Get to Spain by Carley Chaplin

Retire To Spain Webinar 🇬🇧🇪🇸 Wednesday 10th June • 7:30PM UK

If you’ve got a UK passport and you want to retire to Spain in the next 12 months, I’m running a live webinar on Wednesday 10th June at 7:30PM UK time called:

The 10 Biggest Challenges Of Retiring To Spain On A UK Passport

I’ll be covering:

* the visa process
* financial requirements
* tax considerations
* health insurance
* timelines and paperwork
* conflicting advice online
* and the biggest mistakes people make when trying to do this alone

Because honestly, most people aren’t lacking motivation.

They’re lacking clarity.

They’ve spent months researching online, joined Facebook groups, watched videos, read articles… and still feel overwhelmed trying to work out:

* what order to do things in
* when to start
* what actually matters
* and what could seriously delay or affect their move later on

And that’s exactly why I love running these webinars.

I genuinely love helping people untangle the overwhelm and actually make sense of how retiring to Spain works in real life.

The first 15 spaces are £10 instead of the normal £30 and there are currently 9 of those left.

Comment WEBINAR below and I’ll send you the link.

The Teacher Relationships In Spain Feel So Different 🇪🇸

I’ve just dropped the kids off at school and honestly wasn’t expecting to get emotional this morning.

It was one of the teachers’ birthdays today, and obviously the kids knew because apparently that becomes very important information when you’re seven.

My daughter had made her a loom band bracelet in her favourite colours and was so excited to give it to her at drop off.

Then we got to the school gates and could hear music and singing.

All the kids from both classes in their year group, plus the teachers, were outside singing happy birthday, dancing around, and the teacher whose birthday it was was literally twirling the kids around while they all laughed and sang together.

It was just one of those really lovely moments that completely catches you off guard.

The relationship the kids have built with their teachers here has genuinely been amazing.

They’ve had these teachers for nearly two years now, so there’s such a close bond between them all.

And now we’re only about a month away from switching teachers in September, which honestly feels really emotional.

I think sometimes people focus so much on the logistics of moving abroad that they don’t realise how much the small everyday moments end up meaning to you.

And this morning was definitely one of those moments for me.

The 10 Biggest Challenges Of Retiring To Spain With A UK Passport 🇪🇸

If you’ve got a UK passport and you want to retire to Spain in the next 12 months, I’m running a live webinar on Wednesday 10th June at 7:30PM UK time called:

The 10 Biggest Challenges Of Retiring To Spain On A UK Passport

I’ll be covering:

* the visa process
* financial requirements
* tax considerations
* health insurance
* timelines and paperwork
* conflicting advice online
* and the biggest mistakes people make when trying to do this alone

Because honestly, most people aren’t lacking motivation.

They’re lacking clarity.

They’ve spent months researching online, joined Facebook groups, watched videos, read articles… and still feel overwhelmed trying to work out:

* what order to do things in
* when to start
* what actually matters
* and what could seriously delay or affect their move later on

And that’s exactly why I love running these webinars.

I genuinely love helping people untangle the overwhelm and actually make sense of how retiring to Spain works in real life.

The first 15 spaces are £10 instead of the normal £30 and there are currently 9 of those left.

Comment WEBINAR below and I’ll send you the link.

The Spain Beach Essentials We Use Every Summer ☀️

If you’re coming to Spain this summer and planning lots of beach days with the kids, this is exactly what we take with us.

The first thing we always bring are these huge sand mats that we originally brought over from the UK. They basically become our base for the day and stop absolutely everything getting covered in sand… or at least try to.

Then we put beach towels on top and bring foldable beach chairs for the kids. They’re lightweight, easy to carry and honestly make such a difference for longer beach days.

I’ve also got my own foldable beach chair which folds down really easily and has been one of my best summer purchases.

Then there’s the insulated beach bag, which is probably one of my favourite things we own in summer.

We fill it with:

* cold drinks
* fruit
* snacks
* crisps
* ice packs

…and just keep it in the shade all day.

The kids also have their own little cool bags with their snacks and drinks in them, which they absolutely love packing themselves.

Then obviously:

* beach toys
* buckets and spades
* diggers and trucks
* beach games
* balls
* boomerangs

Basically anything that keeps the kids entertained and buys us more than five minutes of peace

We also always take a parasol with a screw-in sand anchor because otherwise your parasol will disappear down the beach the second the wind picks up.

But honestly…

The most important thing of all is the trolley.

I researched ours extensively because I needed one that:

* was sturdy
* held loads of stuff
* and wasn’t going to collapse halfway across the sand

And this one has been amazing.

We also always pack:

* wipes
* spare clothes
* rubbish bags
* extra carrier bags
* and little organiser bags to keep everything together

That’s basically our full family beach setup for Spain.

Comment BEACH and I’ll send you the full list of everything we use, including links to all the products people always ask me about.

Spain This Week: Fire Runs, Pension Myths & Visa Costs 🇪🇸

What has family life been like in Spain this week?

Well… it’s basically been a mix of hot sunshine, Spanish chaos, visa conversations, pension questions, and trying to explain to people that Spain is definitely not one-size-fits-all.

One minute we were queuing outside our local café because the town hall was giving away free plants to residents, which the kids were very excited about…

And the next minute we accidentally walked straight into a Catalan correfoc with drumming, fireworks, dragons and people running through the square dressed as devils.

Which honestly pretty much sums up life in Spain sometimes.

You think you’re just going out for dinner and suddenly there’s an entire street celebration happening around you.

But this week I’ve also been having loads of conversations about the side of moving to Spain that people don’t always think about properly beforehand.

Things like:
Can you actually afford to live here long term on a Spanish salary?
Does your UK state pension still go up after Brexit if you move to Spain?
How much does the non-lucrative visa really cost once you include insurance, translations and apostilles?
Can you keep your UK bank account open?
And why are some people paying thousands more than they need to for Spanish health insurance?

I’ve also been talking a lot about choosing where to live in Spain realistically.

Because somewhere that feels perfect on holiday in April can feel very different in August when you’re dealing with crowds, humidity and everyday life.

So this week’s newsletter is a mix of real family life in Spain and the practical realities of actually making the move work long term.

Comment NEWSLETTER and I’ll send you the link to sign up. It’ll be in your inbox on Sunday.

A Spanish Birthday Tradition I’d Never Heard Before

We went to a birthday party in Spain last night, and my daughter said to me at bedtime:

“Mummy, did you know that in Spain they call the birthday boy or girl Pepito or Pepita?”

And I was like…
“What? Like a chocolate chip?”

Because that’s genuinely how I know that word. Pepitas de chocolate.

So naturally, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole afterwards.

What I didn’t realise is that Pepe is a really common nickname for José in Spanish, and Pepito or Pepita became affectionate, playful names often used for children as well.

My Spanish learning journey genuinely continues every single day, even after decades of learning the language.

And honestly, that’s one of the things I love most about living in Spain. You never stop discovering little cultural things that make you go:
“Wait… what?!”

Have you heard this before, or have you come across any Spanish words or expressions that completely surprised you?

Can You Keep Your UK Bank Account When You Move To Spain?

Do you need to close your UK bank account when you move to Spain?

One of the biggest misconceptions I hear all the time is:
“If I move to Spain, do I need to close all my UK bank accounts?”

Well… no, not necessarily.

You will most likely need a Spanish bank account, especially for things like utilities, rent or mortgage payments, mobile phone contracts and direct debits in Spain, because many companies here want a Spanish IBAN.

But that doesn’t automatically mean you have to close your UK bank account.

A lot of people actually keep their UK accounts open so they can still receive UK pensions, rental income, keep UK direct debits active and transfer money across to Spain when needed.

But this is where it gets important, because not all UK banks allow this.

Some UK banks will let you keep your account when you move abroad as long as you update your address and tax residency details. Others may restrict or close accounts for non-UK residents, particularly since Brexit.

So before moving, you really need to speak to your individual bank and ask:
Can I keep this account if I become resident in Spain?
Do I need a UK correspondence address?
Will this account still be valid abroad?

And please don’t just ignore it and hope for the best because banks are carrying out much stricter residency and compliance checks now.

Another huge mistake I see people making is transferring money from the UK to Spain through standard banks every month without realising how much they’re losing in exchange rates, transfer fees and currency fluctuations.

Wise and Revolut can work well for smaller transfers, but when you’re moving pensions, monthly income or larger amounts regularly, those costs can really start to add up over time.

That’s why I always recommend speaking to a proper currency exchange specialist if you’re moving larger or regular amounts.

If you’d like an introduction to the currency partner that I recommend, send me a message and I’ll arrange that for you.

Will You Still Get Your UK State Pension In Spain? 🇬🇧🇪🇸

If you move to Spain, will you still get your UK state pension?

Well, in most cases, yes.

But there are a few really important things that people don’t realise before they move.

First of all, you still need to qualify for the UK state pension in the first place.

So:

* have you paid enough National Insurance contributions?
* do you have enough qualifying years?
* have you checked your state pension forecast recently?

Because moving to Spain doesn’t automatically guarantee entitlement if you haven’t built up enough years in the UK system.

And here’s the part that causes the most confusion…

A lot of people think that if you move to Spain after Brexit, your UK state pension gets frozen.

But that’s not true.

As of May 2026, if you live in Spain, your UK state pension still receives the annual increases and triple lock uprating exactly the same as if you lived in the UK.

Spain is one of the countries where the UK government still pays annual state pension increases.

So your pension is not frozen in Spain.

But this doesn’t apply everywhere.

There are countries where British expats do have frozen pensions, which is why it’s always important to check before moving abroad.

Another thing to think about is:

* where your pension will be paid
* what currency you’ll receive it in
* and the tax implications once you become a Spanish tax resident

Because your UK state pension may still be taxable in Spain depending on your overall circumstances.

Everybody’s situation is different, which is why I always recommend:

* checking your state pension forecast
* speaking directly to the Pension Service
* and getting tax advice before moving

Have you already checked your UK state pension forecast?