5 Experiences That Are Better in the U.S. Than in Spain

We’re wrapping up a five-week visit to the U.S., and it’s been busy in the best way! I feel like we’ve had something going on almost every single night — meeting up with friends or family for dinner, re-joining our soccer team for part of the season, or going to Royals games. No matter how much our lives have changed, it’s nice to know that some things always stay the same.

While we love living in Spain, and increasingly see ourselves staying there for maybe… forever… there are some things that are just better in the U.S. (Of course, there are a lot more that are better in Spain, but that will be a separate post.) So, while these things are top of mind, here are 5 experiences that are better in the U.S. than in Spain.

1. Buying over-the-counter meds

When I lived in Madrid and worked as an English teacher, I got sick more frequently than I ever had in my LIFE. Turns out kids are super germy!

And I quickly learned that a lot of the Spanish cold medicines didn’t seem to work as well for me compared to what I was used to in the U.S. Also, every time you want medicine in Spain, you have to specifically talk to a pharmacist and everything is behind the counter. So you can’t really just browse a bunch of shelves and buy whatever you want like you can here.

So when we moved to Alicante in January of 2024, I made sure to pack my favorite medications — NyQuil, DayQuil, Sudafed, Mucinex, Tums, TheraFlu, etc. We have a drawer full of them in our apartment, and we’ve actually gone through quite a bit of our stash, so I knew I’d need to top up on this trip.

I’m currently boycotting Target and Amazon, so our friends took us to Costco the other night and we bought enough to replenish our stock. And to make some deliveries to friends in Spain. 🙂

2. Having a massive selection of items

Speaking of Costco, Target, and Amazon… going into a store and having about 2.5 million different items to choose from is also an area where the U.S. wins over Spain. For example, you can go to the grocery store here and have 15 different types of Oreos to choose from. (A quick Google search is telling me there are more than 85 different flavors out there.) But in a Spanish grocery store, you’ll be lucky if you even find Double Stuf.

While you can get most things you need in Spain — at either a specialty store or a bazaar — some specific items can be hard to find, which is why we did have to get an Amazon Spain account. (Undecided whether I’m going to keep using it when we get back.) Interestingly, Amazon Spain stocks items from other EU countries as well, so the selection does increase quite a bit.

Of course, it can be true that more selection isn’t always a good thing. If you’ve ever heard about the paradox of choice, it basically means that our brains are happier and more satisfied when we’re choosing between only a few options — too many options can be overwhelming. Also, I think that too much selection can also lead to a culture of overconsumption, which I’m definitely against in general! But I guess when it comes to having lots of cold medicines available, I’m all for it.

3. Receiving international deliveries

If you read my post “5 Times That Living in Spain Has Made Me Cry,” then this one won’t surprise you. It turns out that, in Spain, if you order a product from outside the EU, you as the consumer have to pay additional import fees/taxes before you can receive your item. And these fees might be 5x the cost of your original purchase.

In the U.S., if you buy something from Amazon, Etsy, eBay, etc., you put in your address and then it calculates the shipping fees, and anything else, based on that. Whether it’s coming from elsewhere in the U.S., Germany, China, or wherever. Once it calculates, you get to decide whether the price point is acceptable to you before purchasing. If the price skyrockets, you might decide that it’s not worth it.

In Spain, I bought a €10 pharmaceutical cream from Amazon UK, which I also have access to through my Amazon Spain account. After a few weeks, I got a notification from the post office that the item was in customs and required an additional €50 in taxes before there was even a possibility it would be released to me. (I eventually got it more than two months after the extra taxes were paid.) If I had known that would be the case, I would have never bought it. Lesson learned… only buy from other EU countries if you want to avoid the Spanish customs taxes.

4. Going to the gym

I’ve never been a gym person, but I decided to roleplay as one in the year and a half leading up to our wedding. We were still living in the U.S. at the start of that time period, so I got a membership at Planet Fitness. For $10 a month, I was able to go work out or walk on the treadmill anytime I wanted, 24/7, and there were tons of different machines available.

When we moved to Spain, it was time to find a new gym. We signed up for the one closest to us, about two blocks away, so we felt like it was promising. But the cheapest membership available was about $30 USD per month, and you were locked into a three-month contract. Also, the gym was tiny. There was only one machine of each type and about four treadmills — all of which were taken, all the time. In fact, there was usually a line of people waiting at any given machine. It made the whole experience a lot more stressful.

On top of that, one thing I liked about Planet Fitness (that I didn’t realize wasn’t universal) was the fact that it was common courtesy to wipe down your machine when you were done using it. In Spain — at the three different gyms I’ve tried — you are expected to just bring your own gym towel that you sit on while doing your workout. And there’s no spray to wipe things down with.

It turns out that 18 months of consistent gym-going did nothing for my body, and I didn’t enjoy going (especially in Spain) so that chapter is in the past for me.

5. Getting a driver’s license

In Spain, we have multiple European and Spanish friends in their late 20s and early 30s who don’t have a driver’s license. In the U.S., that would be basically unheard of — most people get their driver’s license when they are 16-18 years old. But in Spain, getting a driver’s license takes so much more money and so much more work.

An American driver’s license, at least in Missouri, only requires passing a computer exam, the practical exam (which you can fail up to three times), and paying $7.50 if you’re 16-17 years old. Though the price increases to $32 (gasp!) when you’re over 21, with the license being valid for six years.

A Spanish driver’s license requires:

• Signing up with a driving school
• Completing driving school’s course (typically a minimum of five lessons)
• Medical and psychiatric exam at a doctor’s office
• Theory exam
• Practical exam
• Paying between €600-€2000, depending on the driving school and the amount of time/tries it takes for you to pass

So the requirements for getting a driver’s license in Spain are clearly a lot more difficult, and I’m glad that I’ve been able to drive for the last 16 years in the U.S. without having to go through all that stuff. But are people in Spain way better drivers, and do I always feel way safer when I’ve rented a car there in the past? Absolutely.

 

I have to admit that I had a harder time coming up with these five experiences that are better in the U.S. — in most things, Spain wins hands down. 🤣 But of course when we’re home in Kansas City, even the most inconvenient things are made easier by the fact that we get to speak English.

Keep an eye out for my next post where I’ll share five (or more) experiences that are better in Spain.

What do you think of my list here? Did anything surprise you? Let me know in the comments!

-Cathy

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