Moving to Portugal: What the hell are we thinking?
Call us crazy…
…but we have a plan. The overwhelming response from those we’ve told we’re moving to Portugal is shock, excitement, and maybe a hint of jealousy. Most people have a hard time picturing themselves making such a drastic change to their lives. To each their own, but as I’ve mentioned, we like to shake things up.
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Moving to Portugal: Our Thought Process
So far, we’ve been called brave, bold, and inspiring. Our goal with this blog is to provide a peek behind the curtains of our thought process, the actual process of moving to Portugal, and to inspire others not to worry about what people think of their decisions, but to make decisions that are best for them.
After “Why Portugal?”, the next question we get is, “What made you decide to do that?” There are a lot of moving pieces to that puzzle, so I’ll attempt to explain how we arrived at our decision to move to the newly famous Portugal.
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Ever since studying abroad in London together, our dream has been to live an international life. We love to travel, but even more, we love to immerse ourselves in other cultures. We’ve traveled extensively and even had a few opportunities to live in other countries for work before starting our family. Since having our daughter five years ago, we’ve traveled internationally a few times but weren’t really looking for more permanent relocation. We have had fun raising Brooklyn babies and gotten pretty good at living the Brooklyn family life.
Since having our son in 2019 we have not traveled internationally at all (thanks global pandemic) but have spent time with family and friends in Texas, Florida, California, Upstate New York, Cape Cod, and Connecticut.
Pre-Pandemic Planning
In September of 2019, Dustin was asked to work on a TV show in London for a year. London is one of our favorite places. Maybe we love it because it was our first foray into living abroad, I don’t know, but there’s something about London that always draws us back. By Christmas, we had announced to our circle, “WE’RE MOVING TO LONDON!” I started planning, bought books for the kids, learned that Kindergarten is called Reception in the UK, and researched where to have the best afternoon tea. We were beyond excited.
Change of Plans
In January 2020, we were told the production was going to send us to Budapest instead. Okay, not London, but still a new adventure even if a little scary. But the exciting kind of scary. I started researching American schools and daycares, the difference between Buda and Pest, and whether or not I thought I could learn Hungarian.
Everything was falling into place. We were just a few short weeks away from giving up our Brooklyn apartment and putting all our things in storage. We were finalizing our itineraries and housing. We were so close.
Our good family friend Kelen Camehl took the Budapest photo above. His family lived in Budapest for 3 years.
The World Shuts Down
And then. COVID. Hit.
In a matter of weeks, the world was turned upside down, production halted, and our opportunity disappeared into thin air. We were devastated. Lucky to not be stranded, jobless, in a country we knew very little about. Lucky to be healthy. But devastated nonetheless.
We were very fortunate to be able to find a cabin in the middle of the Catskills, and we high-tailed it out of the pandemic epicenter so we could quarantine safely. We were essentially paying double rent and living off one income while I tried to fill the kids’ days with activities and bellies with food—truly a full-time job. I think these trying times have made a lot of people question different aspects of their lives, and we are no different.
An Unexpected Mindshift
Suddenly, the grind of raising a family in a bruised and battered NYC became less appealing. Something shifted in our minds.
Why wait for the next international opportunity to come to us? Why not just go? Our dream for retirement has always been to own a bed and breakfast somewhere beautiful and live out our days drinking Portuguese wine in the sun giving the gift of unforgettable travel experiences to all those who crossed our path.
Why wait until retirement? Neither of us is so amazingly engrossed in our careers that we wouldn’t be willing to give it up for the dream. Isn’t that why we all work so hard anyway? So, rather than wait, we’re going to go. We’re leaving the U.S. and moving to Portugal and would love to share our journey with you!
Want to know what’s next?
Check out our checklist for moving abroad to Portugal.
Thinking of moving to Portugal yourself?
Check out these resources.
Move to Portugal
