Thanks for typing the exact reply I wanted to give! Yes, I’m happy that I can request garbage pickup through WhatsApp instead of having to fill out a form at the municipal building. An online portal or app would be even better than WhatsApp.
Some secure online portal would be nice for the GP or municipality.
The delivery issues can be solved by introducing a standardized address system for Spain but that would take decades to roll out. Some people I know don’t even have an address, they just use the land registry number. Or just the name of their village + surnames, which is typically good enough for the standard mail (but not good enough for DHL/UPS/DPD packages, their drivers want your location via WhatsApp)
Meanwhile in Spain I use WhatsApp to contact the municipality, the GP uses it to send my blood results and package delivery drivers ask me to share my location. I hate it.
Grass is greener. I’m currently in Spain. I don’t have access to the public healthcare system. Don’t have access to unemployment. A third of the population can’t even afford a holiday. People are getting more obese every year. Rent is higher than minimum wage.
EU is a good place to be but some people have this overly optimistic view of the place.
I moved to Spain from The Netherlands as a Dutch citizen. It was a lot of paperwork, lots of planning, needed close to €10k in my bank account and needed to get private healthcare with a pretty serious health check. I had to do multiple trips to the national police office and municipalities.
That is not needed when you switch states in the US. You just need to update your address and tax records. You do not needed to show financial means and you do not need private healthcare.
In Spain I’m paying only 70 euro per month for the most expensive private healthcare plan. I don’t have public healthcare so I can’t compare but the private plan has been excellent. You get a private room at top clinics if something happens to you.
However rent here is literally more than minimum wage after taxes so that is something to consider.
If you want the best healthcare in the EU go to The Netherlands. Though food is meh over there, over 70% is ultra processed.
Simple Batavus analog bike. Don’t know the type. It’s an eleven speed and has disc brakes front and back that make a horrible noise when you come to a stop. Back one makes noisy because the bike leaks oil on the disc. No idea why the front one is noisy. A project for one day.
This is why I left The Netherlands. They have been working on laws for both self employment and unrealized capital gains for the past ten years and in the meanwhile have implemented some unworkable “temporary laws”.
Just implement good laws, do it right once. Yes it will hurt to not have a smooth transition but it’s better than having meetings about it for ten years.
As a consultant I am looking forward to being hired by companies to get rid of all the vibe code and to replace it with beautiful maintainable artisanal code.
The largest Dutch tech website doesn’t adhere to the cookie law. They ever reported about websites not adhering to the law while not adhering to the law themselves.