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There
are as many reasons for moving to Tenerife and stories behind doing so,
as there are expat residents on the island.
This
is part one of my story (part two will be along when the editor's
nagging gets too strident). If you would like to share your moving
experiences, please send
me an email.
I
am a widowed pensioner with two offspring, a son, with three sons of his
own and a very adventurous daughter. Personally I have always felt the
pull of foreign lands. But till my daughter reached the age of 15 years
they were just pipe dreams.
My daughter was born two days before
Christmas 1963. In my eyes she was perfect. She was a pretty
uncomplicated child until she turned 15 years then except for a few
glitches her adventurous spirit began to show itself. By the time she
was 18 she was living in Hong Kong. I sat back amazed that I had given
birth to her. Not only is she beautiful but also she is clever beyond
her years. In her time abroad she has taken on many varied jobs of work
and made successes of them all.
I have followed her career with interest.
While she was in Hong Kong I went over at least once a year for my
holidays. I found the pace of life there very fast and I was usually in
need of a holiday by the time I got home to Scotland. In 1997 she moved
to Thailand, I had a couple of wonderful holidays there. I loved dirty
old Bangkok, the island of Ko Samed and the smiling people. Thailand
truly is the land of smiles and it was there I first seriously
entertained the notion of retiring abroad.
In
the meantime my partner and I came to Tenerife for a niece's wedding.
My niece is Belgian, another story, and her husband is
Canarian or to be more exact Tenerifian. They now have a lovely little
girl called Ornella. My niece has a language school where she teaches
five languages and her husband has his own car salon selling cars.
Not
long afterwards another niece got hitched in Tenerife. She and her
husband run Happy
Days ,
a tennis club in Costa Del Silencio.
My
partner and I came over for the weddings and both thought what a
beautiful place Tenerife was. We wondered what like it would be to
retire here. In August 1999, we finally took the plunge, selling our
assets in Scotland and moving permanently to Tenerife.
I
put the blame for us even thinking of pulling up sticks firmly at the
door of my adventurous daughter. For if she had not shown us just what
could be done with some determination we would not be here.
We
immediately fell in love with the island and all its microclimates. The
plan to come here to retire took quite a time to develop. We came back
over every opportunity we had. We came for Christmases, New Years and
Easters.
We
asked my niece Connie to help us find a small apartment in a nice
complex. This she duly did and we went ahead and bought a studio in
Costa del Silencio in the south of the island. We bought the studio in
1997 in preparation for our retirement in 1999.
Don
and I have been here for 16 months now and don't regret the decision to
come here to stay. We love the weather here for although there seasons
change, a winter's day here can be as warm as a summer's day in
Scotland. The sun and heat suits us. Our life is quite laid back;
nothing is done in a rush. We seem to have gotten to know more people in
a few months than we did in a lifetime in Scotland. Perhaps its the
tropical climate that puts people in a friendlier frame of mind.
In
the year before we moved here I was very nearly in Tenerife more than I
was in Scotland. Since moving into the studio, Don has made considerable
changes and we now have a bedroom - all be it a small one. When the
opportunity arose, we also bought a second apartment for letting to
holiday makers or family when they visit.
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