Trading Cape Town for Costa Blanca: Simona's Spanish Adventure

What happens when a devoted Cape Town resident who "would never leave South Africa" finds herself making a new home in a small Spanish town? Simona's story isn't your typical expat tale of fleeing problems, but rather a thoughtful journey toward family and opportunity.

After both her adult children settled in Europe, Simona and her husband reconsidered their future. The growing gap between earning in rands versus euros combined with the pull of family abroad led them to Spain's beautiful Costa Blanca region. What they discovered there went far beyond financial considerations.

The most profound revelation came about a year into their new life: "I didn't even realize how much fear I was living in until I stopped just looking around me and clutching my bag," Simona shares. Watching someone leave their phone unattended at a café table—and finding it still there upon return—highlighted the dramatic shift in daily security and peace of mind.

Despite Italian heritage that simplified visa concerns, challenges remained. Spanish bureaucracy proved nightmarish, requiring legal help despite EU citizenship. Learning Spanish continues four years later (with amusing mishaps, like discovering the Italian word for butter means "donkey" in Spanish). And yes, those legendary Spanish siestas are absolutely real!

The move enabled Simona to finally pursue her dream of writing children's books, with her first publication coming this year. Meanwhile, her programmer husband continues working remotely, allowing them a comfortable life in their small town where everything is walkable.

For those contemplating a similar move, Simona offers wisdom: "It's not a question of the grass being greener on one side or the other. It's what you bring to it." Her experience shows that expat life isn't about escaping problems but about creating new possibilities—sometimes in unexpected places.

Want to hear more stories like Simona's? Subscribe to South Africans Abroad and join our community of global South Africans forging new paths while keeping their roots. Share your thoughts or your own expat journey with us at saabroadpodcast.com.

Transcript

Welcome to South Africans Abroad

Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome back to South Africans Abroad, a show for expat South Africans and anyone interested in the experiences of those who have made the move overseas. Each episode, we'll hear from South Africans who have left the country to pursue new opportunities, be with loved ones or simply follow their dreams. We'll explore the challenges and triumphs of life as an expat and the unique perspective that comes with being a South African abroad. Life as an expat and the unique perspective that comes with being a South African abroad. I'm your host, warren Burley, an expat South African who, like many, followed the dream of working overseas. Whether you're an expat yourself or just curious about the expat experience, join us as we delve into the motivations, struggles and joys of being a South African living overseas.

Simona's Journey to Spain

Speaker 1 0:41

Today we're heading to Spain with one of our guests, simona, who made the big move from South Africa to Madrid. We'll dive into what it's like trading biltong for tapas, navigating Spanish culture and the biggest surprises she's faced along the way. If you ever dreamed about life in Spain, this one's for you. Let's get into it. Hi, simona, how are you doing? Great thanks. Do you just want to tell us a little bit about you?

Speaker 2 1:05

Sure, well, I lived my whole life in Cape Town and I love Cape Town. Cape Town's still one of the most beautiful cities in the world as far as I'm concerned. When my son was 21, he took off to go and study in Germany and never came back. And then, when my daughter finished higher education in South Africa, she got a degree in visual communications. She's also decided to spread her wings and eventually decided to settle in Spain. I was always one of those people that said I would never leave South Africa. I liked my life there.

Speaker 2 1:46

My husband and I were very involved with Neighborhood Watch and all kinds of things, but with both our kids in Europe, we kind of thought you know, what are we doing here?

Speaker 2 2:09

What are we doing here? And uh, especially with the difference, um, with uh earning rents and as opposed to earning euros, that that difference was becoming harder and harder, for sure. So, um, yeah, we did made the the leap, uh, roughly four years ago, and we chose Spain rather than Germany for a couple of reasons we wanted to be in a smaller town and my son lives in Frankfurt, and my daughter happened to have chosen to live in one of the most beautiful spots in Spain, to live in one of the most beautiful spots in Spain, which is a Costa Blanca. We're about one hour away from Valencia on the one side and Alicante on the other, which means we're basically an hour away from two big cities with international airports. But where we actually live is a very small town. That is just wonderful. I can walk everywhere, do everything that I need, and if I want a little bit more nightlife or whatever there's 10 minutes away. I've got all the fun that I want.

Speaker 1 3:25

What was your first impression of Madrid?

Speaker 2 3:28

Well, I didn't stay in Madrid. We basically just went through Madrid and moved straight to this little town in the province of Alicante. So yeah, we first lived in Javier, which is more of a touristy place, but the accommodation there was very expensive. So we moved to a little town 10 minutes away and we were able to find a lovely apartment to settle in.

Speaker 1 4:02

Okay, and what do you do for a living?

Speaker 2 4:08

Well, in South Africa I did all kinds of things. I was even a tour guide for a while, but before I left South Africa I did the course so that I would be able to teach English as a foreign language. So I got certified to do that, which is something that I could do both online and in person. I was extremely fortunate in that my husband actually works online. He's a computer website programmer so he could just carry on working as he had before for international clients. It didn't actually matter whether we were living in South Africa or living here.

Small Town Living Near Costa Blanca

Speaker 2 4:56

I never really made it very, let me put it this way. I did do some teaching, but it never really got off the ground because there are actually so many English speaking people living here that already, yeah, there wasn't really a demand for an English teacher. But again, I was really lucky that this gave me the chance to finally do what I'd always dreamt of doing, which is writing books. So my first children's book is due to be published sometime this year, probably around June. I'm also writing a couple of novels a couple of novels and in the meantime, living here in this small town, we're able to live on what my husband brings in, which is not something we were able to do when we were both living in South Africa working full-time jobs.

Speaker 1 5:55

Yeah Well, that brings me to a question has the lifestyle changed, kind of, with, you know, exchange rates and is things more expensive? Expensive? It sounds like it was more expensive living in South Africa. Um, but how does that? How does that compare?

Speaker 2 6:13

that's actually a very interesting question, because it was extremely painful when we first arrived because basically we we sold up. We, we sold just about everything we owned and the money, the whole nest egg, was tiny after the exchange rate. So that was a bit of a shock. For a very small period of time we were actually millionaires because we'd sold everything. But when we came here to Europe that money didn't go far at all.

Speaker 2 6:52

But strangely enough again, it really varies depending on where you live. So if we had stayed in Madrid, my story would probably be very different. But because we have chosen to live in a smaller town, we have actually got a really good standard of living, even though we are in a way earning less than we were before, because I haven't really been earning. I'm hoping to make some money with my books when they eventually come out, but for the past four years pretty much it's only been my husband bringing money in. So yes, I would say you know, if you come to Spain, there are actually many little places where you can have a really good standard of living for way less than you'd expect yeah, and we've kind of heard that about like portugal.

Speaker 1 7:52

Like you say, you've heard some of the other podcasts and um, you've got a lot in common with uh tanya, um, who's in portugal. Uh, one thing she found uh quite difficult was getting into. Like you moved into a small town was getting into the culture and the language barriers and things in small towns is it? Is it the same there?

Speaker 2 8:14

it is. Um, I uh didn't speak any spanish at all when I got here. Um, I'm still doing Duolingo lessons faithfully every single day. It was a bit rough, but honestly, in this particular part of Spain there's a huge English-speaking community. English speaking community A little less now with since Brexit, but still a lot, because even people from other parts of Europe, like from the Netherlands or Germany or whatever they all speak English as well. So a lot of places actually have information in English and Spanish. It's not difficult to figure out what you need to do. So, quite quickly, I found people that could help me Quite quickly. I found people that could help me navigate the things. One thing I do have to say that, in common with what Tanya said, the bureaucracy is a nightmare, but it's the same all over. I mean, most of my family actually chose to go and live in Italy and their bureaucracy is just as bad, if not even worse than what we've got here in Spain.

Speaker 1 9:58

In what way is it bad?

Speaker 2 10:00

Oh, just even to get an appointment to get your residence papers handed in and things like that. If you don't actually hire a lawyer to help you, you just don't get anywhere, and I don't think it's any better anyway, to be honest. Yeah, just bureaucracy is a pain.

Speaker 1 10:28

And do you think that's because they're trying to stop people from coming in there? Or do you think it's just all over the world? Just that is? You know, when you deal with government, it is what it is.

Speaker 2 10:39

I don't think so much, not as much in Spain as in other places that I've heard of. It's more that, as usual, the government, people who work for government, the bureaucrats they basically got tenure. It's very, very difficult for them to ever get fired, so they just take their time. I mean, if you don't do it today, you'll do it tomorrow.

Speaker 1 11:12

You know it's a very… yeah.

Speaker 2 11:15

Yeah, it's more that.

Speaker 1 11:18

That brings me to the thing. Are the legendary Spanish siestas? Are they real?

Speaker 2 11:25

Yes, they are.

Speaker 1 11:26

They've got something to do with it.

Speaker 2 11:30

Especially in the small towns. It is perfectly normal for shops to basically close between 1 and 2, usually until about 4 or so, and then open again from like, from four to eight. So again, we've got that. That. That, oh, and nine, nine, 30, 10, you can forget about anything happening before that time.

Speaker 1 11:56

Yeah.

Speaker 2 11:57

Um, it's, it's very much a a night nighttime culture here as well, Just like in Portugal. Uh, they love their fiestas. You know their feast days. Uh, each little town has got their own, uh particular towns things and I mean, if it's not fireworks in our town, it will be the town won over, especially in summer. I mean, just about every night there's some kind of party going on somewhere. So yeah, and all of those are free. I mean the fiestas in the towns. It's in the town centre, They've got music and they've got fireworks and they've got all kinds of things. So yeah, definitely they enjoy their life a lot more Like the quality of living.

Speaker 2 12:48

Yeah, the quality of life is definitely better, for me at least, because I mean we were used to working and going home and basically just staying home at night, you know, just staying home at night, you know, uh, whereas here it's completely normal to just walk around town like even one in the morning. There's everyone's doing it, everyone's relaxed, they. I didn't even realize how much fear I was living in until after about a year that I was here and I stopped just looking around me with it and clashing my bag the way you know. Yeah, wow, that person actually left their cell phone on the outside cafe table and they've gone inside and nobody's even looking at the cell phone yeah and it's still there when they came out.

Missing South Africa and Food Differences

Speaker 2 13:55

it's stuff like that, it's, it's a, it's a mind mindset shift for sure. Yeah, and it's definitely easier for me to go and visit my son in Germany than it was from South Africa. I mean, my son gifted me my very first grandson recently, thinking how awful it would be if I was still in South Africa because I wouldn't be able to afford to pop over a couple of times a year. You know, like I, like I can from here.

Speaker 1 14:33

No, for sure.

Speaker 2 14:35

So, yes, no, I am grateful for the move. There are things that we missed about South Africa. It's weird, you miss things like chutney and O'Neill's biscuits the rice, I mean not the biscuit, you know. Yeah, chutney things like that it's weird.

Speaker 1 14:59

Is there no South African?

Speaker 2 15:00

shops there. No Again. I live in a little town and the things, if you can get them, I mean like Amazon has got, like Mrs Ball's chutney, for example, but it's ridiculously expensive.

Speaker 1 15:16

They take it for each of us for sure, 100%. And do you guys make like with the food and stuff? Do you make your own biltong and brevors and things like that?

Speaker 2 15:29

No, we are not that handy.

Speaker 1 15:33

We're going to have to send you a recipe, for sure.

Speaker 2 15:36

Yeah, we can definitely give it a try, but of course, whenever anyone comes to visit, they know what they have to bring.

Speaker 1 15:43

Give them a shopping list. Well, speaking of food, what's the food like there?

Speaker 2 15:49

Well, I, must tell you that they've got a great food scene. Even in this fairly small town where we live, you can pretty much get most kinds of food, not South African we still need a South African to come over and have a South African traditional place but anything else, especially Asian food, there's tons of varieties. Recently some British people opened up the bull and bear, so that's your pub food just the way they have it in England, and if you go to any of the cities nearby, really whatever you're looking for, you can pretty much find yeah, sounds like you'd need a Nando's and an ocean basket, though 100%.

Speaker 2 16:49

We were actually saying just the other day how much we miss Nando's in particular. That was definitely one of our favorite go-to places in South Africa and they've got nothing like Nando's.

Speaker 1 17:03

They've got obviously KFC and other things, but not Nando's or Ocean Basket for sure they seem to be popping up all over the world, so hopefully you get one there soon, oh that would be awesome.

Speaker 2 17:17

Yeah, we definitely support that, for sure.

Speaker 1 17:20

Yeah, let's just go back a little bit and talk about your visa process. Firstly, what visa are you on?

Speaker 2 17:28

okay. Now that's where we are very lucky, because both my husband and I have Italian parents, so we both have Italian passports, so we didn't have to worry about the visas. And we also had I don't know if it was foresight, but when our children were born we had them immediately registered as Italians as well. So we came over here with Italian passports, which meant that we could actually stay here and work without needing a visa at all.

Speaker 1 18:10

Okay, okay, so pretty lucky. So have you got dual citizenship.

Visas and Transportation Challenges

Speaker 2 18:16

Yes, okay, yes, we had dual citizenship because when our parents moved to South Africa we were kids, but very young, so we were automatically became South African citizens and then we could have the Italian passports.

Speaker 1 18:40

That's pretty easy, not as lucky as some.

Speaker 2 18:45

Yeah, I know, like I said, but even with Italian passports, we couldn't get our residency here to get access to the free healthcare, for example. All of that was still a tricky process to manage and eventually we actually needed to get a lawyer just to get that done. So, yes, the visa story, and that is, it's not easy.

Speaker 1 19:19

Okay, and were there any other challenges? Moving to Spain? Was anything complicated or did it seem pretty easy?

Speaker 2 19:30

Honestly, for me the hardest thing was the language barrier. It's rough not understanding what's happening around you and it kind of felt like, uh, a bit illiterate, you know, not being able to to read and understand the signs. You know what they mean yeah um, I mean, everybody said oh well, you know, you know Italian, so this is easy. Uh, actually, no knowing Italian, actually, no Knowing Italian made it harder. As far as I'm concerned, a stupid example of butter in Italian is burro. In Spain, burro means donkey, oh wow.

Speaker 1 20:12

Can I have some burro on my bread?

Speaker 2 20:14

Uh-huh, exactly, and that's just one of the many fun things I discovered, and that's just one of the many fun things I discovered. So, yeah, it might actually have been easier if I didn't accidentally use Italian words.

Speaker 1 20:28

Yeah, and in South Africa, booty is a bourgeois role.

Speaker 2 20:32

Exactly, exactly, there you go.

Speaker 1 20:36

Okay, tell me. I just want to know how's the public transport and things like that? Is it easy to get around? Because you know that's always been a challenge in South Africa with public transport and things like that Is it better there.

Speaker 2 20:56

Okay, taxis here are cars, not minibuses, and they are more affordable than the car taxis were in South Africa.

Speaker 1 21:08

Yeah Well, look minibuses. I think that's a 100% South African thing, and the amount of people we can put in a minibus is a world record, Absolutely.

Speaker 2 21:17

Absolutely, absolutely the bus, the actual buses here are what are like greyhound buses. You don't get it like the normal bus that we used to like the golden arrow buses. They're not like that, they're all luxury buses, even if you're going from one place to the other. That's the thing. Here you can walk your town because it's so small. It's a different way to think about things. I mean, I used to live in Tableview. It took me over an hour to get to town, and that and we were still in cape town. Here an hour is considered a long trip for these people because you are in a different town. If you've been in a car for 10 minutes, it's a different way to look at distances. So, for example, different way to look at distances. So, for example, they've got these buses, but the bus schedule it seems to be more of a suggestion than an actual bus schedule. So yeah, for longer trips I think they're a bit more reliable. But for me, to go the 10 minutes to my nearby town, for example, there's a bus at around 11am and then there isn't another one for two, three hours. And to come back home there's one at around 3pm. But if you miss that one, the next one's at 10 past 6. So not the best, but again, I'm talking about living in a small town In Madrid.

Speaker 2 23:19

It's very, very easy to move around with public transport. There's plenty and you've got lots of different options and everything. Uh, what I love is that literally I can walk to the supermarket and to the dentist and to the doctor and basically every single thing I need to live my life. I don't actually need to drive, but you've got a car. Right, we do. But here's a fun fact South African driver's licenses are not recognized in Spain. You are allowed to drive for six months on your South African driver's license, after which you need to get a Spanish driver's license, and that actually means taking the driving test. Now, they do say that you could take the learner part of it in English but the truth of the matter is, the translation is so bad that it's not that simple.

Speaker 2 24:32

I mean, I don't know if you remember what the learner test used to be, but they do ask the questions in a way that's not really straightforward, and if you don't understand the language well or understand their translation, that's not an easy feat.

Speaker 1 24:54

Yeah.

Speaker 2 24:56

So the answer to your question is yes, we have a car, but we're just not legally allowed to drive it at the moment.

Speaker 1 25:03

Okay, Well, we won't tell anybody. All the listeners just forget that little fact.

Speaker 2 25:14

Luckily, our daughter does drive, so she does have a. She actually got her license in Germany because before she decided to settle here in Spain she she lived for some time with her brother, and in Germany you are allowed to actually swap your English license for a German one. Okay, so because she was living in Germany at the time, she was able to do that, which means that she has a German driver's license which is recognized and she can legally drive in Spain.

Speaker 1 25:54

Okay.

Speaker 2 25:54

So at least one person in the family can drive the cars.

Speaker 1 26:01

Well, look, I mean, I had to go through the same process here in America, so I had to redo because the South African license isn't valid yet either. So they gave us a couple of months to drive on it. But then I actually got pulled over and the cop said to me you've got to go and do your California license. So I had to rewrite the learners and I thought it was just the learners and we went in and I did the learners and then she said okay, now you got to do your main driving test. And we actually just took a chance. I said, okay, when can I do it? Can I do it tomorrow? And I went and did it and passed.

Speaker 2 26:36

It was quite an easy test compared to the K53 that we used to do test compared to the K53 that we used to do, but luckily it was in English. Yeah, that's basically just a hold up. I mean we really need to get our language up to the level that we can take this learnings, but otherwise, like I said, luckily where we live it's not a big deal.

Speaker 1 27:02

Yeah, and tell me, is the other South African expats close to you?

Learning Languages and Finding Happiness

Speaker 2 27:11

Are you in contact with a lot of other South Africans? Not a lot, but we do have a couple of other couples that we get together with and, yeah, it's great, it's always nice to hear a South African accent. There are quite a few of us around. But yeah, the difference for my husband and I, I guess, compared to some of the other expats, is that we didn't have a large group of friends that we would interact with a lot outside of things like Neighborhood Watch. We would obviously be part of that community or whatever, but we didn't really go out a lot at all in South Africa. So we're not used to really socializing that much. We're kind of used to being quite happy, you know, watching Netflix.

Speaker 1 28:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2 28:15

It's actually honestly. I have more friends here and I socialize more now than I ever did in South Africa, so that's a nice change of pace as well.

Speaker 1 28:26

Okay, and if you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be before moving?

Speaker 2 28:36

That's a good one. Maybe start learning the language before moving? That would be a nice piece of advice and, honestly, duolingo has been a game changer. It's really such a fun and easy way to learn. I just wish I'd known about it before I actually moved.

Speaker 1 29:00

Is that an app? I think Sorry. Is that an app? I think sorry. Is that an app? An application? Yes, okay.

Speaker 2 29:06

Yeah, it's actually a free app. They do have the free one. You've got limited lives, so after so many mistakes, you have to wait for your lives to repopulate. Yeah, but if you want to speed things up, then you pay a yearly fee and then you've got unlimited lives. So I'm on the paid plan now. But whether you learn one language or multiples, you can do do all of them for the same really low fee. So I'm actually studying German as well because, you know, having a German grandchild, I reckon I'd better figure out at least. Even if I can't speak it myself, I'd like to at least understand what they're saying.

Speaker 1 29:57

And you speak Afrikaans correct.

Speaker 2 30:00

Yeah, Again, German and Afrikaans not nearly as close as people seem to think they are.

Speaker 1 30:10

Yeah, I was going to say because I thought that was pretty close. I know the Netherlands is obviously closest, but yeah, Does that not help?

Speaker 2 30:19

Again. No, there's an odd word that's similar. Ironically, there are more words in german that are english or closer to english than to afrikaans. Okay, it's, yeah. Honestly, the languages have been the most surprising thing for me, because they're not at all as I expected them to be.

Speaker 1 30:45

Wow, interesting. And do you ever get them mixed up? Learning all these languages?

Speaker 2 30:51

Oh, of course, of course I mean sometimes I even forget the English words for things. I mean it's quite normal.

Speaker 1 30:58

You can go ahead and order donkeys at the restaurant.

Speaker 2 31:03

No, I haven't done that, luckily.

Speaker 1 31:05

No, that's great, Simona. I've got one more question for you and I think I know the answer to this, but is the grass greener on the other side?

Speaker 2 31:16

You know, like Tanya said, it's not a question of the grass being greener on one side or the other side, it's what you bring to it. And yeah, like she said, you know, whatever manure you had, it's still with you and you can either use it to fertilize this new patch or not use it for good. So, honestly, personally my experience has been more positive than negative and although obviously there are things about South Africa that I miss, I am very happy here and I'm really glad we made the change. But then again, for me this is coming closer to family, and I know for a lot of people the hard part is being away from family. So that's why my story is maybe a little bit different, because I only left one aunt in South Africa and everyone else is this side.

Speaker 1 32:22

Well, that's great, simona. Thank you for sharing your story. It was absolutely amazing. Nice, refreshing look on Spain. Awesome, warren, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 32:32

What an amazing conversation with Simona, from adjusting to the Spanish culture and navigating life in Spain. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe and share it with anyone thinking about making the move. And hey, don't forget, we need sponsors to keep South Africans Abroad going. If you want to sponsor the show, head over to saabroadpodcastcom and becomea sponsor. Also, leave your comments and suggestions and we'd love to hear from you. Simona, thanks again for sharing your story. It's been a blast and to our listeners. Check you Tuesday.