#037: Why Moving Abroad Made Her Love Home

In this episode, we talk with Cristina about how moving abroad opened her eyes and made her value her hometown and country more. 

We talk about: 

• Why did moving to the UK make Cristina appreciate Malaga and Spain more? 
• How did joining language exchanges help Cristina in the UK? 
• What did Cristina miss about home, like the sunny weather and meeting friends easily? 
• How did living abroad inspire Cristina to explore more of Spain? 
• What misconceptions did British people have about Spanish culture? 
• How can travelers get an authentic experience in popular Spanish spots like Costa del Sol? 
• Why do Spaniards move abroad to improve their English and job prospects? 
• What are some must-see attractions and foods in Malaga? 
• Why does Cristina recommend visiting Malaga in October? 
• Where can people find more travel tips about Malaga on Cristina’s blog? 

About our guest: Cristina is a travel writer and content creator from Southern Spain. She is also the founder of My Little World of Travelling, a blog that helps travellers discover Malaga, her hometown, and Southern Spain like a local by providing insider tips and advice.

You can learn more about Cristina at https://mylittleworldoftravelling.com/ 

Visit our website at https://whywetravel.net/

Transcript

Voice Over: This is the Why We Travel Podcast. The podcast dedicated to those who want to explore the world on their terms. Each week, you'll hear from amazing travelers and experts sharing their best travel stories from the road. Listen to their unique travel experiences and get insider tips about their favorite destinations.

Whether you're an experienced world nomad or just getting started, this podcast will inspire you. Improve your travel skills. Change the way you travel and motivate you to get out and see the world. Discover the art of independent travel and meet fellow travelers in our online community. Now, let's get into it with your host and world traveler, Claus Lauter.

Welcome to 

Claus Lauter: the show. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Why We Travel Podcast. Today we wanna find out how moving abroad actually can open your eyes and make you what make you well, you, your hometown, and your country more. That happens to a lot of travelers out there travel for a while, and then basically they want to go back home, wherever that is.

To discuss this topic today is Cristina Reina. She's joining me on the show today. Cristina is a travel writer and content creator from Southern Spain, and she's also the founder of My Little World of Traveling, a blog that helps travelers discover Malaga, her hometown, and Southern Spain by a local by providing insider tips and advice.

So let's welcome Cristina to the show. Hi, Cristina. How are you today? 

Cristina Reina: Hi, I'm very good. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be in the podcast today. 

Claus Lauter: It's great to have you on the show. Cristina, let's talk about why moving abroad can open your eyes and value your hometown more. Tell me about your story. What happened there?

Cristina Reina: So I was Studying at university in my hometown in Malaga, I always felt like I wanted to discover other cultures, and I was very into English, so I decided I was going to move abroad, and I did it in 2015, September 2015, I moved to the UK, and specifically to Leeds. And the experience was a bit of a rollercoaster because I was completely new.

My English was good, but I never lived in the UK and for me, the Yorkshire accent was something new, which is quite different from the English that you learn in school or university. So there was a bit of a challenge with the accent. And obviously being new, I'm kind of a bit of an introvert person as well, so it was a bit difficult to meet other people.

But I think it was a very good experience for me because I pushed myself to do things that maybe I wouldn't, wouldn't have done. So I kind of, I said to myself, I need to, you know, meet people and I need to, you know, improve my language skills and everything. So I've kind of, I've done that. Yeah, I pushed myself and I decided to join language exchanges, you know, and immerse myself in the culture, and that's how I got to know people and improve, and I think it's a very eye opening experience because when you live in your hometown, you don't appreciate the things that you have.

So, for example, in Malaga, it's sunny all the time, and for me, sunny was, like, the common thing. So, when I was to the UK, the weather was the big challenge, because completely different, kind of rainy, it gets darker earlier in the winter, that's one of the things that I kind of miss the most, it was like, the weather, right?

normal things that I would have in my hometown, like the food or how easy it was to meet, you know, my friends. And now it was a complete Completely different world, you know, I had to kind of bring them and it felt sometimes a bit weird because I didn't want to be, if I was homesick, I didn't want to be negative and be like, oh, you know, I don't feel happy today because, you know, I miss home and some people don't get it.

And the thing that kind of helped me a bit was to meet some people from Spain in these language exchanges because I felt experts can understand how you feel, right? So, you know, that they were feeling, you know, very grateful for being in the UK and studying at university and all of these things like me, but then, you know, you also miss certain things.

So I think it makes you appreciate Like, while it seems to be normal to you, it's not, right? And I just feel like it opened my eyes a lot and since then and it's like, okay, you know, I thought I, I visited lots of places in Spain and it wasn't that the case and it was like, Oh no, but I haven't been there and I haven't been there.

So, it was like every time I was going back home. And I felt like, Oh, I want to discover this place. And I was more curious about my country than before. So yeah. 

Claus Lauter: Okay. Now, I think that's, that's a very important topic that we talk about today, because depending on if you're a digital nomad or just a traveler or like me, a slow mat, a slow nomad or a expat, a lot of people have a bit of a misconception, how it is to live in a country that is not your home country.

It is not your culture. And I have lived in a handful of countries on three continents. So I'm, I'm doing this for a very, very long time and I can relate to that. Um, and I meet a lot of travelers, expats out there that are happy with their decision to move, but not a hundred percent happy with the way things are in this country.

So they compare things. In their new home country with things, how they work in their own country, in their home country, which probably makes life very difficult. And I have a friend of mine who said something very funny while I was on a trip with him a while ago. He said, you can take a German out of Germany, but you can't take Germany out of a German.

And I think that happens to everyone, um, sort of. You take your culture in you and no matter how long you leave your country, you still will carry this culture with you. Now, when it comes to traveling, you said you have started exploring your home country, Spain, which has a lot to offer. What made you decide where to go in Spain and what different parts and also different parts of culture was in Spain?

What made you decide where to go and what to do in these parts? 

Cristina Reina: Well, I felt like I knew my hometown very well, but then I visited most of those places when I was a kid or when I was a teenager, so it made me feel like, okay, I want to go now as an adult, you know, and experience it itself. So, I was visiting towns that are close to my hometown, and Like I said, I've been before there, but now it's different because I'm an adult and I have a different perception of things.

So I kind of explore much more of my hometown surroundings. I also went to the north of Spain more because, to be honest, I actually lived in Zaragoza when I was a kid, but I didn't explore much of Spain. you know, like Bilbao and Santander, like all Northern Spain. And I felt like, oh, there are all these places, you know, that they, they are completely different from Southern Spain and I would like to discover more.

So I felt like, while I knew a lot of like Southern Spain and Malaga, I also wanted to explore the North, which was a bit of a discovery. And then just like places, you know, and I felt like, okay, you know, we have such a rich culture because the dishes, like every kind of city and region has their own dishes, right?

Like traditional. So, it's like every time you go somewhere, you get to try something different or there is like a traditional dance. or something to take in, right? And I just felt like I was discovering a bit more. Of course, like, I felt I knew a lot, but that wasn't the case. I kind of started discovering more and more, and that doesn't mean that while I was in the UK, I wasn't, like, traveling in the UK either, because although, yeah, I love, like, my hometown and my home country, I also like discovering other places.

So while I was in the UK as well, I was traveling to other, like, villages and towns because I always kind of feel like it's nice to go to the popular places, the popular destinations and big cities, but then, like, the, the little towns and the villages have something unique. And I like kind of going more to this kind of hidden gem so I felt kind of more in love with my own country and also more curious as well to discover other places and like even in the UK and so it made me more of a traveler like I know I always like traveling but I think, obviously, I feel like I like traveling more now than before.

Claus Lauter: That's definitely a very interesting experience. And so that you need to go abroad first to discover your own country, your own culture, and maybe about yourself a little bit more than, um, seeing your own country from the outside and having a look on how things look there. How do you deal, or what was your experience in the UK with the perceptions of, you know, what people think how a person from Spain is or should be or what they carry.

I'm just curious to hear your experience there. 

Cristina Reina: I don't know. I think like British people think that we are very extrovert. I kind of agree that I think Spaniards are extrovert, but there are also introverts. So not everyone is the same. And there's also this misconception like Spain is like a warm country.

If you go to the north, it's not as warm, you know, it's kind of quite similar to the south of England in the winter. There's also like this myth conception that we like flamenco everywhere in Spain, yeah, flamenco, flamenco is from southern Spain, but obviously every, every Spaniard knows what flamenco is, but not everyone dances.

Flamenco. And then, I don't know, I think like from the UK there's also this, um, it's just funny when they talk about like Benidorm and like these kind of places that they have the perception it's all about British in Spain. And it was funny, actually, I haven't watched the full show at all. I watched like an episode and it made me kind of laugh, like how they see, things and how they think kind of we are.

And although, yeah, Benidorm has lots of expats, like British expats, there's also like, um, another side of Benidorm. I know about, um, you know, full English breakfast and all these things. And I feel as well, like being from Malaga and knowing the coastal soil very well. We, we have A lot of expats and digital nomads as well.

Some people say, oh yeah, but Costa del Sol is very touristy, but I think you kind of have experienced that touristy side, but you can also experience the authentic side of it. And if you stay, let's say, in Fuengirola, which is, like, one of the most popular towns for digital nomads and expats, well, if you travel from Fuengirola to, let's say, another town like Alorín de la Torre, which is not on the coast, you'll have a totally different experience, you know?

So, kind of, if you look for beyond. these coastal, main coastal cities, you can have an authentic experience. Also, even in those touristy places, you can have an authentic experience if you go off season, right? Because on the big season, everyone is there, like, it's crazy, but if you go in the winter, it's still nice weather, but you won't see as many, like, let's say, tourists, right?

So, you can have different experiences depending on the time of the year and if you are kind of willing to just go a little bit farther sometimes from those main cities. So, yeah. 

Claus Lauter: Okay. You mentioned before that you met with other Spanish people in the UK, and probably they have become ambassadors of their country as well.

Have you met other locals, other Spanish people in Malaga, for instance, or in Marbella, that have a similar experience like you? They went abroad and then they came back and were looking at their country in a different light than before? No. No. 

Cristina Reina: I think that, well, the, the friends I met from Spain weren't specifically from Malaga, I still keep in touch with them, but not as much, right?

So I don't know much on how they feel now, but some of them, the, these friends, I feel like they kind of realized that England wasn't the place for them and now they're just kind of certain that they really want to stay in Spain forever. I think there are many cases of Spaniards realizing, okay, you know, I thought the UK or another country was much better, but then they kind of realized that the lifestyle is more important for them than maybe getting.

a better salary, right? Um, yeah, and I feel like the many people, you know, go to the UK because they want to improve their English, they want to have some experience working there, and then when you go back to Spain, you'll have more opportunities because you've been living abroad, you've been improving your English, so I think that's another reason why lots of people move, just to have that kind of work and language experience, so then they can take it back to Spain and have kind of a better role, so.

Claus Lauter: Now, you started a blog, My Little World of Travelling, and you help travellers discovering Malaga and Southern Spain. Tell me a little about it. If I come to Malaga or Southern Spain, what are areas that I should visit and what are things that I should do? 

Cristina Reina: I have a blog where I provide lots of insights into Malaga, from things to do, to like where to stay, and just experiences and kind of towns that are not mentioned as much.

And if you come to Malaga, you obviously need to do the touristy attractions, you just need to see them because they are worth visiting, right? So for example, the Alcazaba is like a fortress palace, and it tells you about a bit of the history of Malaga and when the Moors came to southern Spain. And we have lots of like Moorish architecture, again, because of that influence many years ago.

So, I feel like if you come to Malaga, you definitely need to look for, uh, the main attractions, the Alcazaba, the Cathedral, uh, the Picasso Museum, because Picasso was born in Malaga, although he lived in, in France. He was born there and you can actually visit, like, there is a house museum as well, apart from the normal Picasso museum, then try the local food.

So we have, um, I Malaga, the best thing to have is fish because that's like the main kind of ingredient, right, fish, and especially like we have grilled sardines, um, which are very nice. We also have, um. Like cold soups, there is like this, it's called ajo blanco. And it's, uh, like, um, uh, garlic and almond soup.

It sounds a bit strange, a bit odd combination, but actually it's quite nice and refreshing when, you know, it's very warm in Malaga. If you like wine, then you should definitely try the sweet wine of Malaga. And during your time there, well, lots of people come for like a day or two, and I think a day or two gives you the opportunity to visit the main attractions, like the old town and the port.

But I would say to stay a bit longer and explore the other coastal towns. There is much more than just Malaga City, you know, if you take, um, if you get a car and drive an hour away, you can do some really nice hikes, like the Caminito del Rey is a very famous hiking trail. You can visit better beaches than in Malaga City, especially like the ones in Nerja.

They have like very crystal clear waters and. It's really nice for like snorkeling or kayaking. If you like wine again, you also have lots of wineries in Ronda, so I feel like Um, you know, Malaga and Costa del Sol have always been seen as a beach destination, summer destination. But there is much more than that.

You know, there are museums, there is wineries, hiking trails. So there's all these different, you know, things I like to mention because, you know, Yeah, going to the beach is nice, and it's part of going to Malaga, but there's much more to uncover, especially if you want to immerse yourself in the culture.

Claus Lauter: What time of the year would you recommend to visit Malaga? 

Cristina Reina: I would recommend off season, so I think like October, October time. Because there might be a risk that one day it rains, but to be honest, it doesn't rain much in, in Málaga at all, and if you come like the beginning of October, you can still have some kind of summer days, like quite warm.

Obviously if you're really into like beach, you don't mind the heat, and you want festivals, you can go, you know, during the summer, but that means obviously the flights and accommodation prices are higher, there are more crowds. If you don't mind that, but you are, you know, for festivals and maybe you want to come in the summer.

It really depends on every traveler's preference. But for sightseeing, maybe like October time, because you can still combine beach and, you know, museums and doing other sort of activities. 

Claus Lauter: That sounds good to me. I haven't been to Malaga, so I will put it definitely on my travel list now. Where can people find out more about your blog?

Cristina Reina: So you can find my blog on Google, mylittleworldoftravelling. com. I also have an Instagram account and a Facebook page, which is actually called Exploring Malaga and Beyond, but it's part of My Little World of Travelling. So you can reach me there anytime and I'm happy to answer, you know, any questions or if you want any more advice about Malaga, I am always happy to help.

Claus Lauter: Cool. I will put the links in the show notes. Then you will be just one click away. Rosina, I think traveling made you the best ambassador for Spain, for Malaga, that can be there. And I hope a lot of people are going to visit your blog and then becoming visitors of Malaga and Southern Spain. Thanks so much for your time today.

Cristina Reina: Thank you. 

Claus Lauter: Hey, Claus here. Before you leave, I have a question. Are you a traveler? Do you have a favorite travel destination or favorite travel experiences that you would like to share with the world? Then become a guest on the Why We Travel podcast. Simply message me and I will get you all the details for becoming an interview guest and then we take it from there.

That's it for now. I'll see you in the next episode and have a great day.