Two years on...

We are celebrating tomorrow because then it will be two years since we flew out to Spain to start our new lives in the sun.

On a cold and damp November morning in 2004 we made an early start to catch our flight from Manchester. Saying goodbye to our daughters at the airport was most upsetting because we didn't know when we might see them again. Our spirits picked up though when we arrived in beautiful conditions at Alicante. We collected our hire car from the airport and one hour later we were booked into the hotel which was to be our base for the next week. Thankfully our English mobile phones still worked so we were able to let the girls know that we were OK.

The next day we called into Euro Anglo Sur offices to start the process of completing the purchase of our house. First we were taken to Bigastro to make sure that everything was in order. Our next stop was at Consulting Services Bureau (CSB) where they already had the paperwork completed for us. We had given CSB power of attorney so they were able to access our bank account in Spain and transfer the outstanding balance to the builder. Within half an hour the house was ours.

CSB then arranged insurance for us on both the property and its contents; arranged for a cheque book, credit cards and debit cards to be available at La Caixa bank and finally made appointments for us to start the process of getting NIE numbers and drawing up Spanish wills. By lunchtime everything was complete and the house was ours. After a leisurely lunch we went to Munoz Espinosa, the electricians, to order our white goods and lights. That evening we enjoyed a celebratory drink at our hotel.

The following day we hurried back to Bigastro and collected the keys for our new home. After a more thorough check we just sat on the front porch and enjoyed the sunshine. It was hard for us to believe that we weren't just on holiday but that this was now our home. By Thursday the lights and white goods had been delivered and installed.

On the Friday half of our belongings from England arrived and the rest came on the following Monday. So by Monday the 15th we had moved in. It was the easiest, most trouble free house purchase we have ever made.