Our journey from SUN to RAIN

This post is about our journey from Sun to Rain, from Barcelona to Amsterdam.

I and my partner spend the last 11 years living in Barcelona with almost 365 days of sunshine and we made the decision to move to rainy Amsterdam.

The question is Why?

WHY moving to a different country?

When we informed our friends and family about our move to Amsterdam, many people asked the question:

Why do you want to leave Barcelona?

Why do you want to move from sun to rain? 

People can easily understand the move from Amsterdam to Barcelona, however, the other way around it might not be easy to understand. Some of the examples why you want to stay in Barcelona are of course the weather, food, people and the beach.

Despite all positive things in Barcelona, we still decided to move to Amsterdam for one specific reason: ADVENTURE

As we mentioned living in Barcelona for 11 years gives you a certain feeling of being in your comfort zone. You have your friends, your places to hang out, your work and you know how to move around the city.

In Barcelona, we had our lives settled and we were living happily for many years.

However, there was still this feeling, feeling of moving forward with our lives and try something else.

We had this need to go to another country and see if we can survive there and to create a new experience which will serve us for the rest of our lives.

So we did it and decide to take on a new Adventure in 2018.

WHY Amsterdam?

When we explained to you the reason, why we decided to move on with our lives, you might still think, Why Amsterdam?

To be honest, there are plenty of countries in Europe we could possibly go, but the main reason why we chose Amsterdam was my work and the possibility to transfer within the same company.

The company where I work have many offices around the world, and the central office is in Amsterdam so it was easier to ask for the transfer.

Additionally, I have been to Amsterdam many times on business trips and we also came to visit Amsterdam in 2017 to see if we like it enough to move here.

Overall, based on the reasons above, Amsterdam seemed like a perfect choice for us to start our new journey.

Before you GO

We knew where to move so now what. There are certain things you need to organize before you go. We prepared Relocation Checklist for you to see what is needed before the move.

Relocation Checklist

• inform your landlord that you are moving out (we had one month notice but it depends on your contract)
• set up your bills for water, gas, electricity (again at least 30 days before)
• check your bank, credit cards etc. ( we keep accounts in Spain as its more convenient for us)
• close your contract with a phone/internet company (we got a new SIM card and Internet provider in Amsterdam)
• start packing boxes and see what you are going to take with you (we sent some boxes back to our countries as there was no need to move everything)
• check which legal documents you need (if you are coming from the EU country, you will need a certified birth certificate for work)
• if you have a pet, check the arrangements and vaccinations (we have a turtle and we needed to have a pet passport and special vaccination, see more info about that HERE)
• start checking the housing, get to know the neighbourhoods and see where we want to live and what are your requirements
• language (we knew that you can easily speak English everywhere, so Dutch is not needed for daily life. However, my partner did not have a very high level of English so it was a good idea to do an Intensive English course before we came to Amsterdam. It definitely helped him to find the job faster and to gain confidence).
• inform your friends and plan a farewell party 🙂
• start changing your mindset

The Adventure begins

29th of April 2018 – Our flight from Barcelona to Amsterdam.

After living for 11 years in Barcelona, it was a huge step for us to leave everything behind and start a new adventure.

Currently, we are living in Amsterdam for 9 months and we agreed that we made a very good decision.

Living in Amsterdam opened our minds, we met new people and learn new things.

So if you are thinking of moving to any country and you are not sure about it, just GO AHEAD, don’t hesitate!

Let me finish with our MOTTO: Life is an Adventure, Go and Live it!

Be Part of the family!

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