Member-only story
Moving Countries During a Pandemic
Why I moved from Australia to Spain in 2020
In October 2020, I moved from Melbourne to Barcelona. I left a city coming out of months of strict winter lockdown to live in a city most likely heading into similar restrictions.
If you believe in star signs, mine says I’m independent. I’ve lived overseas before and travel every year. But this time was different. Australia’s strict quarantine requirements and long list of expats waiting to come home meant I didn’t know when I would see my family and friends again. Probably not for a long time.
Normally I’m excited at airports, but this time I had a sort of a panic attack. My heart felt like it wanted to jump out of my body and run home to my Melbourne apartment and hide under the bed. The mask and visor I had to wear fogged up my glasses. I sat on the plane, unable to see a thing, not even the movie, wondering what the hell I’d done.
So why did I leave?
Well, I love Barcelona and wanted to experience living there. But surely I could postpone my plans a year or so and enjoy what my own country had to offer in the meantime? No … there was something about Spain and 2020 that gnawed at me.
The idea wouldn’t go away and I felt myself pulled more and more to wards Spain. A job I’d casually…
