The Expert

WE all have our cultural biases. We can’t help it. We can only view things from our learned experience. But when we travel, we expand those experiences and broaden our views ­ perhaps changing how we see the world. And how others see us.

I only understood that clearly when travelling in the Middle East in my 20s. A teenage girl was introduced to me at a luncheon. When she heard I was from California, she became excited.

“Do you know Madonna?” she asked.

As if I, of the 38 million Americans residing in California, was the next ­ door neighbour of Madonna. But now, living in rural small ­ town Galicia, I am experiencing something similar.

We are well­travelled, especially in the US. I travelled for work a lot. And we travelled with our children for holidays to nearly every state in the union. So, I know a bit about each of them.

But the US is vast compared to countries in Europe. So big that there are varied cultural pockets where, while English is spoken, there are accents I can barely understand. But my fellow Gallegos don’t care.

It seems I am now the go ­ to person to consult when anyone in the area is travelling to the

US. Mothers, brothers, cousins, friends. It doesn’t matter. There will be a knock on my door. Someone I recognise will be there with someone I don’t recognise.

Let the travel consultation begin. I almost feel like a medium. Perhaps I should light candles or lay out some tarot cards.

“I see a tall, handsome stranger in your future trip to New York.”

I have begun recycling itineraries, and custom Google maps for these people. Finding I get excited about their adventures. Remembering my own and doing my part to broaden their horizons, one Gallego at a time.

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British buyers still rule

GOOD news for the Spanish house market as a new report, from leading international property portal Kyero, has revealed that British buyers remain the biggest overseas spenders when it comes to buying property in Spain, three years on from Brexit and despite a 17 per cent fall in enquiries from British buyers last year.

In an analysis of one of the largest data sets in the industry (consisting of buyers from 194 countries and 154,460 properties for sale with over 3,000 estate agents) it was found that the British, who have long played a significant role in the Spanish property market, have (just) managed to cling on to their number one spot.

This is despite losing significant ground to German and Dutch buyers since Brexit, but overall the number of international property buyers in Spain increased by 80 per cent in 2022 compared to 2019. British buyers continued to make up the largest proportion of overseas property spending in 2022 (12.54 per cent of the total market value).

However, compared to 2019 pre­Brexit figures, the increase in spending is one of the smallest of all nationalities.