How and where to work from home in 2020

2020 has been a strange year for many reasons, with one of them being our sudden departures from our offices for a new life of work from home. While some may just be adjusting to this new set-up, others chose it deliberately, long before the health crisis.

This week we spoke with one of our La Manga Club property owners who began to work remotely of his own volition. He’s a British citizen and the General Manager of a real estate business with offices in Spain and the UK. He and his family decided to move to the resort in 2005, and spent several years here. They then spent several years travelling all over Europe, including to Italy, France, and Cyprus. But they eventually decided to return to La Manga Club, where they presently live.

He and his family cite several reasons why, given the ability to work from home, they chose Spain over the UK as their permanent home. To begin, the cost of living is lower, and they are able to enjoy more of the activities they love in a better climate. He also feels that there is more freedom of movement and fewer restrictions in general. They’ve come to love the people too, both the international crowd at La Manga Club and the Spaniards they have met in the area and on their trips around the country.

Health has been on our minds quite a bit this year, of course, but for our owner this has always been one of the draws of living in Spain, which he believes is overall healthier than living in the UK. The food and diet are two of the aspects he cites particularly. He has also found that, in his experience, Spain has a better healthcare system and the lifestyle choices are healthier as well.

Perhaps it’s unsurprising that health is on the brain of someone who has chosen to live at La Manga Club, the resort with the best sport and leisure offer in Spain. But those services aren’t the only ones that made La Manga Club the obvious choice when it came time to buy a home. There’s a sense of community here that you don’t get in a city, and the security factor is huge, with no worries about children going out by themselves. Add to that the spa, the restaurants, the shops, and the beach access, and it’s hard to imagine where else you could get such a combination.

He’s also found that living in a resort is a softer way for a foreigner to adapt to living in a new country and a new culture. Here at La Manga Club, there are multinational neighbors and English spoken in many places, even though you can be in the middle of Cartagena city within 20 minutes. It’s a best-of-both-worlds scenario that has been tried and tested over years, and found to hold up.

As we move forward into the new normal, more and more people will be adapting themselves to a life of work from home. It’s good to know, from the perspective of someone who has long practiced the art, that it’s not only possible, it’s actually welcome. It may lead you to a new work-life balance you never dreamed possible.