Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi
Question
As I begin my final 3 months in the US I’d love to hear from you all: what ”little” thing did you do in advance of your move to Spain that helped a lot? (so not big things like “apply for visa” or “sell everything you own”)
Answers
These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
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Start the Moving to Spain Hub →“Something I didn’t do but wish I had: get an international drivers license! We don’t have a car here but it would have been nice to have for renting a car on our travels through southern Spain!”
“It was a long time ago, but ported my cell # to Google Voice. At that time also got a Skype # and plan to call US phones, that was more handy back then, probably overkill now. Got accounts that had jo foreign transaction fees and reimburses ATM (was a different one then, recently using Schwab), same w being sure to have a good travel cc (we had that before though).
Start using WhatsApp. Pick up a starter pack of some of the drugstore stuff that’s cheaper there (vitamins, tums etc) or preferred brands/types.”
“Take Spanish classes – even if you already speak some Spanish, it may be a bit rusty.”
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Explore Cities →“I agree with many of the above. Open a Schwab account. Ported my number to google voice. Download the google voice app. Research a few restaurants and places near our Airbnb for the first few days. Signed up for free tours to get to know the city the first week. I wish I had stocked up on deodorant. Definitely recommend bringing a few.”
“A couple of things: get an international drivers license from AAA. Port your mobile phone number into google voice, change your bank account authentication to an email address if possible as you deactivate your mobile phone number. If you have off site storage unit pay three months in advance to beat the algorithms that automatically raise your rates a few months into your lease.”
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