A man who packed in his job and sold up to relocate to Barcelona still makes the journey back to London for work – and insists he's financially better off. Ethan Spibey, 33, relocated to the Spanish city alongside his husband Soren Scharf, 35, last May.
The former PR director walked away from his 9-to-5 role in the capital in December 2024. Half a year later, he and Soren offloaded their semi-detached property in Lewisham and began renting a penthouse duplex in the Catalan capital for £1,700 monthly – significantly less than their previous £2,500 mortgage payments.
Ethan has now launched his own business offering communications training to clients throughout the UK, including the Post Office, Siemens and charitable organisations. Despite his firm being London-based, Ethan operates remotely from Barcelona and returns to Britain for face-to-face meetings two or three times each month.
Spanish-speaking Ethan explained: "I studied in Barcelona and we'd come back here every single year. I did a logistics check. The criteria were: can I fly back to London regularly, are there flights? There are about 25 flights a day to London.
"Is it economically possible? Is it mentally and physically exhausting to do so?
"Barcelona seemed like a great option. Frankly, it's cheaper than some of my colleagues who used to commute from Reading."
Ethan, originally hailing from Manchester, revealed he usually forks out £60 for flights and has never exceeded £100 for a return journey to the capital – considerably less than his previous £120 monthly train pass. He described his London commute as effortless, involving merely a 30-minute trip to the airport before a two-hour flight.
He explained: "It's not even just the big costs – it's far cheaper to live, the housing is cheaper than London, but it's everything else. The quality of great food, great fruit and veg – going out for dinners and lunches, which I'd never have done in London.
"There's no way you can go out for dinner in London and get away with £80 or £100, some of the restaurants near us, it's £30 for lunch for the two of you. It is just a completely different quality of life."
After more than a decade in the capital, he felt it was time for something new: "I was just ready for a change after 12 years in London. Our food bill has plummeted – you can't go to Tesco without spending £50 on dinner somehow it seems; the quality and standard of food here is far better.
"I know for a fact we've halved our monthly costs that we used to put on our credit card. I know what we put on our credit card each month in London, we now pay less than half of that."
The Brit, who was awarded an OBE in the 2026 honours list following his campaign for LGBT+ equality in blood donations, was able to relocate to the Spanish city thanks to his husband's German citizenship, which made him eligible for a spouse visa. One unforeseen consequence of the move, however, has been the abundance of stamps accumulating in Ethan's passport.
He explained: "I'm having to fly to Liverpool in two weeks and go for an emergency passport appointment so I can get a quick one-day turnaround. I realised at Christmas I'd filled up my passport, as they keep stamping in and out.
"That's a slight drawback, but it's the price you have to pay. I've had this passport since 2019 and never thought about it, but last time they said 'you've not got many spaces left'."
Since relocating and launching his own business, Ethan has even managed to cut his working week down to four days.
He continued: "The immense mental shift in the time, independence, and quality of life that I have now, versus what I had in London, has just been the most eye-opening realisation. Not just to be in such a beautiful city, with beautiful weather, and the community and people that are here, but I have far more time than I ever had to spend time on fitness and spend time with friends.
"The ability to be in charge of your own time is kind of scary, because you have to make money, but it's also incredibly liberating. I think I've found that really, really empowering."
