International Living Community

Hello, I am also a new member and will be watching and reading everything here! We just spent 2 months in Spain/Portugal this past Fall as we are considering moving there. I am 73 and had no problem renting a car in Barcelona and driving all over Spain and Portugal for 2 months. Some rental car companies in Europe don't allow driving the car over the borders. We've always used SYXT Rental and we recommend them. As a side note - we were not as thrilled with Portugal as we thought we would be. We like Spain much better.

Thank you Glenda for your helpful information and useful website! We will spending a few months traveling around on a scouting trip for sure!

And be aware that you will run into resistance or ghosting from landlords in some parts of Spain if you don't have a regular, Spain-based, income. So be prepared to kiss a lot of frogs.

I have used YourBestAddress for several years now. They are in South Dakota. They will hold your mail till you tell them to ship it; or you can upgrade (not expensive) to a scan / shred service. www.yourbestaddress.com. Their customer service is outstanding. If you need to retain US citizenship in a non-income-tax US state, they can help with that for SD. Usually, my mailbox is a sufficient address for businesses i deal with , but some banks don't like it--they flag it as a mailbox--so when i opened a new credit card, YourBestAddress offered the use of a residential address for me to use for that single purpose.

I use Redpocket.com. I ported my US number to them from Verizon. They have a plan you can buy on Ebay for $60 annually and a slightly more expensive plan on their own site, redpocket.com. My US phone number is a "normal" number; i.e., it can receive SMS for authentication. It works perfectly with WiFi calling when i have WiFi coverage at my home abroad -- or in a cafe abroad--and randomly works when i have cell service (though they don't provide support for cell problems when when roaming.) That way i have a US number i can keep permanently for a cheap price. I have used it in several EU countries and in LatAm, and it works.