welcome home
If you recently moved out of Spain and you still haven't returned home since you left, you are probably not aware of it. But you are warned your next peninsular visit is going to be a disaster . It is unavoidable to get stressed by trying to see everyone (it is not possible), feel guilty for not spending more time with your loved ones , stop doing many of the things that you really wanted to do and have the feeling that you are eating too much and in the end they will charge you for excess weight and not the bags.
Despite everything, time and experience make successive visits home easier. We tell you how to get the most out of your return to Spain minimizing the same problems with whom we have met many expats.
Get ready to live more emotions than in 'Cuéntame como qué pasa'
- Be clear: you are visiting, not on vacation. "On vacation you have nothing," the journalist and regular collaborator of Traveler tells us with laughter Patricia Rey Mallen . This Galician has been living intermittently outside of Spain since 2001, she has lived among other places in New York and Madrid. Mexico City it is now her home. “It's a stress. Even if you go without working. The last two times I have returned to Spain, I was working. I had to do my hours. But even the times I've gone without it, you end up very stressed ”, she adds.
Sonia Fabre Escusa, a computer engineer who left Spain in 2009 and since then she has lived in Munich, Boston and now Singapore, she agrees with the term “visit”. “I think it is a visit but it is true that I disconnect from my work and yes I relax . That part could be on vacation, but perhaps the concept of vacation is more associated with going to a new place, doing new things, eating something different...”, the Aragonese woman tells us. “When I lived in Europe, sometimes I have only gone for four days or a long weekend and yes, it has been stressful because I wanted to do many things ”.
" I'm going there...!!!"
- Two weeks is a magic number. And if you don't believe it, you'll tell us when you can no longer occupy the room you had as a teenager in your parents' house and now also serves as a junk room. “** After two weeks I'm already wanting to run away (laughs) **”, Patricia confesses, acknowledging that going back to live in her parents' house seems strange to her.
Sonia also gave us that magic number and admits that when she is back in her own Singaporean home she realizes that she actually wanted to go back and has learned to do her Spanish visits for “just the right time”.
- Experience makes a teacher. And the teacher has learned to take turns. “You cannot pretend to see everyone because it is impossible. I have come to hide information, to not notify people that I am going. Y you have to get used to the idea that someone is going to be offended ”, Patricia tells us about the method she applies so that her visits are not so stressful for her.
“ I take it easy and it is true that there are times when I don't have time to see someone, but I don't get stressed in that sense. Also, as I am from such a remote town, accessibility is a problem”, says Sonia, who admits that she has not always shown this savoir faire with the subject. "I think it must have been a lot of stressful experiences that have led to this."
Don't let your visit look like 'Asterix and the 12 tests'
- Eat a lot of that little ham that you have been dreaming about for months and that we only have in Spain. “Ham” is the key word that always comes up in conversations between Spanish expats when it comes to things we miss. The ham has been mentioned to us by both Patricia and Sonia. That and sausages in general, cheese, seafood...
- Do the usual weird errands. Go to the doctor, to the bank, to renew the driver's license or the DNI (Saving a visit to the embassy or consulate is always good). Surprise yourself with the prices and variety of Zara or take the opportunity to go to Decathlon or Fnac. Some things do really need to be done there, others not so much, but sometimes custom and nostalgia pull a lot . "It's not that there is such an atrocious difference in prices when buying clothes, but there is always something there that I can go buy and I don't even need to try on," explains Sonia about the basics that she continues to bring from Spain despite having been abroad for so many years.
Cinco Jotas, the legend of 100% Iberian acorn-fed ham
- Plan, but be flexible. “You have to plan if you want to do things, such as going to the doctor or going to the bank. It is important”, says Sonia. “But come on, then I come in and say, 'Okay, it's not really that important,' and I don't do any of the paperwork (laughs). And it is that sometimes you have to decide if it is really worth fitting to the last of the bureaucratic procedures that you had on the agenda or it is better to meet for coffee with a friend that you have not seen for a long time.
- Take a moment for yourself with your hometown or hometown. Although both Sonia and Patricia have told us that they never find the time to do it, We recommend that you try to set aside a couple of hours just for yourself, seeing that exhibition that interests you so much or wandering around your favorite neighborhood. . Thus, when you get back on the plane to go to your host country, you will not feel that you have traveled so long to not see anything worthy of an inveterate traveler.
Vigo: waves, waves everywhere!
- The family is first. Friends throw a lot and surely you can't wait to go to dinner and get drunk with them and stay talking about the political situation until the wee hours of the morning. But remember to prioritize family at key times. “A piece of advice for people who may have gone on Erasmus and are a little older: the day they arrive and the last day before leaving they should reserve it for the family because otherwise there will be family drama . And the rest you can arrange a little, "says Patricia. Her advice could actually apply to any expat visit. The journalist also admits that the first time you return home after leaving is the most difficult. "You know nothing. You try to see everyone. You make plans with everyone. Everyone gets offended because they think you haven't spent enough time with them. ”.
- Going home for Christmas pulls a lot. "I wouldn't miss Christmas and they wouldn't let me miss it either”, replies Sonia when we ask her about the time of year when she likes to go to Spain. Patricia has also chosen those parties in her last visits. “ When I went to New York I couldn't go home for Christmas in four years and it weighed me down ”, adds the Galician. “I haven't set foot on Vigo beach in a long time. I've been lately always in winter. It's not that I love going on those dates but it's easier to get together”.
Despite the Christmas convenience, keep in mind that it is usually one of the most expensive times of the year to travel and not necessarily the best in terms of weather. If you can and your family won't be offended, try making your visit in the spring sometime. The plane tickets are a little cheaper and the terraces are less crowded with tourists than in summer.
Friends throw A LOT
- Let yourself be pampered a little (or a lot). “My mother makes an agenda of all the things that she has to do to me and it's very funny because it's: 'Ah, but you can't go yet. We have not eaten this, nor this, nor this...'. Food is something that every visit I make to Spain revolves around”, says Sonia.
It seems that Patricia's mother is also very busy when the journalist is visiting. “ My mother makes a cheesecake that is famous throughout Vigo. that always falls ”, she assures us. “And I have a habit because I love my mother's lentils, but from the second day. So I ask them to make the lentils the day before and I arrive on the second day when they are delicious”.
Nothing like some good lentils mothers to feel at home. And it is that, as Sonia makes sure to point out, despite all the stress and lack of time you may feel, “it is great to return to Spain”.
Follow @PatriciaPuentes
May we never miss the lentils.
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