Rachel was Dan and Siobhán's first friend in Valencia. They met at a MeetUp dinner and became friends when they all agreed it was one of the most awkward dinners they had ever been to, then claimed they were going home to avoid joining the rest of the group for more drinks, only to go and hide in a different bar.
They share a love of movie and takeaway nights, Indian food, Dairy Milk giant chocolate buttons and rum from the Seychelles (not Dan, he's more of a gin man). Dan and Siobhan are Rachel's parents in Spain, especially when it comes to the maze of Spanish bureaucracy, having already done most of it themselves, but she also still refers to them as her 'kids'.
Jhiovanna is Rafa's better half. After Dan and Rafa met, Siobhán and Jhiovanna quickly became very good friends, constantly amused but never surprised by how creepily similar their other halves are.
Spanglish, white wine and cuba libres are a few of their favourite things, and thanks to Jhiovanna, Dan and Siobhán now love Venezuelan food tequeños and arepas almost as much as she does, if that's possible. Siobhán and Jhiovanna (almost) share the same name, an office, an amazing ability to kill plants and a love of Ikea and Christmas.
Ben and Dan have known each other since they were about 8 years old, and have been an unstoppable force ever since. Whether it's entertaining people with music or film (although it's been a while since they've been able to do either of those) or playing games of "Have you met Dan?" on a night out they've always been close.
Dan has been promising (on every drunken night out) to Ben for the best part of a decade that he would be his Best Man, and then Ben beat him to it by getting married a year earlier. Ben has almost been forgiven for that.
Rafa and Dan met in Valencia when they both started working in a co-working in the city centre. The first time they met was at an after work party on the roof, and they got to talking. Rafa was convinced Dan was actually Spanish for the majority of the night, but now we know his hearing isn't so good.
They both come from similar backgrounds, just on different sides of the planet. They both went to private school, both got a degree in Computer Science, both enjoy many of the same things, and Rafa's wife's name is even the Venezuelan equivalent of Siobhán, just to make the similarities that little bit creepier.
Even though it has only been a relatively short time Rafa and Dan have become firm friends, even now moving in together (in an office...) along with their better halves.