Never Retire: 18 Days Until We Move To Spain

We’re basically just two weeks away from moving to Spain.

I wanted to take this morning to give you a chance to catch up, update where we are in the process and reiterate my goal for this newsletter.

Never Retire: A Rundown Of All The Costs We Have Incurred On The Road To Spain

Never Retire: Renting An Apartment In Spain (What We Think We Know)

I want the Never Retire newsletter to be a resource for two groups of people.

• Specifically, people who are thinking about, planning to or already have moved abroad.

• Broadly—and equally as important—people contemplating, navigating or reflecting on major life change, particularly at or around middle age.

As the cost rundown installment illustrates, I aim to provide the most meticulous accounts of the expenses associated with moving abroad and doing life, not only in a foreign country, but in a way that allows for cool shit on relatively modest income.

The move my wife and I are making can function as a proxy for so much else you have or want to have going in life.

In fact, in my own life, the move represents concrete action and a symbolic example for how I want to live my second act.

To always challenge myself. To always be learning and growing. To not allow a comfortable situation to lead to stagnation, which, especially as you get older, can lead to bitterness and ill mental and physical health. The latter runs in my family. I don’t want to repeat that history.

As we start to live life on the ground in Spain, I will do what I think I have always done. Provide real and personal accounts of how it all feels and how it all makes me feel.

Too much of what we read online about most everything misses this aspect of relaying experiences via content. This is why AI will never replace real writing or video accounts of what people are doing. This is why influencers will come and go. Most of them jump on bandwagons and end up generating the same content—presented in only a slightly different way—than everybody else.

If you want examples of people who buck this trend, check out

Shawn Forno

and his wife, Lainey Silver. Their Days We Spend YouTube channel focuses on the walks and hikes they take throughout Spain. The Camino de Santiago. It also chronicles their experience—quantitatively and qualitatively—of living abroad. In Spain.

One thing that sets Shawn and Lainey apart is that—from the second you first see them—they exude genuine personality. It's as if you get a feel for who they are as people and actually believe that's who they are as people. They create the connection simply by being themselves. Which is the goal. It sits at the core of relaying experience and information in an authentic way.

Then there’s Valencia-based VUELTALMUN. On their YouTube channel, Argentinians Pau and Leandro, “Viajamos por el mundo para aprender de otras culturas.” Like Shawn and Lainey, they’re not influencers. They’re real people who clearly love what they do, love one another and present nothing other than that love—who they are—on camera.

As a writer, I find what Shawn, Lainey, Pau and Leandro do extra incredible because they’re able to remain themselves on video. Add a camera to the mix and, for me, something changes. I don’t think I’m alone in this respect. There’s something about the addition of that extra element that makes it difficult for me to just be myself. This is one reason why I haven’t really done much YouTube. Until I can do it as well as I write, it’s not happening.

It’s an interesting beast. You have a “goal” for what you want to do online—in your writing, on video, lo que sea—but the only way to truly and consistently achieve that goal is to chart the course and park yourself at or around your goal naturally. It’s strategic at the same time as being simple and straightforward. More than anything, it’s about reminding yourself that you should always be yourself. Unless you can be Bruce Springsteen, then always be Bruce Springsteen.

We’re about done collecting documents to apply for our residence permit. All we have remaining is:

• My December bank statement

• Our boarding passes for our flights to Spain

• Our passport stamps to prove entry into Spain

After more than two years of planning and talking about this, it’s on. We’re on track to submit our application on January 7th, just a few days after arriving in Spain for a big holiday weekend.

It no longer feels surreal. We have a clear idea of where we’re headed and why and can’t wait to get there and share as much of the experience with you as possible.