Such excitement, our decision was finally made after many years of visiting the island and falling in love with it. This was way back in 1996, but we new that there was going to be much research and planning before we could finally leave England for our new life. We wanted to go into this new venture with our eyes wide open. It took us until 2004 to move out.
In 1996 we told our many children and families that eventually we would be moving to Fuerteventura to give them plenty of time to get used to the idea.
We then started to read anything and everything we could get hold of, books, magazines and the internet were our main sources of help, especially websites with forums where we could pick the brains of those who had already made the move.
We first had to consider what we would do with our house and many belongings. After much consideration we decided to sell all our possessions apart from personal belongings and anything truly sentimental.
We made a list off all we would sell and Paul built a web site which we distributed to all of our friends and family, also asking them to pass it on to their friends and family. We hoped they would buy our precious possessions. Fortunately, a lot was sold this way. We then started to get up very early every Sunday morning and go to car boot sales to sell the rest. We were very successful through the summer and anything that was left we gave away at the car boot sales and to Charity Shops.
We then set out to find out how to ship the rest of our personal belongings. We had quotes from various companies and finally decided on Pickfords, though now there are many more companies some advertising in this publication. We duly set about boxing up everything only to find that the company has to do it in case there are any goods that you are not allowed to ship, e.g. alcohol, tobacco, drugs. They came to the house and boxed up and we eventually ended up with 21 boxes. Now, here I will give a word of warning, we were quite fraught by this time, so many things happening at once, when the boxes finally arrived in Fuerteventura, I even had the instructions for my cooker that I had sold before leaving, plus numerous jumpers and coats and boots that I have never needed since I got here. So take your time and think carefully about what you will need here, you can always buy what you have left behind by mistake, so do not worry.
To ship to Fuerteventura you will need your NIE number, this is actually a very useful little number that follows you everywhere. Personally, we feel that it is money well spent to get a Solicitor or Gestoria to obtain this. A Gestoria is a facilitator, very useful for helping with much of the paperwork required for working and living on the island. You will also need a Spanish phone number and of course you need someone here to receive your goods if you have not arrived already.