A British mother who abandoned life in the UK to give her youngest daughter a better life in Spain insists she could never return to Britain – though she certainly misses a thing or two. Fashion and celebrity stylist Gayle Rinkoff exchanged her London residence for an isolated farmhouse on the island of Majorca. She told the i newspaper: « When friends visited, they were shocked at how remote we are. In London, we lived on a busy street of Victorian terraced houses and a train station at the end of the road. Now, we are up a mountain and a 45-minute walk to the local village, or six minutes by car. »
Among Gayle’s primary motivations for leaving the UK, she explains, was how London life transformed her three daughters into social media devotees. While her two eldest daughters stayed in the UK to pursue university education, Gayle’s 14-year-old daughter Leni has become a « through-and-through island girl, » she reveals. The catalyst for Gayle’s radical relocation was, she explains, the coronavirus pandemic. During lockdown, her daughters were « glued to their phones, » as it was the sole way to maintain contact with friends, and relocating to Majorca was, she says, a method to « break the cycle. »
While that element of the move proved successful, with Leni frequently forgetting her phone entirely, there are certainly several things that Gayle misses: « I do miss British things like M&S and ManiLife peanut butter, and of course, I miss my oldest girls. I thought they would fly out more, » she says. « But they’re enjoying being young and their lives in the UK. »
Living in Majorca doesn’t come cheap, Gayle acknowledges: « You’re on an island, so everything has to be imported. » She and her husband indulge in a restaurant meal once weekly, but notes: « In Palma, you pay London prices. »
Gayle has made her daughter’s education a priority, expressing amazement that she has achieved near-complete fluency in Spanish in less than two years: « Leni’s school fees are about a third of what they would be in London.
« However, it’s not the same level of education, so we top up with a maths tutor and a Spanish tutor. But for us, the quality of life and everything else offset what she might be lacking in her education. »
Relocating from the UK to Spain isn’t as straightforward as it was before Brexit. Prospective expats must provide evidence of financial stability, sufficient private healthcare coverage, and a clean criminal record.
Spain’s so-called « Digital Nomad Visas » permit non-EU professionals to legally live in the country while maintaining their remote work for overseas companies – offering those who primarily work online the best of both worlds. For Gayle, this was the perfect scenario.
She elaborates: « My husband has a remote job, and I have always worked remotely as a fashion and celebrity stylist. I wasn’t ready to give it up, but I was ready to slow down. »
However, there were some challenging discussions before they eventually made the decision to relocate. They finally did so in 2023: « This summer will mark three years since we moved to the magical island, » she says, « and we have never looked back. »
Source link
