As she casually crosses one of the most scenic stretches of Spain’s Camino de Santiago and embraces the rugged beauty of the North Coast with her husband and three children, Dr. Colleen Crowley feels a wave of gratitude at the place where life has taken her.
For many, hiking some of Europe’s most famous pilgrimage routes would be a once-in-a-lifetime journey. For American psychologist Crawley and her family, it is part of everyday life.
She knows the landscape well, so we might assume she has lived here for decades. In fact, they arrived with their mother, just three years ago with their 80-year-old, and the family dog, MO.
“It sounds very trivial, but I think everyone is much happier here,” she said, describing the move as “surprisingly transformative” for her three children, who were 16, 13 and 8 years old at the time.
“All three of us have said that. This is truly amazing.”
Crawley and her husband had long planned to live abroad with children, but they were waiting for the right time.
“For both of us, I think it’s like the basis of who we are,” she said. “We live in a variety of cultures and communities, and it felt a certain opposition to who we live in one place.”
Crawley originally originally from Colorado. Before moving to Spain, the family lived in Montecito, California for ten years. It was a coastal enclave in Santa Barbara County, home to Oprah Winfrey and the Duchess of Sussex.
“It was a great place to raise a family,” Crawley said. “But honestly, it’s probably a bit nice. It’s very well maintained. It’s very limited.”
She hoped that the children’s perspective would be “in a way that would not allow them to stay in such a protected environment.”
But leaving the close community was difficult, especially as she and her husband, both of whom were environmental lawyers, had demanding jobs. “That could be difficult,” she said. “We both had big careers and three children were in different developmental places.”
The shift to remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic has made it easier to make a leap. Her eldest daughter graduated from high school almost at the same time and turned the scale.
“So, during our careers and between the places our kids were developing, we thought, ‘I think it’s time to go,'” she added.
Why Spain? Crawley has long been intrigued by the country through Ernest Hemingway’s work, but later testing of his ancestors revealed that he has Spanish heritage.
The family thought of Chile. Chile was first visited by her and her husband in 1997, but Spain seemed like a more natural fit, despite her never going there.
“We wanted to live in a place where we could pursue our love of the outdoors, such as surfing, skiing, hiking,” she said. The children participated in the decision-making process.
They sold a four-bedroom house, cut down on their belongings and persuaded their mother to join. Crawley obtained a non-visual visa for her mother. This allows non-European union citizens to live in Spain without working, provided they can prove they have sufficient funds. She and her husband were granted a digital nomadic visa that allowed remote work for up to five years.
July In 2022, the family flew from Los Angeles to Barcelona with ten suitcases, then boarded Mallorca, the largest in Spain’s Balearic Islands.
Popular with visitors from all over the world through the shelter bays and limestone mountains, Marolca offered a simple adjustment. But six months later, the family felt that it was not appropriate.
“It’s been very international and it’s made the transition a little easier,” Crawley said. “But we really wanted a family, nature and Spanish experience.”
There they tried San Sebastian, the food capital of the autonomous Basque region of northern Spain, known for its impressive coastline, world-class surf breaks and surrounding mountain paths.
“I knew I found a place for us two days later,” Crawley said. “Size, geography, and nature were great for us to prioritize and increase value.”
They began to establish a routine of renting homes, registering children in sports, finding doctors, joining friendship circles, and discovering grocery stores. “It’s a process,” she said.
Integration is not without challenges. She noted that Basque culture is “known to be extremely isolated.” The locals were kind, but many socialize mostly within the Quadrila. It is a close friendship group formed of young people. “We’re never in Quadrila,” she said. “But you find some special relationships and that will support you.”
The family spends a lot of time outdoors, surfing in the hiking section of Camino de Santiago, nearby France, and exploring the Pyrenees. “We had a really nice quality of life in Montecito,” she said. “But it’s completely different here. It’s a completely different spirit, a huge improvement in quality of life.”
Most of the family picked up Spanish easily, but Crowley admits that she is still learning. They also study Basques, which she calls “a language that is really difficult to learn.”
They eventually moved to one of the few large houses in San Sebastian, taking in views of both the sea and town. Her mother lives nearby on a flat overlooking Biscay Bay.
“We work from home and have a big dog, so living in the apartment was a stretch for us,” Crawley said. “There aren’t many homes like this in the area, so I was lucky enough to find it.”
They have cars, but rarely use them and prefer to travel by bike. “In the US, you have two cars. You drive all the time, and it’s scary. That’s amazing,” she said.
Crawley feels that the most valuable aspect of life in Spain is the difference in perspectives of children around the world.
“There’s a monumental diversification and a worldview,” she said, explaining that her older children are now “traveling constantly and have friends all over the world.”
“How they think about the world, how they move around the world, the skills they have…I mean, we traveled the world and lived abroad, so we had a lot of it.
“But to see it unfold. Seeing them create their lives in a way that would never have been before if they were staying in California…it’s just satisfying.”
The biggest cultural adjustment was the slower Spanish bureaucracy. Crawley walked to various government buildings “to get one of the million things you need to get,” remembering that for the first time you’d never manage it.
“I’ll be lucky if I hear about it in two weeks,” she added, sending an email.
“But it’s also part of the Spanish spirit. That’s great. It’s more balance and less panic.”
The family also had to adapt to the Spanish schedule. This is looking at businesses near Siesta in the afternoon.
“Man, Siesta takes me with me every time,” says Crowley. “I’m working in the morning, I’ll complete all my paperwork. So I’m ready to run errands at 1:30pm, I’ll get there, and of course, they’re closed.
“And that’s pretty slow…but I make sense, I’m not challenging. If there is, it’s the opposite… It was so refreshing to see their culture differences.”
The cost of living in Spain was also positive. Even San Sebastian lives in about half of what they spent in Montecito in the country’s more expensive cities.
She was also impressed with Spanish public health care, especially after her mother was treated for health issues. “The level of care…responsiveness,” she said.
Her mother’s proximity to them was invaluable, Crawley said. “If we have to go back to visit her… California is far from Spain, and there are many other places we are trying to explore.”
Crawley said he has not returned to the US since his move, but has no children either. “My kids don’t want to go back,” she said.
Since moving, she has combined her psychology background with personal experiences to create workbooks and online courses, leading others through the process of moving abroad.
“Everyone has a fantasy that moves abroad,” she said. “Whenever you say to someone, I don’t care who they are, they say, ‘Oh, I always imagined moving in Thailand or anywhere, and I was mistakenly contacted by all my friends and friends’ family members who are seeking tips and tricks.
“It’s really fun to watch people decide where to move to start living their dreams.”
And as her own family continues to live their dreams in Spain, Crawley is adored by her three children, and she says she is “leading the accusations” in redefineing their lives.
“My 16 year old told me a year ago. “They can now land and thrive anywhere on Earth… and not even travel will give you that.”
