Looking back at 2024…and forward to 2025 (and more travel).
Writing these year-end posts has been a ritual since I started this blog in 2013. I always say it: I do these year-end posts as much for ourselves as for our readers. It allows me to reflect on the past year and compare what we achieved against the expectations we had for the year. It marks where we are at a point in time and gives us thought on what we can do to maximize our happiness. I admit I often look back at some of my old recaps to remember some of the places we’ve been and recapture certain memories.
Our recap from last year: Looking back at 2023…and forward to 2024 (a year of continued changes…)
As in 2023, we moved in 2024: this time from Antequera to Granada. There were a few reasons for that which I’ll get into. We’ve now lived in 3 different cities and towns in Spain within 4 years. That says a lot.
I’ll be honest…long term, I’m not sure Spain is for us. I’ll talk about that. I’ll also talk about options: because we’ll get permanent residency in late 2025 which will give us many more options.
Overall, 2024 was a very good year*. All about that and more below.
*Until December 31st. I had this recap all written up and then we got the news. I’´ll cover that.
A quick summary of 2024
January
It’s funny how apartment issues always seem to happen in January. January 2018 was when our landlord in Split (Croatia) told us that he would be selling the apartment we were staying in. It put us in a tough spot and would lead to us leaving Croatia in March of that year. That would eventually lead us to coming to Spain.
We were in a brand-new apartment in Antequera. It should have been perfect but the first 8 months had been full of never ending problems: electrical issues, plumbing issues, problems installing wifi (we had ‘radio wifi´ the first 2 months of our stay). The owners had taken tons of shortcuts in the construction of the building. The breaking point came when we came back from our 2-month trip to Mexico and found the apartment riddled with mold. Green spotches on the ceiling, walls etc. And we had it good…our downstairs neighbour had it so bad that it grew on her clothes and furniture. The owners as usual always had an excuse ¨there was a leak up the street and the water infiltrated the building”. The plumber had looked at me and rolled his eyes…
There was more to it than that. While Antequera was a beautiful city, it was very provincial and we felt isolated. I wrote all about it here.
It was actually Lissette who said it “life is short. Let’s go somewhere else when our lease ends in April, maybe just travel”.
That’s what would lead to us leaving Antequera.
But we still had a few months before leaving…
February
February is a great time to travel around Spain: it’s not hot, there are few tourists, prices are low.
We decided that we’d spend 2 weeks exploring the Costa del Sol to the west of Malaga: places like Torremolinos, Benalmadena, Fuengirola, Mijas, Marbella and Estepona (Marbella and Mijas were highlights). Lots of nice towns but also some touristy places that have nothing going for them except for the accessibility of sun, beaches and cheap beer. I wrote about it here: The Best of the Costa del Sol.
March
We had initially thought of leaving Antequera and just travelling around Spain. In March I spoke to our lawyer about our plans and she poured cold water on them: “In order to apply for permanent residency, you will have to show 5 years of empadronamiento to confirm you were living in Spain. This is a mandatory document and without it, you will not be able to get Permanent Residency”.
* empadronamiento, or a “padrón”, is a document you obtain from the municipality you reside in which proves that you are a resident. How to get a padrón? Well, the most common way is to show them a minimum 6 month lease.
The bottom line is that we couldn’t just travel staying in short-term apartments: we would have to get a lease somewhere, at least until we completed the 5 years of “empadronamiento” that would help us obtain permanent residency.
So any hopes of getting back to a version of full-time travel were squashed. We would have to live somewhere for the year and a half that we would need to fulfil the remaining term of our residency.
So where to go? We decided that our new home base in Spain would be the city of Granada.
If you want to read about the process that brought us to Granada: Where to live as a retiree in Spain? Places…and comparing Theory vs Reality.
April
We’ve found ourselves getting into “minimalist” mode over the last 2 years. I think a lot of that has to do with wanting to get away from having a permanent base and just wanting to travel again the way we used to. When we left Nerja for Antequera in 2023 we had gotten rid of almost all the belongings that we had hung on to (from Montreal to Split to Zagreb to Nerja). That accounted for about 80% of our worldly belongings. What was left was mostly more practical stuff and some personal things that we just weren’t ready to get rid of (some African paintings, some family souvenirs, my collections of model planes, coins and stamps).
We decided that we’d have to get rid of our remaining things before moving to Granada. We donated some to a dog shelter (they also have a store so all the stuff was sold for a good cause) and I gave my personal things to an old man who I knew from the corner restaurant – he reminded me of my father and he had told me that he was a collector. So I gave him my old coins and stamps…It was difficult to give away but made me feel better having them in the hands of someone who would value them.
April was also spent visiting some of the highlights of the region; doing the Caminito del Rey, Torcal de Antequera (both are amazing and absolutely worth a visit), and visiting villages such of Zahara de la Sierra, Olvera and Setinil de las Bodegas.
May
On the first of May we moved to Granada in a taxi along with what was left of our belongings: 2 backpacks, 2 cabin-sized suitcases, and a few bags full of linens and pots, pans, plates and glasses. It was too much to take on the train but it fit fine in a taxi.
We had rented an Airbnb apartment “off the books” for 650 Euros/mo. The goal was 1) to see if we liked Granada enough to live, 2) to find ourselves an apartment.
The apartment was in the Bola de Oro neighbourhood of Granada, along the Genil river, which is a great area (didn’t love the apartment but the neighbourhood is great).
It didn’t take us long to decide that we liked Granada and that we´d try to find ourselves an apartment here.
June
It took us a month to find an apartment in Granada. It’s not easy finding an apartment in Spain these days and even harder to find one in Granada. Tips here on finding an apartment in Granada if you need help.
The month was spent mostly getting settled in, taking the tram to the Ikea at the Sierra Nevada shopping center for odds and ends and catching up on the blog (the apartment in Bola de Oro wasn’t conducive to working).
July and August
Very, very hot months and we suffered a bit having an apartment with no AC. For people thinking of visiting Spain in July and August – don’t do it. It’s not worth a stroke.
We enjoyed the new apartment, watched the UEFA Football Championship on our TV (which Spain won). In August we binged on the Olympics which took place in Paris.
Evenings we´d often go out for tapas, we have a whole bunch of places in our neighbourhood.
September and October
At the beginning of September the temperatures got bearable again and we started visiting some of the highlights of Granada. Most people don’t know this, but many of the highlights are free. You just have to know where to book them and have to do it in advance. It’s how we visited the Granada Cathedral, the Royal Chapel, Cartuja Monastery, Monastery of Saint Jerome, Abbey of Sacromonte and St. Nicolas Church.
I have a post on all these sites with instructions on how to see them for free; Seeing 6 of the Top Granada Highlights for Free.
November
November was spent in Mexico visiting my mother. I arrived 36 hours late after my flight from Granada – Madrid was delayed by 3 hours, resulting in missing my connecting flight to Mexico City. What’s worse is that I spent 6 hours in the Iberia customer service line waiting to be rebooked. The whole story here. Iberia customer service is pure shit. I currently have a 600 Euro claim pending with them under EU regulation 261/2004 which provides compensation when flights (on EU airlines) are delayed by more than 3 hours to the final destination. I write about that here.
Other than that, a great time spent in Mexico. My mother lives in San Miguel de Allende but on this visit we also went to Morelia, Guadalajara, Ajijic, Chapala and Tequila. I have a soft spot for Mexico and its people.
December
Back in Granada. Catching up on blogging stuff, dental work (and a root canal) and enjoying winter temperatures. Daytime temps usually go up to about 18C, nighttime around 2C. For people who like distinct seasons, Granada is great. We both like sleeping with the window open, snuggled up under our blankets.
December 31st update
Our landlord had been acting funny. We thought something was up. So I paid January’s rent a week in advance and asked him (in writing) point blank: “We’d like to renew our rental contract when it expires at the end of May. Are you still interested?”
It took 5 days to answer. December 31st I received a voice mail “We won’t be renewing the contract, our son will be moving into the apartment in June”.
The real reason is that they want to sell the apartment. But when an owner tells you that a family member is going to move in you basically have no recourse.
I detail the whole story here.
The bottom line is that 2025 is going to be yet another year when we’ll be moving into another apartment.
SUMMARIZING 2024
2024 wasn’t the most exciting year. And again, the year revolved around finding and settling into a new base in Spain. It looks like that will happen again in 2025.
We came to a bit of a realization this year. Granada is definitely the best base of all the bases we’ve had so far in Spain, a beautiful and historic city that’s vibrant but also very manageable. But, as I said at the top, we’re not sure if Spain is for us. As I mention in that post, it just feels like we’re trying to fit a round peg into a square hole when it comes to Spain. Nothing has come simple. These stories with various landlords are just reflective of everything we’ve experienced in Spain. Everything. We almost expect it now, so much so that we have a term for it; “we just got Spained”.
There’s a lot of great things about the country and, speaking Spanish, we thought it would be easy. The truth is that it hasn’t.
Our Plans for 2025
Over the past year, Mapping Spain has become our main blog, doubling the traffic we get on Bbqboy. There are two reasons for that: 1) we are in Spain right now and content comes easy, 2) There are so many people interested in travelling or settling in Spain that it’s just much easier to promote our content.
We’ll continue growing the blog. In February we’ll be doing a 3-week trip along the coasts of Almeria, Murcia and Alicante provinces. There are lots of historic cities in this region as well as interesting coastal towns. We also plan on doing a lot of day and weekend trips in the Granada region, visiting places like Montefrio, Guadix and Salobrena. There’s no shortage of places to visit.
We’re also looking to revive The Travels of Bbqboy and Spanky. 2025 will be a move in that direction. We had a trip planned for the spring which would have taken us through southern France, exploring places like Carcassonne, Toulouse, Bordeaux, and the French Basque. This 2nd trip is now in question. We might be searching for an apartment or moving at that time.
But late 2025/early 2026 is when things should get interesting.
In late 2025 we should get our Spanish permanent residency. That leaves us with a lot of options.
If you asked us a few weeks ago, I would have told you that our preferred option would be to maintain our base in Granada and to travel 6 months of the year. Finding a decent apartment anywhere is difficult right now and we would have preferred having a base to come back to. That might still happen if/when we find a place but…
The other option is to go back to full-time travel, as we did from 2014 – 2020. I’ve mentioned that it’s been on our minds constantly since we settled in Spain. There are a lot of places we haven’t been and we’d love to go back to a life of “slow travel”.
I’m thinking more and more that the stars are lining up for us to go back to travelling. Maybe late 2025 is when we get back to “full-time travel 2.0”.
Personal goals. One of my goals is to improved my Spanish in 2024. It is decent, I can get by in any situation. But it’s not good to the point where I can have an extended conversation with someone in Spanish. And I kind of hate it when we go somewhere and people end up using Lissette as my translator (it’s great having a spouse who speaks perfect Spanish. But the downside is that when people see that, they won’t bother with trying to communicate with me anymore). So 2025 is the year when I try to improve my Spanish. And it’s not just because I live in Spain; I also spend a lot of time in Mexico because my mother lives there. We also want to explore more of Central and South America in coming years. So there are a lot of reasons to improve my Spanish.
There’s a lot to digest with the news of the apartment and things could change/evolve quickly. But 2025 might end up being a year of big changes in our lives.
All the best to everyone for a great 2025!
See our past recaps in the Travel Diaries section of the blog.
Finally, this is the one time of year where I beg and remind you that if you enjoy reading the blog, to please keep us in mind when booking hotels, flights, tours or car rentals. It doesn’t cost you anything and it helps support us in travelling and writing the free content you see on this blog. This page will help you out with that. You might not be travelling anytime soon but if you remember us when you do we very much appreciate it.
Thanks for your continued support!
happy trails you two. I love following your adventures.
Thank you Victoria! All the best in 2025!