Moving to a New Country

Portugal is now home. It’s not the first time we’ve moved out of the United States. Back in 2005, we moved to Singapore and lived there for two years, so we’ve had some practice being expats. I always find it fascinating how quickly we acclimate to such huge changes. I honesty think it’s because our lifestyle stays pretty consistent no matter where we are. We just pack it up and move it to a new location. Our surroundings may be hugely different but we tend to do similar things (work, exercise, travel, cats, entertaining, gardening, cooking, reading, music, home design). Keeping our interests consistent helps us to feel grounded when we move. Adapting these interests to our new location and sharing them with a new group of people is what really makes these experiences so amazing.

Portugal was one of three options we decided to evaluate before making a final decision. We traveled to Costa Rica and San Miguel de Allende. We absolutely loved both of these places, but after visiting Portugal for a second time, we decided this was the place to start our next adventure. After returning to the U.S., we put our house on the market (it’s always nice to sell at the height of the market) and sold it in just a few days. When we moved back to the U.S. from Singapore we bought a house in Saint Charles IL at the height of the market. I guess it all evens out in the end.

Since closing on the Tybee house, we’ve been nomads. Good thing our two cats love to travel. They really enjoy car rides and staying at hotels. Plane rides…not so much. Since August 2022 it’s been a series of vacation rentals, Airbnb’s and hotels both in the U.S. and Portugal. In the U.S. we stayed in Savannah, St. Simons Island, Miami, Sunset Beach North Carolina, Annapolis Maryland, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Simsbury Connecticut.  In Portugal we stayed in Colares (near Sintra), Tavira in the Algarve and Sesimbra, a beach resort town south of Lisbon.  All this in a span of 8 months.  I feel like a rock star on tour, minus the fame and fortune. 

The goal of this crazy transition is to ultimately buy a house in Portugal.  We decided to make Parque das Nacoes, in the Expo area of Lisbon, our home base while we search for a house to buy.

Our initial thought was to settle somewhere in the Algarve. A very popular choice for many expats, especially British expats. We had spent some time in the Algarve when we vacationed here back in 2016. We then looked in the Sintra area, with a special focus in Colares (who wouldn’t want to live among castles?).  We then moved our search to the East of Lisbon in the Alentejo region. This was it. If during the course of an 1.5 hour drive you say “this place is so beautiful” a dozen times or more, you should probably consider moving there. Finally we settled on the Evora area of the Alentejo.  What sold us on this area was the natural beauty visible in every direction.  Olive trees, vineyards, orchards, cheese, sheep and goats grazing.  This area is exactly what we were dreaming about. Our little slice of heaven.

Our search has taken us to many homes, both modern and traditional Portuguese styles, in what I call my Triangle of Joy (the area connecting Evora, Estremoz and Monsaraz). 

I’ll be spending a lot of time wandering this triangle both by car and by bike over the next several years.  Slightly east of Evora, we find our new home in a town called Sao Migel de Machede.  Move in day is July 25, 2023.

Here are some photos of various areas within my Triangle of Joy.