Want to experience Spain like a local? You've come to the right place! We're James and Yoly (a Kiwi and a Spaniard) and our mission is to help you experience this wonderful country deeply. Travel guides, tapas, wine, tips and insights.
There are so many places in France and Paris more then they can film, don’t feel like you need to trample these places down to eat French food, just use your own common sense and also eat what you fancy
The reason why Baltasar is a White dude painted black its because as you shuld know, black peple are not that common, you considere racist a black man painted white for make a Santa Claus cosplay? If you say "No" you have to think about it a bit more because if in one direction is racist and in the other not you are being hypocrite, and if you say "Yes" well... you are a bit exaggerated xd And in the case of the "Conguitos" of course i know the meaning but, i never thought "Thats a black person" and i think no one here does.
I spent 12 years in Spain. Most corrupt thieving nation in Europe. Back in UK now, not better here but some level of security. I love the land of Spain and the islands, the food, the climate, the nature, the spring water, and not much else.... Shame.
James I’m so happy you finally visited Alicante City! I was in your first Spain Masterclass and the only person interested in Alicante. It wasn’t even on your radar at that time. I absolutely loved living in Alicante City!
Paella valenciana is made of chicken or rabbit. Seafood paella does not exist. Seafood rice like a banda or senyoret are typical from Alicante and they are not paella. If you see a paella with seafood is not paella if you are in Valencia and you see a banda or senyoret you must know they came from Alicante. Paella Valenciana is hardly difficult to find out of Valencia but arroces alicantinos of seafood are found in Alicante, of course, but Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid, but never try them in the north or Andalusia, could be a trap.
Alicante underrated? Seriously? It has 3 times more tourism than Valencia, bigger airport than Valencia, number 1 in Spain and Europe in expats. Where bigger communities of Russian, Swiss, Swedish, British, Norwegian people in Europe are? Alicante/Costa Blanca
American living in Madrid suburb 31 years. Couldn't have said it better myself. I completely agree with everything, except for the gripe about not being able to vote. I finally got my Spanish nationality two years ago. I've made many of your same observations over the years. It really burns me up to see white guys playing Balthazar when there are so many black guys who'd be happy to play the part! I hate white asparagus too--had never seen it before coming to Spain. And I hate those long double pillows. I don't have them. Sheet manufacturers also sell sheet sets with that long double pillowcase, so I only buy foreign sheets with two normal pillowcases.
"Gracias" and "por favor" have deeper and stronger meaning than "thank you" and "please". To use "porfa", "cuando puedas", or just a "muy bien", "perfecto" etc. can be often more than enough to be polite.
WARNING. Video is totally wrong and deceiving regarding to taxes. You will not have to pay 50% in taxes, you will have to pay FAR MORE THAN 50%. Keep in mind that the couple in the video just talk about ONE tax, as if there were no more taxes here. Well, as a spaniard I can tell you that here in Spain, currently there are nearly 100 different taxes. IRPF is just one of them, but you also will have to pay cotizaciones to seguridad social (both you and your employer), if you are a freelancer you will have to pay a monthly tax regardless you have benefits or not. Additionaly, you will have to pay taxes for EVERYTHING: 21% IVA on almost anything you buy, taxes on every bill you will have (water, electricity, telecommunications...), taxes if you own a house, taxes if you own a car, 50% taxes on fuel, taxes if you have to make some paperwork, taxes if you invest, taxes if you inherit, taxes if the government thinks that you have too much money. There are so many taxes that you will even have to pay taxes over taxes. So it is a myth that you will only have to pay 25%. Even the lowest salaries in Spain end up paying far more than that 25% in taxes.
Querido Kiwi, no nos pongas esa carita triste en la "portada" que nos preocupamos por ti, y la gente te tiene cariño. Serio, ok, pero triste no, porfa.
Watched a few of your moving to Spain videos. I hope you don't mind: are most Spanish chicas as fun as Yoli? Might be a good idea to delve into social life in Spain. Maybe you had and I missed it. Tnx!
Loved the take on politics! Very neutral and informative. Would love to learn more. Thinking about moving there and understanding politics is a MUST regardless of your party preference
Another silly video about people being afraid to look like a tourist and they need to be lectured as to how to act. A jerk is a jerk, no matter if they're a local or a tourist. Be polite, kind and patient. People pick up on that vibe and it makes travel a blast.
Ok let’s go: 1-Asparagus. Yes we love them. Maybe try fresh ones. Much better than canned. 2-Torrefacto. Correct. I’m used to it so I even like it but it’s objectively awful. We are now getting better and good coffee is sprouting all around if you care to look for it. 3-Tourists. True but you can’t stop it and it also has a good side. 4-Phone calls. Right but easy solution. Hang immediately. 5-Racism. Absolutely true and many even don’t realize it. 6-Banks. Yes and no yes. 7-New Zeland. I don’t know what kind of people you deal with but me and all my friends would be able to pinpoint New Zeland on a map. 8-Nepotism. True since the birth of Spain. 9-Working. Yes, we know it and we fake it all our lives. 10-Bureaucrats. OMG we should fire them all and get a new motivated batch. 11-😂😂😂Oh I laughed so hard with this one. Pure truth and I had not noticed. I love it. Sometimes after the 1h goodbye someone jumps “hey, who wants one last glass”. And it all starts again. 😆
The spam calls can be eliminated by going to your providers website signing in and go to the settings, as for the phone numbers you have to block; there are lists on the internet for any country I think. It takes about 1h to 1h and a half to do. If your provider doesn't have a website or you can't find the place, just go to one of their stores or simply call them. Hope this helps.
I am Spaniard from a town near Igualada, la cabalgata de los reyes magos at christmas is not racist, in Spain most of the black people come from Africa and they are muslims not like in countries like USA and this celebration's for the birth of Jesus Chirst so most of them not get envolved on that and this kind of marches are usually organized by the locals and the townhalls
I would add something else that I've seen as a difference after living in the UK for 5 years. In Spain if you are kind of cheecky with someone in a friendly context or you make a joke you don't need to say "I am joking" straight away after finishing the joke unless the joke has gone too far and the other person is unconfortable because did not get it, and the confusion could cause a serious issue. But if this is not the case in Spain people don't tend to make the other person literally aware that they are joking, and sometimes spaniards can even get it to the point where the other person did not get it but they leave it there just to cause some possitive suspense as a way to make the moment more kind of "spicy". Saying "I am joking" in Spain too quick can be understood as a lack of confidence but at the same time it is completly understandable if you are a foreigner and you don't know the typical social rules or you are new in the group. In the UK I have noticed that even in groups of people that know each other for a while making the other aware of your joke is quite commun, even in situations where the joke is too obvious.
I must admit that when me and my wife were planning our holiday to Spain we were concerned as to whether Vegans were even to be tolerated never mind facilitated, but honestly any negative concerns were soon banished as we found places to eat (some really excellent) in most of the locations we visited, and the supermarkets stocked plenty of items for our home cooked meals. As a general rule I would say that Spain is less 'vegan friendly' than most northern European countries but is changing and catching up rapidly.
Great video. I visited Alicante for the first time this past April and was pleasantly surprised. I have always avoided thinking it was just a tourist trap but I found it lovely. I love a mercado, so I was in heaven and the food at Sento was fantastic.
My wife and I holiday in Spain every year (mostly in the Catalonia region) and were planning to move there permanently before Brexit made the transfer much more difficult. We still intend to migrate using one of the residency options but it's taking more planning and achieving certain criteria. We stayed in Gandia last year (2023) and visited Valencia several times using Spain's excellent railway system. An amazing city which I could see us fitting in with very easily, although the north with its less intense temperatures and lusher landscape still appeals for longer term living. We have been having Spanish lessons and doing online language courses so when the time comes to move(!) we will have a base knowledge of Spanish from which to progress.
It's fascinating that we have so many similarities in our culture, Polish and Spanish. I see it in "Thank you topic", "job conversation", "storytelling". Also when we visited Spain a few times I experience it in the way people "smiling", and that complaining. 😊