Moving Country

[SecretMachine]

So recently I applied for a job in Barcelona...and I got it.
I'm now both in a state of excitement and absolute fear. I've never lived abroad before.
Anyone had any experience of moving countries? If anyone has any experience of living in Spain / Barcelona that would be insane.
Really have no idea what to do in terms of my gear, wherever to just leave it in the UK, or eventually get it shipped over.
Anyone had any experience carting a guitar to a new country?

[D.o.S.]

That is awesome.

I haven't done it (yet), but I know some folks who have. Bring the gear that is practical, leave the gear that is not -- rent some storage space or something -- and ship it over as needed. Flying with a guitar can be kind of a pain in the ass, best advice I've found* is to take it apart (i.e. remove the neck, etc.) and fly with it in your carry on luggage if you can.

*My uncle used to buy guitars in the states from the UK, come over to visit, and bring them back in this fashion.

[Olin]

Congratulations on the job etc, nice to see someone else getting out of old blighty.

I had to do all of this a few years ago after moving to Poland, and did it in chunks. Couldn't take my guitar apart because it wasn't a bolt on neck, so over-packaged it, spent too much on insurance and felt a bit silly when it arrive and the box wasn't even dented at all. Proceeded to get more and more trusting in the post office and just get things shipped over in normal packages, which really doesn't cost much in the EU, and seems to do the job just fine. Had to do it again when moving over to Canada, which was all in crates and wasn't cheap, but again, no issues.
Like DoS said, if you can take it apart, take it apart, otherwise don't worry so much, the horror stories you here can be avoided quite easily with a bit of common sense.
How's your Spanish by the way? Almost everyone over there speaks at least a bit of English, but getting your Spanish to an intermediate level shouldn't take too long and will go a loooooong way in terms of how you're received, which I think we can largely blame on the "lads on tour" in Ibiza.

[D.o.S.]

On the other hand learning a language in the country is a hell of a lot easier than learning it outside the country. And I say this as someone who is totally fucking garbage at languages.

[Chankgeez]

Like DoS said, if you can take it apart, take it apart, otherwise don't worry so much, the horror stories you here can be avoided quite easily with a bit of common sense.
How's your Spanish by the way? Almost everyone over there speaks at least a bit of English, but getting your Spanish to an intermediate level shouldn't take too long and will go a loooooong way in terms of how you're received, which I think we can largely blame on the "lads on tour" in Ibiza.

When I was in Barcelona, I couldn't understand those Catalan motherfuckers (being that I come from where Spanish of the New World is spoken).

Good luck with the move, SecretMachine!

[Jwar]

Lucky bastard.

Congrats!!!

[Jwar]

Lucky bastard.

Congrats!!!

[popvulture]

Yeah, no advice on the gear moving aspect, but I will say that Spain is the best place I have ever been. You will most certainly enjoy it.

JEALOUS!

[goroth]

It's a short flight. Take your guitar in carry-on. Check what it costs to fly with an extra bag checked in luggage. Put shit into storage if necessary, but yeah, post on the eu is cool.

Barcelona is fucking awesome. Great food, plenty of places to go out. If your going to stay there long term then you'll want to learn Catalan of course. It's like halfway between French and Castilian Spanish.

The only real advice I have is go nuts on the language learning. The faster you get good the faster you'll feel part of things and get real friendships. Doing a course isn't enough - you'll have to complement that with studying at home, trying to translate newspaper articles, actively watching tv or listening to the radio, join a choir... Language and culture are so closely intertwined (Catalonia is of course the perfect example of this) that you risk forever being an outsider if you don't get that shit fluent.

The other thing is to work you butt off in finding a social context. Join some local clubs, become a local at a pub or coffee shop or something. Don't hang with expats...