Because Spain is one of the most popular places in the world for expatriate Britons to live, there are of course many guides on the market that aim to assist anyone thinking about making the move. So, how on earth can you determine which is the best-written guidebook available all about living abroad in Spain?
Well, you can either buy them all from your local bookshop or ask your library to source them all for you – or you can take a recommendation from a site like Shelter Offshore where we have probably read most of the books on the market as part of our ongoing research!
If you were to ask us for our recommendation, ‘Living Abroad in Spain’ by Candy Lee LaBalle would be very high up on the list of good guidebooks, well worth a read. This is another title from the Moon Living Abroad range, and it has been written by an author who loves Spain today as much as the first day she arrived over eight years ago…despite the fact that her rose coloured glasses have long been replaced with 20:20 vision, and she is no longer under any sort of illusion about what modern day Spain is really like!
We love Candy Lee LeBalle’s approach to writing ‘Living Abroad in Spain’ – she is completely honest with her readers from the very first page, explaining that she moved to Spain in the midst of a hazy love affair with a much dreamt of land as described by Hemmingway. What she found was not exactly as described – although even through the bureaucratic maze of modern day Spain, the beauty, majesty, romance and passion of this land shone out for her.
The result of Candy’s honesty and the journey she has personally undertaken comes together in this very well written, thoroughly researched and easy to read, follow and apply guide to living in Spain. Whether you’re a passionate person in love with Spain like Candy was – and still is – or you’re more of a practical person seeking expert guidance on how to make the move a successful one, this book will absolutely appeal to you.
On a practical level, Candy imparts impossible to otherwise source local and expat knowledge – from the best places to really live, work and even eat, to how to get your child in to school, how to keep in touch with home and what the realities of the paperwork for residency and employment are honestly like.
The book is divided into sections that make it easy to access the data you need – and if you want a complete ‘how to’ guide to moving to Spain, making it home and making your life there, you can simply start on page one and apply everything you read to your life! Alternatively, if you’re set on Spain already and you want some help with employment matters, or housing, or settling in – there are sections suitable for you to read.
Candy also imparts essential knowledge about planning a fact finding mission to Spain, getting healthcare matters in hand, learning the language, customs and etiquette, religion, government, banking…in fact, she really does cover everything you could possibly need or want to know. However, the only issue you might have with this book is that it is written for an American readership – i.e., the information is relevant to Americans rather than Britons. That said, only the data about residency and visas is different, and everything else applies.
As holders of European passports, we have it far easier than our American cousins when it comes to moving to live in Spain – so, as this data in the book is not relevant to us, it can be discounted. If you have issue with an American author telling you all about Spain, then the book’s not for you – if on the other hand you want one of the best written guidebooks about living in Spain, ‘Living in Spain’ by Candy Lee LeBalle is it!
You can read reviews about the book and samples of content online at Amazon, and order it online as well…Moon Living Abroad in Spain (Moon Handbooks)
