Spending winter 6 months overseas in early retirement

Would posters on this thread please reflect on what they have written and edit their posts accordingly. In doing so please be advised by the AAM policy:

[FONT=&quot]Controversy and argument are welcome. But please keep your comments civil. Attack an opinion by all means, but please don't attack the person expressing the opinion. Posts or threads which use language designed to be deliberately offensive or just to stir up trouble will be deleted.[/FONT]

This is a useful thread and it will be a pity to close it down and or delete it. This will be done if intemperate and ill-judged comments are not removed.



Marion
 
marion said:
would posters on this thread please reflect on what they have written and edit their posts accordingly. In doing so please be advised by the aam policy:

[font=&quot]controversy and argument are welcome. But please keep your comments civil. Attack an opinion by all means, but please don't attack the person expressing the opinion. Posts or threads which use language designed to be deliberately offensive or just to stir up trouble will be deleted.[/font]

this is a useful thread and it will be a pity to close it down and or delete it. This will be done if intemperate and ill-judged comments are not removed.


Marion
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+1...
 
BOXtheFOX said:
The OP says that he can speak French. I have been to Nice in February and the Antibes in November. In both locations and during the hours of 11 a.m to about 4 p.m. I was able to walk around in a short sleeved shirt.
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Is that all???:eek:
 
How far do you wish to travel?

Hills might not be a problem now but you don't know what's around the corner :)


mtk said:
I have updated my Criteria if it helps based on suggestions
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PLUS we are very fit so " hills" are not a problem
PLUS The price of cigarettes is irrelwvant to us as we dont smoke
PLUs easy to integrate into ex pat community if non golf player!- * suggestions on how to do this very welcome
 
SlurrySlump said:
Actually this is what you said Pat Bateman. The words "to any hotel" and "fixed" come across loud and clear. You are the one who is now trying to change the words that you have used. Even the links you provide are contradicting what you have said.
So are you still saying that it is 1. A fixed Price 2. To any Hotel 3. €35.

You really are a disgrace the way you are talking about regular posters here who have a history of honourable posts.

Now back to the OP's question. It is a good thread and I hope it is allowed to continue despite Pat Batemans vitriolic personal comments.


I suppose the Southern parts of Spain and Portugal and the Canaries are best geared for those wishing to spend our winters in the sun. I am not sure about Greece or Italy, Malta or Cyprus.
I would be looking for somewhere near but not necessarilly in the city of Malaga. Malaga has a beautiful Old Town. There is a good train station and excellent bus station across the road from the train station. I have stayed in Benalmadena and travelled in to Malaga using their local DART.

My brother has a place in Nerja. He purchased himself an old banger of a car that he keeps in Spain. However unlike the OP he travels back on a monthly basis to Ireland. Sort of a month in Spain, then a month in Ireland and then back to Spain. Negatives. Costly airfares. but a nice way to do it.
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Note my use of the phrase "supposed to be fixed". It doesn't mean that rip off merchants aren't flouting the guidelines. Again, I go back to the poster who cited a figure of €50. I find that very hard to believe. I wouldn't post my view of you.
 
BOXtheFOX said:
From Tripadvisor re Madeira.

Taxis.




Expensive?



To Pat Bateman.

Everybody has their own experiences when travelling and should be allowed to post their experiences without being abused for their comments by other people.

I have been to Madeira and I have posted reviews on Tripadvisor and Holiday-Rentals. Have you and where did you post them?
I found it expensive in some areas and reasonably priced in other areas. If researched properly you can find the good value locations or you can pay extra in the tourist locations. Everyone has their own experience.
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Interesting that both of the above links back up what I was saying.

€35 is expensive for a taxi from the airport to Funchal and the cost of living is clearly a good bit less than that in Ireland.

No wonder I got annoyed given the misinformation that was posted by others.
 
Hello,
Cockroaches are present in any hot climate. It is necessary to have a professional spray a couple of times each year to keep them at bay. Most complexes do this as maintenance.
There are very good sprays for occasional ones. Living on 2 or 3 floor is best I believe. Ground floor they can come in easily, if they are in the complex. Also I hear that on the higher floors they fly in. Hope that is helpful. Other insects are not an issue. Browtal
 
Pat Bateman said:
Interesting that both of the above links back up what I was saying.
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No Pat they didn't. The views were mixed. Similar to what others had to say on this thread but you for some reason are unable to accept....others viewpoint.

Here is an example taken from the Tripadvisor link.



We were in Madeira 4-10 June 2010, now maybe, because all our previous holidays in the euro zone in the last few years, have been AI, perhaps every where is pricey now, but we found Madeira to be very expensive. Local beer was 3.75 - 4.00 euros for a large one. Went into a small Irish bar that advertised Magners and Guiness so we tried it. Both small bottles not draught, and the price 12.00 euros. Even the supermarket was pricey, bottle of wine 4 -5 euros, biscuits, crisps etc were dear. Cigarettes were 25.50 upwards for 200, although we are not smokers. We certainly thought that it was more expensive than England, but still it was a beautiful island, and we were half board, so you can budget for the rest.
 
browtal said:
Hello,
Cockroaches are present in any hot climate. It is necessary to have a professional spray a couple of times each year to keep them at bay. Most complexes do this as maintenance.
There are very good sprays for occasional ones. Living on 2 or 3 floor is best I believe. Ground floor they can come in easily, if they are in the complex. Also I hear that on the higher floors they fly in. Hope that is helpful. Other insects are not an issue. Browtal
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Probably because the climate more or less is hot all year around the cockroaches don't have much of a winter to kill them off. These things would bother me.

So another thing to add to the list would be an apartment complex, well managed and well run.
 
The canaries and the south of Spain holiday resorts are very good winter destinations especially the canaries because of the weather. The locals only speak spanish for the most part.It is true that one can easily get by in english and that there is a large ex pat community and tourists ,but one can`t really integrate and mingle with the locals if you don`t speak spanish.
If I was the posters I`d head further afield to australia or southern california for example.Not too sure if there are visa or other issues in going to these countries
 
If you are purchasing ask for the accounts for the apartment complex, you will see how maintenance and other areas are adressed. Naturally if there is a deficit on the accounts - run - unless there is a very good reason. They must have a good contingency fund. Stick around and talk to some of the owners, they can be more informative than the accounts. Ask to meet the President of the complex. Look for experiences of other recent buyers.
The above is expected and if there are any objections take caution. Browtal.
 
Tintagel said:
No Pat they didn't. The views were mixed. Similar to what others had to say on this thread but you for some reason are unable to accept....others viewpoint.

Here is an example taken from the Tripadvisor link.



We were in Madeira 4-10 June 2010, now maybe, because all our previous holidays in the euro zone in the last few years, have been AI, perhaps every where is pricey now, but we found Madeira to be very expensive. Local beer was 3.75 - 4.00 euros for a large one. Went into a small Irish bar that advertised Magners and Guiness so we tried it. Both small bottles not draught, and the price 12.00 euros. Even the supermarket was pricey, bottle of wine 4 -5 euros, biscuits, crisps etc were dear. Cigarettes were 25.50 upwards for 200, although we are not smokers. We certainly thought that it was more expensive than England, but still it was a beautiful island, and we were half board, so you can budget for the rest.
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You're again posting misinformation and misinterpreting information. I disagree with the contention that Madeira's as expensive as Ireland and I have seen NOTHING which supports that contention. Perhaps you bothered to read previous posts in detail you'd know that?
 
Sweet. This post will be deleted if not edited immediately. Will this ever end? :rolleyes:

OP, I would second the canaries BTW - Fuerteventura in particular. Plenty of threads on Fuerte & Lanzarote.
 
It sounds to me like you're going about it the right way. You have a few years to go to retirement and this will give you time to try out a few different places for a couple of weeks during off season and decide which suits you best.

I suggest you try the Canaries, mainland Spain and the Algarve over the next few years. My own preference is the Algarve, because I have always been made to feel so welcome there, both in high season and off season. And English is fairly universally spoken in the Algarve, so language should not be a problem.
 
At this stage I'd avoid Madeira like the plague if for no other reason than I've already heard too much about it.
 
Worse again we've even removed Madeira Cake from our shopping list. All the guy wanted are suggestions for some place to spend 6 months retirement.
 
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