It has been forever since we have written a post. Sorry everyone, sometimes life gets in the way and we lose a bit of momentum to keep up with the blog.
A Quick Recap
Since our last post, we left Athens and headed to England, with a quick stop in Valencia to set up a bank account (cue foreshadowing to later in this blog). In England, we visited our friends from Mexico – Steph and Theresa – Hi Steph and Theresa!! We spent a weekend in the Cotswolds and a week in London visiting my daughter Abi. Since then, we have been hanging out (mostly) in Chicago, visiting friends and family. I know, who in their right minds spends six months in Chicago in the winter, but then again, who ever said we are in our right minds?
The Journey Ahead
However, now it is once again time to get on the road, and you know what that means! Time for a spreadsheet!
Our long term plan is to make Valencia our base for traveling. To do that, we need to arrange for residency permits there and a long-stay visa for me. As I mentioned, we started the process last October by opening a Spanish bank account, which we can use to establish that we have the sufficient income to pay our way.
Upcoming Travels
Before we get to Spain, we have a bit of traveling to do. In a couple of weeks, we are heading west to California for a family wedding. It is just a weekend, but almost everyone from my family is coming, and we are very excited to see the extended family. Following that, we are going to Mexico City to spend spring break with our friend MJ (who you might remember went to the Summer Olympics with Sue a couple of years ago) and her husband Kevin. We are so excited to go traveling with them.
After Mexico City, we’ll head to Florida to see my mother and then to Baltimore to visit with our granddaughter for a few. Finally, in mid-April, we depart for Valencia.
Settling in Valencia
Once we arrive there, we need to rent a place and start Sue’s paperwork to register as a resident in Valencia. Since she has an EU passport, that process should only take a matter of weeks – at least that is what we hope. Last time we tried this, it turned into a quagmire, and we gave up after a few attempts. This time, we think we are better prepared and have (hopefully) better advice.
Once Sue has established residency, our current plan (and as everyone who has talked to us in the last six months knows, the word “current” is important because we keep changing these plans) is to stay for about 3 months, which is the limit of my tourist visa. We will return to the U.S. in the summer and then go back to Valencia in the fall to start my application for a long-stay visa. That process is somewhat more complicated and can take anything up to six months. During that time, I cannot leave Spain, so we thought it would be better to do it in the fall/winter when we would prefer to be away from the U.S. (especially Chicago!).
Just for fun, I asked the WordPress AI assistant to format this post…. What do you think?
Doing It On The Road 
Looks relatively similar to your previous ones, but the spreadsheet is too small to read. Was that intentional?
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