK.
In France, the same components (groceries and pharmacy) averaged 1,200 Euros/month. We were shocked. That’s 70% more expensive!
In the UK, the total came out to 960 Pounds/month or about 1,130 Euros/month (costs progressively more expensive as we made our way from Edinburgh to London). Overall, averaged out, basic costs were in the same ballpark as France. So, as I say, about 70% more expensive than in Spain.
One factor not included in the above are the little things you sometimes need that in Spain you can pick up at all the China Home-type stores: glue, pens, a lock, underwear, a lightbulb, discount laundry detergent, candy, an electrical adaptor, etc etc. You take it for granted that you can go to China Home and pick up some white paper glue for 2 Euros until you get to France and have to pay 7 Euros in a hardware store for the same. They may seem like little things but they add up in the course of a month.
Also significantly more expensive are things like public transport in cities or longer distance travel by train or bus.
I’m not even taking into account rent and utilities. Or restaurants.
We knew that France and the UK would be more expensive. But doing this exercise put in numbers just how much more each country costs in comparison to Spain.
Note: we’ve had people mention that we pay a lot for groceries. We try to eat healthy and we have a lot of fruits and vegetables. I eat meat (mostly chicken) but Lissette doesn’t: so we’ll buy salmon a couple of times a week. We also buy things like healthy cookies with no added sugar. So our choices mean we probably pay more for certain things than other people. For alcohol, I’ll buy a bottle of wine every 2 days on average and will probably spend 6 Euros/bottle in Spain (a bit more in France and even more in the UK). But the point of this was not about the cost of our groceries, it’s about comparisons for the same basket of goods between what we paid in Spain vs what we paid in France and the UK.
Security
We love many things about France. In actual fact, France is in many ways a better fit for us than Spain. Having lived 25+ years in Montreal, we know the French culture, the cuisine, the language. The people, the way they express themselves, their sense of humour all feel familiar. We’ve had more in-depth conversations in France than we ever had in Spain.
But as much as we like France, there’s one thing that puts us off. I’ll put it bluntly: France has a migrant problem. You’ll see many young Arab and black men in the street who are desperate. Just last night, walking around in Strasbourg, we were accosted by an aggressive beggar. Followed by a crazy guy screaming at the top of his lungs. I wouldn’t want Lissette walking alone by herself at night in France.
The UK feels safer but we didn’t always love it at night either: there’s a lot of heavy drinking and lots of young men hanging out in groups being loud and boisterous.
In Spain on the other hand, we’ve never felt that. During our 5 years of living there we never felt insecure walking around at night…one the contrary, it’s part of the culture.
Which takes me to me next point…
Evening walks with people around
Part of Spanish culture are those evening walks. Afternoons in Spain might be dead but evenings are when it gets lively. You’ll always have people walking around including old people hobbling along with their canes.
It’s different in France and the UK. Things generally close early, people eat early, and at night families are home. The people walking around are not the same and it’s not the same vibe and you don’t feel the same sense of security.
Service
Service can be really bad in Spain. I’ve written about that here. But for the most part, if you go to a store, you’ll actually get service from a human being. And if you go to a grocery store, it’s almost 100% human service.
What really smacked us in the face when travelling the UK was the lack of personal service, especially at the grocery store. 90% of the time, you have to scan/pay/pack your own groceries. In the beginning I just couldn’t believe it that I had to do this and thought “screw it, I’m boycotting Tesco”. But all the supermarkets do it in the UK. A couple of weeks in we had mastered the scanning, bagging and paying process. But I still think it’s incredibly impersonal and it makes me angry that they’ve shifted the responsibility of all those tasks from employees to customers. And don’t tell me that “it’s to save money and pass the savings on to you” when it’s obviously not the case.
In France it wasn’t as bad, in most grocery stores you can still find a human teller (in addition to self-checkout machines).
A place loses its humanity when every transaction is with a machine and we’re thankful that, for now, Spain hasn’t automated most services.
Mercadona
Which brings me to Mercadona. I can’t believe I’m saying that we miss Mercadona. But we do.
We’ve missed the consistent quality of shopping that we found in Mercadona. In the UK you’ll find a lot of Tescos, in France a lot of Carrefour Express. We’ve found the quality of fresh produce (veggies, fruits, meat) at both to be very sub-par. In France we found that Utile and Monoprix are better, but better yet we found lots of fresh markets for veggies and fruits. In the UK we’d try to find a Waitrose or a Marks & Spencer.
But you often have to go out of your way to get quality. You’ll also pay a premium for it.
The thing about Mercadona (and other Spanish supermarkets even if Mercadona is our favorite) is that the quality is high. We’ve always found vegetables, fruits and meat (and seafood) to be fresh. AND it’s affordable and as mentioned above, you get human service.
But I guess we have a personal attachment to Mercadona because wherever you go in Spain, you’ll find the same products, the same layout and the same quality. When we go shopping, we just want to buy what we need and get out. In Spain, whether in Seville or Madrid, we’ll find what we need fast in a Mercadona store. Whereas, over the last 6 months in the UK and France, we cringe entering a new grocery store because we know we’ll be spending a lot of time walking up and down the aisles searching. I hate that.
The Sun
That’s obvious. One of the main reasons why people move to Spain.
Being away from Spain, particularly spending 3 months in the UK, made us remember just how the sun factors into our moods. We were ready for bad weather, we know how variable the weather can be in the UK. In fact, during our first week in Edinburgh, it did nothing but rain. We actually didn’t mind that, it was a welcome change from Spain and France (where we survived 2 weeks of 40C temps in Paris). The rains stopped, but what was a constant were the clouds. The lack of blue skies, day after day, had a draining effect on our psyche.
So I get it when Brits complain about the lack of sun.
*In most of Canada (the BC coast being an exception), while we often get cloudy days, we also get a lot of very cold, clear days in winter. I’ll take the cold over clouds anytime.
Cultural identity and Community Spirit
We admire the community spirit that the Spanish have.
They have festivals, and they’re not big commercial events: they’re community events organized with the help of churches, youth clubs, music groups, volunteers. Everyone gets involved. And when you attend a festival, it’s not about the floats or costumes; it’s about the people, from young to old, all representing different sectors of Spanish society.
But it’s not just the festivals, it’s the everyday things like seeing large families together at the restaurant or at night on their evening stroll.
Spanish society is strong, loud and proud and you don’t see that community spirit in many places. It’s something we miss seeing.
Late Meal times
We’re late eaters and we’ll often decide, last minute, to go out to eat or have a drink.
So it was a surprise when we crossed the border into France and saw people eating early…and restaurants closing around 9:30 or 10. Same thing in the UK: our favorite pub in London closed at 11, but the kitchen closed at 9:30.
It’s definitely one of the things we miss most about Spain; going out late, seeing people walking the streets, and feeling safe being outside. They all go together.
What do YOU miss the most about Spain when you’re away?
Related: Things I wish I had known before moving to Spain
Related: We got our Permanent Residency in Spain! Reflections and on where we go from here…
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