Spain - The Start (pt.1)
Every winter I ask myself the same question: “What am I doing here, where the air hurts my face?” It’s a fair question, and I’m not the only Minnesotan to ask this. Born in Texas, yet I consider myself Minnesotan as I was raised there since very early childhood. Minnesota winters can be difficult to experience for even the most steadfast northerners. Winters are long, unforgiving, harsh and often times the shades of gray ever present day after day make one feel an onslaught of depression that has nowhere to go.
Devante and I started dreaming of living in Europe soon after our visit to Scotland and France back in August of 2019. We saw a different lifestyle that we felt drawn to, it was inexplainable other than a pull in our very deepest selves. We immediately started researching what was needed to make this dream a reality. At this point in time, we were planning on early retirement possibilities in Spain, where we traveled in November of 2019. We both have Spanish heritage, and there would be no language barrier with Devante at my side and my learning more than the handful of words I had come to recognize. It took quite a while to decide on our city, but in the end, we chose Calpé, which is in the province of Alicante on the Costa Blanca.
But then, Covid hit and work management and life sort of just took over. We still researched and dreamed, the actual plan being quite a distance away. Then George Floyd was murdered in the streets of Minneapolis and people got louder with their thoughts and more emboldened in their delivery. George Floyd’s murder came after Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, and before Tony McDade and Rayshard Brooks, but his death gave much needed insight and exploration into their murders and the tactics and freedoms of the police.
We watched as our country became less and less of what we had thought it was, or perhaps the veil was lifted to reveal what it had been all along, which I think is a more accurate statement. This added a sense of greater pull and urgency to our plans, sometimes quietly, sometimes tearfully, sometimes loudly. Operation Metro Surge collapsed the timeline — what was supposed to be a future plan became the plan for the “now.”
As our lease was ending at our apartment in May, we decided to leave Northeast Minneapolis and travel to Texas to visit with my mom and her husband Mario for a few months while we waited for our Visas to go through the processing stage. This would give us much needed time with my mom before we left, as she felt she would not be able to travel to Spain with her health issues. I quit my beloved job managing HAUS Salon NE, and we put all of our belongings into storage, in the event that someone returned and needed to set up an apartment. During this time, Bri would take a month off of work and road trip out to Washington and Oregon with her friend Marissa. They planned on camping, hostel staying, hotel staying, sight-seeing and running marathons they had been training for. It was a wonderful opportunity for Bri to stretch her legs and see the country before she came with us to Spain.
The big day came - we rented a car and drove down to Texas and to my mom’s home. It was a soft place to wait; her home was a large rambler with a fenced in back yard and patio to protect from the Texas sunshine and heat. What can I say about Texas with its heat and dust and wind and sun? We were in Odessa, which is my birthplace in West Texas. It is hot, and dry and brown. Everything is brown. The buildings are brown or some shade of light brown. The grass is brown in many places that aren’t being watered. The city itself does not seem to mind the brown grass or care to use water in that capacity. Some places like post offices had green grass, but most didn’t. Buildings are one story and sprawl out on top of large parking lots. I will say- there is a lot of free parking everywhere in Texas. Every business has a large parking lot and no fees to park, unlike Minneapolis, this was impressive for us! We were only living in Minneapolis proper for 2 years, how fast you get used to having to pay for parking everywhere you go. Even our apartment complex had charged us for parking!
Grocery stores in Odessa are interesting. They are large and have a very fun and impressive section for home goods as well as groceries! There was a “fresh tortilla” section where the tortillas were soft, and warm and abundant. I bought some and they were so incredibly good! They sell wine and beer in grocery stores, it’s almost as if liquor stores are for actual liquor and not beer and wine. There’s a massive variety in the grocery stores. People also do not stay to the right and flow up and down the aisles in an orderly fashion. They go wherever, whenever, however. You must get comfortable weaving. The deli lady spoke to me in a very twangy accent, it was almost surreal. Anyway, back to the move...
Initially we were guaranteed movement with the Digital Nomad Visa. Spain's Digital Nomad Visa lets non-EU remote workers legally live there while working for a foreign employer or their own foreign-based business. It's typically valid for up to a year initially, (unless you apply from within Spain, which we were set to do, then it is valid for 3 years) with renewal options, and requires proof of remote income, health insurance, and that most of the work/income comes from outside Spain. Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, and without going into too many details as to the “why”, we discovered we needed to pivot and apply for the Highly Qualified Professional Visa (HQP). Later when I blog on “how to” and “what’s really involved” in a transatlantic move, I will divulge all the dirty details.
With our flights looming mid-August, this necessary change in late July created all sorts of things to stress about. This did change how we had to approach our timing and the overall pathway to our move. I won’t sugar coat it – it was frustrating, uncertain, disappointing and even harrowing as there were moments when it felt like our carefully laid dreams were slipping through our fingers in real time in front of our very eyes. There were many sleepless nights, tears shed, and actual nausea from the waiting and not knowing. The saving grace in all this was that the necessary paperwork was thankfully already in place from our Digital Nomad effort, so at least there was that. We had also purchased health insurance for Spain, which is necessary as well. This allowed us to cancel our health insurance options with Devante’s work, so that saved us so much money. If we had been able to go forward with the Digital Nomad Visa, it would be a relatively simple move. With this new wrinkle, we learned a LOT in a short time about all the options out there.
On top of all of this, our oldest son was getting married – so there was planning happening there as well. We were doing what we could from Texas. Facetime calls, Venmo transfers, program designing and printing, rehearsal dinner space renting. We also had to confirm and double check our bookings in Minneapolis for the week of the wedding. We were renting a car and driving back up with a planned arrival for August 9th. The wedding was August 14th, and the flights were August 16th. Again, if the original Visa plan had been an option, the stress would have been more “happy stress” and less “I’m going to have to stifle my emotions and give this wedding the happiness it deserves” stress. Letting go of fear and embracing love in this kind of situation is easier when you have a son like ours and a daughter-in-law-to-be like Katie.
Our first order of business after we arrived in Minneapolis on Sunday, August 9th, was an appointment for Paco on Monday morning at our vet. We needed a Certified Health Certificate done, which - to abide by requirements of travel with a pet to the EU, said we must have that certificate no earlier than 10 days prior to our travel. Also, you need a PHYSICAL copy of the certificate complete with the raised seal. Spain does not accept digital copies. The process involved the vet examining Paco, uploading his vaccination history and overall health info to the VEHCS website, after which it would be processed and shipped out from Raleigh, North Carolina via FedEx to us to carry physically into Spain. We had to pay for priority overnight shipping in order to adhere to the 10 day rule. Our flights were on Sunday, August 16th, so with a 1-3 business day processing turn around, we should have had that certificate in our hands Thursday or Friday at the latest.
Paco 
Livewell Animal Hospital
Our vet uploaded the certificate on that Monday, August 10th at 11am, along with our payment for Priority Overnight shipping with FedEx. We waited half patiently, half impatiently. Wednesday came along, and we received an email that the certificate was sent back to the vet for correction. At first we were incredulous- how could the vet, who had done thousands of these, make an error that could cost us so much? The vet corrected the certificate and sent it back within 5 minutes of receiving it. It wasn’t so much of a “correction” as it was an additional piece of information that Spain was requiring now that they didn’t previously. We had hoped that since it was looked at by a human, and was already being dealt with, perhaps it would go back in the system by jumping the line to the employee that was dealing with it. Then Wednesday came to a close and on Thursday we made our phone calls again. Nothing. Still pending. We hoped that maybe they would get it out Friday, so that we had a Saturday delivery.
In the meantime, we were in full swing with the wedding rehearsal dinner. We did our best to put the certificate out of our minds so that we could be in the moment with the two people so close to our hearts that were blissfully preparing for their big day. We were relatively successful, but then Devante and my eyes would meet across a room, in a moment, and we would both acknowledge the sting of our situation for a brief moment. Then, mercifully, the moment would pass and once again we were immersed in the joy and happiness that only comes with an occasion such as our son’s wedding. We were surrounded by our kids, our friends, our family, our new family, and nothing would ever bring us back to this moment in time.
Saturday morning came, and with it, a brunch at our new daughter-in-law’s family home. We had loaded up our car with all of our belongings that were coming with us to Spain and drove to her parent’s home. We ate a lovely breakfast and then said our goodbyes to our son and his new wife, along with my parents, our daughter-in-law Katie’s parents, friends and new extended family. We silently drove to our hotel back in Bloomington, realizing that any last shred of hope we had of the certificate arriving Saturday by some miracle was gone.
We made the rough decision to have Bri and I fly out on the tickets we had, as we had a 2 week apartment stay in Granada, Spain booked and paid for, (our place in Calpé wasn't available until September 1st) along with a shuttle from Malaga to Granada. The tickets we purchased months ago into Spain were dirt cheap, so changing all of our tickets would have been financially stupid as tickets were now over $1,000 more per ticket. And while my dear friend Marlo was kindly willing to let Devante and Paco stay with her until the certificate was taken care of, hosting our whole family for an indefinite amount of time would have been a lot to ask. So poor Devante and Paco brought Bri and me to the airport, and I felt like a jerk saying goodbye to my husband, it simply wasn’t fair. He had been looking forward to this, perhaps even more than me. Yet we knew that I should be in the air with Bri should there be a nosedive, that’s just the reality of thinking about this from every angle.
Bri and I boarded the plane and took off for our connection in Newark. Once landed, we had a few hours before we boarded for Malaga. We were both decently cranky and tired. The night of the wedding we had gotten very little sleep, maybe 3 hours. Then the next day was full of last minute hauling to storage and prepping everything we needed to access the apartment here in Granada, and separating our luggage contents once more to hopefully fall under the 50lb weight limit allowed each suitcase. (Bri went over by 2 pounds, and my suitcase was absolutely stuffed and could not take anymore. I ended up putting her two books and a pair of sandals in my carryon.) Saturday night we had probably received 5 hours of sleep. So here we were in Newark- hungry but unable to really find anything appealing, and already tired. We looked forward to the possibility of sleeping on the plane.
As luck would have it, we sat on the tarmac for an hour due to weather. When we finally took off, we were both just not speaking out of sheer lack of will and energy. After dinner on the plane, we both tried to sleep. I would say we took baby naps through the night. There were two crying infants nearby and every so often the announcements rang through the cabin. I know – noise cancelling headphones are the answer, but we just don’t fly enough to justify the cost. Perhaps going forward...
We landed in Malaga at 8:20am, and thankfully deplaned faster than what is the norm. The airport was hot and stuffy; the air did not move at all. Welcome to Spain. After getting our luggage, we went through customs which was surprisingly quick and easy. We came up into the main part of the airport, which was air conditioned. I was so thankful for that. The first order of business was a good cup of coffee, (we didn’t drink coffee or alcohol on the plane so we could stay hydrated) juice and water. We had about 4 hours to wait for our shuttle to Granada. The apartment didn’t accept check-ins until 3pm, so after walking around a bit, we got comfy on a bench in the Malaga airport.
The shuttle ride was 2 hours. Bri slept on and off, and when she wasn’t sleeping, she kept her eyes closed. (Probably pretending she wasn’t there, which is what I would have done had my ass been smaller. As it was, I sort of spilled over the side and it wasn’t the most comfy situation.) It was a beautiful drive to be fair. There were mountains and hills and tunnels and gorgeous villas nestled in the hills overlooking the sweeping views in every direction. When we finally rolled into Granada, at first I was underwhelmed by what I had read was a destination city. It was run-down looking and there was a lot full of damaged cars piled on a multi-level ramp. The city had had an earthquake the previous Saturday, and I suspected this was the evidence of damage that we were seeing. However, as we came into Granada proper, I could see the reason this city was hailed as gorgeous. It had an old world look to it and was everything you would suspect a foreign little city would look like.
We exited the shuttle and found ourselves outside in the bright, hot Spanish sunshine. It was roughly 90º with no breeze. Now we had to get a taxi to our apartment. I thought I could understand Spanish more than I actually can. Turns out I was doing a lot of deducing around situations and circumstance and not actually understanding. Also, they speak fast here. We did manage to figure out we needed to get in line for the taxi. The line moved quickly as the taxis were coming in hot and people jumped in them and were whisked away. I brought up our address to show the driver, who nodded and put our suitcases in the trunk. We hopped in and away we went. By this time, I was exhausted, as was Bri. Yet we managed to make our way into the apartment with a code and took the little elevator up to the 3rd floor.
We entered our temporary apartment, which was cool and welcoming. There was a set of doors out to a little balcony off the living room, and the sofa was opened up to reveal a crisply made bed. The kitchen was cute and had a yellow refrigerator and freezer, a stove with two burners and a convection microwave. A washing machine and a dishwasher were both beneath the counter, hidden by cabinet doors. There was one bedroom with another crisp white duvet and four pillows. There was a closet and another set of doors leading to a separate terrace. The bathroom was large and cool with tile and a modern look, despite the building itself being romantically historical appearing. There was a round dining table and an entertainment unit with a TV. (We still haven’t watched it even after a week here.) Finally, we had made it.
Our Bedroom Bri's Bed The little kitchen with dishwasher & washing machine hidden under the counters. Yellow Fridge! Little dining table where I sit and blog during siesta Bright and efficient bathroom! My first cup of coffee here on the terrace
We debated sleeping but decided instead to stay up so that we could adjust to the time easier. It was already late afternoon by this point, so we put our things away and ventured out in search of a grocery store. There was one about a 3 minute walk from our apartment. We were delighted to see they had a nice variety of things, and we ended up with two full bags. I brought my little canvas bag, but we quickly filled that and needed to purchase another bag for our treasures. We came back to the apartment and put everything away and realized we were too exhausted to cook anything. Out we went again, this time in search of food. Close by there was a little take out place where we purchased chicken shawarma to bring “home”, where we gratefully wolfed it down and I enjoyed one glass of red wine from our grocery store purchases.
After a WhatsApp phone call in to Devante, who by this time was feeling sad and physically run down (we later found out he was coming down with a terrible summer cold) and whom I was truly missing, I showered and changed into my pajamas. I made it to 9pm, when I just crashed into the cool sheets with the beautiful cloud pillows and blessed comfortable mattress. We did it, I thought, as my eyes closed into blessed slumber, we did it.
Stay tuned for an earth-shaking Part 2!
Comments