Never Retire: 34 Days Away From Moving To Spain

It’s Thanksgiving morning in the United States. I'm writing this from bed on my last Thanksgiving in California.

Just a quick post to thank you for subscribing to the Never Retire newsletter. On Sunday, we pick back up with the European travel flashbacks. These are some of my favorite posts as I look back on them. Great memories that provide even more physical, psychological and emotional energy for the move.

The flashback posts will continue through the first half of the month. I intend to write in the format and spirit I used in those installments when we land and begin to settle in Spain.

Covering the day-to-day from every single angle—large and small—with the aim of providing the most personal and useful account of what it's really like to live in a foreign country. To move abroad. And, in the process, helping inform the Never Retire iteration of the life you want to live now and going forward.

A few notes—

• Thanks to the recent new subscribers who found the newsletter via a story I wrote for SF Gate. Maybe give it some love so it climbs the most popular list. But—before you do that—read the rest of today's post and upgrade to a paid subscription!

• As you might know, we fly into Barcelona on January 2nd. We'll spend fin de semana de Reyes Magos there, then take the train to Valencia on January 6th where we will apply for our residence permit while in temporary housing, reserved for 40 nights. Two train tickets on Renfe, including seat selection, 45 euros.

• I also booked two, one-way plane tickets out of the European Union in case the airline or passport control asks for a return ticket as we head to Spain. Forty euros for two tickets from Valencia to London on Ryanair.

And—finally—it’s nice to see

Stories From Sevilla

back with a great post this morning. One I will refer back to often because she describes me well as I struggle to get my Spanish where I think it should be.

The way she ended the post nicely summed up part of the rationale for making this move I often try to explain—

Adding learning a language to the mix of life’s myriad lessons facilitates an evergreen environment where you remain elastic. That elasticity becomes the foundation for how you move about in other parts of your life - all thanks to the subtle effects of living life in your non-native language.

That's about so much more than language.

On the language, for tomorrow morning’s lesson, I'm taking my Spanish Spanish instructor on a tour of my neighborhood. Vamos a ver cómo va eso.

Hasta entonces—y te mantendré informado—Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias.

I might take my instructor on a ride in a driverless car!