Hello All :)

I retired when I was 48.  I came to Spain,

I found many things to do, including running, wind surfing, skiing. My days were too short !

After a few years I eventually started really learning Spanish and set up teams of voluntary translators at five police stations to help people applying for paperwork, victims of crime arrested suspects and those who just wanted general info, I am still doing that.

I was fortunate I did not need to generate additional income.

Hi Jon

Thanks for coming back to me so quickly...... I currently sit in traffic on the motorway for an hour each morning and an hour each evening and spend the 8 hours in between doing a job I don't particularly enjoy very much!

My daughters are grown up and one is currently travelling round South Asia then planning to spend 2 years in Australia, the other is going to live in Paris for the next 2 years so I figured now was a good time to make my move.... I'm going to go to Australia first not sure if it's going to be for a month or even 3 months but am definately going to go.... I just figured living in Spain was an ideal place as it's not too far from the UK for friends to visit and also for me to nip back occasionally....

I'm currently an Office Manager for an IT company but have 30 years Office/Admin experience across all fields so am quite adaptable if I need to get a job but dependent on the cost of living I might not need to....

I don't speak the language but am willing to learn, but I think I would ideally be suited to live in a more Ex-Pat community... my worry is I don't want to live an an 'old peoples' community or a complete party lifestyle if that makes sense, somewhere in between would be ideal....

Can you suggest any areas etc I could start to look at?

Thanks
Pat

I have very limited knowledge of the various places one might choose to live, having settled on my first choice, although I have moved a few times in the 30years I have lived her but always within a few miles of each other.

The problem with asking advice is that most will probably say the best place is where they have chosen,

I would suggest looking at an area  with good connections to the airport and local towns, where there is an established expat community where you can start to get a feel for the area.