#11: Tales from the Continent: Meet the city-swappers who left Leeds for Madrid
The Urbanite Chronicles continue as we meet the Millennials who wanted that cosmopolitan lifestyle but with an added dose sunshine
We’ve gathered tales from some of the people who casually said ‘no gracias’ to only living the good life on vacation. Get inspired as you hear how they made Europe their full time home.
‘Magic Habitat’ is on a mission to inspire remote workers who are curious about relocating. From Ibiza to Lisbon and Marseille to Tbilisi, every other Tuesday we deliver interviews with tastemakers, adventurers and the wild-at-hearts who have chosen to live (and work) in some of the most interesting and colourful places in the world.
The Interview:
“Amidst the pandemic, in June 2020 we’d been working from home around our kitchen table for around three months and were growing restless of the same four walls; our work life and home life had become one.
We’d spoken previously about living abroad but never had the motivation to work through the complications of leaving the UK. Now we were both able to perform our work without being limited to our offices.
One afternoon, after a particularly challenging work day, I said “Shall we just go?”. Andy agreed immediately, despite not knowing any details! We spent the following weekends mind mapping pros and cons of moving, potential locations and researching the complexities of becoming residents elsewhere. It was 4 months to the day that we began planning that we flew out to Spain.”
What attracted you to Madrid?
We were really torn between Barcelona and Madrid - the beach called us to Barcelona but broader plans for the future, especially in terms of work beckoned us to Madrid (who knew how long this pandemic/ remote working situation would last).
After trawling endless Facebook groups, speaking to others who had visited or lived in Madrid, we settled on the bustling city. Winters can be cold (we witnessed the heaviest snowfall in 40 years!) and Summers scorching hot - both reflections of the region's high altitude and being surrounded by the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range.
Madrid is a very walkable city, we’re enjoying letting hours pass as we explore new neighbourhoods; getting lost on a Sunday afternoon at a flea market or watching the world go by at a local taberna.
Socially, Madrid is well known for knowing how to party as well as having plenty of arts and culture events to attend - so far this has been a little difficult to enjoy due to the ongoing pandemic situation; so we are hoping to explore this more in the coming months.
How did you make the transition to working remotely?
We quickly had to adapt to working from home due to our office locations temporarily closing due to the pandemic. When we relocated we used our holiday allowances to give us time to get established - find an apartment, a good coffee shop etc! We made sure to incorporate an office space into our apartment search criteria, by this time we’d realised that we did not need to be limited to spending 5 days a week in a fixed office space.
How do your property and living costs per month compare with your pre relocation life?
We had a lot of outgoings in the UK, attached to that generic UK city centre lifestyle; from a brand new car lease through to all the TV and entertainment subscriptions. A big part of our planning was understanding what we needed vs what we had currently had.
Once we had this, we realised we could increase our rented property budget in Spain so we could get something we’d feel comfortable in and gave us the space we needed for working from home.
In the three months we’ve been here, we’re living much simpler - our outgoings have not reduced significantly but are redirected (i.e we don’t pay council tax as this is our landlords responsibility, we have annual private healthcare/ dental, we use public transport for travel, we’ve streamlined our subscription services).
What are your insider tips for Madrid?
In no particular order:
Círculo de Bellas Artes; A fantastic cultural organisation which exhibits big names such as Banksy with a rooftop terrace providing views of the entire city and beyond.
If you see something in a bakery or patisserie window that catches your eye, go inside and order it. We’ve tried the most delicious bread, cake and pastries since being here - no specifics as we try one in every neighbourhood we visit! It’s also a great excuse to practice the language.
There’s always mañana - Madrilenos enjoy leisurely sitting out, drinking and/or eating with friends and family in local tabernas. It’s okay to ‘live’ here and it’s not all just work work work!
Embrace new traditions; we spent Christmas here and got involved in some of the traditions including the Spanish Christmas lottery, Nochebuena (Christmas Eve), Dia de los Reyes (6th January - Three Kings Day)
We can’t talk about Madrid and not mention the wonderful Parque de El Retiro. We’ve wondered our way around the Palacio de Cristal and the lake and can’t wait to explore it more and see how it changes throughout the seasons.
What do you miss the most?
Our family and friends. Andy mostly misses his video games! We moved here with a single suitcase each and whilst we have had some things shipped from the UK a lot of our possessions are still in storage.
We’re embracing finding Spanish equivalents of grocery items but have made a few trips to the international aisle in the supermarket for tea bags and Dairy Milk.
