A bit of riding.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

8 minutes ago, Six30 said:

im confused, so you living in spain or here...

Yer its not clear is it.

Mostly here in the UK cos of the six month rule for non EU members and theres work which still isn’t set up to run without us being here most of the time.

Definitely home for the summer months regardless and anticipate we will be every year.

Come home for the summer, Christmas and Easter and you’re pretty much on 5 months in the UK without trying.

Have looked into buying EU citizenship but its waaay PRICEY and we’re still in the experimental phase. 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

On 03/07/2022 at 14:58, Six30 said:

 

Its a rolling 90 days in a 180 day period. That totals 6 months of every year

They’ve just approved UK passport holders using the EU ‘Egates’ at airports so they may eventually get their shit together and know how long someone’s been in the country but at the moment no-one knows/cares or even understands how to calculate it.

Of course its Spain so the Egate roll out that was supposed to be ready for beginning July has already been delayed til September and then “you may have to still have your passport stamped” they clearly can’t marry up the old and new system

 

[Six30]

42 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Yer its not clear is it.

Mostly here in the UK cos of the six month rule for non EU members and theres work which still isn’t set up to run without us being here most of the time.

Definitely home for the summer months regardless and anticipate we will be every year.

Come home for the summer, Christmas and Easter and you’re pretty much on 5 months in the UK without trying.

Have looked into buying EU citizenship but its waaay PRICEY and we’re still in the experimental phase. 

Was talking to a fella from uk in Tenerife who had lived there for 20 years , he said if you wanted to move there now you have to buy a property for 500,000 euros or more and you get what they call a Golden ticket which is an easier route for residency ?

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

48 minutes ago, Six30 said:

Was talking to a fella from uk in Tenerife who had lived there for 20 years , he said if you wanted to move there now you have to buy a property for 500,000 euros or more and you get what they call a Golden ticket which is an easier route for residency ?

A lot of the EU islands do ‘golden tickets’ often its buy a property and make a donation dressed up as some official document like ‘express route’ etc.

Malta was hauled over the coals for outright selling citizenship- £600,000 on a property (or a rental of over £16k a year) for 5 years and only £10k to the ‘Citizenship Investment Programme’

Their response to the EU was tough titty  “its within the rules that we set our own standards for citizenship and no we’re not going to stop”

6 months of the year is currently more than enough for me, though that might change the further into it I get.

 

Warning- lots of information below you haven’t asked for and might want to skip!

Some other things I found that you might find useful-

The lack of responsibility that renting brings makes the initial bedding in easier, something breaks its not your problem (or cost) so no dealing with Spanish workmen, bureaucracy leaves you alone because legally you don’t live there, your landlord (assuming they’re not an arsehole and want to keep their nice pays on time British tenant) helps you out for free with Spanish stuff you don’t understand like the wifi contracts and how things work (this is priceless). Interpretation services are expensive so if you don’t speak the lingo you’re left trying to decipher it or having to trust the person selling to you and we all know where that can lead.

Then apart from the impending doom of desertification and water shortages (this is real, water is already sold on the black market in Spain- the money for the desalination plant was embezzled) theres also the worry of leaving your property unattended when they have a real problem with squatting (Pete can confirm this). You only have to demonstrate you’ve been in a property 24hrs (by chucking a few dirty plates about) before they have significant rights and it has to go through the courts, this can take years. 

Professional criminal gangs use it to extort money in a variety of enterprising ways but if its not yours this doesn’t matter. 

I’d definitely recommend renting to start with until you find your feet, get into the Spanish way of being (mostly just chill the fuck out- you’re not in Blighty anymore) and decide if its really for you. The majority of people pack up and go home within 3 years of arriving with their bank balances severely whopped.

 

Ultimately I decided I’d rather buy a property in the UK where I have full legal rights, understand the language, customs and systems and use the rent from that property to fund a place in Spain. Should it go tits up (and politically it could) I can walk away with my investment in the UK intact. 

It also means if I decide after a few years I’ve had enough of Spain theres nothing to stop me leaving with ease and renting a place in any other country I fancy trying out and I wouldn’t be limited to just EU countries.

Im aiming for have my cake and eat it

 

[XTreme]

4 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

theres also the worry of leaving your property unattended when they have a real problem with squatting (Pete can confirm this).

Yes......I have heard of that happening! But not in this town though.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

1 minute ago, XTreme said:

Yes......I have heard of that happening! But not in this town though.

Its usually in areas with good transport links and employment opportunities, so the coastal etc. Someone who cant afford rent doesn’t want to live in the sticks and pay to run a car. 

[Grace (BikeHedonia)]

@Slowlycatchymonkey thanks for the epic ride report, so glad you guys made it safely through the extremes of weather! Loved the sound of the dodgy hotel, it sounds convenient, awful and hilarious. Once upon a time, after I'd been turned back from the Thai border three times in one night, I ended up sleeping in a shady Malaysian love hotel, the amenities were somewhat less but I would have hated to see luminol on that place.

The things we do on moto trips... haha.

Rest up and enjoy the festival! 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

On 04/07/2022 at 05:16, Grace (BikeHedonia) said:

@Slowlycatchymonkey thanks for the epic ride report, so glad you guys made it safely through the extremes of weather! Loved the sound of the dodgy hotel, it sounds convenient, awful and hilarious. Once upon a time, after I'd been turned back from the Thai border three times in one night, I ended up sleeping in a shady Malaysian love hotel, the amenities were somewhat less but I would have hated to see luminol on that place.

The things we do on moto trips... haha.

Rest up and enjoy the festival! 

Ah I'm back from the festival, wrote that a couple of days after, just takes a while to upload it all on here and forgot to amend it!

Its rare to read a motorbike travel book where the traveller doesn't at some point unwittingly end up staying in a dodgy love motel, or at least they always claim its unwitting!

Apart from one guy (Mark Holmes RTW on a Triumph Rocket) who said he deliberately ordered a prostitute and then ended up just talking to her about his woes.

[XTreme]

5 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Apart from one guy (Mark Holmes RTW on a Triumph Rocket) who said he deliberately ordered a prostitute and then ended up just talking to her about his woes.

He's a friend of mine on FB......hell of a nice guy.

Doesn't seem the type who'd order a Hooker.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

6 minutes ago, XTreme said:

He's a friend of mine on FB......hell of a nice guy.

Doesn't seem the type who'd order a Hooker.

No he doesnt but his wife had just died, he lost his business and wasn't in a great headspace when he decided to bugger off around the world.

[Pedro]

10 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Its rare to read a motorbike travel book where the traveller doesn't at some point unwittingly end up staying in a dodgy love motel, or at least they always claim its unwitting!

As a general rule, in Portugal and Spain a Motel is usually like that, a closed in-room garage away from prying eyes, and not really meant as an overnight stay by most guests. Some are nice though, and as a biker you'll do worse to find secure parking for the bike late at night.

I'll just let it out that in Spain a Club isn't somewhere nice to stop for a sandwich  

 

6 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Doesn't seem the type who'd order a Hooker.

By what he did with her, clearly he's not

 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

If you read his book (not the best read in the world) it sounded like he just had a funny five minutes and when the young woman was brought to his room the reality of pimps and her having to sell her body to pay for her kids food was a bit much.