Eugene Costello moved to Spain six years ago, and couldn’t be happier (Image: Eugene Costello)
It wasn’t just the idea of a warmer climate and better lifestyle that prompted Eugene Costello to uproot his life from London to Spain, but a life-changing event and tragic loss. Yet, amid the tragedy, Eugene found a new home, and has one word to describe his move.
In 2018, Eugene Costello, a freelance journalist and editor, suffered a major heart attack at the age of 51 and was in a coma for a few weeks. When he woke up, he had postoperative hallucinations. “I was convinced I was being held a prisoner in some weird place, and I fought with the nurses who I felt were enemy spies keeping me in a prison. It was just awful and very scary,” Eugene exclusively told the Express.
Tragically, at the same time, Eugene, who had always lived in London, was informed by his dad that his younger brother had also suffered a heart attack, just two days after his own, at the age of 47. “It was a different type of heart attack. I had a coronary because of a congenital heart condition, whereas he had a sudden cardiac arrest.
Eugene had a heart attack in 2018 and was told his brother had one just two days later (Image: Eugene Costello)
“He was left in a persistent vegetative state because his brain had been starved of oxygen for around 40 minutes, until they got him on a ventilator. My brother had been a very active guy”. Tragically, after around nine months of his brother being in a coma, he died at the age of 48 in March 2019. “It was very distressing”, Eugene said.
Following the devastating family loss and recovering from his own health battle, Eugene made an abrupt decision. “One day, I was walking through London, and the enormity of everything that I had been through and what had happened to my brother just hit me, and I started crying in the street. I just remember saying to myself, ‘f**k this, I’m going to move to Spain,'” he recalled.
“I don’t know why I decided to do that. I had been to France more than Spain, but I just decided, and London is hectic. I was spending two hours each day getting to and from work, and rush hour is hell in London. It’s just a grind, and I thought you know, I just want to be in Spain and live a calm life.
“I think it was a combination of my own near-death and the loss of my brother. It was a very difficult period, and because of everything I had been through, that was the push factor. So, I got home and just started searching online for somewhere to live.”
With the sudden idea of moving to Spain, Eugene, now 58, admitted he felt “a little bit disheartened at first” because he didn’t know where he wanted to go. “I looked at places like Seville, and I knew what I didn’t want, which was nothing to do with the Costa del Sol or Benidorm, where it’s full of Brits. And although I love Barcelona, I didn’t want to move from London to another huge, crowded city – it didn’t make sense to me.”
Eugene instantly fell in love with Ruzafa, Valencia (Image: Getty Images)
After “slightly losing” his way a bit, a close friend and Spain expert suggested Valencia. “She said to me, ‘I have an idea, there’s a neighbourhood called Ruzafa that you would fit into very well’.”
Focusing Eugene’s search, he visited Ruzafa, Valencia, just a few days later and “fell in love with the area and neighbourhood”, as he dined al fresco in the winter sun. He added that while he had the push factor to make the move, Valencia provided the “pull factor”.
Miraculously, on the way to the airport, Eugene spotted a flat, stopped the taxi, viewed it and fell in love with it. After returning to the UK, he swiftly paid the flat deposit, booked a lorry to transport everything he owned from London to Valencia, and, around six weeks later, in February 2020, he was unpacking boxes in his new Spanish apartment.
“Pensat i fet”, Eugene said, explaining that this is a Valencian phrase, meaning “thought and done”, and that’s what he did. He quickly settled into his new Spanish life and was amazed by how friendly everyone was, including neighbours and medical staff.
“The lifestyle is incredible. People work to live, they don’t live to work. There’s no real rush hour in Valencia, and people always have time. If I go out for a walk and I bump into people I know, we stop and have a chat. People here have an enormous amount of time and a willingness to engage with other humans. They’re very welcoming and kind to me,” he shared, offering an insight into his new life.
“When I take my dog out for a walk around the neighbourhood, all the shopkeepers, pharmacists and people around the neighbourhood always greet me and wave at me. Even in the supermarket, quite a few of them recognise me, and they always ask me how I am. Everyone knows my dog, a chocolate Labrador – she gets a lot of fuss.”
‘The lifestyle is incredible. People work to live, they don’t live to work’ (Image: Eugene Costello)
Eugene adds that sometimes he’ll go for a Tinto de verano at a local bar, The Wine Gallery, which is red wine topped up with lemonade, and said “everyone is so welcoming and kind to me – they will make a fuss of me, especially of the dog,” who sweetly lies at his feet.
Describing the area of Ruzafa, which he now calls home, Eugene said: “It’s a bohemian district, somewhere between Soho and Shoreditch. It’s pretty central, has a lively neighbourhood with lots of bars and restaurants – I love it.
“It doesn’t feel like a city, it feels like a collection of neighbourhoods. It’s got a small city centre, surrounded by neighbourhoods and the Old Town. Everywhere is walkable, there’s an awful lot of green space, and I can walk to the city centre in 15 minutes, and I could be in the Old Town in around 20 minutes.”
However, it hasn’t been easy, as around two years ago, Eugene discovered that he had kidney failure and needed a transplant. Despite his health battle, he noted how caring his Spanish neighbours have been and couldn’t praise the public health system high enough as he declared, “It has been absolutely amazing, it’s just been incredible.”
Eugene lives in Ruzafa with his beloved dog, who ‘gets alot of fuss’ (Image: Eugene Costello)
He said: “They detected it, admitted me straight away to get some kidney function back, and I had to go to the hospital every week. I went on dialysis before finally having a kidney transplant last September. They have looked after me so incredibly well.”
During that time, Eugene found great support from the medical staff, with whom he has remained friends, as he said, “they’re such warm, kind people”. Needing to still go for regular check-ups, he adds: “When I go to the hospital, it’s a pleasure rather than a chore, because I know so many of the nurses and the doctors there and they’re always very happy to see me. They said I’ve become family.
“My neighbours are just so caring, they always stop me and ask me how things are going. They’re just lovely, lovely people.”
He added: “I’m happy here and I really feel like I’m at home now. I feel like I’ve made Valencia my home. I’m very lucky, and I feel blessed. I appreciate it, and I don’t take it for granted.”
Joyfully, his father, daughter and nephew have all visited him in Valencia, which he said was a “fabulous time”. Adding that his 20-year-old daughter visits around two to three times a year, “there are a lot of vintage shops around here, which she loves”.
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This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
