Moving to Spain was mostly painless. After living in a small bedroom in Manhattan and leaving all communal property with my roommates - I managed the whole move with just four bags. Elena checked one bag for me and I carried two large backpacks and a single messenger bag - I get a bit nervous every time I check a bag because of some rough experiences as a management consultant - but it all worked out!

The flight was good - I didn’t sleep at all on my way over, which may have helped with the jet-lag and I didn’t meet anyone interesting, but I watched a bunch of mediocre movies that were on my list.

I still find it very difficult to focus on work on most flights, if I could understand better what keeps me engaged in productive, but effort-intensive tasks - I’d feel a lot better about sleepless flights.

For more on my journey to legal residency:

  1. Choose a visa to pursue
  2. Gather documents and sign-up for stuff
  3. Show I’m not a criminal
  4. Submit everything to the consulate, wait, and get my visa
  5. Move to Spain
  6. Get my proof of residence
  7. Get your NIE in theory…
  8. Paying for my NIE
  9. Getting my NIE
  10. Picking up my NIE (done for the year)