Lanzarote Relocation

Mike and Jules are two of the sweetest people we have met since moving to Lanzarote. They live up on the mountain in Playa Blanca with their dog (Dylan) and their two kittens (Freddie and Sammy). We try to catch up with them as often as possible… and so we are very happy to be able to share their experiences of life in Lanzarote with you. We struggled to keep Mike and Jules out of Le Moka for long enough to answer some questions for us. Just one example of how this generous and sweet couple have been was a year or so ago, they had visited us at our home and spotted that we were sitting on plastic chairs in the office. Just a few short days later, Mike turned up saying “we don’t need these… so you should have them”. What he had brought with him were two swivel office chairs from IKEA. Jules was horrified for our posture on the plastic chairs. We were so touched and thank our lucky stars that we have such wonderful friends. Happy reading!

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A few years back, Lanzarote was having its local elections… and as expat residents we were allowed a vote. Suddenly, Playa Blanca was covered in posters and banners, and there were cars blaring out messages… and we had door to door canvassers popping round to visit. One “gentleman” from the party that actually ended up winning, rocked up on his Segway. He strode to our gate and as soon as he heard our English accents, he turned on his heel muttering and with plenty of dismissive arm waving, and strode off to another house. Not a good first impression eh?

Conversely, we were visited the following day by a very attractive, very friendly Spanish lady. She immediately switched into speaking English, and went through the whole process with us… including explaining how we could actually vote. This lady made a big impression on Alan and myself, and we’ve never forgotten how helpful she was and how friendly. That lady was Yolanda Perdomo, and we are very grateful that she has taken the time to answer a couple of questions about her experiences of living in Lanzarote, with us. Enjoy reading!

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Sandy was one of the first people I got chatting to in Lanzarote forums when we were moving over. We did meet up, but most of our contact is restricted to Facebook and email these days – joys of a busy working life! Sandy has kindly answered a few questions about her life here in lanzarote… and here they are for you to read. Enjoy!

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Normally we only feature people who live in Lanzarote in this section. But… Kelly has been a fantastic person for us to know since we arrived, and we only wish we’d known him back when we first came over – he could have saved us a lot of money in currency transfers!! Kelly is our contact at Currencies Direct, and he transfers money over from the Uk to Lanzarote for us. We’ve been meaning to pop a feature on about him for some time – and so here you go! Happy Reading! (By the way… when Alan emailed me the photo of Kelly with his beautiful 10 month old daughter below, it was with the direct command of, “Don’t go getting broody on me!” Ha ha ha!) Continue reading →

One of the things that a number of you asked for during the “poll” recently, was for more features on local people here… and their businesses too. So we hope that you have been enjoying the recent articles published every Tuesday. The latest Lanzarote resident to be featured is Lisa Carlin, one of the busiest people I know in Lanzarote! She also has given me the best eyebrow wax I have ever had! Happy reading! Continue reading →

Welcome to the next instalment from the Other People’s Experiences Of Living In Lanzarote series. Mitch is a personal trainer here in Lanzarote… and what better place to keep fit and improve your healthy lifestyle than here on this sunny island. Happy reading! Continue reading →

It’s no secret that one of my closest friends is the beautiful Angela, and she is someone who helped us immensely when we first made the move. So it is with great pleasure that I can share her experiences of moving to Lanzarote with you. Enjoy!

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Right… as part of the series regarding other people’s experiences of living in Lanzarote… I thought we’d tell you how life has changed for us over the past four years or so.

Most of you will know that I moved here to Playa Blanca, Lanzarote in September 2006 with Alan… and we quickly settled into Island life.

We came here with  a massively scaled down amount of possessions (hey, the charity shops did well out of us as part of the clear out) but the most important of these was our computers! We were lucky with getting connected to the internet, and only had to wait for 10 days before Telefonica sorted us out. From there we worked like crazy… getting to know established residents and island businesses… and building up our own presence on the Island.

Lanzarote forums were instrumental for us as we settled in… as there simply wasn’t a relocation site such as this available at the time. We didn’t have UK television, and so we decided to build this site to help others… by putting answers to all the questions we were asking, all in one easy to find place.

This site is still unique in Lanzarote, in that it is the only dedicated non commercial relocation site. It is not built for the purpose of supplying a business such as Estate Agencies, Business sales or similar. Still rarely a week goes by without a business approaching us asking to pay to be promoted on the site… but we’re adamant that the site will remain as it is, so we turn the money away. It merely funds itself with a bit of adsense and sponsored links. You guys told us in no uncertain terms (especially during the recent poll) that this is one of the many reasons that you keep coming back for more – you know that we can help… with no agenda. We have our imitators of course (as we do with our web design business… yawn…) but hey… that’s flattering right? We still dominate many key search terms, bringing more and more people to the site… all looking for answers – and of course we’re very happy to help!

Since arriving on our own, we have adopted two fantastic doggies! Guido was the first, and we adopted him from SARA Animal Shelter in Tahiche, back at the very end of December 2006. A HUGE thank you to Lynne Fisher and the then team for making it such a happy and painfree process. Guido has certainly made himself at home, and then towards the end of last year… we heard about Pepper. Pepper was a six month old black Labrador puppy who was proving to be a little too much for his current family – so we agreed to introduce him to Guido on neutral territory with a view to adopting him ourselves. At the end of the day, we didn’t want to upset Guido too much by bringing in an imposter! Luckily for all of us, they got on well (albeit with a couple of hiccups in the first fortnight or so) and Pepper is now fully ensconced in his new home here with us. They are both very different in personality. Guido is a calm and gentle dog, almost snooty in his manner… whereas Pepper is a big bumbling oaf so eager to please and to be loved. We’re so happy to have them both! In the photo, Guido is the top dog, and Pepper is below him posing for the camera of course.

But they’re not the only newcomer to our home. In 2008, Alan’s eldest son Sam left school in Derbyshire and decided he wanted to try Lanzarote life. So we flew him over, and he got stuck straight in… landing a job fairly quickly, and making lots of new friends… British, Irish and Spanish. Sam stayed with us for about 9 months before deciding to move back to the UK and go to college. Whilst there he completed a diploma in Leisure and Tourism, with a view to getting into the Hotel or Tourist sector. So… in January of this year, Sam moved back… and got himself some work within a couple of days of arriving. It’s not in the sector that he originally wanted… but already he is planning to get himself a moped here, and an apartment in his favourite Puerto del Carmen. Although Sam has lived only in Playa Blanca with us, most of his friends live in Carmen and Puerto Calero… so he’s keen to move over that way. They grow up so fast don’t they eh?

So… what about Alan and I? Are we still living the dream? Yes of course! It hasn’t always been easy… particularly as the credit crunch hit shortly after we arrived. But Alan and I certainly don’t lack resourcefulness and motivation, and so have managed to keep our heads above water during the tough times. We have certainly learned who our friends are… and are very grateful for the fantastic trusted circle we have now. Special thanks must always go to Angela and David of Lanzarote Lates and Montaña Villas & Pools who were instrumental in so many ways to helping us to make Lanzarote our home. That’s the four of us in the photo (from left to right… me, Alan, Angela and David). Phil Burch and Chrischi were also great support, and it was with a heavy heart that we waved them off to England late last year *sob*.

We’ve also got to know such wonderful people as Mike and Jules Heaney who own Villa Azul, and who have become great friends. People from our Lanzarote forum (and others) too – far too many to mention… but some of these we always meet up with whilst they are over, and some of course are now also full time residents. Madstock, CeltyGirl, LondonAccountant, John B and his lovely wife Marilyn, Peter G, and many more… who all help so much as we had so many questions at first, and still sometimes do. Jane and Frank, Steve & Lynn, Bernadette and Alan, Mick… and Gil are now always guests at Casa A&E whenever they are over on their holidays… and great friends too! Oh dear – it’s all sounding a bit too much like the Oscars so I’ll stop gushing now! Apologies to anyone I may have missed – it’s not intentional!

We haven’t been back to Blighty much. We did fly back that first Christmas, for a wedding… and to see Alan’s boys on Christmas Day. Alan tries to get back at least once a year to see his lads… and of course they’ve been out here a few times too! For me, it was 3 years before I went back… and then I did it twice in one year. Once to see my “ladies” (see picture on right. Kate, me, Tina & Fiona) and my Mum, and once for the wedding of one of my best friends (the beautiful Kate on the far left of the girlies’ photo). I even got to go flying in Jane & Frank’s plane! That’s me done for a while again now though!

Things we should do more of… … … Well, we forget sometimes what a wonderful island we live on, and how beautiful it all is, when we’re stuck behind our computers all day – so we do try to get out and about a bit more now. I took up walking in Lanzarote last year with the abovementioned John B and a few likeminded people… and have been discovering a breathtaking new side to Lanzarote that you miss out on if in a car. Get out there people and start walking off the beaten track!

Tomorrow morning we have another recipe for you… so I shall let you go while I go and finish typing it up for you.

If you are thinking of making the move… then feel free to drop us a line with questions anytime – we’re very happy to help! And NO questions are silly… so don’t worry about asking them.

Elle xx

The next Lanzarote resident to be featured in this series is the bubbly and vivacious Jackie Lee. We got to know Jackie a couple of years ago when she and her business partner approached us about some advertising on one of our other websites. Since then, we have got to know Jackie very well… and work with her on a couple of projects now. And we indeed are extremely happy to be raising money for Niños del Tercer Mundo on Alan’s upcoming walk, which is the fine charity that Jackie introduced us to. Happy reading! Jackie – thanks for your time, as always! Continue reading →