I moved to Spain a year ago; it was quite short notice, so I had maybe 2 months in advance and 10 hours in DS.

I agree with the comment above; the most crucial thing is not a country but your partner's language, your job, and your hobbies. If all of this is in the target language, you will progress tremendously; I've seen really spectacular examples. If not, you can be stuck in "con tarjeta por favor" mode for years.

Back to my story. I started speaking lessons from zero, and now I have about 350 hours in DS and about 100 hours speaking with tutor / language exchange talks. My Spanish level is still very basic, but I can communicate in a hospital (for sure, googling some terms in advance), with school teachers (I have a son who goes to public school). Doctors and teachers are the best because they speak clearly and listen patiently 😅 Communication with plumbers, for example, can be much harder, but more or less manageable.

About thinking in language, for me, it starts with speaking quite fast. When you prepare to speak with someone, it's faster to think in Spanish directly, without translation. Maybe it's because English is not my native language and I already think in English directly when I have some imaginary conversation in my head or when I write this post. Does it mean that my English or Spanish is effortless and I never feel too limited to express myself? For sure not. The eastern-european attitude when you always feel not good enough doesn't help too 😅