Never Retire: Will Valencia, Spain Feel Too Small?
Or is it the ideal size - at the neighborhood and block level - to live just the right type of urban social life?
Unsolicited, I received some interesting comments on apartment hunting/selection in a Medium article I wrote about potentially living in a part of Valencia that doesn’t even come close to following a grid-like street pattern. I adapted that article from a Never Retire newsletter post that came before it on how life feels in Spain after one week here.
Life feels unsettled. Makes sense, given that we’re waiting—patiently—for a response to our residence permit application. We’re staying in a very cool temporary apartment, but it’s temporary and not ours, in that we can’t make the little, but meaningful modifications you make when you know you’re staying for quite a while.
At the same time as feeling unsettled, it also feels right. Being in Spain makes sense. It feels pretty much how I expected it to feel. We have questions—even doubts—about how things will play out here. This—also—comes as no surprise. I’ll expand on that in today’s post.
So much of this has so much to do with exactly where we end up living. The location of our apartment will dictate—to a super meaningful extent—what our day-to-day life looks like. Taken together, this is all part of the process and part of the reason why—as anticipated—making a move like this isn’t for the faint of heart or people tied to comfort, certainty and a—(keyword)—rigid routine.
It’s a long post today. But one that I hope keeps you engaged. It gets at the heart of so much that we talk about on these pages!
But first—
I have made it a point to post daily since we moved to Spain. I am sure I will miss a day. (Although, today marks 14 days in a row!).
The idea is to give a real, on-the-ground view of what this experience is like as it unfolds.
It won’t be weekly and manicured. It will be (near)daily, messy and raw.
That’s the type of stuff I like to read. So it’s what I write.
The feedback has been great. Things are moving in the right direction at the moment. I have had people say they look forward to the daily posts. One person called it a “true insiders view.” This is what I am going for, but without the time to think and craft posts days and days out.
Thanks to all of the monthly, annual and founding memberships this week. Either way, you’re paying pennies per post. With a founding membership of $100 or more, you get comped for life, so you pay now and never pay again for—by far—the best long-term value.
Today—a general look at apartment hunting, tied to what we expect in Valencia. During and after the actual apartment hunt, a more specific look at what actually went down.
The theme heading into this endeavor might be beggars can’t be choosers, but we still have to be—somewhat—choosy.