We Made it to Spain! (But Just Barely)

Can you hear my sigh of relief? Two weeks ago today, we made it to Spain and I’m finally rested and calm enough to share how it all it went down. Note, it wasn’t pretty.

First of all, what I’m about to share hopefully will not make you change your minds or opinions about me. But the truth is, we left the United States like a band of thieves fleeing the law. It was chaotic, messy and poorly executed. It did not look like the dream I had of a well-planned expat adventure. But here I am, on the other side of the ocean, alive to tell the tale. So, clearly our trifling ways didn’t stop us.

Here’s how it went down.

We Ran Out of Time

Let me just say, there’s never enough time to adequately prepare oneself to pack up an entire life and move to another country. But moving in May just makes no sense…but we did it anyway. Moving in May is especially foolish if you have kids and said kids are still in school. Or, if you’re married to a man who is preparing to defend his doctoral thesis. Or, if you are a college professor and you have to finish grading final papers. All of these things were true for our family, but we moved at the end of May anyway because we needed to get to Spain early enough to enroll our children in school and ideally before the rush of summer tourists snatched up all of the affordable house rentals. So, while you know how the story ends – we’re here in Spain now – up until the moment I sat down in the car to head to the airport, I was still hollering, “We need more time!”

So Much Stuff

In hindsight, I should have listened to all of those wise minimalists on the interwebs who preach the “sell everything and start over” approach to life. But I didn’t listen. I tried, dear readers, I tried. I gave away so many books, kitchen appliances and more, but in the end, we shipped two giant containers of possessions – mostly books, kitchen stuff, clothes and pictures – that I already regret. What’s more, even after shipping those giant containers, we still had a house full of stuff that we had to get rid of. We had a rummage sale, sold things online, and eventually, just opened our house up to neighbors and told them if it wasn’t nailed down, they could have it. Literally, up until the very last minute, we were begging people to take our furniture, clothes and plants because we were determined to get on the airplane with just one suitcase each. And yes, we might have left an entire set of encyclopedias in our dining room for the next occupant of our home. *Sorry and You’re welcome.*

The Night Before Wasn’t Pretty

At two o’clock in the morning, on the eve of the departure, I collapsed in my bed in my clothes and wept. I just knew we weren’t going to make our plane the following day. “We failed,” is the last thing I remember thinking before falling asleep (still in my clothes.).

And then the Covid Thing

One of the reasons we were extra pressed for time, is that we had to get to the airport four hours before flight departure, because we had to take our Covid tests before we were allowed to fly into Europe. While I was grateful for the increased measures to keep us safe, it just exacerbated our stress levels to get to the airport in time for our appointments. We weren’t so worried about missing the plane, we were worried about missing our Covid tests (which cost a buttload of money for a family four!!!) Luckily, we got our tests and our results within about 30 minutes and they all came back negative. And we were on our way!

The Flight was Smooth Sailing

We flew on Lufthansa Airlines to Frankfurt, Germany and then to our final destination, Malaga, Spain. The flight was pleasant and uneventful. There was a lot of extra checks for Covid, but that just made me feel safer. My kids were excellent travelers and we managed to get to our AirBnB with no trouble (except for a few wrong turns after renting our car). I knew we were going to be exhausted, traumatized and just yearning for comfort and ease, so I booked us in a lovely apartment in a quiet neighborhood close to the area we wanted to start looking for a permanent home.

Trying to Find a Home to Call our Own

So, it’s been two weeks and we are about to move out of our Airbnb into…another Airbnb. We had hoped to find a permanent home by now, but alas, we’re not there yet. We have an application in for one house, and fingers crossed that the next time I write, we’ll have the keys to our first home! But in the meantime, we’ve been getting to know Malaga, a province neither el esposo nor I know very well. Also, our kids are finishing school online at their respective Philadelphia institutions. That takes up up the latter half of their days, but it’s also given us some routine to this otherwise nebulous time where we have to live in limbo.

Nobody Said It Would Be Easy

Nobody said moving abroad would be easy, and so far easy is not the word I would use to describe this experience. However, it has been exciting and exhilarating and such a tremendous learning and growth experience for me and my entire family. Watching my kids roll with all the changes being thrown their way has filled me with so much pride. And I’d say this whole process has brought us closer as a family. (We’ve even been playing charades in the evening! Who still does that in 2021 with teenagers?)  And it’s only been two weeks! Imagine what I’ll be able to say one year from now.

What’s Next?

The first thing we have to do is find a permanent home. After that, it’s finding schools for the kids. We’ve already toured several schools, but we have to make the final decision once we know where we’re going to live. Ideally, the kids will be able to attend school within walking or biking distance to the house. Then, it’s all about nesting and getting to know our neighborhood. Since we’re still riding out the pandemic, we don’t think it’s wise to plan much as we wait to see what will actually be possible as Spain and the rest of the world starts to open up.

We Made it to Spain

At this point, we’re just living in gratitude that we’ve made it this far and approaching every task, one step at a time. I still wake up every morning and think, “Wow, we did the damn thing!”

If you have any questions about our faith walk in Spain, leave them below in the comments and I’ll  answer them as soon as I can. Also, if you want more regular updates about our journey in Spain, please follow me on Instagram @LoriLTharps where I’m posting almost daily.