You can buy a holiday home in Apulia that offers the best of all worlds. A country home, yet close enough for easy trips to the beach and charming historic towns. Apulia has well over 500 miles of golden beaches and breath-taking cliffs, lapped by the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, the Strait of Òtranto and the Gulf of Taranto. Just the names are enough to evoke the sound of the sea and the aroma of suntan lotion! This peninsula feels like an island but has the benefits of being part of the mainland.
Driving in Portugal, some other British drivers will tell you, is not for the faint of heart. A saying you often hear in Portugal is that the locals never hurry unless they’re behind the wheel of a car. In our experience, however, it’s fine once you’re used to it! This article covers everything from the legal practicalities of taking your own car there, to taking the Portuguese driving test.
Britain may be basking in a heatwave today, but if you want to be living abroad before you’re scraping ice of the car windscreen, better start planning now! Use our emigration checklist to stay on track for a wonderful new life abroad.
With a population of around 46.4 million and an area almost twice the size of Great Britain, Spain really does feel less crowded. However, most of the population is concentrated on the Costas and in major cities, leaving much of the rural interior almost uninhabited. Country houses and fincas within easy reach of the sea and large towns are always sought after and can command high prices. Smaller properties in villages will be much cheaper as will urbanisation’s in the hills behind coastal towns.
With the Football World Cup now at the knockout stage, and as I write this both France and England still strong contenders for the title, it is hard to ignore football fever here in France. Almost every bar, café and restaurant shows the matches and the French are a fiercely patriotic nation. Everywhere you look these days you see the French flag and signs of “Allez les bleus!”.
If you’re planning to relocate to Canada, you’ll want an understanding of the Canadian tax system to ensure you are compliant with local tax laws. In Canada, taxes are set by the federal and provincial government and are collected by the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA). The types of taxes you may need to be aware of as an expat or retiree in Canada are income tax, government sales tax (GST), provincial sales tax (PST), and property transfer tax (PTT) if you are buying real estate in Canada.
