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Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

Sunday, 7 July 2024

Travel Tips: The Best Destinations to Live in - Part Two

Welcome to Part Two of Travel Tips: The Best Destinations to Live in!

In my previous post, I wrote about the places I've lived so far, and what I liked and disliked about each of them.

And in this one, I'll be writing about the places where I'd most like to live, and also taking a look at the cities that have been judged to be the most liveable in the world.

To be honest, there are a lot of places around the globe I'd be happy to try living in for a few months or even a year, but when it comes to choosing somewhere to put down roots permanently, it's a much harder decision. Everyone has different preferences, and I'm pretty sure about mine at this stage. I know I'd like to live in a big, global city, preferably somewhere not too remote from other countries. It would also be nice to be located close to the sea, if possible.

Here are six places that I think fit the bill pretty well!


My Dream Places to Live...


London (or the surrounding area), UK



















Pros

- One of the centres of the world, both in terms of business and culture
- Lots of job opportunities
- A beautiful city, filled with incredible historic landmarks, modern skyscrapers and plenty of green spaces
- So much going on there - West End theatre is what excites me most, but there's something for everyone
- Close to mainland Europe - France, Belgium and the Netherlands are only a train ride away
- Huge public transport network
- Several airports make it easy to travel abroad

Cons

- Cost of living is the obvious one!
- Crowded and over-touristed

Why I'd Like to Live There

Hopefully, this will be where I live next! If my partner Claudio's visa application is approved, we want to make a go of things in London. We plan to work within the city itself, but we're thinking that we'll probably choose to live either on the outskirts of Greater London or a little further out. Living just outside London is not as expensive as one might imagine, and the extensive public transport network makes it easy to get into the city.

Growing up, I actually always wanted to live in London (and work as a musical theatre performer - that sadly didn't happen!), but then in my later teenage years, I became really interested in the idea of living abroad. And then as I got older, I was lucky enough to have some chances to both live and spend long periods of time in various foreign countries. I've really enjoyed all those experiences, and I hope that I'll have other similar opportunities in the future. 

But as a couple from two different countries, it's hard enough bureaucratically for Claudio and I to be able to live together in one of our own countries, let alone in a different one. London is quite a good compromise for me, as it's such a big, exciting, global city, and so different from the rest of the UK, that it kind of feels like being abroad.

Should Claudio's visa application be successful, we'll have 2.5 years in the UK. I hope that by the end of that time period, he'll have an Italian passport and I'll have an Irish one, so we'll have more options open to us. But I think we could potentially end up spending our lives in London - I feel a real excitement about the prospect of living there that I certainly didn't feel before moving to Bristol. 

Who knows what the future holds, but we're really looking forward to (hopefully) starting our London adventure very soon!



DACH region (especially Vienna) or Benelux region















Pros

- Better infrastructure and standard of living than in the UK
- Salaries are better aligned with cost of living
- Good work-life balance
- Central position within Europe makes it easy to travel all over the continent
- Lots of beautiful places to visit, from charming cities to lakes and mountains

Cons

- Not the best weather - either the same weather as England or very cold and snowy in winter, depending on the country/region
- Culturally a little less warm and welcoming than other parts of the world, so harder to integrate into

Why I'd Like to Live There

Along with the Nordic countries, the DACH and Benelux regions of Europe are considered to have some of the highest living standards in the world. While the Nordic countries are a bit too cold and dark for me, I think I'd be quite happy living somewhere like Austria or Switzerland. In fact, I did live in Austria before and made it through the winter more easily than I thought - it helps that the milder climate of the Mediterranean is only a train ride away!

Though I lived in a more rural area of Austria before, Vienna would definitely be my first choice of city in this part of the world. Other places that intrigue me are Geneva (speaking French rather than German would make life easier!), Zürich, Munich and Brussels (also French speaking).

However, Claudio is not quite so enamoured with the Germanic parts of Europe as I am. He has felt much more at home visiting the UK and France than visiting Sweden and the Netherlands, for example. So we probably won't end up living in this part of the world in the future, but I still think it's a nice option.



Spain (especially Barcelona)

















Photo by AXP Photography from pexels.com

Pros

- Warm, sunny weather most of the year
- Lots of nice beaches
- Good infrastructure
- Lower cost of living than in the UK
- More relaxed lifestyle

Cons

- Lower salaries than in northern Europe
- Very unwilling to hire foreigners
- Heatwaves in summer, which are getting worse due to global warming
- Many cities, including Barcelona, are very over-touristed

Why I'd Like to Live There

People have often suggested that Spain would be a good option for me and Claudio, as it's not far from the UK and it's a Spanish-speaking country, which would suit both of us.

Although I've been to Spain several times in my life (to Menorca, Málaga, Valencia and Madrid) and enjoyed all those trips, I've never loved it the way I have other countries, like Italy, for example. However, I've always felt it would be a good place to live - it's a country that has invested a lot in its infrastructure, so has very good public transport, among other things. Plus, I speak the language, and enjoy the warmer weather.

Though I've never been to Barcelona, it's the city in Spain that appeals to me the most as a place to live. (I did once take a connecting flight there, and saw the W Hotel and Barceloneta Beach (pictured above) while coming in to land at the airport - it looked amazing!) What I like about it is that it's a big, global city with some beautiful neighbourhoods to explore and plenty of great beaches. I really like the idea of living in a city right on the beach, and being able to go swimming and sunbathing after work!

However, although Claudio and I both applied for various jobs in Barcelona, neither of us managed to get even one interview. I actually spoke to a careers advisor about this, and she explained that Spain (followed by France) is probably the European country that is least open to hiring foreigners, particularly in the kinds of industries that we work in (marketing and finance). She said that our best bet would be to get our EU passports (easier said than done) and actually go out there and look for jobs within the country itself. Even then, it would be a challenge, as they would still choose to hire Spanish people in most cases.

Maybe a digital nomad visa would be a good option, but with our plans to live in London now pretty much set in stone, it's an idea we've put to the side for the time being.



France (especially Paris)



















Pros

- France is a beautiful country with many different types of landscapes, from snowy mountains to Mediterranean beaches, and Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world
- Known for its good food and cultural influence
- Good infrastructure compared to the UK
- Good work-life balance
- More relaxed lifestyle

Cons

- Not as efficient as countries like Germany (there are often train strikes, for example)
- Very bureaucratic
- Not very willing to hire foreigners

Why I'd Like to Live There

When I first started thinking about living abroad, France was the country at the top of my list. While studying for my GCSE in French, I fell in love with the language and culture, and dreamed of one day living in a cute apartment in Paris or a villa by the sea in the south of France.

Then I went off to study languages at university, and spent time in both the north and the south of the country for my Year Abroad, which I wrote about in my previous post. The French part of my Year Abroad was a bit of a mess - I wasn't able to get a decent work placement through my university, and so had to resort to finding more casual kinds of placement by myself. In summer 2017, I went to work as an au pair in the south of the country, and a year later, I started a placement at a holiday park in the north. For different reasons, both were pretty awful experiences, and I had to leave early. Both times, my mum quickly sorted something out for me using Halsbury Travel (now called Blue Stamp Travel) - in 2017, I did a language course in Montpellier, which I absolutely loved, and in 2018, I did two work experience placements and a language course in Rouen, which I didn't enjoy quite so much. Prior to that, I also spent a week in Paris, unsuccessfully looking for a placement and accommodation. 

The chaos of that year, and the fact that it was so difficult to find decent work, did make me a lot less enthusiastic about living there in the future. But then last year I started my current job, in which the work itself is based in France, although I work from the UK, and it made me start thinking again about moving back to France someday. And then in December, we had a wonderful trip to Paris, and I couldn't help dreaming about what it would be like to live there.

Unfortunately, France isn't much better than Spain for hiring foreigners, but I haven't quite given up on the idea just yet!




















Photo by Belle Co from pexels.com

Pros

- Great weather
- Beautiful beaches
- Huge country with unique flora and fauna
- Good base for exploring places like Southeast Asia, the South Pacific and New Zealand
- High standard of living

Cons

- Very difficult to emigrate to
- High cost of living (though salaries are also high)
- Very far away from most of the rest of the world
- Danger of climate-related disasters, like wildfires
- Spiders!

Why I'd Like to Live There

Again, as with Spain, I'm really attracted to the idea of living in a big city by the beach somewhere hot. (Sometimes I wonder why I ended up being born in a rural area in the west of England!) Sydney is the Australian city that appeals to me the most, but I also like the idea of living in Melbourne or Perth. Australia is known as the lifestyle capital of the world, and I definitely have this image in my head of living a really active, outdoorsy kind of lifestyle there and spending lots of time at the beach.

I think, if I hadn't met Claudio, I probably would have gone out there after university, either to travel around for a few months or to do a year's working holiday. In fact, we were thinking about doing a working holiday there together at one point, but unfortunately, Chileans have to be under 30 in order to get a working holiday visa (pretty unfair, given that British people can get one at under 35!). New Zealand would have been an option for us, but it doesn't hold quite the same appeal for us as Australia does, though I know it's a lovely place.

I once applied for a job that was based in London but which also had offices in Sydney, so employees had the opportunity to go and work out there for a few months if they wished. I actually feel that a position like that would really be the dream, perhaps even more so than actually living in Australia permanently. So it would be brilliant to land an opportunity like that sometime in the future!
















Image by Nextvoyage from pexels.com

Pros

- High standard of living
- Very friendly and welcoming people
- Lots of amazing areas of natural beauty

Cons

- Very long, cold winters

Why I'd Like to Live There

Though I haven't bothered to get my passport yet, I'm actually a Canadian citizen, because my mum was born there. Funnily enough, she only has an Irish passport now, and we have way more family roots in Ireland than in Canada, yet I don't automatically have Irish citizenship. I used to think it was much more unique and interesting to be Canadian than to be Irish, but since Brexit, I've definitely changed my mind about that!

Having said that though, I know I'm very lucky to have the option to go and live in Canada if I wish, and it is something I've considered. In summer 2010, we went on a family holiday to Toronto, Montréal and the Niagara Falls, and I absolutely loved it. The people there are the friendliest out of every country I've ever been to, and it's such a beautiful place. The only thing that puts me off are the winters!

I do think that if life doesn't work out as planned for me and Claudio in the UK, Canada will most likely be our next destination.


The Most Liveable Cities in 2024


1) Vienna, Austria
2) Copenhagen, Denmark
3) Zürich, Switzerland
4) Melbourne, Australia
5) Calgary, Canada/Geneva, Switzerland
7) Sydney, Australia/Vancouver, Canada
9) Osaka, Japan/Auckland, New Zealand

The 10 cities listed above have been chosen as the most liveable in the world in 2024. It's interesting to see which places are objectively judged to be the best to live in. A lot of them are ones that I've already mentioned in this post, which I suppose makes sense.

But at the end of the day, it's hard to tell how good a place is to live in unless you've actually tried living there yourself. That's why I'm looking forward to moving to the London area and seeing what life is really like there. I'm hoping it will be just as good if not even better than I imagine!


Check out the rest of my travel tips here!

Saturday, 21 October 2023

Charlotte's Travel Adventures is 5 Years Old!

This blog, Charlotte's Travel Adventures, is turning 5 years old, so I felt it was only right to write a post to celebrate this special anniversary!

I published my first post on the 25th October 2018, which doesn't really feel that long ago, even though a lot has happened since then. At the time, I was back at university in Nottingham, having just completed a life-changing Year Abroad, and I wanted to try to keep this whole spirit of travel and adventures going, even though my everyday life had gone back to being something more mundane, which is why I decided to start this blog.

I didn't post again until January 2019, when I wrote about my trip to Chile to visit my boyfriend Claudio, who I'd been with for about half a year at that point. And after that, I didn't write much else until I finished final exams at university in June 2019. But since then, with the exception of the first couple of months of Covid lockdowns, I've written here pretty regularly, no matter what my situation is, or whether or not I've had many opportunities to travel.

The last five years have not always been easy for me. When you leave university, it's quite a weird time, where you don't have the structure of school and university anymore, and you're thrown out into the world to figure out for yourself what you're going to do next; it's hard to know if you're making the right decisions until you can look back with the gift of hindsight. Not long after graduation, I decided that being a teacher of English as a foreign language out in Chile was what I wanted to do for the next year or two, if not longer. So I got myself TEFL qualified, started teaching online, and eventually managed to find a job at a language school in Santiago, which I planned to start at some point in 2020.

Then, of course, the pandemic happened, and life was pretty much put on hold for two years. With the exception of the last few months of 2020, when Claudio came to visit me and my family, the pandemic was a time of just having to be patient and get through each day and week at a time, while waiting to be able to get my life started again.

And then in February 2022, I was able to finally move to Chile, and since then I've been making up for lost time! I had some fantastic experiences during my 15 months in South America, and then moved to Malta for a few months to complete an internship in digital marketing, and now I've got a permanent role in the marketing sector and am currently based in the city of Bristol.

Even more excitingly, Claudio and I had a civil union in May and plan to have a proper engagement and wedding in the near future! He'll be coming to join me here in the UK later this year, and I can't wait! 

So although there were a lot of of challenges over the last five years and there will surely be more to come, I'm really happy and grateful for how things have turned out.

And there has been a lot to document on this blog! I've spent 18 months of the last two years living abroad and have been on various exciting travels over the last five years. Since starting this blog, I've travelled in 12 different countries (13 if you count England and Wales as separate countries!), 6 of which I'd never visited before.

Here are a selection of highlights...

Visiting the Atacama Desert in January 2019












































Visiting Madrid in November 2019



















Visiting Lisbon in November 2019



















Visiting Buenos Aires in February 2020



















Visiting Uruguay in February 2020



















Exploring London with Claudio in October 2020



















Visiting Stockholm in October 2020



















Exploring Cardiff with Claudio in December 2020

























Moving to Chile in February 2022



















Visiting Machu Picchu in October 2022

























Visiting Rio de Janeiro in December 2022

























Visiting the Chilean Lake District and Chiloé in April 2023



















Our civil union in May 2023

























Living in Malta between May and August 2023



















Visiting Sicily in June 2023




















I hope that in another 5 years' time, I'll still be writing on this blog and will have plenty more exciting travel adventures between now and then!

Saturday, 29 January 2022

Country Guide: Spain

Name: Spain (in Spanish: España)

Continent: Europe

Capital (and Largest) City: Madrid

Language: Spanish

Currency: Euro

Drives on the: Right

Time Zone: Central European Time

Adaptor Types: Type C and Type F

Description: Spain is a country in southwestern Europe which is known for its warm weather and Mediterranean beaches. It is also famous for its food (including tapas and paella), wine, flamenco dancing and success in football. Spain borders France, Portugal and Andorra, and its territory includes the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, and two cities in North Africa.

Why You Should Visit: Many UK tourists visit Spain every year for its beaches and nightlife, with popular destinations being Benidorm and Magaluf. But there is a lot more to it than that! Spain has an array of beautiful cities to explore, in addition to picturesque rural villages, and the Pyrenees mountain range. Personally, I've been to several different parts of the country (including Madrid, Valencia, Málaga and Menorca), but there's a lot I still want to discover on my future travels!

Fun Fact: Spain actually has five official languages: Spanish (or Castilian), Catalan/Valencian, Basque, Galician and Aranese.


My Blogposts About Spain

Charlotte's Travel Adventures

Madrid

- The Night Train From Madrid to Lisbon

Travel Tips: My Top Ten Nature Destinations (Montanejos)

My Gap Year 2014-2015 (Valencia)

- UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, Madrid)

Charlotte's Travel Adventures is 5 Years Old! (Madrid)

Travel Tips: The Best Destinations to Live in - Part Two (Barcelona)

Clockwise starting from top left: Santa Catalina Tower, Valencia; City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia; Palacio de Cristal del Retiro, Madrid; Plaza de la Villa, Madrid; Montanejos Hot Springs

Check out the rest of my Country Guides here!

Monday, 19 April 2021

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

One of my favourite websites for finding travel advice and inspiration is Lonely Planet. Recently, they posted an article on their Facebook page, written by a photographer who has visited over 70 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It got me wondering how many I'd been to, and so I spent an interesting evening on the UNESCO website working it out. According to my calculations, I've visited 31, which isn't too shabby! And in fact, the vast majority are places I've visited since I first started travel blogging in 2017, many of them for the first time. It gave me the idea to write a post reflecting on the World Heritage Sites I've written about on both my Year Abroad Blog and this blog. So here it is!


My Year Abroad Blog 2017-2018

















The canal, which was built in the 17th century, stretches 240 kilometres across the south of France. I visited it near Béziers, and you can see the town's cathedral on the hill in the background.

















The entire city centre of Avignon in Provence has been designated a World Heritage Site thanks to attractions such as Palais des Papes (pictured above) and Pont Saint-Bénézet, the famous bridge from the song Sur le pont d'Avignon.




Across France, there are many important sites along the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. One of them is Gellone Abbey in Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert (pictured above).






Salzburg is well-known for being the birthplace of Mozart, and is also famous for its beautiful architecture, including Mirabell Palace and Hohensalzburg Fortress, both of which can be seen in my picture.

















Austria's capital is also recognised by UNESCO, thanks to its range of grand and beautiful buildings, including the Hofburg Palace (pictured above).

















Another of Vienna's palaces, Schloss Schönbrunn, has a special recognition of its own, as it was the residence of the Habsburg emperors. Both its interior and exterior are incredibly grand and ornate.

















The capital city of Tuscany has a strong artistic heritage as well as many beautiful historical buildings.





















Another of Italy's famous cities, Venice, is also recognised by UNESCO. It's famous for its canals, gondolas and stunning architecture.





















The colourful, Bohemian city of Valparaíso on the Chilean coast is famous for its street art and its interesting architecture, including Palacio Baburizza (pictured above).





















You can find many of the capital of France's iconic landmarks along the banks of the River Seine, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame cathedral and the art galleries Musée du Louvre and Musée d'Orsay.





















Versailles was the residence of the French monarchs, and is famous worldwide for its formal, manicured gardens.





















Le Havre in Normandy was bombed heavily during the Second World War and rebuilt in the years that followed by an architectural team headed by Auguste Perret.


Charlotte's Travel Adventures



























This ancient road system was built by the Incas and spans six South American countries. I visited a marker of the route with my boyfriend Claudio, when we were in the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile.





















The city of Kraków in the south of Poland is filled with amazing architecture at every turn, featuring buildings such as Wawel Castle, St. Mary's Basilica and the Cloth Hall (pictured above).



























In the Belém neighbourhood of Portugal's capital, you can find two famous attractions that make up a joint world heritage site: the huge Jerónimos Monastery and the beautiful Torre de Belém on the banks of the River Tagus.



























Parliament square is one of the touristic centres of London, thanks to its impressive architecture and its historical importance.





















This pretty town on Río de la Plata is known for its mix of Spanish, Portuguese and post-colonial architectural styles.




The beauty of the Lake District's natural landscapes have inspired many famous writers over the centuries.


Tower of London, England, UK


In the past, this spectacular castle was used as a prison, but now it's one of London's most famous landmarks.


City of Bath, England, UK



The entire city of Bath has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its Roman and Georgian heritage.





These two famous neolithic stone circles in my home county of Wiltshire, make up a joint World Heritage Site.


Other sites I'd visited prior to starting blogging are the Dorset and East Devon Coast, and Blenheim Palace in the UK; the Historic Centre of Prague in Czechia; Budapest in Hungary; the Old City of Dubrovnik in Croatia; the Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina; the Flemish Béguinage, the Belfry, and the Historic Centre in Bruges, Belgium; and Museumsinsel in Berlin, Germany.

It's really interesting to reflect on these places that are of such cultural and natural significance to our planet, and I hope they'll still be here for many centuries to come. I also hope to have the chance to visit many more during my lifetime. There's at least a few I'm looking forward to checking out once I'm living in South America again!


28/07/2021 Update

I'd always planned to keep updating this post once I'd visited more World Heritage Sites, and I'm updating it now, because as of today I've visited 35 sites, which is 4 more than I'd visited as of this time last week. However, I haven't actually been anywhere over the last seven days! 

In fact, the reason why the number has increased is because UNESCO have just added 28 more sites to their list, and I've been to 4 of them! One of them is Nice, capital of Riviera tourism, in France, one of them is the works of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana, in Slovenia, and the other two are ones I've been to since starting this blog. Here they are!




Two parts of Spain's capital have now been given UNESCO status: Paseo del Prado (one of the city's main boulevards) and the beautiful Retiro Park (pictured above).


The Great Spa Towns of Europe; Austria, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy and the UK



Bath is now a double World Heritage Site, as it is recognised both on its own for its Roman history, and as part of a group of towns across Europe, for its heritage as a spa town.


I hope to update this post again in the near future with some more sites that I've visited!


25/11/2023 Update

It's been over two years since I last updated this post, and it's definitely long overdue! Since my last update, I've actually visited 10 more UNESCO World Heritage sites and another one that I visited in the past has been added to the list, which I believe brings my total up to 46 sites visited. Still not quite as many as the photographer who wrote the Lonely Planet article that inspired me to write this post, but I'm catching up!

Having spent close to 15 months in South America between 2022 and 2023, and then 3 months in the Mediterranean, I've had the opportunity to explore lots of interesting new places, including several UNESCO sites, and I also found time to visit a new one for me in England when I was back home for a few weeks last year.

Here are the new additions to my list...





These "ghost towns" in the Atacama Desert are preserved exactly as they were at the height of saltpeter mining in the late 18th century and early 19th century.




The Chinchorro people lived in and around the city of Arica in the far north of Chile between 7000 and 1500 BC. They are best known for their mummies, which are even older than the Egyptian mummies and which can still be seen in museums today!


Maritime Greenwich, England, UK



This is quite an unusual World Heritage Site in that it's located in two hemispheres! Greenwich Park is beautiful and full of wildlife, and the views across London are stunning.





Cusco was once the capital of the vast Inca Empire, and still retains much of the amazing architecture and culture from that period. Although at first I found it rather crowded and touristy, I came to really love this beautiful city by the end of my stay there.




A UNESCO World Heritage Site which is also one of the 7 Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu is an indescribable place. Making it up there last October was a real dream come true!




Two months after my Machu Picchu trip came another World Heritage Site (the city of Rio de Janeiro) and another Wonder of the World (Cristo Redentor). There is so much to discover in this incredible city, and I really hope I'll get to go back there at some point.





The Chiloé archipelago in the south of Chile is almost like a different country to the rest of Chile - it has its own unique culture and folklore, landscapes and architecture. 16 of its colourful wooden churches make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site, including the one pictured above, which is located in Castro, Chiloe's capital city.




Moving back over to Europe, Malta's capital city Valletta is designated as a World Heritage Site thanks to its beautiful 16th-century architecture.





Six prehistoric temples across Malta and Gozo make up this UNESCO site. I visited two of them during my time living in Malta - Tarxien Temples (pictured above) and Ġgantija Temples.




The city of Syracuse in Sicily is famous for its extensive range of Ancient Greek and Roman archaeological sites.





When I visited Nîmes in 2017, I was surprised it wasn't a UNESCO site, because the Roman archaeological sites there are so impressive. So I was glad to find out that one of its most amazing Roman buildings, the Maison Carrée, has now become a UNESCO site!


In my opinion, these 11 recent additions to my list are among some of the best out of the 46 UNESCO sites I've visited so far. I hope it won't be too long before I'll have more sites to add to this post!