The transnational lives of Finnish retirees in Torrevieja
Keywords:
international retirement migration, Finnish retirees, Torrevieja, time-space compression, transnational spaceAbstract
Decades of consumerist package tourism have encouraged Northern European retirees to engage in more self-oriented, flexible travel, and some are taking advantage of seasonal migration to the Mediterranean. This has become possible because of the accelerating material and immaterial flows that have led people to view the world as getting smaller. This article interprets the phenomenon utilizing theories of the spatial turn and qualitatively examines the empirical case of Finnish retirees in Torrevieja, Spain. For the middle-class retirees, seasonal migration can offer positive economic and lifestyle incentives. Due to the flow of images and information, it is possible to construct secure and comfortable everyday lives in a transnational setting. The Finnish community in Torrevieja has grown to such a point that its members collectively represent Finnishness in community activities and on social media, thereby strengthening the community. The Finnish community in the location and online contact with relatives decrease the significance of the spatial proximity of social relations. These relatively affluent retirees consume time and space in mobile ways that undermine the material, mental, and social significance of geographical location.
