Never Retire Flashback: Madrid, February 2023

37 days until we move to Spain

Going through the Never Retire newsletter coverage of our February 2023 and 2024 trips to Europe brings back great memories, but also makes me cringe a little. At the same time, it’s interesting to see how our perceptions and knowledge of Spain and my Spanish has improved during the last two years.

For example, just before the two posts you see today, our thinking was that we would live in Madrid. Turns out that—as much as we ended up loving Madrid—we don’t want to live there. Mainly because it’s landlocked.

As we spend the rest of 2024 looking back with food porn and assorted lifestyle observations from urban Spain, Italy and France, you can watch the progression. If needed, I’ll make a few updates along the way.

But—most importantly—this is the type of format I intend to use in 2025 and beyond as we settle in Spain. Chronicling our days in the country, noting the things we end up doing in our day-to-day alongside—if applicable—how much they cost and how they help shape our semi-retired urban lifestyle. And not just food and drink, but all of the things you do when you live daily life in a place. In the process, we’ll tie these things to our settling-in process as foreigners and how you can use our experiences to help inform whatever Never Retire iteration you’re working on.

So—from Madrid, February 2023—