Looking for advice !

Hi Everyone! I am hoping to relocate to Tenerife in the next 6-18 months. I have thought about doing this long and hard for a few years but now I need to start putting plans into motion I am wondering where to begin! I have started concentrating on learning Spanish a little more, having been back and forth to Tenerife many many times, although I knew I wanted to "lay my hat" here I hadn't fallen in love with an area until a few weeks ago I visited Playa San Juan 10 km south of Los Gigantes. I would like to find work at some point when I come to live there to help with bills and also to be part of society. I am a single lady, my Mum is coming to live here also (seperate dwellings of course!!) and my children are grown up and doing there own thing. I am a little worried about how to try and meet people. Just an odd one or two people I could occasionally meet would be wonderful and how would I go about this? Are there Expat meetings? Also, I would like to try and get free Spanish lessons if possible or inexpensive ones. Any other advice on how to move with least headache would be so much appreciated. Greetings from freezing cold England!

Hello waveylady, welcome to our forum. One or two of our members know the Playa San Juan area quite well and will be along later, and should be able to give you some pointers. Regards work, the Island is in a bit of a crisis at the moment and jobs are extremely hard to find. If you have enough money to see you through for a while or have an income where you don't have to worry about a job straight away, that would be the best way. But if you really need a job with the wage it brings just to pay the bills etc. then you may find it a struggle. However, don't let me put you off, there will be others who will tell you if you try hard enough you'll be OK.
If you need any help navigating round the forum, just shout and one of our members will help you.

Hi and a big welcome from me. We are also moving to Tenerife in 2013. My son has recently moved therewith our Granddaughter and his partner. I know bit young to be a Grand-dad but best way.
Gypsy helped us with advice and was a marvel. Perhaps some of that can be passed on. Just remember nothing moves fast in Tenerife when it comes to authorities.
There is not much to say at this minute as laws change quickly, you can ask as you need.
More important is to get everything lined up ready for a move. Make sure you have what you need to sorted in UK and that you have covered pensions, healthcare and investments.
Likewise for Tenerife, my advice is to get a 6 months rental to begin with as you may change your mind as to area, once you move.
The other thing of course is we are all in a kind of holiday mode until the move is made and even then still will be for a short time, even if a little different. You may not think this applies to you but I can assure you it is in all of us.
There are other things to consider, like pets, do you have any in the UK? If not will you want any in Tenerife? If you would then please consider the Rescue centres.
As far as friends go, many of us on here are now VERY good friends, yet we did not know each other at all until recent years or even months. We often meet up and always enjoy who ever the company is.
There are others on here that have never met and may or may not.
Many of us have lots of Good Tenerife friends and friends that visit Tenerife. To be honest I was sat in Lazy Daze recently just with a pint why wife and Granddaughter off shopping, couple came in and started nattering, met them again that night and later that week we went out with them for an afternoon, they are swallows.
Whatever you choose to do, do it wisely, steadily and with as much help as possible.
There are good people that will help you sort out NIE and Residentia for a small sum, usually about 20 euro per hour, but they will advise free so you only need them for 1 or 2 hours.
A good source of income is to rent a property you may own in the UK as it will bring in more than you will pay in Tenerife, dependent on both locations.
Another good tip is when buying, if you are good with your hands some places are very low priced due to being repossessed by the banks, these are advertised in banks.
Good Luck

to the forum.

Welcome to the mad house Wavey. San Juan is a "local" town with a sizeable German ex pat community ( open to correction on that). As you know, Los Gigantes is just up the road that is a particular favourite with British people ( generally older). As Cam has said, Tenerife is going through the mill at the moment , employment wise, but there are more qualified members than myself to advise you on such matters. Hope the move goes well for you.

Welcome to the forum WL, I think you have been given good advice already from some members all I would add is that if from now until you move you continue to come on the forum and chat, we will all get to know each other and you will soon have a bunch of ready-made friends lined up before you arrive on the island, it will just be a case of putting a face to a name. Best of luck.

Nice one M, thats the way to do it.

Thank you all for your advice so far. It's very comforting to know that you are so willing to offer advice, help and friendship and I will be on here regularly looking for answers or asking advice. Hopefully one day, after this big journey I will be able to offer the same to someone else! I do however have a question, correct me if I should have asked this in another section - my Mum has a 7 year old Sheltie dog which, of course she wants to bring with her. I have been on google trying to just get a general idea of price for transportation - is approx £1,000 what she would be looking at or have I got it totally wrong? Although we maybe some time off doing this yet we are trying to get a general idea of costs for everything. Also any other advice on bringing a dog over would be most welcome.

600 to 700 for a labrador size is my best quote so far. It will depend on the timing. You also only need to start the rabies injections shortly before travelling, I believe 3 weeks now.
Remember we are a fun forum and an adult forum so you may here some banter going on, it is merely banter(well most of the time). We are great for all info but also have a lot of fun. No one is excluded but your own involvement is up to you. Some people take part in somethings and not others.
We are a great bunch and all are welcome, there is a wealth of information on here and available.

Please please please think very carefully about bringing a Shetland sheepdog to a warm climate like Tenerife , remember Shelties were specifically bred to work in the cold climate of the Shetland isles and I doubt very much if they would relish the heat in the Canaries, we always had Shelties when I was a boy and the ones we had hated heat ,