A BRITISH couple has revealed how they are saving money by ditching the UK to move to Spain – while still commuting back to the capital.
Ethan Spibey, 33, decided to pack in his job as a PR director in London to move to Barcelona with his husband Soren Scharf.
Having left back in December 2024, he still commutes to the UK for work now – and says he is actually financially better off than when he lived in the UK capital.
The couple sold their semi-detached house in Lewisham, where they paying £2,500 on the mortgage each month, to rent a penthouse duplex in Barcelona for £1,700 a month.
Now running his own company to provide communications training for clients across the UK, he still has a London base which he flies back to two or three times a month for meetings.
Ethan, who speaks Spanish, said: “I studied in Barcelona, and we’d come back here every single year.
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“I did a logistics check. The criteria was: can I fly back to London regularly, are there flights? There are about 25 flights a day to London.
“It is economically possible? Is it mentally and physically exhausting to do so?
“Barcelona seemed like a great option. Frankly, it’s cheaper than some of my colleagues who used to commute from Reading.”
Originally from Manchester, Ethan spends around £60 for a return flight to the UK and said he has never spent more than £100 on a return.
When living in London, his monthly rail ticket set him back £120.
It takes him just half an hour to get to Barcelona Airport, and from there it is a two hour flight.
He said: “It’s not even just the big costs – it’s far cheaper to live, the housing is cheaper than London, but it’s everything else.
“The quality of great food, great fruit and veg – going out for dinners and lunches, which I’d never have done in London.
“There’s no way you can go out for dinner in London and get away with £80 or £100, some of the restaurants near us, it’s £30 for lunch for the two of you.
“It is just a completely different quality of life.”
Ethan added how after 12 years in London he was ready for a change.
He said: “Our food bill has plummeted – you can’t go to Tesco without spending £50 on dinner somehow it seems; the quality and standard of food here is far better.
“I know for a fact we’ve halved our monthly costs that we used to put on our credit card.”
The Brit was able to move to the Spanish city thanks to his husband’s German citizenship which made Ethan eligible for a spouse visa.
There has been one downside to the move though – Ethan has a passport full of stamps.
He said: “I’m having to fly to Liverpool in two weeks and go for an emergency passport appointment so I can get a quick one-day turnaround.
“I realised at Christmas I’d filled up my passport, as they keep stamping in and out.
“That’s a slight drawback, but it’s the price you have to pay.
“I’ve had this passport since 2019 and never thought about it, but last time they said ‘you’ve not got many spaces left’.”
Living in the Spanish city has other benefits, beyond financial as well.
Ethan has been able to reduce his work hours to four days a week, commenting that it has allowed him to have a better quality of life.
He added: “Versus what I had in London, [it] has just been the most eye-opening realisation.
“Not just to be in such a beautiful city, with beautiful weather, and the community and people that are here, but I have far more time than I ever had to spend time on fitness and spend time with friends.
“The ability to be in charge of your own time is kind of scary, because you have to make money, but it’s also incredibly liberating.
“I think I’ve found that really, really empowering.”
In other news, ‘the Manchester of Spain’ is only 30 minutes from a major city and flights are very cheap.
Plus, one of Spain’s most underrated cities is in the ‘Garden of Europe’ – with £17 flights.
