On a more positive note, I’ve not struggled for work yet and am still getting new enquiries. I have been here for five years already though, speak the language fairly well and have made quite a lot of Spanish friends and contacts within the scope of my work. You would have to shoot me first to get me back to the UK!!
I’m one of those that believes there’s always work opportunities if you’re willing to look for them and I’ve actually received a couple of contracts from Spaniards in an urbanisation I’ve been working in recently for some fellow British expats.
If you’ve work that you can do from home that’s definate, then that’s great. If your partner is prepared to integrate and learn the language, in order to improve his work prospects, even better.
Internet connections vary throughout Spain and I would say that if the property your renting is in a town, suck it and see when you get there. In most towns the infrastructure is sufficient enough for good broadband access and there’s also plenty of WiFi hotspots around.
I live in a rural part of Granada, in a valley, with no fixed land-line available. Up to now I’ve been reliant upon sitting up the hill from my house in a deckchair amongst the olives with a laptop and a Movistar 3G modem dongle. There I get speeds of up to a steady 3mbps. In the house though, I had only been getting a sluggish 50kbps through GPRS. In the last two weeks and much to my surprise, I suddenly started getting 1mbps 3.5G connection. Speaking to my Spanish neighbour I was told that the local antenna has been upgraded and the signal strength has been boosted significantly. Obviously as nice as sitting amongst the olives is, working at my desktop PC is preferable.
So, it’s not all doom and gloom. Moving to Spain was the best thing I’ve ever done. I’ve more stable work than I had in the UK, the cost of living overall is much less and the majority of the locals are fantastic.
Good luck with your move. I’m sure you’ll enjoy your “new life” in Spain. 😊